West-ern Colonnade

The knitting world is a broad and wonderous place, full of creative characters. One of them is a midwesterner named Stephen West who is, shall we say, more of a character than most. He has come to be known as a designer who likes bright colors, sharp lines, and an all-around unconventional aesthetic.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that a shawl I (generally a fan of more simplistic, traditional designs) was thinking about knitting had been dreampt up by this maverick in his early years as a designer. Back in 2009, Stephen published his Colonnade shawl in Knitty, and it's been in my queue ever since.

While putting my feet up for the last few weeks, I decided to do a deep dive into the yarn stash and pulled out something I bought on a trip to Oregon about a decade ago: Deam In Color "Baby" (sport-DK) in Cloud Jungle (similar to their current offering, "Raincloud"). Even though Colonnade was designed for a much heavier yarn, I knew it would take substitution well, so the yarn and pattern made friends.

Mine's all one color, and I'm skipping the loop and toggle. I think it'll suit me quite nicely, and I'm tickled to think that I'm knitting the most uncharacteristic Stephen West pattern in a most uncharacteristic color. It's perfect.