Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Allergic to Wool?

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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!

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Comments

  1. 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 . . .

Have you read?

Add a Little Lace to Your Knitting Patterns

If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.