Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Double stranding = ultimate customization?

I never buy bulky yarn. It's not that I don't *like* bulky yarn, it's just that I only like to use it for certain things, and even though I may purchase yarns with a specific project in mind, they only get used for the intended project about 25% of the time. The rest of the time I usually just get an itch to cast on something cute I find, and dig through my stash till I find enough yarn for said project. So I mostly buy worsted-weight yarn... it's the most commonly used weight, and as I've discovered, the most versatile.

You see, there was a time in my teens when I thought variegated or "print" yarns were the greatest thing out there. They look so pretty (usually) on the skein, with their blends of color. I bought bunches of them. I cooed over them in my stash and petted them like tribbles. Then I tried to knit with them. Yuck! Color pooling in unexpected ways! Disaster!

So here I am now, several years later and most decidedly not a teenager and not a fan of print yarns. You can't throw it away... it's YARN! What to do?

Well lately I've been running into really cute patterns that all call for bulky yarn... in our "instant gratification" society, I suppose bulky is better because it offers a quick fix for you if you're a product knitter (you enjoy the end garments more than a process knitter who just wants to knit and doesn't care if they ever finish). Me, I'm a product knitter, but also feel that bulky is tacky looking. So every time I see something that needs bulky yarn, I double or triple strand regular worsted. It's possibly the best thing ever!

See here's the thing, you don't have to have two strands of the exact same color, you can mix it up... create unique blends and textures. If that smooth rose-colored worsted is too bland, add a fushia boucle yarn and presto! Lots more interesting! Have a blue-aqua-black print yarn that's just too intense when knitted up? Double strand it with a neutral gray or straight black and tone down the color.

You get the idea. It's like mixing paint, oodles of fun, and perfect for the experimenter in all of us. Plus a good way to use up the lonely, forgotten skeins in our stash.

No comments:

Post a Comment