NOT ABOUT KNITTING

Posted by Peg in South Carolina

I had spun and plied about 1200 yards of the yarn you see here.  I had intended it for weaving but then decided that it would look much better knitted up.  So I designed a top-down raglan cardigan with the top starting about 2” below the normal top for a cardigan and with a slightly scooped neck in the front.  I did this partly because I knew I really didn’t have enough yarn and I was working out ways of knitting that might allow me to use this yarn.  I intended to crop both the body and the sleeves, for example.

And I do like the way the yarn looks knitted up.

But the problem is that the yarn is very fine and that it is a 2-ply.  Because it is very fine, I am knitting it on size 3 needles, but I think size 2 needles might have been a very slightly better choice.  And because it is a 2-ply, the yarn doesn’t really fill out the stitches, which is probably why I think a smaller needle might have worked better. 

I was OK with the idea that it might take the rest of my life to knit a cardigan on these size needles (VBG!).  But I finally decided that I was not OK with the fabric that was being created.  It was also becoming clear that because the yarn was so fine I really didn’t have nearly enough yarn.

The size of this yarn, by the way, is really my default yarn when I spin with my electric spinner.  It is a nice size and consistency for weaving, but to knit with it, I would have to spin enough to make a 3-ply yarn.  Unless I plan to knit lace for which 2-ply yarns seem to work very nicely.

And then a thought came to me.  I could use it in shadow weave with the same size silk in one of the greens.  I might even consider painting the silk warp in two of the greens and then paint the silk weft in those same two greens.

Related Post:   Spinning Weaving Yarn with an Electric Spinner

“Not About Knitting” was written by Margaret Carpenter for Talking about Weaving and was originally posted on July 31, 2009. ©2009 Margaret Carpenter aka Peg in South Carolina.

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