This post is dedicated to our Needlecraft Editor Heather. Heather wrote me that her friend Maggie in Michigan has tried to turn Heather into a knitter. However, Heather is allergic to wool. The only yarn Heather was familiar with was wool.
Enter [tag]Amy Singer[/tag], Editor/Publisher of [tag]Knitty[/tag] the online knitting magazine with tons of free patterns and fantastic articles. Amy is also allergic to wool. Amy wrote a wonderful book full of information about non-wool fibers and patterns to use them with.
In her book, “[tag]No Sheep for You
[/tag]”, Amy not only talks about all the different fibers available to use for your project, how they are grown and processed, but she also explains how to substitute non-wool for wool in patterns. It’s possible, but you must choose wisely. If you want to knit a sweater and you substitute a gorgeous ribbon yarn for a pattern suggesting a toothy – almost scratchy wool, even though the gauge is the same, the sweater won’t work up with the drape and body that you are looking for.
Now, for a beginning knitter, a sweater, or hat, or scarf may be too much to start with, especially if you use cotton yarn which is not as elastic as wool and harder on the hands. I would suggest something that works up fast, but has some design to it. Something cute and fun and something we all need.
A dishcloth!
[tag]Dishcloth patterns[/tag] involve just knit and purl stitches for the most part. The purl stitch on the knit side creates the design. If you have trouble following the written word, I suggest getting graph paper and making a chart like you would have for any other type of needlecraft. Simple, fun, easy and cotton yarn is available in many colors!
THE knitting blog? Well, thankx. I wasn’t going to mention how fast you get bored 🙂 but I thought a dishcloth would be small enough.
Hmmm cat toys? I’ll look around . . .
Wow, what a great site. I can’t wait to get some of your patterns