It has been a grueling time lately, tying up loose ends and making changes for the future, so I was delighted when one of my regular customers, Virginia, wrote to say:

Ray,
I got both my orders and they are even lovelier in person.
I recently completed Chittagong (Ann Weaver). I used 2 skeins of Duralace.
One was a burnt apricot variation and the other was a dump dye BRS. I love how it turned out.

Virginia

and shared with me this image of her handiwork:

She said the pattern is the Chittagong pattern by Ann Weaver, available at Ravelry.   What sets this pattern apart from other square shawls knit in-the-round is the border pattern; you can’t see it well in this picture, but you can see it over on Ravelry.    (I have no affiliation with the designer, but I like how Virginia’s choice of yarn worked up into an unexpected color display on top of Ms. Weaver’s pattern design.)

Just from viewing the pictures, and the other knitters’ pictures there, it appears that the main body is fairly straightforward knitting in the round.  This leads me to believe that the amazing effect of the those long pointy designs is a result of the yarn’s coloring.  The yarn was dyed as a “fade”, which forces the yarn to fade from light to heavy saturation and back again at fairly regular intervals.

So…. if you have one of my “fade” yarns and wondering what to do with it, this may well be an excellent option!  And because of the technique involved in creating the fade colorways, almost any color can be used, if you’d like to order a special color of your own.

Speaking of which, just last night I did another two-tone fade for a customer.  She had asked for two different combinations, and the pink and purple fade has already been reskeined.   I made a mistake on the other one and made a single tone fade when it was supposed to have been Midnight Green and Turquoise Fade, like the pink and purple.  Since it was just done and nearly finished drying, I can still show you the fade as it looks when I dye it:

As with all custom dye jobs (i.e., anything that is not a ready-to-ship Blog Reader Special) can take 2-3 weeks turn-around if I don’t have the yarn in-house.   But if you are interested in a custom dye job (school colors, perhaps?) write to me and ask.  The worst that could happen is that I will tell you I can’t do it.

Working up the pattern shown and using a two-tone fade would likely have a similar effect but with the two tones fading back and forth instead of the dark to light burnt apricot that Virginia used.

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