I've had some learning this spring, thanks to a generous gift and a push outside my comfort zone. While deep into my sock yarn scrap crocheted granny square afghan, I put out a notice to my Wednesday afternoon knitting group that I would be happy to accept any fingering weight yarn leftovers that they'd be willing to pass on. I only got one response, but it was a doozy. Katie showed up with a shopping bag full of yarn. Some were missing labels, others were still attached to abandoned projects and others were heavier sock yarn. But, there were plenty of beautiful untouched skeins - all in Katie's colors.
I have a very strong color sense for myself. The colors I wear are blue, green and gray. Period. There may be a few accent pieces in my wardrobe outside those colors, but they represent a tiny fraction of my wardrobe. Katie's bag was full of her colors - gold, mustard, orange, russet, black - all the autumnal colors. As I sorted through, I found a number of skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn.
As I looked at them, they started screaming at me they they needed to be a Westknit's Dotted Rays Speckled Fade. They was no doubt, no hesitation, but that they needed to be be turned into this shawl ASAP. 
It was a little longer than ASAP simply because this is a 1,200 yard shawl. But it was a fun knit with the colors pulling together beautifully. I did change out the gold color in the chevron edging because the one I selected originally was a heavier weight. But the gold really pops.
The surprise in all of this was your response. These Instagram posts have been my most popular of the year! And I would never have combined them if they had not been handed to me in a bag intended for scrap.
