I am picky about my reds. Really picky. In fact, the main reason red doesn’t appear in my wardrobe more often is my pickiness. I like a bright, true red. Not maroon, not burgundy, not fuchsia, not garnet. Red. It’s hard to vintage in vintage clothes, it’s hard to find in fabric, and it can be hard to find in yarn, too.
Instagram stories is my new favorite thing, and it was through a quest to find a perfect “Tasha” red yarn with a few specifications and a resulting conversation, that the kind folks at Brooklyn Tweed sent me some of their Arbor yarn in Firebrush to try. I was over the moon to give it a whirl! I love their yarns but somehow, Arbor had slipped under my radar. But they thought I’d love it, and given my quest, that I would love the color of Firebrush.
And holy cow… they were right.
Arbor is a DK weight (probably my favorite yarn weight, it’s so versatile) spun from Targhee sheep. The sheep are from the U.S. and it’s spun in an historic mill in Maine. I love that. And I love the yarn, oooh do I love the yarn. It’s light and soft and springy and just a delight to knit with. Many of the shades are gorgeous neutrals in my book, so not ones I’d normally look to, and perhaps how I’d somehow missed it before now. But in the color palette are some beautiful reds, including MY red. I mean, obviously this is my red. Firebrush. The perfect, perfect red to me. If it’s so red you can barely photograph it, that’s a sure sign I’ll love it.
The whole reason I was on the hunt for the perfect red yarn like this was that I wanted a large, warm scarf to wrap around my head and neck in the winter. I’d been looking for DK or worsted weight yarn as I wanted it to be lace, but still warm, so something thinner wouldn’t have worked for my Chicago winter needs.
To go with Arbor, I picked the Autumn Leaves Stole pattern by Jared Flood. Instead of using worsted weight I used the DK weight Arbor, and took out a repeat to make it somewhere between scarf and stole width.
There’s not much to say about the pattern—it was an easy, relaxing knit. You knit each half to the center, then graft the two halves together so that the leaves face the same direction when hanging down on both sides. And while I don’t have any photos of it, I wet blocked it using lace blocking wires to get perfectly straight sides. After blocking it measured 12″ wide and 71″ long.
I’m very thankful Mel was willing to take these photos of me while it was snowing and really cold out. But a local park did make a nice backdrop for my scarf, even if we were only able to stand it for about 5 minutes!
Other than just loving red as reason enough for pining for a red lace scarf for ages, I also wanted it because I thought it would go nicely with the black vintage bouclé coat I’m working on slowly. Stay tuned in that regard.
Meanwhile, I’ll be busy dreaming up more projects for Arbor!
Yarn courtesy Brooklyn Tweed, without expectation of a review. But I really loved it and wanted to share. 🙂
It’s fabulous Tasha! And you have a gorgeous scarf in your very own signature color. Perhaps they should rename it Tasha Red. I love that the pattern came out so well in the scarf. Mel did a great job with the photos too, you don’t look uncomfortable at all. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, Brandy! I’m pretty in love with it. I definitely need to knit a sweater in the same yarn soon I think. It was really freezing when we took the pictures, ha ha! I’m glad they worked out. 😀
I love that you guys trekked out into the snow to get photos. It’s a pretty great color.
Thanks! I thought snow would be such a pretty backdrop for it and there’s nowhere in our yard to really stand and get that effect since it’s small. I rarely am willing to trek out to take blog photos but it was worth it this time. 😉
I have never been a red person but your enthusiasm and fun photos could weaken my resolve 🙂
Well hey we don’t all have to love the same colors! Some people are gaga over purple and I just can never seem to work up the love for it, though I have a few pieces here and there in it. 🙂
This red is perfect! Now if only I could find a lipstick in this shade. I passed over this pattern initially because it was nice but didn’t really stand out to me. Now I definitely want to make it. Thanks for opening my eyes!
I don’t know which shade I was wearing but it was quite a good match! I think it may have been Smashbox liquid lipstick in Bang Bang (which I’d recommend except that it seems to have a lot smaller amount of product compared to some other liquid lipstick brands which annoys me).
That is definitely the perfect Tasha red!
Thanks, I thought so too! 😀
perfection!
Thanks, Charlotte!
I love a true red it’s my signature colour. That red is stunning.
Same, thanks! 🙂
It’s a fantastic color for you and the perfect antidote for a cold, gloomy day!
Thanks! Other than loving red I thought it would really be a nice pop for the black coat I’m making that I worry will look a bit drab. 😀
Ooh, lovely! I’ve been on the lookout for a similar true red in a nice sport or dk cotton. Still searching …