This is part 2 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 4 Edition.
It’s Day 2 of our 12 Days of Winter Kit Collection! When I think of winter (my favorite season), I immediately think of the beautiful, quiet feeling when snow is falling. I have always loved snow, and just the sort of magical feeling it brings. Snow brings nostalgia with it as well; memories of making snowmen and sledding in the neighborhood with my sister when I was growing up.
Quiet Snow by Susan Chestnut
The details of individual snowflakes is always something that has fascinated me as well. They look like tiny gemstones! I’ve often imagined I’d eventually move to a place where it snowed all the time, but alas, here in Charlotte, we maybe see snow once or twice a year. I love Charlotte for many reasons, so I’ll deal with the lack of snow.
Snowflake captured by John Entwistle
That feeling of a quiet snowfall was my inspiration for the Day 2 of Winter kit, the Falling Snow cowl. Large cowls are a great winter knit project. You can wear them with anything, and their classic look works well for everyone regardless of your personal style.
Our Deluxe Worsted yarn is a no-brainer for winter projects. It is 100% wool, always keeps you warm, and comes in lovely colorways for the winter season. This as a base for the project was perfect, but it needed a little something more.
That something more needed to be Penna. Penna is one of our newest yarns, and one of my absolute favorites. It is a lace weight blend of baby suri alpaca, merino, and nylon. The nylon gives strength, where the alpaca provides a fluffy, soft halo that gives an ethereal quality to projects. I chose to work the Falling Snow cowl with the two yarns held together throughout, which gives dimension to the gray tones, and that lovely halo reminds me of fresh snow on the ground. The lace pattern is reminiscent of snowflakes sprinkled all over the cowl.
This kit would make a great gift for a beginner knitter looking to grow their skills knitting lace. Since it is an all over repeat, you can really get the hang of working a lace pattern.
No matter whether you choose to wear the Falling Snow cowl open, or doubled up, it is a cozy knit that has an elegant appearance. Remember, this kit, along with the others from our 12 Days of Winter collection are available at your local yarn store! Click here to find a shop that carries our yarns near you.
This is part 1 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 4 Edition.
In all of the madness that 2020 has had to offer, I’m amazed by how quickly it is passing by. We’re already well into mid-November and the holidays are just around the corner. For the fourth year in a row, we are absolutely thrilled to share that we are offering twelve wintry kits available exclusively through your local yarn store. Right now, local yarn stores need our support more than ever, so we hope all of the kits we reveal over the next twelve days will have you sprinting to yours! And with that said, let me introduce you to the first kit in the collection: the Boreal Hat!
The Boreal Hat in the Lilac option.
This year our palette for the kits took inspiration from the soft pastels of frost and the rich green boughs of evergreen trees. In the case of the Boreal Hat, I took inspiration from imagery of the northern lights glimmering in the sky above the spruces and firs of the boreal forests.
Northern Lights Over Boreal Forest, photograph by Ingo Arndt
The a striking colorwork motif is an 8-stitch repeat that is rhythmic to knit. It does require a little concentration to make sure you’re on track from row to row, but it also isn’t overly complex and the results are well worth the effort.
The Boreal Hat in the Icy Blue option.
Yarn management is a breeze in this cozy accessory. Although the hat uses three colors, only two colors are used on any given row. The floats are no longer than three stitches wide, so there is also no need to trap your floats. All of the crown shaping is worked using a single color, so you also don’t need to incorporate shaping into the colorwork section. If you’re interested in some colorwork tips and tricks, don’t miss my blog post from Series 2 of the 12 Days of Winter Kit Collection.
Crown shaping is simple in this hat.
There are two versions of this kit for you to choose from: Lilac and Icy Blue. Both versions use one of my favorite yarns, Kingston Tweed. This rustic yet soft yarn blends wool, alpaca, and viscose. The result is a beautiful yarn with a slight halo that’s perfect for textural and colorwork projects. It’s lightweight but retains warmth, so it’s perfect for wintry projects.
The brim of this hat is knit in a contrast color and features K2, P1 Ribbing.
The Icy Blue version of the kit comes with a skein each of colors #110 Beryl, #114 Serpentine, and #111 Shale. The Lilac version comes in colors #107 Quartz, #114 Serpentine, and #102 Calcite. Honestly, I’m not sure which version I like more. The muted, frosty colors in each version pop beautifully against the deep forest green. The Boreal Hat kit would be a great last-minute gift for a loved one, or for yourself.
