Nebula

And for something completely opposite of the Nightshade from the last post...here's Berroco Nebula! It appears that this sample piece shows a color repeat from several (all?) colorways, but it's hard to tell.

This is a single ply superwash merino in a light sport to fingering weight. Lots of folks have used it to make a Zick Zack scarf, a freebie on Ravelry. 

Pic borrowed from janetwynne's Rav project page.

You'll just need 2 skeins in different shades to get a really cool effect. Looks like the Hitchhiker and Daybreak shawls are popular choices, too. It would be cool to just knit a tube scarf using a few skeins and a 16" circular. You'd end up with a really cool scarf without having to think about it much at all. 

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

Emily's Mini Fade would be fun, too! If you need some color after all of those grey months, maybe Nebula is what you're looking for.

Qing Fibre Merino Fingering

I'm on a color kick this week, apparently. Forgive me...it is very grey outside. While I love the rain and winter, a little pop of color always helps. The Merino Fingering from Qing Fibre is really doing my brain some good, even if I am feeling most drawn to the dark green on the left above.

The speckles on these are also bringing me joy. I hope they do the same for you all!

More Mille Colori

I unpacked a big ol' colorful box of Mille Colori Baby this week.

Look at all the these pretty colors.  Nice.

Sally has been working on the Missoni-Style Scarf.  The pattern is written up on the Ravelry page of Raveler JadziaDax.  So nice of her to share!

Sally says the yarn is really nice to work with, soft and fluffy but sturdy.  It doesn't fall apart like it looks like it might.  And those colors.  There are my two favorites...the brightest one and the most subtle one.

This is the same beautiful stuff that Ann used for her crocheted shawl I showed you last week.  Crochet shawl, knit scarf, whatever you like, as long as its colorful!

Color Options

The calendar says spring is officially here, and many of us will be on spring break next week.  Let's look at some nice color, shall we?  

First up, Crazy Zauberball.  It's a crazy fingering weight wool with a cool handspun/marled/gradient thing happening.  Great for socks, hats, cowls, shawls...I love it for the September Circle.  I made one of these with Kauni a few years ago, and I can highly recommend the pattern.  It would be a great first lace project if you are looking to dip your toes into that pool. 

For a super-easy option, the Baktus is always a good choice.  The simplest garter stitch triangle will really highlight the cool yarn, on its own or striped with a solid.  You really can't go wrong with a Baktus.  As for sweaters, the wardrobe staple Funky Grandpa cardigan uses the Zauberball for stripes against a solid background.  There are nearly 12,000 projects on Ravelry with this yarn.  That's usually a good sign.

During the yarn crawl, I had several knitters ask about Footlights from Blue Ridge Yarns.  I had not really thought too hard about the possibilities for this pretty stuff, but I started looking after the crawl.

These little bundles contain 400 yards of four coordinating colors of richly-dyed superwash merino sock yarn.  You can use them for shawls, mitts, cowls...any place you might want smallish amounts of colors that will go together.  I've linked to Ravelry projects that caught my eye, but there are so many possibilities.  Blue Ridge Yarns offers a free sock pattern, too.

We currently have Navajo Sunset, Pansies, Apple Rose, and River Rocks.  Sometimes it's the colorway names that get me, and these are good ones.

Finally, we have everyone's favorite shade of Shiraito back in stock for the Soft Waves Hat.  There are several more on the way, but I wanted to make sure you knew this one was on the shelves.

There is some really pretty yarn rolling in for lighter weight knitting.  I am really excited to tell you about the newest yarn from Berroco...more on that soon!

Color Therapy

After a winter of grey sweaters, I needed some color.  I showed you my work-in-progress Palette Cowl in the brightest neon green I could find.  The Manos del Uruguay Maxima in Chartreuse certainly did the trick, and the cowl itself is perfect.  (Click on over to the stunning new Manos website.  It really highlights the yarns, patterns, and the company itself.  Such a great story.)

While I was knitting, I worried that it would be too small to double wrap, especially since my bind-off usually comes out way too tight.  I decided to experiment with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretch Bind Off.  It was perfect and totally worth the tiny bit of extra time it took to implement!  It looked a little wavy and wobbly at first, but I blocked it out to size, and then everything was right with the world.  I love this, but apparently my need for color therapy did not end with the cowl.

I immediately fell in love with the Chartreuse Royal Alpaca that arrived from Aslan Trends last month.  And I immediately needed to pair it with the Turquoise, obviously.  Completely inspired by this lovely thing on Ravelry, I'll try a colorblocked cowl with these three colors, maybe a fourth..either winter white or chocolate brown.  I'll cast on enough stitches to fit on a 16" circular and knit a tube until I'm done with my yarn.

And still, I keep buying neon-colored yarn.  I have had the colorwork itch lately, and Grettir from BrooklynTweed Winter 13 looks like it might satisfy.  

Photo from BrooklynTweed Ravelry page.

Bright blue body with yellow, white, and charcoal yoke?  Perfect.  There are two versions, and I'll do the men's, skipping the turtleneck and waist shaping.  I'm going for pure cozy comfort here.

Finally, the subdued color changes of the Freia Flux Lace were too much to pass up.  I pretty much bought this because the colorway was called Metal Earth, and that spoke to me.

I thought maybe a triangular shawl, maybe the Age of Brass and Steam.  But Heidi Kirrmaier's Windward is on my list, too.  I love the idea of playing with the color changes is unexpected ways.  So many possibilities.

I think I might have sated the color craziness for now.  The last thing that came home with me is a nice dusty shade of purple.  

This is two skeins of Manos Wool Clasica, destined to become another Palette, because I loved knitting the first one so much.  This colorway is called Slate, and it is definitely on the grey spectrum.  Ahhh, back to normal.