New Series: I Wish I Was An Octopus...

I made mention of starting a series of blog posts called "I wish I was an octopus" at the start of the year and well, I've finally gotten around to it. This is going to be a monthly series in which I talk about the projects on my needles and the projects I wish I had on my needles. As is probably the case with many of you, there are a hundred beautiful projects out there I want to knit and I only have two arms. But see, if I were an octopus it would be a whole other story.

On my active needles at the moment, (I say "active" because I have at least 4 WIPs in a basket in my office) is the simple but gorgeous In Stillness by Alicia Plummer, which I am knitting up in The Uncommon Thread Everday Worsted in Pontus. I can't take the credit for finding this pattern, it was a customer who sent me a photo (the one I used below) of her finished sweater and I instantly fell in love. I love things that aren't too fussy, that are simple and elegant in design but with a little something special. This ticks all those boxes. Alicia designed the pattern in Everyday Worsted and it is a perfect match. The stitch definition is incredible and of course the colors are amazing too. I'm hoping to whip this up pretty quickly so I can get on to one of these other projects.

I have been searching around for a baby blanket pattern for a while now as good freinds of mine are about to have their second. I have done a few baby blanket gifts in recently and while I am happy to repeat a pattern I loved, I was looking for something new and hadn't been finding anything that inspired me. That is until last week when this was in my instagram feed:

How great is this blanket!?! It's the latest release from Tin Can Knits and it's called Fly Away which is part of their new book Max & Bodhi's Wardrobe. I have yet to decide what yarn to use but I'll let you know when I do. It's going to be a belated gift as the baby is due in a couple of weeks and there is no way I'll get it done before then.

I have also been drooling over several versions of Stephen West's pattern Dotted Rays. I love both the single color versions and the super-multicolored ones. If I went single color it would have to be Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Sapphire. It is just the most goreous blue and such a great yarn to work with. It would make a great Dotted Rays. If I went multi-colored route, then I would dig out some leftovers from my stash, as the cresents at the start of the shawl don't use much yardage it'd be a great way to use up some stash that will otherwise not find a home very quickly. Add in some Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Teacup and Skein Top Drawer Sock in Smokestack Lightning. (I'm having a bit of a blue/teal obsession at the moment if you haven't noticed.) 

Last on my list of things I wish I was knitting is Belle by Coco Knits. A perfect pattern for Shibui Knits Linen, a great summer sweater that could be thrown on over a tank top, a bikini or a dress. It's a super flattering shape and only requires 3 skeins for the small and medium while the large only needs 4. I've been eyeing the Fjord colourway for a while now but Cascade has started to speak to me as well, so I just don't know.

Let's recap for a moment, shall we? I am knitting a sweater, I want to be knitting a blanket, another sweater and a rather large shawl... I'm going to have to pick some smaller projects soon. And I'm definetly on a bit of a blue kick at the moment, all shades of blue. 

I want to say a quick thank you to my friend Dominique for her beautiful illustration, which is the official mascot for this blog series. You'll be seeing more of the octopus in the near future, so watch this space.

Until the next edition, happy knitting.

-Carmen