I am not one of those people who says things like “everything happens for a reason” or “things always work out for the best.” I think the world has far too many just plain awful things that happen to try to hold to this narrative. Do good things sometimes arise from bad? Sure, but how do you know it wouldn’t have been better if the bad didn’t happen? I’d rather acknowledge something sucked and move on than spend a lot of energy searching for the “best” or “good reason” that would somehow make it better when frankly, it might not exist.
That said, occasionally things that might appear bad do indeed end up working out better.
Like my Tuva’s Arrows shawlette. I kinda sorta ignored*/hoped that somehow the fact that my skein of 435yds of yarn was um, well, a bit short of the 459-492yds called for. I mean, I cast on using smaller needles than called for, so that should use less yarn, right? Sure… I used smaller needles because I knit loose, but well, hope for the best.
As I neared the final rows though, it was clear that the size and total number of stitches in the pattern would most certainly add up to more yardage than I had. So, first I tried just dropping the final purl and plain knit row to cast off a bit sooner. But…
a) I wasn’t certain this would suffice as the 3stitch i-cord bind off effectively is 3 rows in one and I had an estimated 2 rows of yarn left based on measuring before and after the last couple rows I’d knit and
b) it wasn’t looking good. Those last two rows evidently provided crucial structure and it just looked a bit funky binding off yarn overs.
And of course, I was playing yarn chicken with a pattern not easily adaptable to adding/removing rows while keeping the pattern.
What to do?
I checked my yarn walls – none of the skeins of fingering weight there looked like they would do. I may have an over fondness for variegated and multi-colored skeins which does not work well when trying to pair with another distinctly different variegated skein with a little of every color of the rainbow.
Left over stash occasionally serves a purpose. I then pulled up a handy list of fingering weight yarns in Ravelry to see what I had in stash. Two possibilities jumped out: the brown/orange leftovers from the Francie socks or the blue/black leftovers from my Melaine cardigan. I settled on the blue/black as the better match, undid the bit of cast off I’d started, completed the final two rows in the original Yak Yak sock yarn and then cast off in the La Bien Aimée singles.
I know the photo is dark, and I promise some better ones when it’s blocked and we have sunshine (don’t hold your breathe – it could be a while). But I really like how tidy the monochrome of the cast off is, and the gradient from deep black to paler blue is creating a fun highlight effect along the edge.
I really think this did work out for the best (though don’t tell me “for a reason” unless by “reason” you mean “length of stitch x total # of stitches > 435 yds”). I feel like the shawl has a more defined border than it would have in the many colors of the main skein of yarn. Also, the yak is delightfully squishy and should be fairly warm, even for such a little shawl. I can’t wait to block it.**
*you were not treated to entertaining posts of yarn chicken and complex mathes because of how very very well I ignored this yardage discrepancy
**no really, I can’t wait. I’m already wearing it right now, unwoven in ends and all.