I Wish I Was an Octopus: Indulgent Knitting

There are always so many things I could talk about wanting to knit in the "I Wish I Was an Octopus" series but this month I'm focusing on the things I want to knit for myself, not for anyone else. There are often times I find patterns or projects that I want to knit for someone else, or just because it looks interesting but today I'm going to look at items I really want to make for myself because they're beautiful, I'd wear them and I'm totally knitworthy.

I am surrounded by beautiful variegated skeins of yarn in the shop and sometimes I, like many of you, I fall in love with a skein but am not sure what to do with it. And the skein is too pretty to make socks with, it needs to be shown off. I probably have about 10 skeins in my personal stash that fall into this category and if I had time I'd turn at least one of the them in Knit Night by Louise Zass-Bangham. This is a great pattern for that skein of yarn that you had to have but weren't really sure what to do with.

We whipped up a pair of our Light as Air wrist warmers in Zealana Air for the shop and I really want a pair for myself. I have been in love with the Peacock colourway for ages (does this surprise anyone?) and these wrist warmers are just so warm and cosy and perfect to throw on in this cold weather. They are a rather quick project so I might just be able to actually squeeze this one in sometime soon.

 I've had the Pebble Beach Shawl by Helen Stewart on my list of things to knit since Unwind Brighton but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've seen so many really pretty versions of it, including one made up of the brand new Cumbria Fingering from The Fibre Co. This was a one skein version and it was a really nice warm and cozy version. I've also seen one in Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Teacup that was really stunning, the pops of color from the yarn really worked. I could also see using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino light as a great option for this. This pattern gives you three size options too, so there are endless possibilities of yarn choice.

There is a brand new pattern by Bristol Ivy out there at the moment, it's the Verso Hat & Cowl. I fell in love with this instantly when I saw it on Instagram. I love the geometric pattern, I love the shape and the pom pom. It also leaves loads of room to play with different color options. I've been eyeing up the Julie Asselin Leizu DK in Shore and Voilier or SweetGeorgia Yarn Superwash DK in Birch and Oxblood. The Leizu DK option is more my colors though and as it is the month of indulgent knitting, this is what I would pick. If I were being generous I would do the SGY version for my sister, she would LOVE that! (maybe next month).

Lastly there is the Askews Me hat by Stephen West. This is a great funky pattern with lots of freedom for color choices and the ability to use up some extra yarn you have from other projects. I haven't quite mastered the Brioche stitch on my own yet though, so I'm going to be attending our Brioche Stitch Basics class on the 30th and then hopefully I might be on my way with this and many other brioche projects I've had my eye on for a while. I am dying to make a version using Hedgehog Fibres Merino DK in Lupi and Wish, they are just the perfect pairing.

What do you wish you were knitting this month?