For the past week, I have been wanting to post something about knitting with hand spun art yarns. I know for some they are a little intimidating, but if you can break through that fear or uncertainty of "what do i do with it?", knitting with art yarns can be amazing! This post is a collection of some of the tips and suggestions I give when people ask me questions about knitting with my art yarns, and some examples.
My first advice is always to NOT BE AFRAID of the yarn! Don't let it intimidate you! I do know this feeling - when I first started knitting with hand spun yarns from
The Yarn Wench, I was always afraid of "not doing the yarn justice", or not knowing what to do with smaller skeins. This fear would paralyze me and all that pretty yarn just sat there . . . waiting.
But finally I just started knitting with it! For some, it may seem "boring" to "just knit a scarf", but with an art yarn - even a plain scarf becomes an adventure. And, a unique adventure since each yarn is different! Here are some examples of skeins to scarves -
This is an art yarn Called "From RocketMan to Red Hat", a 98-yard, 3.4 oz skein
I took this skein and knit it into this scarf -
I used size 15 needles and cast on maybe 10-12 stitches (I know I should keep better track but each yarn is slightly different). I use a "drop stitch" pattern to help show off the yarn AND get a little more length from the yardage. For the drop stitch pattern this is what I do -
1. Knit 2 rows
2. On the third row, when knitting the stitch, I wrap the yarn around the needle TWICE. This means that you actually have twice as many loops on your needle at the end of the row, but they are coupled together.
3. On the fourth row, when knitting, put your needle only through the first loop of the two-loop stitch and as you pull the stitch off the needle, let that extra loop drop. So, in effect, you are knitting the first loop but the second loop drops. After doing that across the row, you are back to the same amount of loops/stitches on your needle as when you started.
4. Knit 2 rows.
Sometimes, if I want extra length I may wrap the yarn around 3 times! Also, I tried to find a video but wasn't able to come up with anything in a quick search, but did find
these instructions, which may be better than mine.
Here is another -
I took a similar skein to this one -
And knit this scarf -
This one was a similarly sized skein at 98 yards, but I cast on fewer stitches, and in the blocking process tried to elongate it even more, so it is a longer, skinnier scarf.
Unblocked -
Blocked -
These pictures show how blocking can help even out your art yarn project. Sometimes, I actually like the look of the unblocked scarf, but have started to block them for a more "professional" look. For this one, I even *hung* it to dry so that it stretched out a little bit more.
There are other small projects you can knit with one skein of art yarn, too! Here is a hat that was knit with only a small 68-yard skein - and I didn't even use it all! I like to use size 10-1/2s or 11s when I knit hats with the art yarns.
And, these wristwarmers were knit with only about 40 yards of art yarn! I used size 11 needles for these, but maybe could have gone down to 10-1/2's
Cowls are another *great* item to knit with art yarns! You don't need that much - one skein should be enough - and you can knit them in the round fairly quickly. Here are a couple of cowls knit by
Naomi of Ryono Creations - you can find her on
ETSY HERE! These pictures are courtesy of her - you can see all of her pictures on
flickr here!
and, one more -
These are just a few examples of the beautiful and unique items you can knit (or crochet!) with hand spun art yarns. Don't be afraid to "think outside the box" or "pattern" and you can create a wonderful, one of a kind piece of fiber art!
Update 5-5-2012 - While I plan on doing a complete update to this post, I am editing it to include some links to some other places you can get ideas of what to make with art yarn! Here is
one of my Pinterest boards that shows things made with Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun yarn , some of them the art yarns. Here is my
Kitty Grrlz Knits shop which includes
cowls knit with the handspun yarn as well!
A matching, smaller, mini skein -
And, finally, a small mini skein of Navajo 3-ply -
I hope to have some art yarns listed tomorrow and more Squish-tastics! and Navajo 3plys coming soon, too!
And, a Hello Kitty Toaster
That makes Hello Kitty Toast!
I mean, how fun is that????
That's more Summer Carnival, Marmalade Mint, Serenity, Ice Princess, and one last skein spun from the "Black Gold" colorway which I'm calling "Stay Golden".
From left to right, these are Serenity, Prairie Dusk, Victorian Rose aka "Peachy Keen Taffy" and Rose Garden aka "Neon Taffy".
New bamboo yarn skeins now listed on etsy! Two skeins of Ocean Dusk and 2 skeins of Chocolate Berry Shine. I should have more tomorrow, too!
Then, the other two, which are a bit larger and also sans sparkle -
I plan to do two similar skeins from these materials -
That is what I hope to spin today - then for the rest of the weekend it will probably be bamboo since that is what will be on "newsletter special" starting on Sunday!
Here is a full list of the new listings for this week, so far (I'll have a very bright art yarn listed later today!)
Tomorrow - Saturday, December 6 from 10am - 6pm I will be at the HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR in Madison, Wisconsin! It is my last show of the year! Here are just a few of the new yarns I will have -
That's all from me today!
And, how exciting to find out this yarn was featured on the All Things Dearly blog, as yesterday's Daily Find! Yay!
Now, I'd better get to work - I've got lots of Falkland wool to spin into single plys today!
From top to bottom -