Nymphalidea Shawl... what yarns will you make yours in?

Everyone here at Kaleidoscope Yarns knits a lot. But we're all different people. We like different things, different fibers and different types of knitting, so it's rare that we ever make the same thing as someone else who works here.

But when Barb and I were looking at Knitty Issue 45 last week, we both fell in love with the Nymphalidea Shawl. It's a pretty simple pattern, and easy to memorize, so that mindless kind of knitting certainly appeals to us, since it's always good to have at least one mindless project in the works. 

photo courtesy of Knitty.com

And we just love combining a solid yarn with a variegated yarn. Like my recently finished Dreambird shawl...

Dreambird Shawl in Ella Rae Lace Merino (solid) and Noro Silk Garden Sock

And who doesn't love a long semi-triangular shawl shape that can be worn draped around (and around) your neck, adding style to your outfit while being comfortable and warm to wear? The Nymphalidea is more than appealing.

So we immediately began the yarn selection process. For solids, we looked at all available fingering weight yarns in the shop, but narrowed it down to the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine and the Frog Tree Pediboo. For the multi colored yarn, we agreed that this shawl would be best with a yarn that had some sort of repeat (like stripes) as opposed to just a hand dyed variegated. Our top choices were Lang Mille Colori Socks & Lace, Skacel Zauberball, and Lang Magic.

There were so many options! Barb chose a black Ultra Alpaca Fine and a Mille Colori Socks & Lace and got started on hers right away. It's going to be beautiful!

I picked a gorgeous brown shade of Pediboo and also went with the Mille Colori Socks & Lace. I was finishing up my Remix sweater last week so didn't get started on mine until last night. I'm going to love it, I can already tell.

What yarn (and in what colors!) will you make yours in?

Is your color choice influenced by the season?

Do you pick colors based on the season? As I've pulled yarn from restock lists over the past few weeks, I've noticed that we've been selling a LOT of greens, reds, browns, oranges and yellows. And since those colors have been in abundance here in Vermont over the past month, I made the connection that maybe people are buying what they see out in nature? I don't know if it's true of not, but it's my own little study! 

These groupings of yarn were pulled from actual restock lists. So somewhere out there, fall colored items are being made!

Fall inspired colors of Berroco Vintage

Autumnal shades of Berroco Comfort

Plymouth Encore

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica

Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted

We love it that people are making sweaters, shawls and afghans in fall colors. It's my favorite time of the year in Vermont. How can you look at the foliage and NOT be completely inspired?

Hats, Hats, & More Hats

Hats seem to be a pretty popular project these days, so we thought we'd share some of the ones our customers have been working on.

One fun project is the Fane hat. Customers like this hat because it's lightweight... it's not your traditional worsted or bulky weight head topper. It's great for these cool mornings we've been having lately.  

The Boboli Lace comes in 6 pretty colors and this hat is knit on size 5 needles. It's easy and really cute!

Another project that people are casting on for is the Jenness Hat. We designed this for the new neon colors of Plymouth Encore, but people have made it in a wide variety of yarns, and it looks great in each one! 

You just need two colors of a worsted weight yarn. Try a variegated yarn (like Plymouth Gina or Noro Kureyon) with a solid and you'll love the result. Our Corrugated Rib Hat (another popular hat, free pattern in our shop) shows you what using a variegated yarn as one of your choices would look like.

For those folks who like instant gratification, we've got a great new yarn called Bravo Big. This yarn is available in 6 solid shades and works up quickly on size 15 needles. There's an excellent pattern booklet that has patterns for hats, mittens and other accessories. 

The yarn comes in 200 gram balls, so if you buy even just 2 colors, you can make a number of hats!

Do you like just a bit of colorwork? Then maybe our Mirror Image Hat is a good project choice for you. 

Two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca will make you two hats! The colorwork is on the brim, and the 2 color braid detail is fun to work. Ultra Alpaca comes in beautiful colors. If you need help selecting two that work together, let us help!

If we've whetted your appetite for hat knitting but you don't see one you here that's quite to your liking, come on in and check out our pattern booklet. We've got many hat samples in the shop, and more patterns in our binders.