I Wish I was an Octopus: Spring Flings

I don't about you but I feel like there is a plethora of amazing designs out there at the moment and I want to knit them ALL. And I mean all of them. I haven't written a post in the "I Wish I was an Octopus" serious in a while so I thought it was time to talk about some of the many patterns inspiring me at the moment.

Who hasn't been totally caught up in the "fading" craze? The talented Andrea Mowry captured our imaginations with her Find your Fade shawl at the beginning of the year (I do have one of these on the needles but more on that at a later date) and then last month she released the So Faded sweater pattern in both an adult version and a pint sized version. And just look how amazing her and her daughter look in their sweaters? Lots of great fading versions have been created already and it is just a great little summer sweater. 

The yet to arrive second Issue of Laine Magazine is full of gorgeous patterns including another shawl pattern by Andrea called Bird of  Feather. But that's not the pattern I'm clambering to start knitting, no it's Morning Fog by Laine co-founder Jonna Hietala which is an elegant light weight cardigan knit in Shibui Knits Silk Cloud. This cardi just looks so cozy and relaxed and would just be the perfect item to dress up my summer uniform of jeans, a tank top and sandals. It will work well into the autumn and winter as well as a light layer. I can't wait to see more pics and dig into the pattern when the magazine arrives next week.

Have you seen the Pom Pom Quarterly Summer 2017 preview on Ravelry yet? It's full of cute patterns and I love the bright cheerful photographs they've taken for this milestone 5th Anniversary edition. The magazine should be arriving in the shop next week, which means I could in theory cast-on the Bash hat by Linda Dubec. I love everything about this hat, the geometric design, the colors used (though I have been playing around with altering that so that I could replace the yellow with pink)  and the yarn. I love working with The Fibre Co. Cumbria Fingering yarn and a hat is a reasonably sized project that I may even manage to complete in the nearish future. Maybe even in time for Pomfest in July, watch this space...

I came across this adorable kids pattern in a friend's Ravelry favorites the other day; it's the Teddy Bear Sweater by PetiteKnit and it's just so darn cute. It's a simple top down raglan sweater with some cleverly placed embroidery on the front. I have lots of friends with young kids at the moment and I'd love to make this for at least one of them. 

And last but not least for this edition of "I Wish I was an Ocotopus" is a shawl pattern by Melanie Berg. Melanie will be here teaching in June and I'd love to knit another of her designs before she arrives and I'd love the chance to use Shibui Knits newest yarn Lunar which makes Whiteout the perfect choice. Melanie used Pollen and Ivory which is a stunning combo but not a color combo I can wear. I've been playing around with color choices all week and I might so for a darker version in Abyss and Imperial. 

Let's see how many of these, if any I manage to get on the needles. I'm trying to finish up several projects at the moment including a pair of Dave socks for my Dad, the Enso sweater I started for myself last Spring, the Joji Locatelli MKAL and at least five other projects I can't think of at the moment. 

-Carmen