I’m not writing a fable or morality tale here. Sometimes patience is the glossy veneer we apply to past moments when we were clueless, trapped, or frightened. Patience is a virtue. So is taking the time you need to listen, observe, and figure out the best thing to do — I think those terms are discernment and prudence.

In January 2011 (I checked the invoice) I ordered some novelty yarn because it was bamboo. Yesterday, I finished the project that it was destined to be. During that 13+ years I’ve had it, I was not patient, my discernment was off, but I was able to look at that yarn and whatever I was attempting to make with it and — with humility — prudence said ‘this isn’t it…start again’

I had just frogged and re-caked the one skein I continued to work and rework into any and everything. I was never satisfied. It’s novelty yarn, it should retain some of that ‘novelty’ value in whatever it ends up being. In that moment (over 13 years later) it was as if that yarn said “that’s what I want to be!”

Throughout the last few months of rediscovering my stash of yarn, and diving into fiber arts again, I’ve had some other designs in mind that are worked on the bias. It’s been a bit since I’ve worked anything that way, and I wanted to avoid the eyelet-filled selvages that remind me of dishcloths…so I figured I would practice.

That ended up being exactly what this yarn wanted to be.

Cast on 5, kfb, k2tog….knit all rows…increase on both sides until you decrease on one side, and then decrease on both sides…stripe at will!

I did think it was going to be a shawl or wrap, but after wearing it for an hour — a literal weight on my shoulders — and it seemed to ask for something else. Shawl pin securing it, I looked in the mirror and knew that the yarn wanted to be a poncho. By the end of the day, I made sure the fabric wasn’t misshapen (because as talkative as this piece has been, we all have moments where we don’t know what’s best for us) and I used some leftover yarn ends to seam it up.