There has been a need in my wardrobe for a solid blue sweater, and earlier this fall LLBean helped me fill that void. One navy blue long cardigan, one turqoise-ish pullover, and a cornflower blue cardigan all came to live at my house. The latter, however, could not find anything in my moderate stash of cowls and scarves that coordinated, so one day I took it for a dive into the yarn stash to look for a friend. Surprisingly, there were a number of possible contenders.
Disclaimer: although I carried the sweater and yarns outside to take these photos in natural light, the better to capture true colors, the camera in my phone made the blue of the sweater way too saturated. IRL it is a medium-light true blue that I might call cornflower, and which I tried to render more accurately by desaturating the photos somewhat. The sweater color below is more or less accurate, but the yarns are all a bit more saturated than they appear.
Nope, too aqua-y. This yarn goes quite well with the turqoise-ish pullover, so it may finally find its perfect match. (It’s about time. Ravelry tells me I bought it in 2008.)
Nope.
This one goes quite well with the sweater, but I think it may be too busy for a cowl or scarf.
If the blue one is too busy, this one would be downright frantic. (On reflection, I think that paired with white either this one or the one above might work in a brioche cowl. But a fingering weight brioche cowl could easily take me until spring to knit. So, nope.)
Ditto.
This is the first one that was an actual possiblity. But I only have about 200 yards, so I’d have to pair it with something else.
Oddly enough, this purple and red yarn looked kinda good. Kinda…
Okay, now I was getting desperate.
200 yards of Noro silk/angora goodness. It would feel amazing on my neck, but I’m not sure about all the colors.
Well, duh, this one has the EXACT SAME BLUE! Not sure if I like it enough, though.
Hey, I really like this one! Color is a true blue but darker, and I bought this yarn simply because I loved the color combo (while reminding myself that the last thing I need is more yarn). It would have the added advantage of complementing other colors in my wardrobe.
So, what do you guys think? (Not that it matters a lot; I’ll do exactly what I please, but other opinions are always welcome.)
Yarns:
Araucania Ranco sock yarn.
Adriafil Stella Jacq.
Schoppel-Wolle Das Paar.
Sock yarn died by MsMonster on Etsy.
Lane Cervina Forever.
Knit Picks Felici.
Frog Creek Fibers fingering.
Twisted Fiber Art Arial.
Noro Shiraito.
Knitting Fever Indulgence.
Zwerger Garn Opal 4-Fach.
kmkat & her kneedles 
Without a doubt a final one…
The second to last one – perfect match, dk, and 20% silk.
I like the last two, but seriously, knit that brioche fingering-wt cowl, too. You know, for next year.
I like the last one.
I really like the last one best . . . but the second-to-last one would also be a good match. (Plus the neutrals in that one would keep the focus on your lovely blue top — instead of the adding more “busy-ness”. . . if that makes any sense!) 🙂
I like the last one too! But, I agree with Kym – that blue with the neutrals would be really excellent!
Love the last one. But I also like #3, with the blues and greens and white. Maybe I have a higher tolerance for ‘busy-ness,’ but I think because all the colors are so closely related (unlike some of the other examples), it would be nice. And the next-to-last is lovely, too.
I love the disclaimer! As it should be!
Everytime I knit with Noro I’m sorry. I have only one shawl that was done in neutrals that came out subtle and is likeable to me!
The last one is safe. I like the frantic one!
Well you could very well make any of them work by knitting the Candy Dots pattern (see Ravelry webpage attached to my name) or something similar – I see someone mentioned brioche which will also take those variegated yarns to a whole new level. They look so enticing in the skein but I often have some disappointments trying to find the right thing to knit that shows them to their best advantage.
I like the last three.
I like the last two the best. I think (if it were me) I’d have to choose based primarily on what one went best with the rest of my closet as well as the sweater I was making a friend for.
I like the last one, too. I wear jeans all the time and I think this would link the blue sweater with the blue in jeans. I also like #3 and #4. What top/blouse would you wear with the cardigan? What colors would work best with that? I really like Doreen’s idea, also.
The last one!
My vote is for the frantic one. I would feel happy every time I put it on. It just looks so alive and cheerful and on and on…
Linda in VA