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Web-Letter, Issue 63 – Lacy Chunky Throw I remember the first time I ran across a photo of a Twinkle sweater. I was totally taken by the swingy shape, the color of the yarn—a soft, almost transparent aqua-blue—and the oversize crocheted trim that gently flowed down the cardigan’s fronts. Here was a chunky sweater that seemed to float and swirl—an irresistible, light-hearted cardigan. Since my first look at her knitwear, I’ve been an ardent admirer of Wenlan Chia, Twinkle’s founder and designer.   Wenlan is a ready-to-wear designer who loves handknitting. Sweaters and knitted accessories are an integral part of every Twinkle collection, and I, for one, am grateful that she has made it possible for knitters to reproduce her engaging sweaters. Her three yarns—Soft Chunky, Cruise, and Kid Mohair—are distributed by CEY and patterns for her sweaters are collected in her books, published by Potter Craft, and in the a CEY booklet, Twinkle Mohair Designs. In celebration of the publication of her latest book, Town and Country—reviewed below by Cecily Glowik—Wenlan gave us the Lacy Chunky Throw, worked in Soft Chunky as the project for this week’s web letter.
The Story: In her third book of knitting patterns, Town and Country, designer Wenlan Chia combines current and vintage design elements in garments both whimsical and romantic. She offers 30 patterns that range from hats and scarves to wraps and skirts to sweaters and dresses—all worked in her signature yarns—Soft Chunky, Cruise, and Kid Mohair.   The book’s theme is the joy of travel, and the projects reflect the inspiration that different places give for knitwear design. The Pacifica jacket, knitted in Cruise, is perfect for touring a sea-side town or attending an afternoon picnic. The Millbrook Sweater Dress in Soft Chunky and worn over jeans, is great for a cool New England hike, or slipped on over tights for an outdoor party. Worked in lightweight Kid Mohair, the Middlebury Scarf is a fluttery accent piece that will keep your neck warm, if need be. In addition to patterns, Wenlan gives tips and advice throughout the book, including ideas on different ways to style each garment. Twinkle Knit Bits offers tips on how to make your own row markers, keep track of rows, work with double-point needles, and more. To keep with the theme of travel, Wenlan even offers tips on how to make traveling easier. The Yarn: Twinkle Soft Chunky — 100% virgin wool Twinkle Soft Chunky is a super-soft chunky 100% virgin wool yarn with a very loose twist. This loose twist allows for the yarn to be knitted at a large gauge (1½ to 2 stitches per inch!) and still produce lightweight, warm garments. At this gauge the stitches are so large that even in Stockinette Stitch, the stitches themselves become a wonderful design element in the finished knit. The design support offered by Wenlan Chia makes use of innovative knitting techniques to make the most of this super chunky yarn. Worked on big needles, Soft Chunky makes for quick knits that are great for gift knitting and wearing. For Soft Chunky’s color palette Wenlan chose a mix of 33 current fashion colors and classic vintage shades. The Stitches: The Lacy-Chunky Throw makes use of a very open lace pattern to keep down the weight (and yardage) on a larger item. We thought that it would be interesting to see how different stitches use up different amounts of yarn. We knitted three swatches, each one using 15 yards of Twinkle Soft Chunky, the same number of stitches were cast on for each and all were worked on size 19 needles. Take a look at the results.	more photos The Pattern: Here is the free downloadable Lacy Chunky Throw pattern. If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try this.
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