The Skystone Armwarmers, designed by Felicity (Felix) Ford as August’s featured Boost Your Knitting pattern, are the perfect canvas for practicing this month’s technique, choosing colours for stranded colourwork. The pattern calls for three background and five foreground shades of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumperweight, giving you lots of room to capture the subtleties of your inspiration source — be it a bouquet of flowers, a mossy headstone, or a towering mountain! But if you’re casting around for more patterns to bring your newfound confidence in choosing colours too, here are a few ideas!

Polkamania by Felicity Ford

Fancy something dotty, but for your neck rather than your hands? Check out Felix’s Polkamania — a gorgeous cowl that gives you sooo many options for trying out colour combinations!

Shaila Mittens by Ella Gordon

Love armwarmers but hate cold fingers? The Shaila Mittens, designed by Ella Gordon for A Year of Techniques, were originally written with two colours in mind. But I think a version that used multiple foreground and/or background colours could be equally lovely and a really fun challenge!

Oorik Tank Top by Mary Jane Mucklestone

Ready for a slightly bigger project? The Oorik Tank Top, another pattern from A Year of Techniques, would be another excellent pattern for playing with colour for a wee one in your life. The above photo shows some alternate colourway options, but really, the possibilities are endless!

Voe Vest by Mary Jane Mucklestone

And if you’re looking for an adult-sized garment, the beautiful Voe Vest, also by Mary Jane Mucklestone, has recently been updated with an expanded size range. The pattern calls for one main and six contrast colours, so plenty of scope for playing with colour!

Do you have a favourite stranded colourwork pattern? I’d love to hear about it down in the comments!