This was a Karen Bradley a/k/a Kaloula knit-a-long, with week-by-week clues, in the Cynthia’s Too Ravelry Group. Bradley generously left the thread open and you can still work through the clues if you’re hankering to work up this item.
The pattern calls for worsted weight Malabrigo Rios for the feather-and-fan top and Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Fine for the lacy bottom. That’s fine, not light. I first stocked the light and that weight is too heavy.
I’m not sure I came up with the best color combination, but I’m still proud of the finished item. I love to work feather-and-fan patterns. For years I avoided them because it looked so difficult. But it’s actually a piece ‘o cake. As for that lace bottom, well, for lace-impaired me, that was a challenge. I soldiered on and it came out quite nice. All those pesky yarn-overs lined up just right.
If you decide to knit this, don’t panic when it first comes off your needles. You will think you’ve just knitted a lampshade cover. But with somewhat aggressive blocking, it turns into a poncho-like garment.
Honestly, I’ve not yet had the courage to wear this outside the house. Strictly speaking, that’s not exactly true. I wore it to my knitting guild meeting. That’s outside the house, but in knitting-friendly territory where we keep our chuckles to ourselves. I’ve been a little worried–much as I like it–that it has a bit of a frump-factor going. What do you think? Would you wear it?
