A Dozen Ways to Use Sashay

Most knitters know about Sashay and similar fabric yarns that are most commonly used to stitch up quick frilly scarves (I used a similar lace yarn to knit a scarf, and you can find a video tutorial on how to work with the yarn.)

Of course there are other things that can be done with this funky yarn, and a recent Donna’s Dozen over at the Red Heart website covered different kinds of projects using the yarn.

There’s knitting, crochet, finger knitting, even just decorative knotting included in this roundup, so if you have some balls of this novel yarn laying around that you aren’t sure what to do with, check these patterns out. My personal favorite is the pictured Mesh Pillow Cover, which offers a completely different look to what we’re used to from this yarn, and it’s a great way to dress up a plain pillow.

Have you ever used this sort of yarn? I’d love to hear what you did with it!

[Photo via Red Heart.]

Sashay knitting is a technique used to create a ruffled or frilly edge on a knitted fabric. It typically uses a specialized type of yarn called “sashay yarn” or “ruffle yarn” that has a mesh-like texture and is often made of a lightweight, stretchy material such as rayon or nylon.

To knit with sashay yarn, the yarn is passed through a series of loops created along the edge of a knitted fabric. The loops are then pulled to create a ruffled or frilly edge. The technique is usually used to create decorative edges on scarves, shawls, and other similar items.

Sashay knitting is a simple technique that is easy to learn, but it does require a bit of patience and attention to detail. The key is to ensure that the loops are pulled tight and even, so that the ruffles are neat and consistent. With practice, it is possible to create a variety of different ruffled effects, from delicate and lacy to bold and dramatic.

It’s important to note that sashay yarn can be tricky to work with because of the mesh-like texture and stretchiness, but it’s a fun way to add a unique and decorative edge to your knitted projects. It can be used in combination with other yarns to add a pop of texture and color to plain knits.

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I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]

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