I love dyeing yarn and playing in the dye pots– but my very favourite part of creating gobsmackers and setting them loose in the world? It’s seeing what you do with them. I’m constantly surprised and delighted at how my yarn + a designer’s great pattern + your match-making and crafting skills end up creating something amazing. It’s like a collaboration distributed across several people, each bringing a little bit of genius that ends up… well, it ends up like this:
This is Boomerangle, a new pattern by the talented and prolific designer Nim Teasdale. As a dyer, I love the way that Nim thinks; she takes my work and, as in all the best collaborations, transforms it into something even better. And, as an exhausted knitter-by-night, I enjoy relaxing with her clever textured patterns that provide just enough interest but not too much challenge for my work-tired brain.
Boomerangle combines two gobsmackers, in this case Silky Yak DK, to create simple colour-play with a fun plaid feel. Nim’s sample is a russety red to coral-orange cake, striped with another in a pale aqua-green to a deep teal. The result is an asymmetric triangle that unites a lot of colours into a single wear-with-everything shawl. Perfect.
Perhaps your own version of perfect is less stripey, though, and a little quieter? Check out Nim’s other new release, Darwinian. It’s a lovely triangular shawl, knit sideways, with a bit of lace and a bit of cable, with a relaxing garter body. It’s a great canvas for dappled gradients like gobsmackers– it has texture and interest, while still being streamlined enough to showcase your yarn.
Intrigued? Check out the Ravelry project pages (Darwinian and Boomerangle) for a special pattern discount, available through April 1st!
