While having a cup of tea the other day I glanced down at my nails and thought, “It is time to take this polish off.” Then I thought, “I wonder what this color would look like in an inkle band.” Inspiration at my finger tips.

It may be hard to see in the picture, but the color is an iredescent deep purple created by blending charcoal gray and pinkish iridescent pearl. I enjoyed that manicure. . .

I’d never worked with metallic yarn so I was really intrigued by this bit of inspiration. As soon as my son was up from his nap, I packed him in the car and off to Jo Ann Fabrics we went.

I bought purple, lavender, and pearl DMC metallic embroidery thread, without a coupon (sigh). Curious what the metallic yarn would look like next to a cotton yarn, I chose 3 perle cotton yarns from my stash that were very close in color to the metallic yarns.

Then I designed a simple pattern with stripes, horizontal bars, and dots to see what the effect was in different pattens. I used all 6 strands of the embroidery thread so it would match the weight of the perle cotton yarn. And ended up with . . .

1. Bars
2. Dots
3. Metallic dots next to a metallic line
4. Line

Lesson learned: the closer in color the metallic yarn is to the the cotton yarn the harder it is to achieve a patterned effect. Instead, the metallic acts as a highlight, not a standalone element.

It’s going to be fun to incorporate this into future projects now that I know what I know. And knowing is half the battle. Isn’t it?

What inspires your craft?

warp, weave, be happy.