It’s been wool weather off and on since I arrived in Tromsø, so there’s been a lot of wearing of hats, scarves/cowls, and fingerless mitts. I have a lot of beautifully patterned accessories – textured knits or pieces featuring colorwork – and I love those, but I’ve realized I’m craving simple accessories at the moment. Pieces that are a single color and either plain stockinette or ribbing keep drawing my eye. I’ve updated my queue to reflect that, so here’s what I’m currently daydreaming about casting on for:

Fure by Olga Buraya-Kefelian. These were part of the first collection for Woolfolk yarn, and I’ve had it queued for awhile. I have the necessary yarn in my stash: two beautiful skeins of Tynd, in Pewter. I have a feeling these are going to be a tedious knit (the length plus the twisted rib pattern make for repetitive and fiddly knitting) but I love the end result so much. The length of these is especially appealing, too – the ability to wear them long, bunch them up, or fold over the top makes them really versatile. I’m hoping to pair them up with this cardigan, which has bracelet-length sleeves and has become a little bit of a uniform these days, but I expect by the time I actually get these knit I’ll be needing heavier layers.

Middle Fork by Veronika Jobe. This hat was released over the summer as part of the Camp Tolt collection and I even have one of the little leather sheep patches that can be sewn on (as seen here). Middle Fork feels like a perfect basic ribbed beanie and I love the FOs I’ve seen. The pattern calls for Green Mountain Spinnery Mewesic, a yarn I do not have on hand, but I thought one of the skeins of the Norwegian pelsull from Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk pictured above might make an excellent substitute. The pelsull was actually my first yarn purchase post-move, so I’d love to use it for something that’s going to get a lot of wear. Now the only question is: which color?

Do you have simple staples in your handknit wardrobe or do you tend toward more complicated knits? Or maybe you have a good mix of both? I’d love to hear about your favorite patterns for simple knits in the comments!