Finally near the end of the Diotima Shell by Kirsten Hipsky from One-Skein Wonders out of some ancient stash. One of those impulse yarn purchases that seemed like such a good idea at the time (clearance!) but I then found myself staring at it every time I dug through my yarn stash wondering what I was thinking. It’s Stitch Studio by Nicole Bubbly, which has now become almost impossible to find since it was the house brand for AC Moore and that chain is no longer with us. I was pretty shocked when I found out they were going out of business. They were the only major craft chain in my area (other than Hobby Lobby) that I hadn’t worked at during some point, and they were definitely my favorite. Admittedly I hadn’t even though about them in a while (life does move on), except for the rare occasions I would be driving past where the store used to be, but trying to find a link for Bubbly brought back the memories. Apparently some of the empty stores will become Michaels (I was there from 2011 to 2015) but there is already a Michaels in my area close by so I don’t think that will happen for us.
The yarn itself isn’t bad, it’s a slubby cotton yarn, but the colorway was a mistake for me. The colors are at the perfect length to pool oddly, especially in a pattern like the Diotima tank top where you switch from knitting back and forth to going in the round right at the boob area, which gave me awkward purpley splotches right where I didn’t want them. I ended up solving the issue by going down a few needle sizes. The stretchy nature of the pattern, being knit entirely in a knit one purl one rib meant that changing the needle size won’t present a fit issue. I’m on the final stretch, and only have a few inches left to knit but it’s slow going.