Hilde's Corner

Does anyone else have Olympics fever like I do? I love watching the Olympics, especially the winter games. My favorites to watch are figure skating and speed skating, the biathlon, and cross country skiing. And anything I get a chance to see, honestly! And don’t you think this year's mascots are the cutest? 

So in honor of this year's winter Olympics being held in Italy, I thought it would be fun to honor some Italian designers.

These first few are sweater patterns that I absolutely love. This one is called Tata Matilda by marziasknit. I love how the colorwork switches background color in the yoke and the big flowers make me so happy. It sells for about $8.60 on Ravelry and uses a sport weight yarn. Juniper Moon’s Patagonia Organic Merino would be perfect for this sweater, and honestly might be a sweater I make very, very soon.

This next sweater made me chuckle a bit, so if you’re in a slightly amusing mood this might fit the bill. It’s called The cozy crew by Annalisa Filippi and sells for about $6.80. It’s a sweater with stranded colorwork knitwear on it! Sweaters, hats, mittens, and socks! Knitwear on knitwear! This one also uses sport weight yarn, so I would again say Patagonia Organic merino and Rainbow Beach for the colorwork! It has several colors to choose from and this yarn makes beautiful sweaters. (Check out her other designs, too. Her Under the Sea sweater is also amazing, with a yoke full of seahorses!)

This hat sports a gorgeous geometric design. It’s Kalea by Stella Egidi and sells for about $5.60. It uses stranded colorwork for the design and uses DK weight yarn. One could use Yarn Citizen’s Harmony DK for this hat, or Jody Long’s Ciao.

How about this cute accessory that is crocheted? It uses a crochet brioche stitch and has a cable pattern in it. It’s called Winter rose scarf by Lucia Luciano. It sells for about $7 on Ravelry and uses a DK weight yarn. I would be tempted to use Malabrigo Silky Merino for this, or maybe Juniper Moon’s Rambouillet. Something soft for around the neck. Maybe even hold the yarn double with Yarn Citizen‘s Trinity, with its touch of cashmere and silk and give it a fuzzy halo from the suri alpaca.

Finally, we have a shawl - Embers Crescent by Katarzyna Przeździecka. It’s about $7.50 on Ravelry. It has beautiful cables and lace running vertically through the bottom section of a crescent shaped shawl. It calls for fingering weight yarn. Malabrigo Mechita would be lovely for this, but for real stitch definition Kathmandu Fingering would be lovely or Cascade Heritage. I would also be tempted to try Queensland’s Lapin, with angora adding a lovely fuzzy halo - though it would tone down the details, it would have a beautiful effect.

I hope you are getting lots of knitting/crocheting done while watching the games. What better pairing than that? Enjoy the games, and enjoy your craft! Send Italy a little love and try an Italian designer pattern.