Another Friday, another Friday Five! I have to tell you that this little Friday obligation has really started to cause some trouble as my pattern browsing was previously limited to a couple of times a quarter. This weekly trawling has resulted in a queue a mile long and me with no time to knit it all! We are having our first shop knit night tonight, and at present I have plans to cast on and complete three projects just to stay on top of it all.

Anyhow, I digress. So, you may have noticed that we very recently started stocking Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn. This is a yarn that makes me a little woozy with its loveliness (I don’t know what’s with me and all the hyperbolic adjectives today.), but I have a hard time picking the right project for it. Thus began my search for great Kauni projects, of which there are many, everything from a simple pullover to an incredibly complex blanket and a universe in between.

Persian Dreams. I know, you all think I’m crazy. I’m not saying it would happen overnight, but this is a lovely long-term, planned project. Each hexagon is worked separately, then grafted to the whole, making this the kind of thing where you could plan to knit one hexagon every week or two, and before you know it, a blanket! Journey of a thousand miles, as the saying goes. And the reward is this stunning blanket!

Nymphalidea is a fairly new free pattern from Knitty, which alternates a solid fingering weight yarn with a color change yarn like Kauni Effektgarn to create an ethereal butterfly-like effect in this shoulder-length triangular shawl.

The open lacework is a real yardage-saver, so this is also a great project for those smaller (and thus cheaper!) skeins of Effektgarn or as a stashbuster with your solid colored sock yarns.

Lightboxes is another similarly-styled shawl with an entirely different look, using a solid stockinette background and textured boxes to display Effektgarn to its fullest.

The gauge and length of this shawl can be altered to suit your preferences (or amount of available yarn) for a customizable, colorful shawl.

If you’re more like me and tend to admire shawls only on other people, Fair Isle Rapids is another great way to wear your Effektgarn around your neck.

Originally knit in two solid colors, this pattern has been a go-to for knitters wanting to showcase a color change yarn for several years now, and we encourage you to follow in their intrepid footsteps.

You really can’t go wrong with a basic striped sweater using a color change yarn. Mon petit gilet raye is a free download (English instructions on pages 4-6) with some simple cast-on and shaping instructions to help guide you along your way.

For smaller sizes, one 150g+ ball of Effektgarn is often plenty for a sweater like this, or grab a second just to be safe!

Come on, you knew there had to be a number 6 today. I’ve actually had Hippocampus in my queue for an embarrassingly long time, I love them unreasonably.