Inara Wrap by Ambah O’Brien is a hugely popular pattern because it allows you to really show your personality with the colors you choose. Spaulson’s (Sara) Luxe Inara does just that, shows off her bright, happy, and fun personality! Read along as we dive deeper into the inspiration behind Sara’s color choices and hear the feats & foibles of her 903 yard quest to completing an Inara Wrap.

Was their any inspiration behind choosing this pattern, yarn, or
color combination?

I saw the pattern at some point last year and loved it. I’m a wrap kind of girl, and I love using multiple colors, so it was right up my alley. I’m also a blues-and-greens kind of girl, so using those colors was a given.
Using Madelinetosh Pashmina came from a desire to make it big and from the fact that I’d picked up a skein of the Leaf in Pashmina on a whim when it went on sale. I used the Leaf for 2016’s Black Locust Mitts FKAL and just LOVED the feel of the Pashmina. It is so, so soft on the skin.

How did you like the pattern? 

The pattern was well written, although I had to ignore some of the directions because I used an extra color (Birch Grey) instead of mirroring the colors.

Would I make it again? Probably not exactly the same — I’d make it a straight-up rectangle. It is super minor, but it bothers me that when I wear it wrapped around my neck the long corners aren’t symmetrical. Talk about first-world problems.

How did you choose your color combination? 

I had Leaf and Havana already when I decided to do the Inara, so I started
plotting out colors that would fit in a gradient alongside those two. I
spent a lot of time playing with the Color Picker tool on the ESK website.

There were some I ordered that I ended up not using — Cobalt, I’m looking
at you — and others I wanted to use that I just could not find like Big Sur.
Another kind ESK customer helped me out with a skein of Big Sur on Tosh Sport,
but the color on that base didn’t bridge between Havana and Leaf as well as
I wanted.

The best part? Now I have a whole bunch of pashmina leftovers begging me to
find more multiple-color projects! But there was one setback as seen in my project page notes:

Holy hells, the Havana was tangled beyond belief. Two parts of the skein looked like my 5-year-old had gone at them with both hands and feet. It took me HOURS, but I managed to painstakingly hand wind the darn thing. Good for a badge, at least?

We would like to congratulate Sara on winning a Kitty Pick & thank her for taking the time to give us all the details on her project. It is always so fun to hear other knitting stories & know we’re not the only ones who get super frustrated at tangled yarn or spend way too long debating the perfect color combination. In the end, a project like Luxe Inara is worth all the worry and work!