What to do with variegated yarns?

What do you make with variegated yarns?!

“Stephanie, your yarns are so beautiful! I find myself hoarding many of your colorways into my stash, but I must confess I have no idea what to make with them. I know color pooling can be a problem for variegated yarns. Can you help me with some project ideas? I would love to see your yarns move from my private stash at home to finished projects that I can share with the world.”

I recently received this email and it made it clear that it was time for a post about pattern suggestions.

If you need some visual inspiration you can check out my gallery. It has pictures of real finished projects from customers, with the colorway name and pattern name listed in the captions. This is updated regularly.

I have scoured Ravelry for some of the best patterns out there that I think would look spectacular in variegated yarns. But the first question is, do you knit or crochet? Well, I have you covered for both!

My favorite knitting pattern for variegated yarns:

• This Stained Glass Sunrise Scarf looks great a variegated yarn of your choice and a solid black or dark gray.
• Socks! I love to make socks! Broken Seed Stitch Socks are one of my favorite patterns because you can really customize the ribbed cuff, heel and toe. The solid color can really help break up the color pooling.
• They can also be used for some really fun fingerless gloves like these Spatterdash Wrist Warmers .
• Do you love fair isle designs but hate weaving in the ends of five different colors? Me too! I love the look of faux fair isle by using a variegated yarn for your contrast color of design.  It does the color changing for you. A couple of my favorite fair isle patterns are the Antares hat and Ten Below mittens.
• I recently made a pair of socks using my Celtic Sunset colorway and this Nutkin pattern and thought they turned out great.
• Shawls are another really great option. Sometimes lace ones like this East Gable Shawl can break up the pooling and still create a stunning finished object. Alternatively, you can stripe it with a solid color in a shawl like Dream Stripes.

Pictures below are from my gallery of finished projects.

 

Now, what about crochet? Well I went digging again. Here are some of the crochet patterns that I can envision using variegated yarns for:

• Cute capes like this Out of Time or Stream of Consciousness could be a lot of fun.
• How about a messy bun hat? They’re super hot right now. (I’m not going to link a pattern to this one because there are so many different variations, I don’t know who the original designer is.)
• This super cute Emma Hat would be a great accessory to your wardrobe .
• If you have small amounts that are left over from other projects, these might be perfect for you. Flutterby barefoot sandals would be great for summer and the Latte Headband is perfect for around the house or any occasion to keep your hair away from your face.
• And of course shawls! The Virus Shawl is very popular! Some other great options are the Capriccio Shawl, Whistler Shawl, and Stormchaser Shawl.
• Scarves can also be quick gifts to use up variegated yarns, just like this Candied Darling Scarf.

Pictures below are some of these featured patterns and are pulled from my gallery.

 

Do you have a favorite pattern that you love to use variegated yarns for? If so, please share it in the comments below. And if you have a picture of the finished item, even better!

 

Please note I am not affiliated with any of these designers, except for Kirei Knitting Designs, nor have I collaborated with any of them. This is just a list of great patterns by very talented designers that variegated yarns would look great in.