Bouquet of Tulips, An Object Lesson

And for every project that leaves you dancing because you got it exactly right, comes a project that you can only look on and appreciate that you've learned something.  Enter Bouquet of Tulips.

The main lesson is to make a plan and stick with it.  I had originally intended this to be a true three-ply yarn; however, I failed to do several things.  The main one was sampling.  If I had sampled, I would have realized how much the singles would bloom and that a three-ply would be too heavy for just about anything I was thinking of making.  

Once the braids were turned into singles, I realized that there was a good chance of creating barber poles, which I didn't want, so I changed my mind and chain plied them, which eats yardage.

The final thing that happened was that I spun two of the braids and then was attacked by a squad of squirrels, and that was both good and bad.  I learned so much from those projects that I immediately knew how badly this project would end when I picked up the final braid.

What to do?  The recipient wanted a sweater, and I have over three hundred yards of unsuitable yarn that she still wants.  I tried casting on a cardigan, but it was huge.  I found Leaf Top and decided to take a chance since it had instructions for extra small/small.   Obviously, a striped yarn for the yoke hides the detail, but the body is fine.  It appears to be the right size, but pre-bath, it looked wonky.  Bathing smoothed out the stitches, and it grew a little bit, but not as much as other projects have done.

Was there anything right about this project?  Yes, and it was the colors.  The dark purple, the dark green, and the dark blue-green were perfect.  I just failed to do them justice.  (Bouquet of Tulips from Three Waters Farm.)