Will There Be Gold At The End Of My Rainbow?

First of all, thank you to all of the Knit 'n Purl people who visited Knitting: A Love Story.  I hope you become regular visitors.  I was all ready to be reflective and philosophical in this post.  I was going to think about my 2014 goals and set my 2015 goals.  Then I put Helen Hamann's Rainbow Cardigan on my needles and my brain spun out of control.

I bought this pattern and yarn 5 or 6 years ago, and really don't know why I haven't tackled it until now.  (Well, I do know and will talk about that later.)  I saw it and gasped!  If OMG would have been in my vocabulary, I would have screamed, "OMG!"  It was possibly the most stunning garment I ever set eyes on.  Look at this.  Beautiful colors, incredible design.  Is this a Jan Pattern or what?  I can remember seeing this.  I can remember opening the package, and now I remember why I never knit it.  You have to admit that the design is gorgeous.  I have always been a sucker for gradual color change.  I love Kauni, I love Twisted Fiber Art and I love this garment.  It was when I started reading the directions that I realized I loved the concept of the Rainbow Cardigan much more than I loved the actual knitting. 

Here are the 20 colors that make up the palette of Rainbow Cardigan.  They are beautiful.  Five or six years latter I am curious about a choice I made.  The garment could be made out of Helen Hamann's Elation an 85% cotton 15% alpaca or Luxury a 100% alpaca.  Guess which one I picked.  Elation!!!! Why would I do that?  I don't like to knit with cotton and I love alpaca.  So that is a curious choice.  The only thing I can figure out is the picture on the pattern is knit in Elation so I chose it for that reason.  Or the Luxury colors weren't as brilliant.  It can't be because Elation is less expensive because I really don't care about that.  

Once I had picked this out for my vacation knitting, I started reading the pattern and anything I could find on the internet about Rainbow Cardigan.  Nothing is current.  Then I had this epiphany, why not buy the Luxury then save the Elation for something else?  I began searching and freaked.  I couldn't find any place on the internet that sold this yarn.  EEKS!  What if I run out of yarn, how am I going to finish it?  I have one ball and only one ball of each color, what if I loose a ball in my travels.  How will I finish it?  After breathing into a paper bag to stop hyperventilation, I realized that I would be making Rainbow Cardigan out of Elation and not Luxury and I would be making it in a medium not large.  The garment would go to who ever it fits.  It may be mine, it may be Barb's.

Next came my next quandary and the probable reason why I never started Rainbow Cardigan; bobbins.  Carrying 9 colors of yarn each on a bobbin each tangling with all other bobbins.  Kind of like this. . .  

Now I remember what happens with bobbins and Intarsia, you spend more time untangling yarn than you do knitting.  This kind of makes the Yoga of knitting impossible.  

I am very good at Intarsia.  The joins are snug but not tight.  I learned the hard way on my sweater of the world.  Remember that one?

From this sweater I learned to weave the colors rather than twisting and knotting or doing nothing and having holes.  So, I am really very good at Intarsia and think some of the most spectacular knit wear uses Intarsia.  

It took me a week to finally tackle Rainbow Cardigan because I thought the sweater was started with a provisional cast-on and I was looking for the 1/8 inch silk ribbon called for in the pattern.  After I figured out you cast-on with each of 9 colors, I thought the provisional cast-on would have been better.  Well, I have three weeks to get enough done on this that I am hooked enough to want to finish this.  This is definitely NOT car knitting!!!  I will keep you posted on my progress.