Gynx Yarns Picks: Spectra

You might remember that I cast on Stephen West's Spectra a little bit ago and posted this photo:

 (I've done a lot more since then. I have 21 or 22 wedges now.)

While I'm in love with my madelinetosh/Noro combination, I was looking through the many finished projects on Ravelry and started looking at other people's color combinations. A lot of people have knit this either with two solids, or a solid and a variegated instead of a gradient. It made me think about what I'd pick from the Gynx Yarns stash, and honestly, it makes me want to knit a whole new one once this is done with my yarn.

This first combination (Gunmetal Gray for the border and Gir for the interior wedges) is what I think I'll do if I knit this pattern again with my own yarn. The blues would really stand out from the medium gray border, but the light and medium grays would almost blend in. I think it would be a really interesting effect with some of the wedges really standing out and some places that seem to run in together.

 This (Catbus for border and Bamboo Forest for interior) would make a really great fall combination. I think it would work equally well with the colors reversed, depending on the desired look.

Going with the neon and neutrals trend that is so popular now, I'd pick these (Gunmetal Gray again for the border and Margarita on the Rocks for the interior) for a really fun pop of color. The medium gray makes the lime-green stand out even more.

Well, that's all for this time. Tomorrow, I'll be posting about my Ravellenic Games goals!

Gynx Yarns Picks: Aristida Shawl

I mentioned a few weeks ago when I reviewed the Knitscene Accessories 2012 magazine that the whole reason I bought it was for the Aristida Shawl by Alexandra Beck.

I have since cast this on with some recycled yarn that I dyed an emerald green, but there were some Gynx Yarns colorways that I really wanted to use for this.

The yarn I really wanted to use was Natsu, which is a really nice, very subtly-variegated deep red colorway. The original in the magazine is in a semi-solid, so the slight variations in this yarn would be absolutely gorgeous.

One of my newest colorways, Gunmetal Gray, is the closest to the original color, and the pattern looks amazing in that medium gray.

Random cuteness:

In one of the Ravelry groups I'm in (My Knitting Has Cat Hair in It), someone posted this link to a live feed of seven baby kittens. The past few days I've had it open in one of my tabs on my computer, and I check up on them from time to time. They are so adorable, although I do feel bad for the momma cat when she's ambushed for feeding times.

Tour de Fleece (Goal: spin at least 30 minutes a day):

Day 7 (July 6): 36 minutes

Gynx Yarns Picks: Hitchhiker.

I enjoyed picking out yarns I'd use from the Gynx Yarns stash for the Color Affection Shawl so much that I've decided to make it a regular feature around here. This week, I decided to choose which yarns I'd use for the Hitchhiker pattern by Martina Behm. I've already blogged about this pattern here, where I showed the one I knit out of some yarn from this year's Fiber Fest.

The first colorway that popped into my head was Spirited Away #2. What's really great about the Hitchhiker pattern is that the garter stitch helps break up all the colors, and variegated colorways look great in it. This would be a bit of a bright/bold choice, but it would be such a fun piece.

 Changing Foliage would be a very fall-ish choice.

The jewel tones in Jewel Box would make a very luxurious-looking Hitchhiker.

Which colorway would you choose? Or would you pick a completely different colorway from the Gynx Yarns collection?