Pictured above are my finished Autumn Lace Squares scarf, on the right, and my original Autumn Felt scarf, on the left. I finished my knit scarf at World Wide KIP day but didn’t get around to blocking it until Monday night. I wasn’t sure how long it would get while I was knitting but it stretched nicely when I blocked it (despite the cat trying to sit on it) and is just long enough to wrap daintily around my neck or tie in a loose knot (necessary for windy days). The inspiration for the squares design was the felt scarf I made during the course I took in last winter. Because they are made of the same wool I wanted my scarves to be similar even though they were made with very different methods.
 
Considering that these two scarves were made from the same wool I find the difference in colour intensity rather interesting. The colours in the knit scarf would probably be significantly brighter and clearer if I had not plied the yarn (though I rather like the tweedy flows in the yarn) but some of the difference seems to come just from the finished form of the wool. The knitted stitches, and even the plying I suppose, make little shadows on the yarn and deepen the appearance of the colours compared to the flatter, more reflective, felt.
 
Here is a close-up look at the difference in texture between the two scarves:

Here is that lovely Autumn coloured merino again moving into it’s second metamorphosis. After a couple of swatches and iterations I figured out a sort of a lacy squares pattern. The yarn kind of calls for something more organic and leafy but I wantit to be a nice sister to my felt scarf which was woven in large strips. It doesn’t look very big but it should stretch out a lot when I block it - hopefully enough to go around my neck and tie together.
 
It’s fun to watch the yarn moving through my fingers. The two plies blend together, colour-wise, and separate again every so often so that in some places the colour is very strong and in others it is quite soft. The twist varies as I go along too: Sometimes one ply is fatter than the other and it will puff out around it’s neighbour.  Other times the plies are very even and tightly spun and the yarn is very smooth. I found one two foot section that was somehow not twisted at all - the two plies were perfectly matched but somehow had lost all their twist and just travelled along next to each other.

It’s finally all finished (for this stage anyway). The singles of this yarn can be seen in my lastentry - beautifully modelling how to use my new swift and ball winder. I plied it back on itself from the centre-pull ball that night and set the twist on Thursday. It was easy to see the difference between the beginning and the end of my yarn when I started playing; my spinning skills have improved a lot since I started this. The last two thirds of my singles were much smoother and more consistent than the first.
 
The colour variations in the wool give the plied yarn a slightly tweedy look in places where the colour difference between the two strands was greatest; it fades away in other places where they matched up. I think it gives the colours an extra level of depth. I’m looking forward to seeing what my yarn will look like knit up. I’m planning a lace scarf, probably a simple geometric pattern to match up with the felt scarf of the same wool but I might change my mind and go for something more organic.
 
On a similar note, here is a link to The Yarn Museum which I discovered a little while ago through The Purl Bee. The galleries of yarns are amazing and so varied. It’s very inspiring.