Ibis was released in April 2019, along with a pattern to go with it. I had asked Kyle Vey, a super talented local designer, to design wings for me. The entire yarn collection, of which Ibis was only part, was called The Aviary, and it seemed fitting. When he was finally ready to show it to us, it definitely took everyone’s breath away.

That pattern/yarn combo, and these images (aided in no small part by how gorgeous Julie is!), went on to cause quite a kerfuffle in the knitting world, and after all these years I still get requests for it. I’ve decided to make it easier by putting the colour up for pre order again, including extensions. We’ve dyed lots and lots of extensions over the years for folks who ran a little short binding off their Wingspan feathers, so I definitely recommend that you get the extra if you think you might be a little on the loose side and plan to knit a Wingspan.

Today is not about the Wingspan Incident though (though I do appreciate how many of you still come up to me at shows and express wonder that I survived). Today is about the Ibis colourway, the bright, jewel toned gorgeousness that formed the palette for so many beautiful projects.

The Ibis in question is the fellow in the photos above. Tito and I got these images at an aviary in Columbia, and this haughty little bird kept turning his back to the camera. He was so stunning, like a muted rainbow, like an oil slick. Iridescent and saturated, but somehow dark and understated too. I set my mind to dyeing a colour that could do this little guy justice.

Here was the final colour. I went with a muted gold, and rather than include that iridescent green, I allowed the green to be a happy consequence of meeting the gold with a brilliant teal. The space *between* colours became as important as the dyes themselves in creating this effect. That’s one of the things that helps Ibis shine. And speaking of shine, it’s most brilliant on bases that have a sheen to them, a little cashmere or sparkle.

The OG Aviary Collection

These were the colours Ibis originally launched with, most of which were kind of drowned out by Ibis itself (that upper left one is mislabeled, that’s Pictus). I’ve always had a soft spot for Pheasant and Turkey myself. It’s neat to look back on the whole collection, in its original form, as it was meant to be presented.

That’s the story, of this vibrant, oil-slick-rainbow colour, based off a haughty bird. We did get a lot of notes from folks saying that this colour got them back into knitting. It turns out, wings meant a lot of things to a lot of people. The original Wingspan was gifted to someone who was not destined to live long enough to knit her own, and knowing that has always made me happy.

I’ll always be grateful for being the conduit through which yarn that meant so much, to so many, came into this world.

I doubt the Ibis gave a shit though, The truth is, the bird was an asshole.