I love cotton. I love to knit with cotton. I would pick a cotton fiber over wool or other animal fibers any day.

So spring and summer knitting is especially exciting for me. My two favorite cottons (at the moment) are Classic Elite's Sprout and Seedling. Both are 100% organic cotton and come in a rainbow of yummy colors. It is so great to work with cotton at this time of year and in our climate, you will get more wear out of cotton garments.

The Seedling Wrap (at left) is available free from the Classic Elite website and takes 9 hanks of seedling. With colors ranging from neutral like brown and gray to pops of color like orange and pink, Seedling has something for everyone.

The yarn or the pattern? Like the much debated chicken and egg puzzle, so this quandary has lead to great discussions in knitting and crochet circles.

Take this yarn for example. Grass is a worsted weight, cotton/hemp blend. Great for Arkansas summer. But what does it want to be?

Before the advent of Ravelry and Patternfish, yarn shops relied on the yarn manufactures to provide pattern support for their products or the yarn shop's owner or employees own creativity. And let me tell you that not all yarn companies had good pattern support.

Appear stage left -  Ravelry and voila, you can search thousands of patterns that call for a summery, worsted weight yarn.

Let's do a little experiment, shall we? I searched Ravelry for Grass and clicked on the Pattern Ideas tab. And 9 pages of pattern ideas came up. That's 54 patterns. Everything from hats, dishcloths, and baby items to sweaters, lacy shawls, and market bags. The possibilities are endless.

So fall in love with a yarn and then search for what it wants to be.

I love non-wool fibers. I guess it is because I have lived in the South all my life. This sweater, Turia, is a perfect example of everything I love about spring/summer knitting (yes, there is such a thing as spring/summer knitting).

We have a model of this sweater in shop, Berroco #307 (Linsey) pattern book, and Linsey (the yarn the pattern calls for). Linsey is a beautiful cotton/linen blend and comes in fabulous colorways. The Turia sweater has a simple Fair Isle yoke, which makes it a great project for someone who wants to try Fair Isle.

Not interested in Fair Isle? Berroco has three free patterns on their website. Add this yarn to your stash and try a little spring/summer knitting this year!