So.  I was in Purlescence, a few months after they opened, and they had just a few skeins of Claudia’s Handpaint Yarns silk in stock.  There was this one that had white and green and turquoisey blue and a bit of gray that jumped into my hands.

I put it back.

It jumped into my hands.  I put it back.  It jumped into my hands. It was very insistent about it.  The price made it something you don’t necessarily buy on a whim, but something about it was very compelling, and so, I asked them to ball it up for me, and that was that.

Just as they were finishing up with the swift, I noticed a hat knitted up on the counter, and Nathania told me that it was from the same custom colorway, dyed by special request to go with the team colors of the San Jose Sharks.

And my inner reaction was a squirm–I didn’t really like how that colorway had played out.  I wanted it more green than that.  It wasn’t how I’d pictured it.

I can’t tell you how many times after that that I wished I hadn’t had them ball it so that I could still exchange it.  The store’s doing well, and they got more colors of that silk in stock, including some absolutely glorious green and some royal blue and some pink mixture and some–okay, I’ll stop now.  And here I was with my Sharks-bitten ball.  It was perfectly nice, but…

Till the day I put it with that Jaggerspun Zephyr in Peacock, and hoped the two would turn out how I pictured they could.  I was a little worried:  what if it didn’t live up to what I wanted either?  Would this work?

You know the rest of the story.  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind it was meant to be for Kathleen all along, that it was meant to look like this all along, and to say I am pleased does not begin to describe it.  I can’t wait to fly across the country to see her next week and hand it to her in person.

I have it kind of bunched up in the picture to cover up the peach skirt that doesn’t go with it, but don’t let it fool you–this is not a tight shawl.  It is sized to fit a woman who is generous in body and spirit.  If you see her at Stitches next Saturday, feel free to tell her Alison sent you to say hi.