Unraveling May Harm Yarn

We’ve all been there. Either you made a big mistake while knitting and need to rip out a bunch of your work (I have a project on timeout right now for this very reason) or you’ve abandoned a project and decide you don’t want to knit it after all so you need to tear it out.

Most yarns can handle a little ripping back with ease, but after repeated rippings your yarn can show signs of wear. Emily at Berroco explains that the structure of the yarn and how or whether its plied plays a major role in whether yarn can take multiple unravelings.

Singles yarns are more fragile than yarns that are plied firmly, so if you’re working a new stitch pattern in a more delicate yarn you may want to practice your moves with something more stable first and move on to your real yarn once you get the hang of it to limit damage to the fibers. Smart advice.

Have you ever ripped a yarn back so many times that it got messy? I will admit to having thrown away mohair because it’s so hard to rip back!

[Photo via Berroco.]

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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