One of my favorite parts of my job here at Knit Picks is picking new colorways for Imagination and Stroll Hand Painted. It’s always fun to make twenty or so different colorways pulled from some of my favorite photographs, natural formations or time periods. Then we all get together and cull the herd of possible yarns down to two, three or however many we need to round out the existing yarn line. We only needed two new faces for Stroll Hand Painted this time and I’m really pleased with what we decided upon!
Crystal is a range of soft greens and blues with shocking dabs of red. I think this one would make a great pair of socks with a little more texture to them than an average hand paint could handle. The greens are so tonal and soft that the stitches would have some room to breath before those splashes of red pop up, creating some really eye-catching areas. I’m always a sucker for a nice, bright red and this one is definitely in that category.
That being said, the real sweetheart this time around is definitely Constellation. Inspired by the natural beauty of outer space, this colorway is just about the perfect unisex yarn. I love the dark greys shot through with startlingly bright blues in this one. A friend of mine is having a little fellow in September and I wanted to knit a little sweater that would be gender neutral enough to snuggle on any future babies that might come their way. I have to say that Constellation turned out to be just the yarn for the job! I used the Sweet Baby Sweater pattern by Caroline Wiens (free on Ravelry here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweet-baby-sweater-2) and whipped out a sweet little pullover over the course of a few days.
The finished fabric looks like stars streaking across the deep night sky. Oh so fun! All that’s left to do is pick out some little white buttons and find the perfect card to go with it! What’s your favorite project for those extra special hand painted yarns in your stash? Are you a sock knitter or do you lean more towards a nice, light shawl project?
