Introducing: Team Twinknit!

After many trials, test runs, training races, and a rigorous interview process, I have finally chosen my teammates for the Amazing Lace. I examined the strengths of each, weighing talent against talent, weakness against weakness, until I felt I had found the perfect team, one that balanced beauty with practicality, and comfort of knit with challenge of process. I worked hard to pair the perfect pattern with the perfect yarn. Some yarns refused to work with particular patterns -- dropping stitches, splitting unnecessarily, and generally refusing the make gauge. These yarns were abandoned early in the preliminary trials. In the end, it was the yarn/pattern combos that performed under pressure that made the final team. Each member of the team brings to the table their own skills and their own personality, and hopefully I have chosen a team that can go the distance.

The Teammates:

Orangina (paired with Knit Picks Shine in Turquoise)
Orangina and Shine chose to be displayed doing what they do best -- working hard. Although the garden shovel has not gotten much use -- not much gardening happening chez Twin Knit.


The rock of the team, Orangina is a hard worker. Calm and poised, Orangina has a "slow and steady wins the race" mentality that pulls the entire team together. Orangina and Shine were paired together during the prelimiary trials, and performed so well together that they were never split. Instead, they have slowly been making progress, providing respite when other, more finicky patterns and yarns acted up. Experts predict that they will have an early and successful finish, with a mininmum of frogging or aggravation.

Print o' the Wave Stole (paired with Sundara Somewhat S0lid Silk in Wine with Violet)
Print o' the Wave Stole was having a bad hair day and refused to be photographed. Sundara Yarn, good sport that she is, showed up and posed with some of the beautiful rodedentron that has been blooming, curiously enough, under my porch.


The Print o' the Wave Stole, with teammate Sundara Silk, were the first added to Team Twinknit and were slated to finish first. However, finicky, delicate and a prima donna, the Print o' the Wave Stole is proving to be a questionable choice for the team. When she performs well, she is beautiful -- a magical haze of yarn overs and ssk's. But when she is in a funk (which is often) she becomes a disasterous and emotional mess. Her teammate, Sundara Silk, is smooth and crunchy, but critics are concerned that the heaviness and tension of the yarn will clash with Print o' the Wave. Although the two repeatedly fell apart during the trial period, experts suggest that this was due not to their incompatibility but rather to incorrect equipment (first US 4, then US 3, and now US 2 have failed the gauge test!). A final test run with US 0 will determine whether these two will finish strong.

New England Socks (paired with Knit Picks Essential Sock Yarn in Grass)
Solid and dependable, as socks should be.


A last minute addition to the team, New England Socks and KPESY have had no test runs. However, experience suggests they should form a lasting and secure partnership. (and how could I possibly resist knitting socks?)