Leftie Shawl from Knot Just Knits - Day 1

Leftie colors...

Every year there seems to be a shawl that is "this year's darling."  It shows up all over Facebook, assorted knitting blogs, and Ravelry.  You pull it out of your knitting bag someplace public and everyone goes "Oh, I'm working on one of those."

Leftie is just such a project--rather like the Color Affection shawl was for me last year and Barb's Koigu Ruffle Scarf before that.  In my opinion, projects gain popularity like this for three reasons:  1) they are endlessly clever, 2) they are distinctive and 3) they're technically simple.  This means a wide variety of knitters with a wide variety of skill sets still get a big artistic bang for their buck.

Leftie, aptly named, I assume, for its ability to eat up all the small balls of leftover yarn in your stash, is just such a project.  You could easily plan this shawl based on what's in your remnant drawer.  That'd be hard for someone like me who can't combine colors well.  If I tried this unsupervised, I don't think any of us would welcome the result.  As it was, I was given a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Terracota and a nifty little multi-pack of Wonderland Yarns' Cheshire Cat.

That didn't get me completely off the color-plotting hook.  I still had to decide the order of the leafy little stripes that give this shawl its sense of panache.  Not being particularly artsy, I went for the obvious:  dark to light.

Another note about color here:  I love it when the knitting juju lines up nicely.  Without any foreknowledge, Elizabeth happened to hand me the base color of "Terracota"--or as I will come to know and love it, "Burnt Orange."  I will come to love this color, so they tell me, because my offspring now is a Longhorn, attending University of Texas at Austin.  Longhorns, so they say, “bleed burnt orange” (excuse the eye candy image, but I couldn't resist). 

Now, being a "winter" in complexion, such warm colors are not my thing.  Before this, I did not own  single piece of clothing in this hue.  How lovely that my knitting adventures have brought me into the Longhorn universe! I think I may like it here. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  the yarn knows.