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Advice for Knitting When You Have Natural Hair

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If you’re a person of color with natural hair, something you need to think about when knitting hats is the fiber content of the yarn used, because the yarns typically called for — think wool and other animal fibers — aren’t great when paired with natural hair.

That’s because the scales on animal fibers tend to be grabby, which can damage natural hair. Plant-based fibers suck up moisture, which is the last thing you want when you’ve worked so hard to get moisture into your hair.

Yolanda McNair did a lot of research into the qualities of different natural and human-made fibers to determine what might be best for her natural hair, and she share the results over on Knit’s All Folks.

You’ll have to click over to find out the best fibers to choose and her other tips and suggestions for knitting for natural hair. If you have any other tips I’d love to hear them!

[Photo: Knit’s All Folks.]

 

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Comments

  1. Hello! While I appreciate you linking to my website, please rethink the language you use here. Your phrasing “Most of us probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the fiber we use to knit hats in terms of how it will react with our hair,” – implies that “most” of the knitters who might read this blog are white – and that most knitters aren’t people of color. It (hopefully) unintentionally excludes the POC I hope to promote on my website.

  2. You’re right, of course, and yes, it was completely unintentional on my part to be exclusive. I should have said as a white woman it isn’t something I have to think about. Thanks for the kind reminder to choose my words more thoughtfully.

Have you read?

Book Review: No Fear Sock Knitting

I feel like when it comes to things that people are afraid to knit, socks probably top the list. I’ve heard people say they would never knit socks because they look too hard, but really you just need to know a few basic things (and trust the pattern even though it sounds wrong the first time you do it) to master socks. 

Denise DeSantis aims to take the worry out of knitting socks with No Fear Sock Knitting. Based on a class on her YouTube channel, it includes all the basic information you need to make sock knitting feel easier, along with eight patterns for both top down and toe up socks. 

The book generally covers types of needles and yarn you might use to knit socks, as well as other supplies you will need. It looks at the parts of the sock, different knitting needle configurations used to knit socks, how to read a pattern (including abbreviations and terms you might find in sock patterns), discussion of ease, how to measure your foot and choosing the correct size to knit.

It includes two options each for casting on cuff down and toe up socks, as well as four options for cuff treatment. It explores the heel flap and turn method for top down and toe up socks, as well as short row heels using a shadow wrap (worked with a leg from the stitch below) and a square heel. There’s a discussion of avoiding holes and fixing other problems in heels.

Likewise with toes there are several options, including a wedge toe, round toe and anatomical toe (different on each foot) for both cuff down and toe up socks. There are also tutorials for grafting and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off, depending on which direction you’re going. There’s also a tips section that covers things like avoiding ladders, changing colors. matching stripes and more. 

After all that preparation, there are eight patterns to choose from: short socks worked from the top down that are a perfect first-sock sock, a basic ankle-length toe-up sock, a DK weight sock worked from the top down with different length options, a “vanilla” sock with a short row heel worked top down, an ankle sock with a garter stitch cuff, one with a leg worked in alternating colors with a contrasting heel and toe, a sock worked in a helical stripe pattern and a striped sock with a garter stitch heel. 

Three of the patterns are rated at skill level two on a scale of three, while the rest are level one. They’re all pretty straightforward, they just use different techniques you might not have tried before. Since only one is made to be toe up, there are also tips for converting the other patterns to toe up if you’d rather work that way. Each pattern includes three size options. 

This book is a nice introduction to sock knitting, with lots of techniques to reference and simple patterns to take the fear out of the process. I’m not sure these are patterns you’ll come back to time and again but they are a good place to start if you’ve never knit socks before. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.