Why Alternate Skeins When Knitting with Hand-Dyed Yarn?

Hand-dyed yarn is so beautiful and unique, so much so that every skein is a little bit different.

That doesn’t mean we have to confine ourselves to single-skein projects. It does mean we need to do a little extra work to ensure our work looks good when we’re done with it.

The danger of just knitting on, one skein to the next, like we normally would, is that the colors can be a little different from skein to skein. They can end up looking a lot different, almost like unfortunate stripes, in a garment.

The easy solution — explained in much more details as to the hows and whys over at Skein Yarn — is to alternate skeins every round if you are working in the round or every other row if you’re working flat. It’s not too fiddly to do and makes a big difference.

Have you ever worked a big project with hand-dyed yarn and noticed the color difference? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Skein Yarn.]

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter.

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice.

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat.

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do.

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example.

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere.

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website.

[Photo: Underground Crafter]

Have you read?