Two Color Fun

Long time no blog, knitters!  Margot here, and in case you were wondering why I haven’t blogged since December, it’s because I’m opening a store in downtown Summit VERY SOON and that has kept me busy lately.  I’m having a ton of fun on this new, big project, but it’s also kept me from my beloved knitting. I spent December until now working on two sweaters, both samples that took me a record long time to complete.  They were also both tedious in different ways: the first required all my attention, the second was straight up stockinette – and a lot of it.  

So here I am: it’s a Thursday evening after a particularly tough day (kid related, not small-business related) with nothing to knit.  For the first time in years, knitting is my hobby again, and I get to satisfy my whims. For some reason, I like to pick up random skeins of worsted-weight yarn in pairs with two complementary colors.  The variety that goes along with a two-color project sounds perfect after my sample knitting and my emotionally taxing day, but I don’t want to have to think too hard about it. Specifically, I want a two-color, worsted weight project that uses about 400 yards of yarn.  I want a little bit of detail, but not too much. Want to hear what I’m coming up with?

Duo Deluxe is my number one pick.  I love the garter stitch texture in two colors, and it looks rich and supple given the simplicity of this pattern.  This pattern is free, and so I took a quick peek and it’s really this easy: working in the round, knit a row in color A, purl a row in color B, repeat until you’re out of yarn.  Read the pattern yourself, of course, but this requires very little thinking, just hopping between two colors that will make you smile.  Written for Woolfolk Far, I think that Juniper Moon Fourteen is the perfect sub for this yarn, as it has the same construction and softness of Far.  I think this would also be really pretty in a hand-dyed yarn like Rios of Vintage, or it would feel awesome in Blue Sky’s Organic Cotton.  

Joji Locatelli’s Odd Stripes is similarly simple, but I love the unexpected shift in the stripe pattern on this cute beanie.  Each stripe is two rows of one color; you knit half the row and purl the other half.  Cute, interesting, colorful, easy!  What’s not to love?  Rios and Vintage are two awesome choices (linked above) but other straightforward choices include Woolstok, Shepherd’s Wool and Shelter.

Jenny F’s Cat Love has been on my queue forever, because animal prints are always a good idea.  The thing I love about this pattern and the “leopard print” is that the color work is irregular and therefore forgiving.  You know what I mean here: mistakes show less.  I think that makes this an ideal first-color-work project.  Make it in Fourteen (so deliciously soft) or Katia’s Cotton Merino for a satisfyingly feminine take on the hat.

My last and favorite pick is Stephen West’s Brio Garter hat.  Yes, I know that it says it’s for an aran-weight yarn, but I have a miniature head, so I tend to fudge on hat patterns, going down a yarn-weight and needle size to fit me appropriately.  I’ve loved this deliciously weird hat forever, and I think it’s time to make it.  West writes his patterns beautifully, so even though it looks like a brioche-stitch sculpture, I have confidence that it won’t be mind-bending and tricky for me.  Also, because there are no rules with West, I think it’d be so fun to mix up a slightly fuzzy yarn (like Fourteen or Cotton Merino) with a hand-dye (like Vintage or Rios) to fully indulge in some warm, cozy, color fun.

Thank you for letting me have a little fun with you here and for taking me away from the big things I had to deal with today.  I miss all my knitters! xoxo Margot