KNITmuch | Issue 6

KNITKNIT much

much ...to K, is to .com

Issue 6

* substituting yarns * knitting the stitch below * Knitting gradient s with self-striping yarn * Brioche knitting * i - cord edging and cast on technique * Shadow knitting

Knitting with non-allergenic yarns

KNITmuch

.com

...to K, is to

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ART DIRECTOR Carla A. Canonico Carla@KNITmuch.com ADVERTISING SALES John De Fusco John@KNITmuch.com PUBLISHER A Needle Pulling Thread PHOTOGRAPHERS Carla A. Canonico, John De Fusco BLOGGERS/CONTRIBUTORS Cynthia MacDougall cgknitters.blogspot.com Michelle Nguyen www.stitchesbeslippin.com Charles Voth www.charlesvothdesigns.ca GRAPHIC DESIGN Carla A. Canonico Carla@KNITmuch.com Sondra Armas Sondra@KNITmuch.com SOCIAL MEDIA and WEB Sondra Armas Alejandro Araujo WEBSITE / BLOG : KNITmuch.com Like us on Facebook : KNITmuch Follow us on Twitter : @KNITmuchmag WHERE TO GET YOUR COPY KNITmuch is a quarterly eMagazine published by A Needle Pulling Thread. It is available free for personal use online at KNITmuch.com.

A limited number of printed copies of KNITmuch are available for purchase at select yarn shops and specialty stores. Ask for it at your local shop. KNITmuch is not available by subscription.

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KNITmuch Premier Toy Box

Out of the Toy Box! Knitting with marled, self-striping chunky yarn Bella Cash 3 things to consider when substituting yarns What I learned about Brioche knitting What happens when you knit in the stitch below?

Bella Cash yarn makes knit textures sing!

With Love Stripes The NEW With Love Stripes yarn takes the ‘work’ out of ‘color work’ The qualities and benefits of knitting with Red Heart Soft yarn Knitting the Two-Point Hat pattern with Soft yarn Non-allergenic shawls and socks with Allegro Knit a shawlette with non-allergenic yarn How to knit on an i-cord edging Using a knit i-cord as a cast-on technique Premier Sweet Rolls 3 patterns to knit with self-striping worsted weight yarn Shadow knitting with Sweet Roll Yarn Knitting gradients with self-striping yarn 2 things I learned from my knitted swatch other than gauge Evermore yarn Knitting Snowy Arm Warmers pattern using Red Heart Evermore yarn 1 tip to add interest to a simple reversible knitted scarf

c o n t e n t s KNITmuch | issue 6

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Download the NEW KNITmuch App!

Includes the Premier issue and the latest issue FREE for a limited time only!

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The art of knitting never ceases to amaze me. It seems to me there are more techniques, stitches, finishings tips, than there are days left to live. I'd like to think I'll be able to give all of them a whirl just to be able to say, 'Yes! I tried that!' This issue has its wealth of techniques that add dimension and interest to your knitting. For example, a Japanese technique called Shadow Knitting adds dimension not to mention an optical illusion that will have people looking at your knitted item and wonder how you did that.

We also look at Brioche Knitting, seriously, I need to have a calmer headspace before I ever tackle that one. Don't get me wrong, I never say anything is difficult, because it isn't, but I do believe a new technique has to call my attention and tug at my heart for me to give it a whirl! And the headspace must be there, and not filled with so many deadlines and commitments; someone give me a break!

Check it out, see how to use the i-cord as a cast-on technique and finishing a project with an i-cord edge.

Then there's the yarn. The luxuriously soft like Bella Cash, and versatility of Soft yarn. How about With Love Stripes?

I will take all the help I can get and take the guess work out of knitting stripes and just focus on the stitches! Yes please!!!

For those of you who are allergic to wool, you'll love Charles Voth's articles on the non-allergenic yarns. He talks about how Allegro yarn is made to act like it was wool, and he talks about how the yarn was dyed.

Enjoy the issue, decide on a technique and give it a whirl.

Cheerfully,

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Out of the Toy Box! Knitting with marled, self-striping chunky yarn

Charles Voth

What have you knit with a self-striping bulky yarn that has a barber pole twist to it? Anything for the little ones in your life? This week we’ll be looking at Toy Box, a new kid on the block. This soft yarn is perfect for baby and toddler knits as it’s very soft, and easy to take care of.

This soft yarn comes in colorways reminiscent of favorite toys.

This is the Lincoln Logs colorway.

Toy Box has 9 self-striping colorways and 3 solid colors. The palette is best suited to children’s wear, but there are a few muted versions of familiar colorways like a pink and green watermelon or a sedate series of fall colors which would work for an adult wardrobe as well.

The names of the colorways tickled my funny bone.

All the yarns are named after items you would find in a toy box. Lincoln Logs and Silly Putty would be my two favorite names and probably even my preferred color combinations, but all the colorways are beautiful.

Having the options of three solid colors is also a great idea. Jump Rope (white), Kite (pink) and Frisbee (blue) each coordinate with more than one of the multi-colored skeins, and, depending on the design, can frame or highlight the marled colors.

Do you remember that pale peachy color of the original Silly Putty?

You can see it in this colorway of Toy Box surrounded by other complementary colors for some fun knits.

Each colorway contains at least six colors. As the yarn has 2 plies of contrasting colors that are spun together, the transitions between stripes is gradual and creates a subtle tweedy effect. One ply transitions between three or four of the colors and the other ply transitions between the remaining three or two colors respectively.

The yarn is 100% machine washable and dryerfriendly acrylic.

This is Toy Box in Hula Hoop! A playful blend of cool colors.

I unspun the end of one skein to figure out the yarn’s anatomy. There are two thicker plies that are twisted around each other creating the barber pole effect, but within each ply there is more going on.

There are long airy fibers with lots of built-in crimps.

Photos by Charles Voth

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These curly fibers are quite long (mostly longer than 2”) which means that the likelihood of pilling is greatly reduced. There’s a lot of bounce and “air” left in each of these two plies because the fluffy fibers are spun around a core of two fine white threads.

The threads give the yarn the structure it needs to behave well, and to keep the integrity of the knit stitches, but they are surrounded by the softer crimped fibers, which are what bring the colors and color transitions into the yarn.

The blues and grays in Toy Box Wiffle Ball, will have you knitting many fun, airy and soft projects.

Let's look at how the yarn looks in a swatch or two to get a better idea of how gradual the self-striping color changes are, and the type of drape we can achieve.

Crimped soft fibers give Toy Box loft, softness, and warmth and the 2 fine binder threads give the yarn integrity and sturdiness.

Using a swatch to practice weaving in ends with a crochet hook I know that those of us who do swatch do so because we want our finished items to knit to the size and proportion that we’re trying to achieve, and we don’t want to frog back a huge number of stitches. Some of us also swatch to practice new-to-us stitch patterns.

I also think that swatches are a good tool for practicing finishing techniques, which brings me to the topic of weaving in ends with a crochet hook because we’re knitting with a chunky yarn called Toy Box. We looked at the colors and yarn structure of Toy Box. You can see what it looks like knit up.

This swatch of Toy Box Hula Hoop was knit on size US 11 [8mm].needles.

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With just a few balls of Toy Box, each at 109yds per 100g ball, you can knit up quick projects. When you swatch, you may find there’s a large range of possible gauges because the yarn is squishy and has a lot of loft.

11 stitches per 4” is my gauge. I must have been relaxed when I made this swatch on 11 US [8mm] needles

The ball band recommends size 11 US [8mm] needles to achieve a gauge of 12 stitches and 15 rows per 4”, but when I knit my swatch I had different results.

So I’m off the recommended stitch gauge by one less, so I knit the swatch loosely apparently. But… For the row gauge, on US 11 [8mm] needles, I’m getting 17 rows, instead of the 15 recommended on the ball band. So, if I were doing a garment, I would be knitting my rows too tightly and my stitches too loosely. It goes to show why ball band gauge is just a recommendation, not a rule carved in stone.

My row gauge is different than the one on the ball band, by a lot, but that doesn’t phase me. The look of this self-striping barber pole yarn knit up is stunning.

Duplicate stitch or Swiss darning is a way of adding strands of yarn, usually to the knit side of a stretch of stockinette knitting, but by using the same principles and a crochet hook, you can weave in ends. It’s hard to thread chunky yarn onto a tapestry needle sometimes, so I prefer to crochet them in.

This video will show you how I accomplish this: https://youtu.be/KxV9b9dY6Oc Keep reading because we’ll look at some free patterns that would look great in Toy Box.

Don’t use a marker on your knitting unless it’s a water soluble kind.

These marks are to help me demonstrate weaving in ends.

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6 patterns are very soft knit up in Toy Box yarn When a new yarn comes along, like Premier Yarns Toy Box, there hasn’t necessarily been enough time for the yarn producers to make a whole lot of patterns. In addition, with sites like Ravelry. com and YarnSub.com now widely known, yarn producers distribute the yarn with the understanding that there are many patterns that would work equally well for the new yarn.

Here are some free patterns which I found would look smashing knit up in Toy Box yarn. Some are listed as worsted weight, however, it could mean that either these were worked on larger needles and get the same gauge as you would with a bulky yarn, or because Toy Box is so squishy, it could be knit on smaller needles to achieve a tighter gauge.

The first is Lucy’s Owl, a cute amigurumi figure that is knit in a different self-striping chunky, but would look great in any of the Toy Box colors.

These 2 fun toys lend themselves to being worked up in a self-striping chunky weight yarn like Toy Box.

The classic feather and fan blanket looks great in a marled self-striping yarn. Using Toy Box colors, you’ll have a sweet and soft baby blanket perfect for the next newborn in your circle of family and friends.

2 fast-to-knit children’s tops in a bulky self-striping yarn.

The second stuffed toy is Ruby Bear, obviously christened with the name of the color she is knit in. But any of the Toy Box colorways would make a charming bear that you could name as you wish.

Judging by the swatch in the first photo, Toy Box yarn would offer a soft and colorful striping on these toys.

Baby blankets are a great project to work up in Toy Box. They’ll be fast and you can change the width and length to your taste by simply changing the number of pattern repeats you cast on and the number of pattern row repeats you add or remove.

This Baby Fan Blanket is a fast knit in bulky self-striping and marled yarn.

It was a lot of fun to look for little one’s garments knit in a bulky yarn that would look super in Toy Box. This little vest by Marianna Mel would look great in any colorway.

This other top-down, sleeveless, vest would probably use only 2 balls of Toy Box, and would be great wardrobe classic that would last through several growth spurts. You could lengthen it as necessary with a few more rows every few months.

The last pattern is for these mittens. This is my go-to mitten pattern because the designer, Tin Can Knits, has made an ingenious pattern that works up in any thickness of yarn and any gauge.

I’ll share my pattern for slippers next when I’ll how you a little top-down pullover sweater for wee ones using Premier Yarns Toy Box.

Tin Can Knits’ famous any gauge any yarn mittens would be a perfect application for Toy Box.

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Knit easy child slippers with Toy Box colors While looking for free patterns for children’s items that could be knit with Toy Box yarn, I discovered an absence of patterns for one project category, namely slippers. So I decided to knit some with this bulky, but light and airy self-striping yarn.

These quick-to-knit slippers start at the heel with a provisional cast-on. When the knitting is finished, the provisional cast-on is removed and the sides are grafted together.

These cozy slippers are a really quick knit, perfect for last minute gifts.

The body of the foot has a garter stitch edging on it and is worked flat in rows, with some heel shaping.

To make these slippers, you’ll need 1 ball of Toy Box, and size 7mm needles (choose circular for magic loop or dpns, as the toes are worked in the round.

Gauge is not essential for this pattern.

Instructions are given for a child’s small.

Instructions for (child’s large, adult small, and adult large are in parentheses).

The neatly grafted heel seam is invisible and give the heel a comfortable, sleek finish.

These comfortable, warm and soft slippers can be made in less than a day. You can see the halo around the stitches.

Each row begins with a purlwise slipped stitch, which gives the edge a braided look. The garter stitch edging gives it some structure.

Photos by Charles Voth

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The heel and the edging give these slippers a nice fit and their unique style.

The pattern Cast on 15 (19, 19, 21) sts with scrap yarn for a provisional cast-on.

Row 1: With Toy Box, sl first st pwise, k5 (7, 7, 9), k1tbl, m1, k1, m1, k1tbl, knit rem sts–17 (21, 21, 23) sts.

Row 2: Sl first st pwise, k2, p3 (5, 5, 6), p1tbl, p3, p1tbl, p3 (5, 5, 6), k3.

Row 3: Sl first st pwise, k5 (7, 7, 9), k1tbl, m1, k3, m1, k1tbl, knit rem sts–19 (23, 23, 25) sts.

Row 4: Sl first st pwise, k2, p3 (5, 5, 6), p1tbl, p5, p1tbl, p3 (5, 5, 6), k3.

Row 5: Sl first st pwise, k5, (7, 7, 9), k1tbl, m1, k5, m1, k1tbl, knit rem sts–21 (25, 25, 27) sts.

Row 6: Sl first st pwise, k2, p3 (5, 5, 6), p1tbl, p7, p1tbl, p3, (5, 5, 6), k3.

With a simple twist of a stitch and a column of purl stitches, the sole of the slipper takes shape.

To make the toe, start knitting in the round and once the ideal length is reached, you start decreasing until a small number of stitches remain to be grafted.

Small Size only Row 7: Sl first st pwise, k2, k1tbl, k7, k1tbl, knit rem sts

3 larger sizes only Row 7: Sl first st pwise, k (7, 7, 9), k1tbl, m1, k7, m1, k1tbl, knit rem sts–(27, 27, 29) sts.

All sizes Row 8: Sl first st pwise, k2, p3 (5, 5, 6), p1tbl, k1, p5 (7, 7, 7), k1, p1tbl, p3 (5, 5, 6), k3.

Row 9: Sl first st pwise, k5 (7, 7, 9), k1tbl, p1, k5 (7, 7, 7), p1, k1tbl, knit rem sts.

Rows 10-15 (17, 17, 19): Rep rows 8 & 9. If your foot is longer, you can add more repeats here.

Next Row: Rep row 8.

Next Row: Sl first st pwise, k3 (5, 5, 7), ssk, k1tbl, p1, k1, k2tog, k2 (4, 4, 4), p1, k1tbl, k2tog, knit rem sts–18 (24, 24, 26) sts.

Next Row: Sl first st pwise, k2, p (2, 4, 4, 5), p1tbl, k1, p4 (6, 6, 6), k1, p1tbl, p2 (4, 4, 5), k3.

Last Row: K4 (6, 6, 8), k1tbl, p1, k4 (6, 6, 6), p1, k1tbl, knit rem sts.

There’s a little bit of shaping just after the join to knit in the round so that the front part of the foot isn’t saggy and the slipper hugs the ball of the foot and the toes.

Join to continue working in rounds.

Rnd 1: K3, ssk, knit to last 5 sts, k2tog, k3–16 (22, 22, 24) sts.

Rnd 2: K4 (6, 6, 8), k1tbl, p1, k4 (6, 6, 6), p1, k1tbl, knit rem sts.

Rep Rnd 2 until work measures 5 (6.5, 7, 7.5)”.

Toe Rnd 3: *K3 (3, 3, 4), k2tog; rep from * 2 (3, 3, 3, 3) more times, knit rem st(s)–13 (18, 18, 20) sts.

Rnd 4: Knit.

Rnd 5: *K2 (4, 4, 3), k2tog; rep from * 2 (2, 2, 3) more times, knit any rem sts–10, (15, 15, 16) sts.

Rnd 6: Knit.

Smallest Size only: Go to Finishing section 3 larger sizes Rnd 7: *K (3, 3, 2), k2tog; rep from * (2, 2, 3) more times, knit any rem sts–(12) sts.

Rnd 8: Knit.

Finishing Knit 3, then divide Toe sts in half on two needles and graft together with Kitchener stitch.

Weave in end.

Heel Unravel provisional cast on and divide sts in half on two needles.

Graft together with Kitchener stitch. Weave in all ends.

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Bobbles on the yoke: knitting a child’s top-down sweater using Toy Box yarn Premiere Toy Box (#5 Chunky/ Bulky; 109yds [100g]; 100% Acrylic–more specifically, 2 plies of fluffy acrylic spun around a 2 ply binding thread): 1 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3) balls.

Sizes US 10¾″ [7mm] and US 11 [8mm] circular needles for magic loop or dbns to knit in the round.

gauge On size US 11 [8mm] needles, 12 sts / 18 rows = 4″; row gauge isn’t essential for this pattern.

Premier Yarns Toy Box in Wiffle Ball knits up into a cute soft pull over for a little 6 month old.

Special Stitches

Other sizes

3-chain Bobble (3chB): K1, [wrap yarn over RH needle from back to front, pass st over wrap] 3 times, left leg of st just knit into with LH needle and place on RH needle, pass st over this lifted strand ensuring bobble lies to front of work.

Rnd 7: [K5 (4, 5, 4, 4, –), 3chB] 6 (8, 8, 10, 10, –] times.

Check out this video of how to make the old Norwegian cast-on: https://youtu.be/4FvGB849NuM

Pattern Begins With larger needles, using old Norwegian cast-on, cast on 28 (32, 36, 38, 38, 40) sts. Being careful not to twist, join to knit in the round.

Rnd 1: With smaller needles, [k1, p1] around.

Rnd 2: Knit.

Rep these 2 rows once more.

Rnd 5: With larger needles, [k3 (4, 3, 3, 3, 5) m1] 8 (8, 12, 12, 12, 7) times, knit rem sts–36 (40, 48, 50, 50, 47) sts.

Rnd 6: Knit.

These easy to make 3-chain bobbles add a cute texture to this cuddly knit.

Check out this video of how to make a 3-chain Bobble Stitch: https://youtu.be/DVfsgZ9zPkE 12

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Size 2 only Rnd 7: [K4, 3chB, k1, m1, k3, 3chB, k2, m1, k2], 3chB, k3, m1, k1, 3chB, k4, m1, 3chB, k4, 3chB, m1, rep between [ ] once, k1, 3chB, k1–54 sts.

All Sizes

Rnds 8–9 (10, 11, 12, 12, 13): Knit.

Rnd 10 (11, 12, 13, 13, 14): [K8 (6, 6, 6, 5, 5), m1] 4 (6, 8, 8, 10, 10) times, knit rem sts–40 (46, 56, 58, 60, 64) sts.

Rnd 11 (12, 13, 14, 14, 15): [K5 (4, 6, 4, 5, 6), 3chB] 6 (8, 8, 10, 10, 9) times, knit rem sts.

Rnd(s) 12 (13-14, 14-16, 15-16, 15-18, 16-18): Knit.

Rnd 13 (15, 17, 17, 19, 19): [K10 (7, 9, 7, 7, 6), m1] 4 (6, 6, 8, 8, 10) times, knit rem sts–44 (52, 62, 66, 70, 74) sts.

Rnd 14 (16, 18, 18, 20, 20): Knit.

Divide Body and Sleeves Set-up Row: *K15 (17, 20, 21, 23, 24), with scrap yarn cast on 4 (4, 4, 5, 5, 5) sts on LH needle, knit across these sts, slide next 7 (9, 11, 12, 12, 14) sts onto a stitch holder (or thread onto a length of scrap yarn that you can tie closed; rep from * once.

Photos by Charles Voth

This pattern has only 2 rounds with bobbles and they are staggered to create some visual interest. The intense blues and grays of this colorway are so attractive.

When joining colors for the sleeves, you may need to look further into the skein for the right color to make a less jarring transition.

Body

Next Rnd: Knit 1 round, decreasing 1 (1, 1, 3, 3, 3) sts evenly around–10 (12, 14, 14, 14, 16) sts.

Rnd 1: *Knit to sts on scrap yarn cast-on, pick up and knit a st in the gap between the sts on the scrap yarn cast-on and the RH needle, pm, knit across next 4 (4, 4, 5, 5, 5) sts, pm, pick up and knit a st in the gap between the sts on the scrap yarn cast-on and the LH needle; rep from * once–42 (46, 52, 56, 58, 60) sts.

Rnd 2: Knit.

Rnd 3: *Knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, rm, knit to next marker, rm, k2tog; rep from * once–38 (42, 48, 52, 54, 56) sts.

Knit even until work measures approximately 5¾ (7, 8½, 10¼, 11, 12)” from cast-on at center front or back.

Work Ribbing as for Body. Cast off with larger needle.

Weave in all ends and lightly steam block.

TIP For less prominent bobble, work 2 chains instead of 3.

I hope you give this adorable sweater a try, or at least try this cast-on or these bobbles if they are new to you. What kind of projects do you like to knit with Premier Yarns Toy Box?

Ribbing Rnd 1: With smaller needles, [k1, p1] around.

Rnd 2: Knit.

Rep last 2 rows 2 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3) times more. Cast off with larger needle.

Sleeves (work in both arm openings) Set-up round: Return 7 (9, 11, 12, 12, 14) sts on holder to needle. Take scrap yarn off provisional cast-on at underarm and place sts on larger needle.

Join yarn and knit across underarm stitches, pick up and knit a st between underarm and sleeve sts, knit around to next gap, pick up and knit a st between sleeve sts and underarm sts–12 (14, 16, 18, 18, 20) sts.

Rnds 1–2: Knit.

Rnd 3: K2, k2tog, knit around–11 (13, 15, 17, 17, 19) sts.

Knit plain until sleeve measures 5¾ (7¼, 9½, 11, 12, 13¾)” from cast-on edge at collar.

This yarn is so soft that it can be worn next to the skin. For this reason, these sweaters are not super loose and bulky.

Charles Voth

twitter.com/stitchstud charlesvothdesigns.ca

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Bella Cash

Charles Voth

Bella Cash, an affordable yet extremely lavish yarn knits up into soft and warm fabric.

I'm swatching with Bella Cash yarn in (l-r) Ice, Blush, and Graphite.

This photo doesn’t fully capture the soft drape of Bella Cash yarn when it’s knit up.

I have the pleasure, and believe me, it’s definitely a pleasure, to knit with Bella Cash.

If you can take a white and mute it, that’s what the color designers have done with snow and cream, the two whites in Bella Cash’s palette. And the black is called ebony, another nod to a precious and rare commodity. However, this yarn doesn’t come with the same price tag as one would expect. I have rarely purchased cashmere yarn, because the versions that I’ve seen in the past were beyond my budget, but this yarn, with a yardage of 230 yards per 50g, is entirely within my definition of an affordable special yarn. I’ve seen inferior merino/ nylon blends that cost the same, and I’ve even seen 100% acrylic sold for a similar price.

In other words, Bella Cash doesn’t pill or fall apart. The nylon is there to strengthen the merino’s more delicate nature and to lower the overall cost of the yarn.

This sport weight yarn is very sturdy, yet extremely soft. It’s a blend of 60% merino wool, 30% nylon, and 10% luxurious cashmere. It has a beautiful drape, and yet, it’s not at all flimsy. I have been knitting it on size 5 [3.75mm] needles, but I would use smaller needles for a slightly denser fabric that would still be soft and drapey. With slightly larger needles, like size 6 [4mm] Bella Cash would make a stunning knit lace.

Bella Cash comes in 17 classic shades that remind me of the hand-knit sweaters of the decades between the two world wars. Muted, but not understated, these colors don’t shout gaudy luxury. Instead, they calmly and succinctly state that this yarn is luxurious without pomp or ceremony.

As per usual, these color cards are an approximate rendering of the color of the yarn and will look different on each screen or digital device. Visit your local yarn store for a true idea of the beauty of these classic colors.

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Bella Cash is spun from fine merino wool, nylon, and cashmere. Cashmere is one of those fibers which, even in as small an amount as 10% cashmere, creates a yarn that is soft and cushiony, while still maintaining its integrity.

My background in linguistics had me curious about the name Bella Cash. Bella is Italian or Spanish and it comes from its Latin root “bellus”, which means fair, beautiful, or fine, which this yarn definitely is. Now, I realize that “Cash” is a short form of cashmere, but it’s also a play on words with regard to the high value of this luxury fiber. The word “cash” comes from the Latin “capsa” which means box. The association with money comes from the use of the money box, as in the French “caisse” or the Italian “cassa” which means “money in hand” or “coin”. Bella Cash is the perfect name for this yarn as it captures its value and beauty.

16 of the 20 colors of Bella Cash, it’s up to you to imagine the ebony black, the white, and the 2 new colors that were recently added.

3 things to consider when substituting yarns

Yarn label information from the Universal Yarn website shows fiber composition, recommended needle sizes, and suggested gauge.

Yarn substitution is a bit of a fine art. We’ll look at how best to substitute yarn so that you can use Bella Cash in your favorite sport weight yarn pattern or find a really good pattern to match.

I covered the pros and cons of knitting with Bella Cash, well, pros mostly. I did some clicking around looking for patterns to knit up with this luxurious yet affordable yarn. Bella Cash is a new yarn in the market and there really aren’t a lot of patterns for it yet.

It’s a remarkable pattern because it’s reversible. The zigzag lace stitch pattern looks great on both sides and you can even add buttons to both sides of the brim. It takes only 1 ball, making it a great way to try out Bella Cash.

This zigzag lace hat out of Bella Cash is completely reversible, and the pattern is free!

But let’s say that you want more than a hat. You do a search for a #2 sport-weight yarn on Ravelry for an item that you want to knit and you find hundreds, if not thousands, of designs to choose from. Ravelry is great because most pattern listings give yardage and weight. You can also use the advanced search option to narrow your search down to fiber type, and needle size, and gauge, too.

These are all important factors when choosing which yarn you want to substitute with another. It’s so nice to have this information at our fingertips!

Fiber content and twist are important factors when substituting. yarns

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When I worked in a yarn store 30 years ago, all we had was the weight of the yarn in balls and the gauge in the pattern. We could find fiber content on the labels, but at that time only half of the companies listed yards or meters on the ball bands, and, if you didn’t have the distributor’s catalogue, there was no way of knowing what yardage was. If a pattern called for 500g of worsted weight yarn, we would sell 500g of worsted weight yarn. We tried to convince the customers that an extra skein or ball was a good idea, because we knew yardage varied, but we had little to go by.

I’ve learned so much more since those days!

First, yards per ounce or meters per gram is a very important number in yarn substitution. Check that first! Always.

The next consideration is the fiber content. Different fibers have different mass. Man-made fibers are generally lighter than wool and cotton, but not necessarily all natural fibers. This will affect the weight and ultimately the yardage. Fiber content also affects drape and elasticity and memory. Will gravity pull on a nylon-wool blend as much as on a cotton-acrylic blend? Probably not. Try to get a similar ratio of the different kinds of fiber content.

The next thing to consider is twist. Does the original yarn have a single-ply, 2-ply, or 4-ply construction? Is the yarn tightly or loosely twisted? Is it dense or lofty?

Each of these factors will affect how the stitches look– crisp and pronounced or fuzzy and blended–and how it drapes. Where possible, try to find a substitute that has similar twist and number of plies.

The merino silk (top-left) has a looser twist, but knits more densely because of the fiber content. Bella Cash has nylon which, with the merino content, makes Bella Cash a loftier, and therefore lighter, yarn.

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Color is, of course, somewhat important, but more in the case of ombre, variegated, or gradient yarns.

Because Bella Cash all comes in solid colors, this consideration doesn’t apply here. I usually leave color out of the mix because it’s nearly impossible to find a decent match, even with solids.

Yarn thickness is another issue. Bella Cash has a range of suggested needle sizes and stitch gauges, so it’s apparent that the final look of the knit fabric will be very dependent on your knitting tension and needle choice.

As with any other project, it’s crucial to swatch to make sure you like the look of the fabric – if it’s close “enough” or really a good match. I recommend a 8″ x 8” or larger swatch however, as drape really is hard to render in a little 4″ x 4” block.

This single ply wool yarn is also a fingering weight, but it’s lack of twist and fuzz halo will naturally knit up quite differently than Bella Cash, even if the gauge is the same.

If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a great (new-tome) website called Yarnsub.com. It has a remarkable collection of yarn substitution options. It not only compares yarns similarly to the way I mention above, it also provides a ball-park price comparison.

The folks at Yarnsub.com also compare the put-ups of the different yarns, so you can avoid buying ten 50g skeins when you needed ten 100g skeins.

So until designers publish some yarn-specific patterns for Bella Cash, you can look it up on Yarnsub and find a close substitute. You can also look up Bella Cash on Ravelry and see what patterns people have made with it, or find designs that are specific to that yarn. Then you can check the gauge instructions, knit a test swatch, and you’re off to make a lovely knit out of a cashmere merino and nylon blend yarn, at a fraction of the cost of 100% cashmere.

What I learned about Brioche knitting

The lavender yarn on the left is a hemp, cotton, and cashmere blend.

The sheer number of plies will make the knit fabric look different. In addition, the hemp yarn has no elasticity and every slight change in tension will be visible.

I’m learning so much about different techniques, one of them being Brioche knitting. Before I jump into that, I prepared a plain stockinette swatch so you can see the lovely Bella Cash in her simple beauty. (I normally don’t personify yarn, but with a name like Bella, who can fault me?)

shape. Perhaps if I had blocked this swatch more aggressively (wet blocking rather than a bit of steam), I might have been able to hide this better.

Still, Bella Cash isn’t a wilting flower…even after being re-knit so many times, much of the swatch looks fine.

I also switched from wood needles to metal needles half-way through the swatch. You can definitely see the shift in tension where that happens…note to self…get rid of those 20-year old bamboo needles.

The patina on them is sticky now.

A stockinette stitch swatch in “blush” Bella Cash

I knit this swatch after I had knit some of the other ones in this feature. To make this swatch, I frogged the other swatches – I re-knit this yarn 4 times! I think, in part, this is the cause for the unevenness in my stitches…at least, to some degree. In the top left of the photo about ⅓ of the way down from the top, you may notice that some of my stitches seem to be made out of thinner yarn than the rest. I can’t blame this on the yarn: I think after knitting and frogging so many times I actually may have stretched segments of the yarn out of

My rough attempt at Brioche stitch taught me much. I began (at the bottom) with two-color rib, then went into corrugated rib, and upward to Brioche.

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Now, to the Brioche swatch. It’s only 1 swatch… and at least the Bella Cash is pretty!

As I describe the different sections of this swatch, I’ll share some wisdom I gleaned from this swatch, and what I would do differently next time.

The cast on was fine. I tied the 2 colors together into a slip knot and placed it on my 2 needles held together. I used the Old Norwegian cast on, alternating the colors used for the loop and the securing strands underneath the needle. Then, I did several rows of 2-color ribbing where I bought both yarns forward for the purl stitches even though I only used the one color to purl. I knew this wasn’t Brioche, but I wanted to see if it would work as a good edging. I really like how it looks and it does complement the Brioche, but it doesn’t have the fullness of Brioche, so it definitely cinched in the fabric.

At this point, I had frogged my swatch 3 times because I hadn’t gotten the right cast-on and I didn’t like the effect when I jumped right into the Brioche. On top of this, I had used needles that were too big, and I wasn’t going to frog again.

However, I did want to try a different 2-color ribbing, so in the middle of the swatch I tried corrugated ribbing. In these rows, I only brought the purl stitch color forward to purl and then returned it to the back as a float when I worked the knit stitches. On the reverse side, you can see the floats. Corrugated ribbing has definite right and wrong sides. This defeats the reversible feature of Brioche, so using corrugated ribbing was out.

Next, I went into the Brioche section. What I’ve noticed with Brioche is that, in some cases, the light color pops out more when it’s the knit stitch side than the dark, and in other cases the dark color pops more. I really have no idea why this is the case, as I’d think that the light color would always pop.

Perhaps it’s the saturation of the hue that matters.

At any rate, in my swatch the pink yarn is shouting the loudest.

The charcoal gray Bella Cash stands out on the the wrong side of a brioche swatch with the corrugated ribbing showing.

I was a bit overambitious with this swatch. First, I still think the needle size I used was too large and that it made the stitches uneven. Second, I tried onepass 2-color Brioche. Normally with Brioche, you knit on double-pointed needles or a circular needle so that you can knit the first pass in one color, then the second pass with the other. I learned the 2-pass approach from Very Pink, a helpful video. Thanks to podcaster Nathan Taylor (Sockmatician), I was able to jump past the 2-pass system and try one pass.

I do love the 1-pass approach even more, but for my first attempt (well, officially my 3rd, as I frogged the first 2), my tension is very uneven. I did a lot of experimenting with various knitting styles. I tried combination knitting purl, the Norwegian purl, and the continental purl, which I think contributed to the lack of consistency in my swatch. Again, I can’t fault Bella Cash for this!

The softness and fineness of Bella Cash really does look great in stockinette stitch.

The charcoal gray Bella Cash stands out on the the wrong side of a brioche swatch with the corrugated ribbing showing.

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Lastly, perhaps, a sport weight yarn, wasn’t the best yarn to use to learn Brioche, either. I should have tried something less delicate. I was just so taken with the gray and pink combination of these Bella Cash yarns and pushed on. Maybe when I’m a bit more experienced at Brioche, this will work better.

What happens when you knit in the stitch below?

So as I say “Don’t call me, I’ll call you” to my Brioche knitting effort, but I gladly say “Hello” to knitting in the stitch that follows! This technique involves either purling or knitting into the stitch one row below the row you’re working on.

When a new stitch is formed via knitting through the stitch in the row below, it basically “unravels” the stitch that was on the left needle. Both the lower stitch and the loop of the stitch on the left needle come up and around the new stitch.

These 2 grays are a perfect contrast for knitting in the stitch below.

If you were to knit 1 below across a whole row, you would basically unravel it and have a complete mess, but by deliberately selecting certain stitches to knit below, you can develop a lovely sequence of texture. I think that this technique looks nicest in more than one color, so, since I have these 2 lovely grays and the pale rose of Bella Cash blush, I can tuck in.

You only have to use 1 color per row, but by knitting in the stitch below with multiple colors, you get this lovely effect.

You can see I tried several different approaches in this swatch, using the 3 colors and different sequences of knit 1 below stitches. In the part that curled up, I knit 1 below every other stitch and knit the others, then purled across with a third color, carrying the first one. It really didn’t look right, even though the section that it is curled up is kind of nice. You’re not missing anything.

In the middle section – the one I like the most – I did the following over an even number of stitches.

Row 1: [With color 1, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 2: [With color 2, p1 below; p1] across.

Row 3: [With color 3, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 4: [With color 1, p1 below; p1] across.

Row 5: [With color 2, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 6: [With color 3, p1 below; p1] across.

A close-up of the middle section of my swatch shows how altering the “worked in the row below” stitches creates this diagonal shift in the colors.

Next, I tried the following, but it really wasn’t all that appealing to me.

Row 1: [With color 1, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 2: [With color 2, p1 below; p1] across.

Row 3: With color 3, knit across.

Row 4: [With color 1, p1 below; p1] across.

Row 5: [With color 2, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 6: With color 3, purl across.

So I quickly changed it to this.

Row 1: [With color 1, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 2: With color 2, purl across.

Row 3: [With color 3, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 4: With color 1, purl across.

Row 5: [With color 2, k1 below; k1] across.

Row 6: With color 3, purl across.

Repeat these 6 rows for the pattern.

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Two variations of the knit 1 below stitch make different colors stand out.

The reverse side of this swatch is also very appealing to me. It’s a neat and tidy display of what I call yarn hugs. The contrasting strands of one color reach up and hold on to the loops of the next color used. It reminds me of a circle of cut-out paper dolls holding hands.

The contrast between the light and dark colors creates a stacked bead motif or a honeycomb look on the “wrong” side of the work. There’s no reason you couldn’t make it the “right” side!

If you’d like to learn a whole lot more about Knit One Below, there is a book by that title written by Elise Duvekot which has loads of information about technique and many lovely patterns on which to practice.

Bella Cash yarn makes knit textures sing!

And now we’ll stick with one color, with a focus on knitting textured patterns with this lovely wool-nylon-cashmere blend.

This shawl is still a design in progress. I haven’t got it looking quite the way I’d like, but I can use this piece to show how Bella Cash does so well with texture.

The flame-like motifs or the ones that remind me of the peaks of meringue on a lemon pie, or a swirl of soft-serve ice cream are made with a ribbing that has twisted knit stitches on one side and twisted purl stitches on the return rows. Some yarns that are worked in a twisted rib become taut and stiff. Not Bella Cash: it’s still as soft as ever, yet structurally, it holds up quite well.

Twisted stitches, lace eyelets and garter stitch all look amazing in Bella Cash.

In this swatch, you can see that I’ve used some garter stitch, some ribbing, some lace stitches and some picots to test Bella Cash’s ability to make texture pop. It doesn’t disappoint.

Bella Cash stays soft and pliable even in twisted ribbing

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The garter stitch sections of this swatch are super cushiony, very squooshy. It’s so hard not to make up adjectives that describe how soft these garter stitch triangles are. The stitches are even, and the amount of twist in this yarn really makes it easy to get even tension.

The yarn-over eyelets and the open stitches that aren’t twisted also hold their own in this yarn. They frame the columns of twisted stitches nicely and, when necessary, close up to bring the flame motifs to a point.

As a crocheter, I find knitting picot tips so much more work than crocheting them, but I try not to shy away from a challenge, so here, too, I dug in all the way. I worked some purl-stitch picots along the edge of this swatch and feel a little ho-hum about them. I think I need to find a Pinterest board that just has picot edgings!

Thanks for joining me as we looked at Bella Cash yarn, and how to substitute it for either an inferior or too pricey yarn, how not to knit Brioche, how to knit 1 below, and how Bella Cash beautifully shows off textured stitches.

Garter stitch wedges are used to create the increases for this shawl pattern.

The picots on the edge of this sample are made with a multiple increase and then a purl bind off.

Charles Voth

twitter.com/stitchstud charlesvothdesigns.ca

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With Love Stripes Michelle Nguyen

With Love Stripes, the very NEW yarn from Red Heart – so much to explore with this self-striping yarn!

I’m very impressed with the VERY NEW Red Heart’s striped pattern repertoire. On With Love Stripes page, there are already several striped patterns linked directly to the yarn, but when you’re first working with self-striping yarns, it can be confusing and you’re really not sure where to start. Score one for Red Heart because they’ve already got so many patterns

This little baby looks like she’s enjoying her blanket. It’s made from the colorway Candy Stripe.

ready to go for you. The first one I’ll go over with you is the SelfStriping Baby Blanket.

When I first unboxed this yarn, I was thinking to myself that the color repeats couldn’t be that long, that they’d be best for socks. Really thick socks at that, but what else could I make with them?

Here's a closeup of the pattern and boarder.

It’s easy to memorize.

I’m no longer skeptical about these striped skeins because when I actually did measure the length of the yarn in the repeat it was 27”. This blanket calls for 118 stitches to be cast on and the final measurements are 36” x 38”.

That’s a crib blanket, there’s no way around it. I can’t believe the stripe pattern is still happening at that length, but it makes complete sense to have the pattern repeats that long.

There will be many happy baby blanket knitters out there!

Photos by Michelle Nguyen

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The pattern itself is a simple one, easy to memorize.

There are really only two rows of pattern and the other ten are variations on stockinette and garter stitch. It adds texture around the pattern rows and a garter stitch boarder. With this pattern you’ll be zipping away in no time. If you’re not one for patterns, you can simply use the shell of this pattern for your own baby blanket. Cast on 118 stitches and do five rows of a garter stitch boarder (to prevent curling) and head off into stockinette oblivion. You’ll get the same nice slim stripes as you see in the pattern, but with a stockinette finish. Don’t forget to do your garter stitch boarder as you go and at the very end of your blanket.

This is an excellent pattern to start sharpening your appetite for stripes. If you don’t currently have any babies to knit for, or any on the way, you can always knit this up and put it in the future gift pile. There’s no harm being prepared and you never know when you’ll need an unexpected baby shower gift.

This baby is accessorizing her stripes and wardrobe. She takes a color from the blanket and uses that to accentuate the look the stripes already initiate.

The NEW With Love Stripes yarn takes the ‘work’ out of ‘color work’

I noticed the Color Block Hat when scrolling through the other With Love patterns on the Red Heart website. I was looking for something that would lend itself well to being knit with self striping yarn and thought this was the perfect opportunity to show how the colors look when you’re decreasing.

The NEW With Love Stripes yarn takes the guess work out of knitting stripes.

If this look really bothers you, put a pompom on the top! I really like the neat look of the decreases on the crown of a hat, but not everyone likes the same thing. Usually if my finishing is messy, I’ll pop a pompom on the top of a hat, but that just stays between us right?

As I you decrease and change the circumference of your garment, you’re going to change the nature of your stripes. Since you’re decreasing, the amount of stitches, your stripes will get thicker. Until you just have a solid circle of color at the crown.

The way the colors worked out looks as though it was meant to be. The decreasing was very quick so there was not a long stretch of knitting at a different gauge.

The top of my hat. Here's another angle on the stripes at the top of the hat, and the reason there are so many pompom’s on the hats I make.

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Another thing you want to be mindful of, when you’re casting on, is the amount of yarn you’re using (if you’re using a long tailed cast on). I know I pulled out a lot of extra yarn to ensure I didn’t run out, as a result, I have a half stripe around the ribbing of the hat. It’s difficult to tell with the ribbing, but I felt like I wasted a lot of yarn and that stripe was not as full as it should have been.

The colors starting to form their stripes along the brim of the hat. The ribbing makes the stripe work look subtly different.

This hat is the perfect pattern to go with self-striping yarn. It’s plain and easy, you just knit in stockinette stitch and the yarn does the work for you. Can you imagine trying to knit this with color work? It would have taken some time to weave in all the ends, switch up yarn, not get it tangled, try to find the color you were just using because it happens to have run off somewhere. Overall it’s just a cleaner and much simpler process.

Take all the ‘work’ out of ‘color work’ with With Love Stripes. There will be no more fighting multiple balls of yarn or getting everything hopelessly tangled.

You can add interest to your knitting without the extra fuss.

Michelle Nguyen

The finished product! The stripes look great in this hat pattern!

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stitchesbeslippin.com

The Color Block Hat

The qualities and benefits of knitting with Red Heart Soft yarn

Michelle Nguyen

Soft yarn in the colors Chocolate, Biscuit, and Sea Foam.

From bottom to top, stockinette, seed stitch, and eyelettes. All these stitches look fabulous in this yarn.

The lovely colors Biscuit, Leaf and Sea Foam.

The range of high quality yarn produced by Red Heart is impressive and Soft is no exception. Made from 100% acrylic, it has 256yd [234m] in one ball. My favorite care instructions: machine wash and dry. Now, let’s really get into the meat of this yarn.

Soft yarn by Red Heart has a little bit of a sheen to it. Nothing overly sparkly or anything, but a soft glow. I really love this effect; if you’re knitting a garment in a solid color, it adds a lot of depth to it. Even in the ball, the light highlights off the skein and makes it seem lighter in some places and darker in others.

Soft yarn is perfect for making a simple pattern in a plain color look more sophisticated. The way the light bounces off the yarn makes it look a little bit fancier with no additional work needed. I have mentioned before about using the right yarn for the right project. If your yarn is 'busy', use a plain pattern, if your yarn is plain use a textured pattern. I really think this yarn is an exception to that rule because in all senses of the word, this is a plain yarn, but it does well in either a plain pattern or a busy one. It accentuates any stitches very well, even the stockinette stitch.

The yarn really lives up to its name and is very soft. As I sit here fondling Red Heart’s Soft yarn, there are no bumps or imperfections on the surface. Since this yarn has so much depth, I expected it to be a little stiffer, but it’s very relaxed and fluid.

A close up on the eyelets without the doubled up fabric

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This is a perfect yarn for working on a garment where you don’t want a lot of stretch. I’ve tripped over that pitfall when working on market bags.

You knit something up perfectly, but once you put anything into it, the bag stretches down to the floor. I’d say if you were knitting any garments you wanted a bit of stretch in (a hat brim, fingerless mittens, etc.) I’d use a German Twisted Cast On, to add more stretch where you need it.

Soft yarn in the colors Cinnabar, Chocolate, Biscuit, and Sea Foam.

In summary, I don’t think there’s a project you couldn’t knit with Soft yarn. It lends itself very well to most things. Unless you’re looking for something to make an intentionally itchy sweater or some kind of hair shirt, you’re going to be pleased with your finished object knit up with Soft yarn!

Knitting the Two-Point Hat pattern with Soft yarn The pattern I chose to go over with you using Soft yarn by Red Heart is the Two-Pointed Hat pattern. I think this pattern has an interesting shape and there’s space to play with the techniques if you wanted to color outside the lines a little bit. It’s also a quick hat to make for kids, and because of that, can be knit up in several colors for their several outfits.

I’m going over the Two-Pointed Hat pattern instructions first, because I had to read it a couple times in order to understand what was happening.

The instructions are clear, but I was starting from a point where I thought I knew how it was going to be knit. I was completely wrong and couldn’t get out of that head-space to understand what the instructions were actually telling me! This hat is knit flat and folded in half. You’re knitting the brim, then stockinette up and over the head and knit the second half of the brim on the other end or side.

Then simply seam up the sides. The fold line is at the top of the hat.

Red Heart’s Two-Pointed Hat. Click through for the free pattern.

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The completed version of the Two-Pointed Hat laying flat.

If you’re like me and want to avoid seaming at all costs, you can knit it in the round. The amount of stitches called for is half the circumference of the head, so ensure to double the amount of stitches you’re casting on. After casting on, immediately join into the round and follow the instructions from there. The hat says to knit until it’s 13½” (15½”, 17½”) from the cast on, then work the 1½” brim. In total the hat, when knit flat, would be 16” (18”, 20”) long. You don’t want to knit it that long because we’re not folding it in half anymore.

You’re going to knit up until the half point, so knit until your hat in the round reaches 8” (9”, 10”).

The Two-Pointed Hat in the color Deep Sea

I know the pattern says to seam the sides and if you’re following along at home, you’re likely going to realize there’s an open top that needs to be closed.

I’m not going back to seaming though! I have a passionate love of the Kitchener stitch, so don’t bind off the top when you get there. Simply split your stitches onto two needles or two halves of a circular needle. Then Kitchener stitch that bad boy up!

The top of the hat is going to be closed and you’re two points will be in place!

By looking at my knitting (or reading it) I was able to determine that I had a problem early on in this project.

While you’re knitting, don’t just blindly follow the instructions, read instructions all the way through before starting the cast on. Use your judgement and avoid continuing to knit a garment that you may have to rip out later!

I’m a big fan of trusting your intuition while knitting. If you’re looking at a garment and thinking it looks much too large or small, then it very well may be.

Take another look at your pattern, your gauge, your yarn. Make sure nothing has changed and your math is correct.

In this case, try one hat in the round and one knit flat, let me know which one you like more!

If Deep Sea is too dark for your tastes, check out Sea Foam (top). The other two colors Biscuit and Chocolate.

This is the perfect opportunity to bring up ‘reading your knitting’.

When I cast this project on, I didn’t realize I was supposed to be folding it from the top down, I thought I was folding it side to side. Looking at the amount of stitches I cast on, I knew it was going to be way too small. Even the adult size looked like it might be a newborn size, if I were lucky.

I doubled the stitches because I 'guesstimated' that would be around the right size. Only after I was almost done the hat did I realize I did need to double the stitches. I was wrong about doubling the stitches.

Soft yarn is an excellent yarn for knitting just about everything for its softness and sheen, but particularly for hats, which are worn on our heads. Stitch definition is excellent, so using even the most complex stitch patterns is recommended.

Michelle Nguyen

stitchesbeslippin.com

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Non-allergenic shawls and socks with Allegro Charles Voth

We’re looking at a yarn by Wisdom Yarns that is truly the answer to the question, “can I make non-allergenic, non-wool socks that stay up on my legs?” Allegro, Italian for merry and cheerful, it will have your toes singing!

3 of the 6 colorways of Allegro: Sea Rhythm, Apricot Air, and Night Waltz

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Each ball of this yarn has 470yds and 100g. That’s a generous amount of yardage, and enough to make men’s socks of decent length, and women’s socks that reach midcalf. It comes in 6 colorways. Each is named with a type of musical composition from classical music, like the yarn itself.

The way the colorists dyed this yarn is musical on its own. There are segments that are semi-solid and create stripes in socks, which are divided by other sections of speckled yarn that looks like notes on a music score. For those who are musically inclined, imagine the semi-solid sections like a full sound with many instruments each adding to the richness of the music, but in this case it’s the saturation of color.

The speckled parts are like the soloists highlighting the themes of the melody.

If you’ve ever knit with man-made or plant-based fibers to avoid wool or animal fibers because of allergies or vegan values, you know that cotton and bamboo and other types of rayon, and acrylic all leave something to be desired in sock yarn because there is little stretch or memory in most other yarns out there on the market.

Allegro contains both acrylic and PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), a substance something like Lycra that’s used in thread to manufacture aquatic garments and sportswear.

The PBT gives an amazing amount of both stretch and memory to the yarn. After tugging on it to get it past your heels, you’ll find that it bounces right back into place and stays up on your calves. The label says it can be washed in warm water and tumble dried.

Garter stitch evenly distributes the colors of this Allegro colorway called Grape Sonata.

Sock knitters often complain about color pooling in variegated and dip-dyed yarns. Color pooling is the unintentional appearance of areas with one color concentration. It may look blotchy or spotty, and not everyone likes it. Some people try many tricks like knitting socks with 2 balls of yarn at the same time, changing the yarn every round or so to interrupt the pooling. Other people use textured patterns to “disrupt” the patchiness.

Allegro in Grape Sonata creates a melody of stripes and speckles.

The Allegro yarn I'm talking about here has been dyed to be a selfstriping yarn, but there are not only stripes. There are variegated segments that break up the stripes with a more mottled look.

There’s a free basic sock pattern which is ideal for the yarn and highlights its colorways and dye patterns.

Photos courtesy of Wisdom Yarns

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Knit a shawlette with non-allergenic yarn

Instructions Cast on 6 sts.

Knit this easy scarf with scalloped edges with 1 ball of Allegro.

Detail of the scalloped edges knit with short rows, showing how the colors concentrate

Non-allergenic yarns are excellent for those with a vegan outlook or who are allergic to wool. So far we looked at using i-cords as a design feature. Let's move to an easier project that you can knit in about 6 to 10 hours.

Row 1: Sl 1, K5.

I knit the shawlette on the left.

Well, actually, I designed it and my wife knit it, with one skein of Allegro, in the Grape Sonata colorway.

Row 14: Sl 1, knit to last st, yfwd, k1, pick up and knit 1 st in each of 6 eyelets across edge of shawl.

The skills that you need to knit this shawlette include garter stitch, familiarity with picking up and knitting in the sides of knit fabric, and really easy short rows. The combination of these techniques end up with this oblique triangular shape that form scalloped edges. Across the straight edge the shawlette is 46” long and the depth of the triangle to the point is 13”.

Pattern Notes

Eyelets are formed beside the scallops where there are multiple increases in one stitch

Slip all slipped stitches purlwise with yarn in front.

Abbreviations St(s): stitch(es) K: knit Yfwd: yarn forward Sl: slip stitch

Every scallop looks different, drawing attention to the different colors of the variegated yarn.

Charles Voth

twitter.com/stitchstud charlesvothdesigns.ca 30

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Row 2: Sl 1, K4, yfwd, k1–7 sts Row 3: Sl 1, K6.

Row 4: Sl 1, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 5: Sl 1, knit across.

Rows 6-13: Rep Rows 4 & 5.

Row 15: Sl 1, knit 6, (yfwd, k1) 3 times in next st, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 16: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 17: Sl 1, k11, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Row 18: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 19: Sl 1, k10, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Row 20: Sl 1, knit across.

Odd Rows 21-29: Sl 1, knit 1 less than previous row as established a, turn, leaving rem sts unworked.

Even rows 22-30: Sl 1, knit across.

Row 31: Sl 1, k5, k7 tbl, knit to last st, yfwd, k1.

Row 32: Sl 1, knit.

Repeat rows 6-32 until there are approximately 2 yards of yarn left.

Bind off purlwise.

Give this lovely shawlette as a holiday gift to that vegan loved one and they’ll enjoy its squishy softness for years!

Photos by Charles Voth

9 Night South of Ireland Knitting & Craft Tour 2019 2019 Tour Dates: • 07 Apr • 22 Sep • 19 May • 13 Oct • 14 Jul

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How to knit on an I-cord edging A small garter stitch swatch

A couple pairs of socks and a shawl later, I thought how fun it would be to have a different sort of edging along the top of a sock or the length of a shawl. I’ll demonstrate how to make an i-cord edging with 2 of these yarns.

I’ve knit a little garter stitch swatch in the and added on an I-cord edging.

First stitch of cable cast on

Placing the cable cast on stitch back onto the left needle

I-cord is the termed coined by knitter extraordinaire, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and it means idiot-cord, named as such because she used these to attach pairs of mittens to each other. Thus, any idiot would be prevented from losing one of their hand-made mittens.

If you have ever knit with a French knitting loom, or done spool knitting, with 4 or 5 nails inserted around the hole of a wooden thread spool, you’ve made an I-cord. At least, the wooden spool was my first exposure to the i-cord. My dad made me one when I was 5. Nowadays, you can find i-cord looms with little cranks that make it possible to churn out yards of i-cord painlessly. Perfect if you want to wrap the i-cord into a coil and stitch it together to make a flat round or oval item.

But if you made an i-cord on its own, it would certainly be quite tedious to try to sew it on as an edging to knitting, so I propose this knitted-on version. You’ll need 2 double-pointed needles to achieve this edging.

These four stitches will make the i-cord edging

The first step is to use the cable cast on to add 4 stitches to the current swatch. To do this, insert the needle between the first and second stitches on the left-hand needle and knit up a loop, twist the right needle so that you can return the new loop to the left needle. Then repeat this 3 more times.

Photos by Charles Voth

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The next stage is to knit the first 3 stitches of the i-cord, and then knit the next 2 together through the back loops, joining the cable cast on to the body of the swatch. Some people prefer to slip the third stitch, knit the fourth and pass the slipped stitch over. Then slide the 4 stitches to the opposite end of the needle, converting it to a left-hand needle.

Knit the first 3 stitches and work the 4th and 5th together in your preferred manner.

If you knit 1 round of i-cord for each stitch that is on the needle, you may end up with a buckle in the fabric.

When picking up stitches along a stockinette stitch edge, we usually don’t pick up a stitch for every row either, because stitch gauge and row gauge aren’t symmetrical.

Many knitting books and designers recommend picking up 3 sts for every 4 rows of stockinette. In the case of the i-cord, it is essentially a little tube of stockinette stitch, so this would also mean that the number of rounds on the i-cord would not correspond exactly to the number of stitches along the edge we are knitting on to. To solve this, we knit 3 rounds of i-cord, and join to 3 stitches, and then work one round on the i-cord where 4 stitches were knit and slide them back to the other end of the double-pointed needle without a join. This is how to avoid a curved or buckling i-cord edging.

Knitting the 4th stitch together with the first stitch from the main work.

Knit 1 plain round every 4th row to avoid buckling or flaring.

Finished i-cord edging from the right side

My first messy attempt at working the i-cord edging around a corner

I went exploring a little further with this i-cord edging and tried to go around a corner. I’m not thrilled with how it turned out, so I need to experiment a bit more before I give you any tips on how to achieve a nice corner.

Finished i-cord edging on the wrong side of the fabric

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Using a knit i-cord as a cast-on technique Allegro a non-allergenic yarn, in our exploration of I-cord, in this case, how to use it for casting on.

Instead, I made the i-cord first, and then with the bright red, I added the stitches of the main part of the swatch.

To do this, you need to look carefully at the stitches in the I-cord and decide whether you want to use the upper strand of a horizontal stockinette V-stitch or the lower, and then you need to be consistent as you work along the I-cord, always lifting the same strand of the “V”.

When i-cord is used as a cast-on edge the result is a neat finish.

I showed you how to knit on an i-cord edging to existing stitches. But looking at the above photo, you really wouldn’t be able to tell for sure whether I knit this blue-and-green i-cord onto the red garter stitch, but I’ll tell you that I didn’t.

How long should you make your i-cord cast on?

Well, you’ll need to do a bit of math. First, divide the number of stitches required for your knit item. Let’s say it’s a scarf with 55 stitches. Divide this number by 3 and “keep” the remainder aside.

55 ÷ 3 = 18 with a remainder of 1.

Take the answer, in this case 18, and multiply by 4.

18 x 4 = 72, and then add the remainder.

72 + 1 = 73.

An i-cord cast-on can be used to create curved edges.

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So you need to work 73 rounds of i-cord for this scarf. When I do this, I could use my cast-on round as one of the needed rounds. At the end of the 73 rounds, I simply run the end of the yarn through the 4 stitches on the needle and cinch them closed. If you were making the scarf with the same yarn as the i-cord, do the following instead: k2tog, k2tog, pass the first st over the 2nd. Then you can pick up stitches along the i-cord right off the bat.

A mystery project! What do you think this is going to be?

Pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rounds in the i-cord and you’ll avoid buckling or flaring edges.

I went a little crazy with my experimenting with the i-cord cast-on and ended up with this. Please guess what you think this will end up being when I’m done knitting it.

Using both the technique from the previous page and this cast-on in combination yields some amazing results. This motif is from a pattern I fell in love with while browsing through Ravelry called Jewel Dragon. It’s a gorgeous pattern and would really suit the bright colorways of his yarn.

This piece uses i-cord both as a cast-on and as an edging technique to create an amazing textile.

Charles Voth

twitter.com/stitchstud charlesvothdesigns.ca

One “scale” motif of the Jewel Dragon pattern.

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Premier Sweet Rolls Charles Voth These 2 rolls called Capuccino Pop (top left) and Caramel Swirl (right) make me thirsty to knit!

This blend of cornflower blue and lavender fibers make up a heather color section in the Punch Pop colorway.

Sweet Roll is a worsted weight yarn and it’s 100% acrylic that is packaged in a yarn cake or “roll” format. It comes in 26 colorways (scroll to the bottom). Each colorway consists of long repeats of 3 colors, and each in each roll, the colors repeat at least twice per roll. The length of each color segment is fairly consistent. At the transition points the change from one color to another takes place over a 1″ or 2″ segment.

In some of the colorways, each color is dyed with a more heathered look, where several small strands of fiber are dyed different colors and then blended to create a mottled look.

In other colorways, each color is more solid with the occasional speckle or dollop of one of the other colors from the scheme.

The ball band says that Sweet Roll knits up at 17 stitches per 4″, which makes it a tad bit thicker than a worsted weight, more like an Aran weight, but it’s a soft, ‘cushiony’ (for lack of a better word) yarn that has a lot of spring to it, so knitting at an 18-stitch gauge will work great as well. Each roll weighs 5oz [140g] and has 245yds [224m].

This cream section from the Pop Cappuccino colorway has speckles of an oatmeal beige distributed randomly across this stretch of yarn.

4 plies are spun together to give this yarn a squishy texture and clean stitch definition.

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The architecture of Sweet Roll is really interesting. It consists of 4 individual plies that are twisted together to give the yarn nice definition. Each of these 4 plies is crimped or something like that. I don’t know what the process is called, but it gives the end result a crepe finish, and it also reduces pilling a lot. There’s no halo around this yarn, even after knitting and with the usual friction of rubbing against the sides of a project bag, my hands, and the needles. I didn’t have a chance to throw it in the washing machine, but I predict very little if any pilling.

Next, let's take a look at different patterns and stitches that really complement Sweet Roll yarn.

3 patterns to knit with self-striping worsted weight yarn Self-striping sock yarn has been around for quite a few years, but I haven’t run across worsted weight self-striping yarn. One of the bonuses of self-striping yarn is that color choices and color changes are all done for you.

There are no knots to tie and there’s no headache to be had from trying to get the right colors to coordinate. Sweet Roll yarn solves these 2 issues very well.

Sweet Roll isn’t a gradient yarn, though. The color transitions are brief rather than happening gradually over long stretches of yarn. I have heard reports of a knot appearing in a roll in one spot every rare once in a while, but this does happen occasionally during the manufacturing process of all yarns and can’t be helped.

The mills that spin Sweet Roll obviously take pains to reattach the yarn in the same color stripe where the break happens rather than creating an even more abrupt color change at the knot!

It never happened to me though, and I’ve knit through 8 of these self-striping skeins from different colorways.

Premier Yarns has these 3 patterns for free and you can see how the color change happens randomly. I like the natural transitions and the color schemes that they’ve chosen are great.

Photos by Charles Voth

Medium gray is an elegant neutral and the classic cable stitch pattern make the easyto-knit Tassel Hat shown below a great style for cooler weather outfit.

Knit this lovely Simply Stripey Shawl that boasts color changes and offers warmth on a lazy afternoon around the home.

2 rolls of the multicolored, self-striping, worsted weight Sweet Roll in the Punch Pop colorway. I love this fun color combination.

If you have a sweet baby in your family, or another young lady who wants to be warm with a bit of pizzazz as well, this easy little Color Block Baby Blanket is a great introduction to knitting in the round.

I’ll introduce you to one of my patterns that takes advantage of the color transitions in a new way that’s quite unique looking, even though I only knitted and purled.

Take the chill off with this Ice Pop colorway of Sweet Roll!

Purl rows and knit rows with this Punch Pop colorway of Sweet Roll make the mystery project that will be revealed in the follow pages.

Don’t worry about color changes, let Sweet Roll do it for you.

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Shadow knitting with Sweet Roll Yarn Sweet Roll by Premier Yarns is a repeat self-striping yarn and is ideal for sprucing up shadow knitting with worry-free color changes.

Sweet Roll yarn stacks up to your most imaginative ideas. The Punch Pop colorway features lavender, bright turquoise, and a rich teal.

Shadow knitting was initially developed in Japan and roughly translated, it’s known as ‘fine knitting’, which doesn’t really hint at the optical illusion that it creates. If you’d like to learn more about this history of shadow knitting and see more patterns, I’d recommend this Interweave book Shadow Knitting.

Shadow knitting is a great way for beginners to do colorwork without knitting with two colors at the same time on the same row. It involves knitting 2 rows in one color and then 2 rows in the next color and then alternating back and forth. The strands of the unused color are loosely carried up the side of the project where each color row begins and ends.

When you do this, you basically get stripes. If you only knit you get garter stitch ridges, and if you knit one row and purl one row you get stockinette stripes, like these.

Stripes of 2 rows of each color

If you look a little closer at the pattern, you’ll notice that on a few of the stripes things look a little wonky.

Perhaps to the untrained eye, it would look like a mistake. But these irregularities my friend, are what make shadow knitting what it is. If you look at the knit fabric surface from any angle that’s shallower than a perpendicular bird’s eye view, you’ll start to see some changes in the color and the texture of the fabric, and what you’re seeing are the shadows that the alignment of certain stitches creates.

On this scarf, you’ll notice a series of L-shaped blocks arranged in a motif that’s called a Greek Key. I made up a simplified version of a Greek Key because some of them can get quite complex and have a variety of corners and parallel lines.

History of Shadow Knitting and many patterns can be found in this volume by Vivian Høxbro.

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finished measurements 8½” x 76¾” materials • 2 balls of Sweet Rolls • US 8 [5mm] needles Gauge isn’t essential for this project.

Cast on 34 stitches with yarn A (your first ball of yarn). Place a locking stitch marker around the yarn going to ball A. Looking at the scarf at a 30° angle makes the Greek Key pattern jump. out at you.

To make the shadows, the knitter uses strategically placed purl stitches that create raised garter stitch ridges that run one half row off-set of the other garter stitch ridges. It’s a thing of beauty.

Sweet Roll yarn added a cool element to shadow knitting in that the color changes add a whole different dimension to the shadows. I used almost all of 2 rolls of the same colorway, Punch Pop in this case. To ensure that you don’t end up with the same color overlapping, it’s necessary to unwind all of one color from the center of the roll so that when you use the yarn from one ball to be on color of stripe, it always contrasts the yarn from the other ball. If you use two different colorways together you won’t have to do this step. In the picture below, you can see how the colorways “chase” each other across the length of the scarf, making it look like there are more than 3 colors in the colorway.

Bird’s eye few of alternating stripes of Sweet Roll Punch Pop makes it look like you have more than 3 colors.

My wife knit this for me and she really enjoyed the pattern. It was one that she could take with her to knit-night because it doesn’t take too much concentration. She loved the feel of Sweet Roll as she knit with it, and the end result is a soft scarf with beautiful drape and a squishy feel to it.

If you’d like to try to knit this scarf and see how you like shadow knitting, I’ll include the pattern for this scarf.

Rows 1-2: K34 in A. Rows 3-4: K34 in B. Rows 5-8: Repeat Rows 1-4.

Row 9: K34 in A. Row 10: P6 in A, k22 in A, p6 in A. Row 11: K34 in B. Row 12: K6 in B, p22 in B, k6 in B. Rows 13-20: Repeat Rows 9-12.

Row 21: K34 in A. Row 22: P21 in A, k7 in A, p6 in A. Row 23: K34 in B. Row 24: K21 in B, p7 in B, k6 in B. Rows 25-32: Repeat Rows 21-24.

Row 33: K34 in A. Row 34: P6 in A, k8 in A, p7 in A, k7 in A, p6 in A. Row 35: K34 in B. Row 36: K6 in B, p8 in B, k7 in B, p7 in B, k6 in B. Rows 37-44: Repeat Rows 33-36.

Row 45: K34 in A. Row 46: P6 in A, k8 in A, p7 in A, k7 in A, p6 in A. Row 47: K34 in B. Row 48: K6 in B, p8 in B, k20 in B. Row 49: K34 in A. Row 50: P6 in A, k8 in A, p20 in A. Rows 51-54: Repeat Rows 47-50.

Row 55: K34 in B. Row 56: K6 in B, p8 in B, k20 in B. Row 57: K34 in A. Row 58: P6 in A, k22 in A, p6 in A. Row 59: K34 in B. Row 60: K6 in B, p22 in B, k6 in B. Rows 61-68: Repeat Rows 57-60.

Repeat Rows 5 to 68 until you’ve reached desired length minus ½”.

Knit 4 rows. Bind off purlwise.

Photos by Charles Voth KNITmuch | issue 6

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Keep people wondering how you made this optical illusion with only 2 stitches and 2 balls of yarn.

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Chart for shadow knitting Greek Key scarf

Knitting gradients with self-striping yarn Self-striping yarn became popular with the quick growth, almost a movement, in sock knitting.

Gradient yarns have become popular with the development of shawls and stoles and their visibility in the knitting community.

Holding two strands of Sweet Roll together with staggered placement of the stripes opens up a whole realm of possible gradients.

I chose two colorways of Sweet Roll, Caramel Swirl and Cappuccino Pop to blend together to create a gradient. The warm cream and camel tones of Cappuccino Pop coordinate well with the mocha, beige, and cocoa browns of Caramel Swirl. The warm gray in the Cappuccino also creates a nice contrast and complements the brown family without making all the colors muddy when they come together. This way of holding strands together rids the knitting of stark stripes and makes the color transitions more gradual.

You can see in my knit swatch above, that a gradient is created when the different colors combine. This provides depth and a tweedy or marled look to the fabric, which I achieved by holding the two yarns together, but starting one of the colors partway through its self-striping pattern.

Other yarns are spun this way deliberately but with Sweet Roll, you have control of the colors you want to blend.

Some of you may be wondering what this knit item is? Well, it was supposed to be a blanket, but it ended up being a swatch! As I designer, I don’t like to think that I failed (although, there are days…), but this was a learning experience! I learned that mitered squares work better when knit in garter stitch because the row to stitch gauge is almost equal. In stockinette stitch, stitches are little rectangles. Increases quickly throw off the symmetry of a square, so I couldn’t get my math right here.

This square will be frogged and I’ll go back to the sketching board with calculator and graph paper!

My not-so-hot attempt at a mitered square blanket blending my own gradients. The gradients are fine, the “square”? Not so much.

Make your own marled gradients by blending two different colorways of Sweet Rolls together.

In the meantime, if you’d like to use 2 different colorways of Sweet Rolls to knit a mitered square, I’ll refer you to an excellent resource for mitered squares. While Nicolette makes lots of small squares and sews them together, I would start with my two balls of Sweet Rolls held together and make 4 big squares to show the gradients changing as the squares grew, then I would sew the 4 squares together to make a diamond out of the gradient color changes.

Photos by Charles Voth KNITmuch | issue 6

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2

things I learned from my knitted swatch other than gauge

I embarked on a project to knit a mitered square blanket out of Sweet Roll yarn, but I wanted to do it in stockinette stitch instead of the traditional garter stitch.

Well, there’s a reason why most mitered squares are done in garter stitch. It has to do with the number of rows versus the number of stitches you get.

In garter stitch each ridge is comprised of two rows of knitting and the ratio is almost exactly 1 garter stitch ridge to 1 stitch, which makes squares possible.

In stockinette stitch, the ratio is closer to 4 rows to every 3 stitches, so mitered squares that are decreased or increased at the same rate as garter stitch squares end up looking like diamonds.

I did some math and thought it was right, but I ended up with a shape that reminds me of an awning on a Who-ville house

(from Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas). Needless to say, this swatch is going to the “frog pond” to be unraveled.

But not all is lost. I learned two other things from my attempt.

1) I learned that with chunky yarn, or at least with 2 strands of yarn held double, I don’t like lifted increases. Lifted increases are where you lift a leg of a stitch from one or more rows below the current row and knit into it to create a new stitch. For a right-leaning increase you work into the first leg of the stitch one row below the loop on the lefthand needle. For a left-leaning increase, you work into the second leg of the stitch two rows below the loop just knit onto the right-hand needle.

I decided to do twisted yarn over increases.

I shine a light on the twisted yarn-over paired increases.

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Twisted yarn over increases are made by adding yarn overs on the right-side rows and purling into the yarn-overs on the wrong-side and twisting the yarn over stitch. To do this, knit to where you want the first of a paired increase to be, yarn-over, knit to where the next increase is to be, yarn-over, and continue.

On the return row, at the first yarn-over, change the orientation of the loop on the left-hand needle (if necessary) so that the first leg is at the front and the second leg is at the back, then purl into the back leg. Purl to the next yarn-over and change the orientation of the loop on the left-hand needle (if necessary) so that the first leg is at the back of the needle and the second leg is at the front, then purl into the front leg. These two different maneuvers twist the stitch in opposite directions, which mirrors the increases to give a balanced look.

2) I learned I like the look of twisted stitches where the garter stitch edging butts up against the stockinette section. To make the twist, I used the last garter stitch and the first stockinette stitch to make the twist, which makes the stockinette st cross over the garter stitch bump. To do this on a practice swatch of your own, try the following.

Swatch instructions

Cast on 20 sts.

Right-leaning mix twisted stitches lay the knit stitch over top of the garter stitch ridge.

Rows 1- 6: Knit.

Row 7: Knit.

Row 8: K4, P12, K4.

Row 9: K3, with RH needle lift the left front leg of 2nd st on LH needle and tug open, remove RH and reinsert as if to knit and K1, then slip first st on LH needle purlwise, removing both stitches from LH needle, k10, remove first st off LH needle and pinch with fingers from left hand, slip next st on LH needle purlwise, return pinched loop to LH needle and knit it, K3.

Row 10: K4, P12, K4.

Repeat Rows 9 and 10 for the pattern to desired length.

Knit 6 rows, bind off purlwise.

Let me know if you try the scarf, or either of my discoveries. I do hope you try Sweet Roll yarn and that you’ll share with us what you knit with it.

These left-leaning twisted stitches create a unique transition between stockinette and garter stitch panels.

Charles Voth

twitter.com/stitchstud charlesvothdesigns.ca KNITmuch | issue 6

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Evermore yarn

Michelle Nguyen

The care label from Evermore yarn with the recommended hook and needle sizes.

Evermore yarn from Red Heart!

Evermore is a really interesting yarn to work with. It’s a single strand of roving-like yarn with a gentle twist.

It’s lovely and soft with a beautiful blooming halo of fuzziness around each strand and knitted garment.

Evermore is the perfect yarn to work with heading into the cold weather.

Getting back to the yarn construction, I mentioned that Evermore is a roving-like yarn. What does this mean? The yarn is very natural feeling and has an unspun look. There are many great benefits to this style of yarn, but a couple of important points to know before you start.

The fiber content of Evermore really adds to the beauty of the yarn itself. This is one of the yarns from Red Heart that has 20% wool content. The rest of the yarn is acrylic, but that wool content means you must take a little more care when washing your garment.

The stitch definition is going to be subtle. If you’re doing a very intricate stitch pattern, all your that work may not stand out as much as you would like. This is also great news for beginner knitters who haven’t quite managed to get their tension absolutely perfect. While this yarn may not make your stitch pattern stand out, it will make any issues with tension or imperfect stitches less noticeable.

The care instructions on the label suggest hand washing in cold water and dry flat. No ironing or bleaching, and only have it professionally dry cleaned. The professionally dry cleaned part gave me a little laugh because it begs the question, are there unprofessional dry cleaners? A black market of rogue dry cleaners who have rebelled against the system?

In an article, I talked about loft and how it holds in heat. Evermore has lots of lofts to keep in warm air.

Come to think of it, I’ve never had any of my knits professionally (or unprofessionally) dry cleaned. Has anyone else? I would be very interested to know your experience if you’re willing to share in the comments.

Two skeins of Evermore in the colors Cabana (left) and Cotton Candy (right)

Photos by Michelle Nguyen

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One thing you’ll have to make sure you’re paying attention to is your tension. The yarn spreads out on the stitches, so if your tension is very tight, you’re going to split your stitch when you go to knit it. The needle will pass right through the center of your yarn. Evermore has very little twist to stop it from happening, so you need to be mindful. It’s much easier to avoid splitting your stitch when your tension is generous.

These are just a few general tips and my initial thoughts on Evermore yarn from Red Heart. It’s always useful to know a little bit about how the yarn feels before planning your project. If you need special needles, or know you have to have a loose tension, you can make sure you’re doing those things right from the start of the project rather than halfway through.

Carefully choosing your needle type will also aid in this endeavor. Blunt needles are less likely to go through your working yarn than sharp ones. At the very least, you’re more likely to notice the needle going through the yarn.

See how the first stitch is split on the needle? Also, the rest of the stitches are wider than you would think. Be mindful when knitting with any roving or roving-like yarn.

Knitting Snowy Arm Warmers pattern using Red Heart Evermore yarn Is there such a thing as too many arm warmers? I think not! They’re the perfect accessory for keeping warm, especially if you’re having issues with… ahem… personal trips to the Bahamas. They’re easy to roll down or strip off at a moment’s notice.

If you’re the type that’s always cold, you can easily throw these on over a long sleeve shirt and not worry about the fashion repercussions of wearing two sweaters.

The Snowy Arm Warmers pattern was originally written for Shimmer yarn, which is a medium weight.

Evermore is a super bulky weight so the pattern needed to be adjusted a little bit.

The finished object photo from the Red Heart pattern itself!

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Given the amount of loft in this yarn, I didn’t have to adjust the weight quite as much as I needed to. The recommended needle size for Evermore is a US 11 [8mm], but I like my fabric knit a little more densely than that. I chose a US 8 [5mm] to adjust this pattern and when I cast on the number of stitches for the smallest size, the top measured 8″.

I continued to knit this pattern as per the instructions. A change I would make is to not do all the increases. When I followed the instructions and made increases every 8th row, the arm warmers were longer than the pattern called for. The size I was knitting should have ended at 13″ and mine ended up being 18″. My suggestion would be to either do the increases closer together or not to make as many. The top ended up measuring 12½“, which is quite wide.

The thumb hole is created by leaving an inch of the seam open and completing the seam above and below it. I chose to do it an inch below the ribbing.

Seaming is usually something everyone tries to avoid, mostly because it’s seen as difficult. If you have the right tools and good instructions, seaming is not something of which to be afraid.

I find seaming a cathartic ritual at the end of a project.

It’s like making all my hard work a reality, especially when it’s something like a sweater knit in pieces.

The unseamed arm warmer, after being blocked flat.

The Snowy Arm Warmers pattern has a seam up the side, so ensure you read the pattern thoroughly before you start it (unlike a certain writer we all know). I was so very close to just casting these on in the round because that is how I assumed they would be knit. They’re knit flat and it makes perfect sense why if you read the pattern. When seaming up the edge, you have the option to leave a thumb hole.

You just don’t seam an inch of the edge and voila!

You can pop your thumb through there! I highly suggest doing this, because the wrist warmers will creep away from your hands if you have nothing to anchor them in place.

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My all-time favorite stitch for seaming is the mattress stitch. It creates a seam that’s invisible (when done properly). I think the best seams are the ones that provide structure for garments, but cannot be seen. This instructional video will guide you if this isn’t a stitch you’re familiar with.

Even with the adjustments, I really found the Snowy Arm Warmers pattern to be an enjoyable knit. The flat pattern is easy to navigate and the finished product is so lovely and luxurious. These arm warmers are lengthy, and slouchy, which is perfect for a snowy day inside reading a good book with some hot cocoa.

1 tip to add interest to a simple reversible knitted scarf In order to further test Evermore yarn out, I knit one of my favorite patterns; a 1×1 ribbed scarf. I started knitting this pattern when I was a beginner knitter because I love reversible knits. With something like a sweater, no one is going to see the wrong side, but scarves are very reversible.

I’m the kind of person who would walk around trying not to disturb my scarf so the wrong side flips out. Needless to say, reversible garments feed my OCD. This is the simplest pattern to do, and it really helps you get a handle on what the yarn feels like. When I first picked up Evermore and my needles, I misread the suggested needle size. I thought it was US 8 instead of 8mm. Right out of the gate I wasn’t knitting with the recommended needle size.

This turned out to be rather serendipitous because I preferred to knit Evermore with a smaller gauge needle. The larger gauge felt a little too airy for my liking, but that could very well be a design aspect you’re looking for!

Don’t take my word as law, if you’re looking to knit a garment with more ventilation, a larger needle size will be more useful to you. I did knit swatches with the recommended size and the smaller size I was using. It’s always interesting to see how the yarn looks using different gauges.

When placed side by side as in the middle photo, you can pick and choose the one you prefer.

The reversible scarf in all its glory!

My two gauge swatches, the one on the left is made with the recommended needle size US 11 and the one on the right is made with US 8. Both swatches are made with 20 stitches cast on.

My swatch made with two different colors, Cabana and Cotton Candy

Another aspect of Evermore that was portrayed beautifully in this scarf pattern was the striping I tried to achieve. I knit two rows of ribbing, then switched the color and carried the yarn up the side of the scarf. I used two different colors of Evermore that had similar tones in them. The color patterns within each skein of yarn were so busy it made this scarf very colorful.

It’s rather difficult to see where the stripes are. Keep this in mind if you’re thinking about knitting a specific pattern. I usually knit this pattern with a solid and a variegated yarn that complement each other, but I have seen it done with two variegated yarns before and it turned out okay.

The color repeats were shorter than I anticipated so it made the overall color effect a little more like a Jackson Pollock painting.

This scarf is an excellent display piece though. I know there are quite a few visual learners out there who need to see things in order for the concept to really click in their minds. When I talk about choosing the right pattern and the right yarn this is what I am taking about. This scarf and the difference between it and the swatches pictured are excellent visual examples of the different ways you can pair yarns and what an impact it makes on your finished product!

Michelle Nguyen

stitchesbeslippin.com

KNITmuch | issue 6

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Woodstock Fairgrounds 875 Nellis Street Woodstock, Ontario

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Knitting a modern baby blanket with Bamboo Pop Dots

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How Dreamy yarn is perfect for knitting throws

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Steam blocking a shawl knitted with Chic Sheep goes from good to great!

What designers consider when writing a knitting pattern

and there's so much more!

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Brenda Franklin Designs 7570 Mapleton SR 18 RR 1, Alma, ON N0B 1A0  519.638.9958  bfdesigns.on.ca  help@bfdesigns.on.ca More than 500 charts available for counted needlework, latch hook rugs, beadwork, beaded knits and knitting patterns. Mail/fax order or ask for our products at your local shop. Contact us for custom designs or needle felted sculpture.

Impressions Embroidery & Engraving #8-449 Mayor Magrath Dr S, Lethbridge, AB T1J 3L8  403.942.3934  impressionslethbridge.ca  impressions22@shaw.ca Our shop does embroidery and laser engraving.

Laser engraving is a beautiful process for fabric, as nothing cuts cleaner and more precisely than a laser. We now carry a nice array of fabric as well to compliment the abilities of the laser.

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100% merino wool

Available in 24 happy colors Feather Chic Sweater & Removable Cowl LW5907

Discover more free patterns available at redheart.com/chicsheep

18-007 Š 2018 Coats & Clark. All rights reserved. Coats & Clark is a registered trademark.

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Standards & Guidelines For Crochet and Knitting • YarnStandards.com Standards & Guidelines For Crochet and Knitting • YarnStandards.com

KNITmuch

Standard Yarn Weight System Standard Yarn Weight System Categories of yarn, gauge ranges, and recommended needle and hook sizes Categories of yarn, gauge ranges, and recommended needle and hook sizes

Yarn Weight Yarn Weight& Symbol Symbol & Category Category Names Names Type of Type of in Yarns Yarns in Category Category Knit Gauge Knit Gaugein Range* Range* in Stockinette Stockinette Stitch to Stitch to 4 inches 4 inches

Sport, Sport,Baby Baby

DK, DK, Light Light Worsted Worsted

Worsted, Worsted, Afghan, Afghan,Aran Aran

Chunky, Chunky,Craft, Craft, Rug Rug

Bulky, Bulky,Roving Roving

Jumbo, Jumbo,Roving Roving

27–32 27–32 sts sts

23–26 23–26 sts sts

21–24 21–24 sts sts

16–20 16–20 sts sts

12–15 12–15 sts sts

7–11 7–11 sts sts

6 sts 6 sts and and fewer fewer

Recommended Recommended Needlein in 1.5–2.25 Needle 1.5–2.25 MetricSize Size Metric mmmm Range Range

2.25–3.25 2.25–3.25 mmmm

3.25–3.75 3.25–3.75 mmmm

3.75–4.5 3.75–4.5 mm mm

4.5–5.5 4.5–5.5 mm mm

5.5–85.5–8 mm mm

12.75 mm 8–12.75 12.75 mm 8–12.75 and and mm mm larger larger

Recommended Recommended NeedleU.S.U.S. Needle 000000 to 1to 1 SizeRange Range Size

1 to13to 3

3 to35to 5

5 to 57 to 7

7 to 97 to 9

9 to 119 to 11

11 to 17 11 to 17

17 17 and and larger larger

Crochet Crochet Gauge*Ranges 32–42 32–42 Gauge*Ranges Single double ininSingle double Crochettoto crochets** Crochet crochets** inch 4 4inch

21–32 21–32 sts sts

16–20 16–20 sts sts

12–17 12–17 sts sts

11–14 11–14 sts sts

8–118–11 sts sts

7–9 7–9 sts sts

6 sts 6 sts and and fewer fewer

Steel*** Steel*** Recommended Recommended 1.6–1.4 mm 1.6–1.4 mm 2.25–3.25 2.25–3.25 Hook Hookin inMetric Metric Regular hook mmmm Regular hook Size Range Size Range 2.25 mmmm 2.25

3.5–4.5 3.5–4.5 mmmm

6.5–96.5–9 4.5–5.5 4.5–5.5 5.5–6.5mm 5.5–6.5mm mm mm mm mm

9–15 9–15 mm mm

15 mm15 mm and and larger larger

Steel*** Steel*** 6, 7,6, 87, 8 Regular Regular hook hook B–1 B–1

E–4E–4 to 7to 7

7 to 7I–9 to I–9

I–9 I–9 to to 1 ⁄2 1⁄2 K–10K–10

M-13 M-13 to Q to Q

Q Q and and larger larger

Recommended Recommended Hook HookU.S.U.S.SizeSize Range Range

Fingering, Sock, Fingering, Sock, 10 count Fingering, 10 countthread Fingering, crochet Baby crochet thread Baby 33–40** 33–40** sts sts

B–1B–1 to E–4 to E–4

1 K–10K–10 ⁄2 1⁄2 to M-13 to M-13

* GUIDELINES ONLY: The above reflect the most commonly used gauges and needle or hook sizes for specific yarn categories. * GUIDELINES ONLY: The above reflect the most commonly used gauges and needle or hook sizes for specific yarn categories. ** Lace weight yarns are usually knitted or crocheted on larger needles and hooks to create lacy, openwork patterns. Accordingly, a ** Lace weight yarns to aredetermine. usually knitted orfollow crocheted on larger needles hooks to create lacy, openwork patterns. Accordingly, a gauge range is difficult Always the gauge stated in yourand pattern. gauge range is difficult to determine. Always follow the gauge stated in your pattern. *** Steel crochet hooks are sized differently from regular hooks--the higher the number, the smaller the hook, which is the reverse Steelhook crochet hooks are sized differently from regular hooks--the higher the number, the smaller the hook, which is the reverse of*** regular sizing. of regular hook sizing.

This Standards & Guidelines booklet and downloadable symbol artwork are available at: YarnStandards.com This Standards & Guidelines booklet and downloadable symbol artwork are available at: YarnStandards.com

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Standard abbreviations & terms alt = alternate approx = approximately beg = begin(ning) BO= bind off CC = contrast color ch = chain cm = centimetre(s) cn = cable needle CO = cast on cont = continue, continuing dc = double crochet dec = decrease(s), decreasing dpn = double-pointed needle(s) foll = following g = gram(s) inc = increase(s), increasing in(s) = inch(es) k = knit kf&b or kfb = knit into front and back of st (increase) ktbl = Knit through the back loop. k2tog = knit 2 sts tog (right-leaning decrease) k3tog = knit 3 sts together (double right-leaning decrease) M = marker m = metre(s) M1 = Make 1 stitch: pick up the horizontal strand between 2 stitches from front to back and knit it tbl (lifted increase) MC = main color mm = millimetre(s) oz = ounce(s) p = purl p2tog = purl 2 sts tog (decrease) patt = pattern pfb = purl into front and back of stitch (increase) ptbl = knit through the back loop. pm = place marker psso = slip 1 stitch together knitwise, knit 1, then pass slipped stitches over p2sso = slip 2 stitches together knitwise, knit 1, then pass slipped stitches over RS = right side rem = remain(ing) rep = repeat rev = reverse rnd = round sc = single crochet sl = slip skp = slip one st, knit next st, pass slipped st over knit st (dec) ssk = slip, slip, knit: slip 2 sts knitwise, 1 at a time, insert left-hand needle into front of both sts and knit them tog (left-leaning decrease) sssk = Slip next three stitches individually, knitwise.

Insert tip of left needle from front to back into the fronts of these three stitches and knit them together (double left-leaning decrease) st(s) = stitch(es) St st = stocking stitch tbl = through back loop tog = together tr = treble crochet WS = wrong side yfwd = bringing yarn forward to create a yarn over when working into next st(s) yo = yarn over