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.

Next Pattern:

Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun.

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size).

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up.

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits.

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?