I always have a sharp out eye when the store staff is stocking new yarns and I make a point of walking right past our display cubes where the cool yarn kids hang out so I can see who my best friend of the week will be. This week I have two best friends–both in my desired sporty gauge.
Yarn and Soul Superfine 400 (in my mind I put the emphasis on “fine” so that when I say it to myself it comes out “SuperFINE!!”) comes in 25 gorgeous heather shades, and I honed right in on some dark green (called Seaweed) that would coordinate perfectly with most of my (black and white) wardrobe. 100% superfine alpaca and it has a little halo that just melts into a lovely drape. I’d make this adorable Side-Button Vest to go over a cream turtleneck for maximum contrast.

My other new amour is a yarn I talked about on our “Ready, Set, Knit!” podcast a few weeks ago; Spincycle Yarns’ Dyed In The Wool. It’s a sport/heavy fingering weight yarn, and superwash to boot, so you might make some kick-butt heavy boot socks but I’d rather make something that every can see–because the hand-dyeing process takes place before the yarn is spun so it has a unique patterned effect. If you’re making a large project, you might need to compare a few unwound skeins for the closest match, but if you’re using a hand-dyed yarn like this, I think it’s best to let the yarn tell you what to do. You can’t be the boss of a hand-dyed yarn! Spincycle is owned and run by two women who produce small batches of exquisite yarn in the Pacific Northwest. 17 different colorways are at your disposal, including my favorite name, Venus In Furs (check out the Velvet Underground song for a little kick in your workday, my friends) which is a melange of pinks and purples against a background of cream, brown, and burgundy. I’d make these really cute Kira K gloves to match my (black) winter coat and really make them pop.

What patterns do you like to use hand-dyed yarn to make? And what special care do you take to match up colorways? Let us know in the comments, below!