Knit Dreams

If I had infinite time, or even just a little more time, I would knit So. Much. Stuff. My queue, library, and favorites grow every time I go on Ravelry. There are so many amazing and talented designers, releasing such stylish and creative patterns! I get the impression that knitting is still considered a "granny craft," in which case grannies know what's up. When I first started perusing knitwear patterns, and still thought knitting was the realm of old women I remember thinking "If this old women's fashion they've got me beat!" But in reality it seems all ages are represented amongst knitters, with all sorts of fashions.

Ravelry has this fantastic feature for pattern highlights. Until yesterday, I hadn't checked out Ravelry's suggestions for me in weeks. Here are some knits I love that found their way into my pattern highlights page. What are you dreaming of knitting?

1. Aiken, by Andi Satterlund.

2. Light Trails, by Suvi Simola.

3. Issara, by Anne Kuo Lukito.

4. Foxy Dress, by Jacqueline Schiller.

5. Trilinear, by Cindy Garland.

6. On the Road Again, by Joji Locatelli.

New Yarn!

Ok, well it's sort of new yarn. I've had for about 2 months, and made a gauge swatch with it about a month ago, and finally have cast on a project with it. A while ago I noticed my Instagram feed was heavy with green and grey knitwear, and my wardrobe had a lot of black and cool colors. I also had a new design in mind, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to break out of my fashion comfort zone and make something in a new color. I decided I wanted a deep red, wine colored yarn in a worsted weight. And so the hunt for the perfect color began!

I loved Quince and Co.'s new color, Malbec, but it wasn't released at the time, and I wanted to try a new yarn. I've always been curious about Manos del Uruguay, but I didn't want something that variegated for this. I also looked into a lot of Etsy hand dyers. Overall, I discovered a lot of cool and enticing new yarn purveyors. Lorna's Laces almost reeled me in with some lovely deep reds, and O-Wool is now very high up on my list of yarns to try. But I'm very particular and all of these awesome yarns were just slightly, slightly off from the color I wanted.

I spent a couple of weeks looking at yarns, and really wishing I had a local yarn store (alas!). I kept coming back to Malabrigo's Merino Worsted in their deep burgundy.  I originally wanted a true solid, but my current design is so simple I think Malabrigo's subtle variegation will add some extra loveliness (assuming my design works!). But I had used this yarn before for my Tourist sweater, and I really wanted to try something new. Try a new yarn, or go with one you know you love? In the end it was the prices that got me. Here's the reality of the situation: a lot of the lovely, small business, hand dyed yarns were way too expensive. $20-30 for a 100g skein is not feasible for the amount of yarn I needed and the amount of my grad stipend. I went with Malabrigo, which I found on sale for a super reasonable price. No new yarn for this project, but I do get to nuzzle Merino Worsted like a weirdo! But if anyone has any yarn recommendations for me, I'd love to hear them! What are you favorite yarns?