MDK Field Guide No. 3

Every knitter we know loves the wild yarns. We fall in love with these skeins again and again, for their sheer beauty as objects. But we also want to knit with them, and wear them, and enjoy them every day.

Field Guide No. 3: Wild Yarns celebrates the individuality and artistry of hand-dyed and multicolor skeins, and demonstrates how to show them off in projects that are fun to knit and lovely to wear. With designers Dianna Walla, Kirsten Kapur, and Sue McCain you'll embrace the quirkiness of these yarns and know how to make them shine and charm. There’s a knack to it, and these designers have it.

Together, this dream team came up with three designs that we are dying to knit and wear, using yarns that are in each case perfectly suited to the project. Leif: A stranded colorwork cowl that plays with the subtle shifts of color in two different shades of Dyed in the Wool by Spincycle Yarns. Colorwash: An airy, ample mesh scarf that captures the breathless handpainted color of Lichen and Lace merino. Easel: An everyday pullover with absolutely-not-everyday splashes of color on the sleeves, combining both the vibrant semi-solids and cockeyed handpainting that Jill Draper does so well in her Mohonk wool.

The overarching goal in this Field Guide is to express how pure the pleasure of color can be, whether it’s in cherishing a few beautiful one-off skeins of yarn, in printing wildflowers directly onto fabric, or in simply watching colors change in our hands as we knit.