Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Have You Ever Knit with Fabric?

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Knit a funky pillow using fabric as yarn.Knitting with fabric, whether T-shirt yarn or another material, can be a lot of fun. It’s usually pretty bulky yarn, meaning you can knit up a project in a flash that has a lot of texture and personality.

For example, there’s this fabric cushion from We are Knitters. It’s worked in two pieces in double moss stitch, with tassels for the ends. The company sells a fabric yarn to go with this free pattern, but you can also make your own to make this a recycling/upcycling project as well as a fun accessory for your home.

Check out my instructions for making T-shirt yarn, which is similar to making fabric yarn. I have a friend who has a ton of old sheets torn up for photo backdrops, and I’ll bet they’d work for knitting as well.

Have you ever done this? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via We are Knitters.]

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Comments

  1. Oh yes – I just recently finished crocheting a rug using a ball of fabric scraps (that were sewn together – a garage sale find!) I haven’t posted it to my blog yet, but here’s a photo on my FB page:

    I love how squishy they are! I also used T Shirt scraps to make yarn and knitted it up as a rug for our bathroom. Loved that too!

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.