Winter Capelet
A few years ago, my mom and I ventured into an adorable yarn shop in the hill country of south Texas. Since my mom is not a knitter, she drifted away from me, browsing through patterns and looking at the samples hanging around the store.
She saw a knitted capelet on display and asked me to make her one. It’s rare for a knitter – well, for me – to get a request from someone they actually to knit for. So, of course, I had to make her one.
Pattern + Yarn
I really did not like the capelet pattern my mom first saw. And so I went searching for a better one on Ravelry. I chose (with my mom’s approval) Paulina Popiolek’s Winter Capelet because it looked relatively easy but had a gorgeous lace pattern along the bottom.
Next came the yarn…. My mom loves blue and because it goes so well with her eyes, it really is the perfect color for her. I looked around for yarn but when Sundara’s Hawaiian Nights popped up in my inbox, I was sold. The depth of colors within the blue took my breath away.
Progress Frustrations
I loved the lace in this pattern – but it wasn’t always my best friend. I learned my lesson, though: next time, I will use markers to help distinguish the lace repeats. Honestly, I have no idea why I didn’t do this. Sometimes, I get so absorbed in following the pattern that I forget what I should know how to do.
Early on, I decided to add some stitches to this pattern. It seemed small so I added some repeats of lace to the circumference. And then, near the end, I added on more rows to make sure that this capelet hit just above the elbow.
And then, catastrophe – I realized I was going to run out of yarn. In desperation, I went to my local yarn store and, with the help of a wonderful employee, found some Manos del Uruguay that would blend (hopefully!) nicely with the Sundara.
Details
Pattern: Winter Capelet by Paulina Popiolek
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Aran Merino
Colorway: Hawaiian Nights
Secondary Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Maxima
Secondary Yarn Colorway: Blueberry
Needles: US 7 circs (4.5 mm)
Made for: my mom
Time to Completion: 22 days
Despite a few tiny flaws with the lace border and the color variation near the top, I’m happy with how this capelet turned out. And I really enjoyed knitting it – so much so that I would knit it again. It was nice to knit something other than a shawl or cowl.
The integration of the Manos near the top is noticeable, hopefully, only to me. Given the variation within hand-dyed yarn, you could believe that Sundara’s yarn becomes a bit brighter in places. That’s what I’m telling myself, at least.
