Time for a new project - Inspiration for Kleur by Anna Maltz

Happy New Year to all our friends, family, customers and blog readers. Is there ever a better time for a new project than now? Well I think Anna Maltz has the perfect one in her new design Kleur. Anna can usually be found between the covers of one of our favourite quarterly knitting magazines Pompom where she writes a column. She is also a talented designer and has released many patterns, including publishing two books: 'Marlisle: A New Direction in Knitting', a clever combination of marled and Fair-Isle techniques and the adorable 'Penguin: A Knit Collection' featuring penguin inspired patterns from head to toe. With a clever play with colour and entertaining constructions Anna's patterns make for a rewarding knit. I can see Kleur becoming very popular. Kleur means colour in Dutch and this is all about the play between different colour combinations. This asymmetrical shawl is a clever mix of easy short rows and eyelets. It reminds me of experiments with a prism and light at school, or of course the famous Pink Floyd album cover, The Dark Side of the Moon. This shawl would be very easy for a beginner to pick up. Simple garter stitch short rows, with no wrapping, making a feature of the decorative eyelets. It would make for a rather soothing and pleasant first project of the year. The coloured wedges use just 10g to 15g of yarn so perfect for leftovers or little mini skeins.The shawl takes a dramatic angle from this first rainbow, increasing the stitch count but including a simple cast off edge that draws the whole thing eventually into a point. If you are thinking colour, choose a rainbow or ombre of colours for your wedge section, then a contrasty or monochrome feature for the stripes. As always I like to give you a few inspiring colour selections from the shelves of Knit With Attitude. The fun in this project is the combination of different small quantities of yarn and when I think of small quantities I think of mini skeins! The two that bring to mind are the Black Elephant Merino Singles Mini and Susan Crawford Vintage Fenella. The Black Elephant mini's being a hand dyed 4ply gives you the fun of speckles! Fenella a lighter 3ply British wool would give you more drape so check gauge when using this yarn, but they  have a pleasing vintage colour palette. For this combo I have chosen Fenella in Melancholy, Rannock, Jonquil, Limoncello, Phthalo, Forget-Me-Not, Dolly Blue. Sølje in Svart and Naturgrå. As well as Vilje. This classic combo makes uses the subtle rainbow of Fenella with two of Hillesvåg's undyed yarns as well as a dark black for contrast. This warm combo would please any fan of hand dyed yarn. Combining Black Elephant Merino Singles Mini with Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles. With this combination I have kept to the ideas of Anna's original colour but shaken it up a bit. An ombre of colour is complimented by three main tones. Here we have Black Elephant in Nostalgia, Pineapple Express, Cornfields, Illusion, Mudbound, Daryl and Charcoal. Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles in Kid you Not, Silence and Monarch. Keeping it British with this combination by using Fenella again but paired with Devonia 4ply. I love being able to use Devonia in this combo, the tones and blend of this yarn will add a real earthy quality. We haven't had it long here at Knit With Attitude so it's nice to fantasise about what it can be. Here we have Fenella Baked Cherry, Rhubarb, Constance Spry, Delicot, Wheaten and Roman Plaster. Devonia 4ply in Devonia Cream, Cinder Glow and Sandbar. With this I was going with the idea of a hand dyed rainbow. Using the contrast of Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply as a glowing Merino/Silk beam of light. Here we have  Black Elephant in Mystique, Tranquility, Arlandria, Golden Coast, Pineapple Express, Moulin Rouge and Knights of Cydonia. Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply in Natual, Charcoal and Glisten. I hope these ideas spark some ideas for possibilities in kitting this wonderful shawl!