What's This?

This is the yarn for my next project, once I finish October Frost. I can tell you that I'm using Bonne Marie's new Basic Chic Hoodie Pattern for the pattern, but as you can see from the yarn colors, I'm going to take it offroad! You'll just have to wait and see what I do with it, but since I got the rest of the yarn in the other day, I thought I'd share.

If you've never knit a Chic Knit pattern, you really should. Bonne Marie's patterns are classic, timeless, and wearable in real life (this is an important part of handknits). She just released a couple of patterns in her Basic Chic Collection - there is the Hoodie and a Pulli. (At this time, I think the Hoodie is only available through retailers who carry Chic Knits patterns - I got mine from The Loopy Ewe. The Pulli is available for download through the Chic Knits site.) To be perfectly honest, (and just in case you're wondering, I don't get any kind of kickback for this) I think every knitter should own both patterns. Beginning knitters will enjoy them because they are basic sweater patterns that give enough shaping that you'll be happy with the finished garment. More advanced knitters will use them as a template for adding stitch patterns and color work. I think at some point, every beginning knitter sees something in a store or catalog and wants to make it, but if they can't find a pattern for it, they give up. If you have a simple pattern for a classic shape, you can just plug in whatever colorwork or stitch patterns you're using, and assuming you keep your gauge, it will work. It's basically the first step of designing and will give a knitter confidence to try more difficult things. When you're just learning how to put stitches and shapes together to create things in knitting, it helps if you begin with a basic structure that has already been tested. Now I'm NOT suggesting that anyone redo one of these patterns and offer it for sale - that's a copyright violation and against the law. Making tweaks and changing stitches and patterning for your own personal use however is perfectly allowable in copyright law and is a great way to learn.