My Woolly Thistle Selection Box

 

This holiday season I treated myself to a Woolly Thistle selection box.  The idea just seemed like so much fun and maybe a better match for me than an advent calendar.  Although in 2019 I made myself a yarn advent calendar from two of the Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight grab bags and that was a lot of fun that year and also really practical for me since I like to do a lot of stranded colorwork knitting.  The grab bags have 13 balls each, so I wrapped up one for each day for December 1-24 and then I had a package with 2 to open on December 25.  

Back to the box, in addition to a calendar and buttons and some other goodies, I have four different colors of Marie Wallin British Breeds yarn, a skein of John Arbon Textiles Yarnadelic, a skein of Daughter of a Shepherd Heritage 4-ply, Jagger Spun Heather 4-ply, and coordinating shades of Rauma Finull and Plum.  

I am wanting to work with these throughout the year.  Looking at them, I see five different projects.  

I intend to use the Marie Wallin yarn all together in one hat or maybe a pair of fingerless mitts.  I haven't settled on a pattern yet.  

I will use the Finull and Plum together, holding them double in whatever I knit.  I really love that blue, but it is close in color to another wool/mohair hat I knit a couple years ago, so I am not sure if I want to use it for a hat or not, even though that feels like the most obvious choice. 

I think the Daughter of a Shepherd would work really well as the MC in a mitten pattern, I am thinking of a free pattern called the Kainuu Flower Mittens offered as part of the Nordic Craft Week.  The yarn feels finer than J&S 2-ply or Finull, more like a light fingering weight rather than a heavier fingering/sport weight.  I think I can probably dip into my stash of Knit Pick's Palette for the CCs and they would work well together.

One of the suggested patterns for the Jagger Spun Heathers 4-ply is a shawl called the Stormy Sky Shawl by Ksenia Naidyon.  I am leaning towards using that pattern for that yarn.  I took an intentional break from knitting any shawls in 2021, but I think I am ready to knit another shawl again.  

That leaves me with the John Arbon Yarnadelic.  I haven't decided what I want to make with that skein yet, but now I am wondering if weaving it into a scarf on my rigid heddle loom might be a nice way to use it.  It is worsted spun, has a bit of luster, and it has a little bit of nuance in color that I think is really beautiful and interesting in woven fabric.  I think I am convincing myself.  Stay tuned?