Knitting Daily : Yarn Substitution

Choosing Yarn: The Importance of Drape

KD Sandi — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:18:00 GMT

Obviously, when I knit Susan's Bulletproof Sweater at age 14, I had no concept that there was anything much beyond color to consider when choosing a yarn. I just pretty much thought that you used whatever yarn you wanted to for a sweater; and then you sweated and said bad words your mother would cringe at until you managed to produce a gauge swatch that was somewhere in the territory decreed by the gauge statement in the pattern. Once you got gauge, then whoo! you were ready to cast on! And that was it--right?

Clearly not, or Susan's Sweater would not be bulletproof.

Once I bought that charming creamy acrylic yarn, I worked very hard to get the pattern's gauge of six stitches per inch. I kept changing needle sizes, going to smaller and smaller needles until I finally got a decent swatch with the elusive six stitches per inch. I remember being really frustrated, trying to scrunch ever more stitches into the space on my stitch gauge, knitting every more tightly, until finally I got the magic number.

However, the yarn, a worsted weight, was just too thick. Those six stitches per inch were jammed in next to each other, with no room to breathe, and no room to move. Thus, even though I eventually got the correct gauge, THAT yarn at THAT gauge gave me the wrong type of fabric--so for this project both the gauge and the yarn were definitely wrong for each other.

That's how I learned about Drape. Drape, loosely defined, is the ease with which stitches are able to move past each other. The more easily the stitches can move against each other, the more the fabric flows and the more drape the fabric has. If the stitches cannot move against each other, then you have stiff body armor--and thus, no drape, and a sweater like Susan's, that could stand up with arms outstretched even without Bertha's help.

The Drape Mistake is a very common one, made even by folks over fourteen not blinded by a girlfriend crush. We fall in love with a yarn, and we are determined to use it to knit a favorite pattern. We mess around with the gauge until we get something "close enough"--and we completely forget that gauge is only part of the story when trying to substitute yarn.

In other words: If you are trying to substitute yarns, don't stop with the swatch. Got gauge? Good for you. Knit on that swatch some more. Knit until you have a largish swatch, and then live with that swatch for a bit. Carry it around in your pocket. Pin it up on your wall. Scrunch it and stretch it and wave it in the air like a queen's hankie. Wash it and dry it and then repeat the above with abandon.

Did you knit a swatch of Kevlar? If so, maybe you need a thinner yarn. Did you knit a lacy mesh washcloth? If so, maybe you need a thicker yarn. Or did you knit a swatch worthy enough to grace a lovely, creamy movie-star pullover? Ah, then perhaps you have found the yarn of your dreams.

Only your swatch will know for sure.

-- Sandi

By the way--

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on Monday's post. They really touched me--all those stories of sweaters-gone-wrong, all sweaters made with such love.
Next: Why, yes, I did get my hair cut--and dyed! The color is called Violet Expresso, so it's dark dark dark (what else?) chocolate brown with just a sheen of (what else?) purple. Thank you for all the lovely compliments. They quite made my day!

And finally: Some of you asked,"Well, if this is the Second Sweater You Ever Knit, where is the First Sweater You Ever Knit?" Um. It's in the garage. In a box. There are many boxes in Sandi's garage, so we'll all just have to be patient until the First Sweater shows up. (I knit that one when I was ten, so it will be worth a post of its own, methinks.)

Sandi Wiseheart is the founding editor of Knitting Daily. She is now the author of the popular Knitting Daily blog: What's on Sandi's Needles.

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Vote For The Spring Gallery Garments!

KD Sandi — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:00:00 GMT

You all left a very interesting set of comments on Wednesday's post announcing the Spring 2008 Knits Preview; I really appreciate all great (and varied!) feedback. For example: Pat K said: "I have a hard time imagining many of these patterns on anyone who doesn't share the, slim, girlish shapes of the models." Compare this to Rhonda's reaction: "I'm in my mid-30s and by no means tiny (I wear so-called plus-sized clothing) and this is the first time that I would say that I love most of the patterns and can hardly decide which one(s) to make!" Fascinating. So I guess the question on everyone's mind is: What do the Spring garments look like on women who are not professional models? You know what that means: It's time for another Knitting Daily Gallery!

For those of you new to Knitting Daily: Each time a new issue of Interweave Knits comes out, we choose a few of the garments from that issue and have several different women around the office try them on, so you can see how the sweaters look on people of varying shapes and sizes. We love doing these galleries, and from your comments and emails, we know that folks find them immensely helpful in terms of choosing what to knit—and how to knit it—for themselves.

Take a look at some of the previous galleries!

Usually, I decide which garments to feature, but given the passionate discussions going on about this issue, I thought it would be much better to have you folks choose which ones you'd like to see:

Which of the Spring 2008 garments would you like to have us feature in a Knitting Daily Gallery?

Take a minute to click on that link, and go vote for your top five choices! We'll collate the results by Feb. 8th, and the overall top five will be in our next Gallery.

As we have done before, we will also provide some customization and sizing tips for each of the featured garments. This time, we will be using the new sizing and ease information provided in Interweave Knits as a guide. We'll go through the sizing and ease information for each garment and give examples of what that means "in real life," with help from our wonderful in-house Gallery Gals.

Finally, I would like to quote Grace S, who said it so gracefully(!): "Not everyone can be pleased at all times and I see that you are working on changes (which can take time) so I say thank you."

Yes, change (like knitting) takes time. We are listening. We're lucky to have such passionate, involved readers, and we appreciate all the feedback that so heartfelt. Thank you for all your support for us here at Interweave, and for wanting the craft of knitting to be as vibrant and real as you yourselves are. —Sandi

Sophicated Rustic Jacket

About the Yarn Sub for the Sophicated Rustic Jacket

Several of you have asked why I did not recommend a specific yarn substitute for the discontinued Classic Elite Zelda used in the Sophicated Rustic Jacket. Here's why:

Zelda is a rather unique yarn: a wool/linen blend, thick-and-thin singles (unplied) yarn. "Thick-and-thin" means that in some parts, the yarn is a bulky weight, whereas in others it is closer to a worsted weight--this is why it is hard to give a specific yarn weight recommendation.

I contacted the yarn manufacturer to ask them for a recommendation, but alas, that particular company no longer makes anything like it, and they were unaware of any similar yarns now on the market. I, too, have had little success finding that unique combination of fiber blend, thick-and-thin, drape, and weight. It was a very unusual yarn.

Classic Elite Zelda: singles, 10 wpi

Yarns are designed by people, not by machines; thus, yarns are often as unique as the yarn designers who create them. It’s sad when a truly special yarn is no longer available, but it also gives all of us a chance to explore/learn/create, using the original yarn and pattern as inspiration.

Another idea: Look for a handspun yarn, as making a thick-and-thin singles yarn is a specialty of many handspinners. There are many handspun vendors on sites such as Etsy.com.

Sandi Wiseheart is the editor of Knitting Daily.

What's on Sandi's needles? Shoulders of the Gathered Pullover, and 7" of the body of the Secret Project.

And The Winning Free Pattern Is...

KD Sandi — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:00:00 GMT

I love it when you readers surprise me. When I picked out the three candidates for today's free pattern and asked you to vote on which one you wanted, I thought I knew which one you would pick: Matador, because that's the one that is being chatted about on several forum threads and that has been oh-so popular since it was published.

The Sophisticated Rustic Jacket

I was wrong. The one YOU liked best, by an overwhelming vote of 58.2% is The Sophisticated Rustic Jacket, by Pam Allen. And so your wish is our command; the Sophisticated Rustic Jacket is our new featured free download.

Matador came in third, with 17.5%. Ann Budd's Hip Hop Coat won second place, with 24.3% of the vote. (We got thousands and thousands of votes, by the way, the largest response to any Knitting Daily survey to date! Whoo!)

Given that I guessed wrong about which one you would pick, I took another look, attempting to read your minds a bit to see why the vote went as it did. It's my job to pick patterns for the free library and for the store—patterns for YOU, to be blunt—and it's really important to me to give you Good Stuff That You Really Can't Wait To Cast On For, as opposed to patterns that make you say, Oh, That's Pretty, and then turn the page in search of something else that you really are going to knit. So let me see if I can get inside your minds a bit, and you tell me if I am on track or not.

The Sophisticated Rustic Jacket has classic lines that are familiar to any woman who has ever worn a feminine tailored jacket, and thus, most of us can picture how it would look on us. That's its first success: It's a familiar silhouette—a very pretty one, in fact—and it would look good on a variety of body shapes and sizes. Modify the buttons, the trim, and/or the colors, and you have a versatile, classic pattern that, sized appropriately, will look beautiful on EveryWoman.

Its second success is the ingenious "little details" that take it from ordinary to Extra Adorable: The little trim around all the edges. The graceful waist shaping, slightly flaring over the hips. The almost-but-not-quite ruffly edges. The belled cuffs. The tiny shawl collar that does not call overmuch attention to the bust area, but rather draws the eye upwards to your face.

You folks were absolutely right: This jacket is a winner!

OK, so now, you tell me: Why did you choose the sweater you voted for? The inquiring Mind Of Sandi wants to know...

Substituting Yarn For The Sophisticated Rustic Jacket

It's a fact of knitting life: You find a pattern that you fall in love with, but the yarn is no longer available. Classic Elite Zelda, the main yarn called for in the Rustic, has been discontinued—so how do you choose a another yarn that will give you an equally great result?

Classic Elite Zelda: singles, 10 wpi

First, see if you can find out what makes that particular yarn special. Zelda is a thick-and-thin wool/linen blend; the thick-and-thin knits up as little "waves" of texture across the jacket. So if you like that effect, then look for a thick-and-thin singles. The second, and most important factor, is gauge: In this case, Zelda is technically a bulky weight yarn, calling for a gauge of 3.75 sts to the inch. Keep in mind that a bulky yarn with a consistent texture (not thick-and-thin) may have a slightly heavier drape than a bulky thick-and-thin yarn will. And finally, Zelda's 70% wool/30% linen blend would give the fabric a bit less bulk overall than an all-wool garment.

The key to successful yarn substitution is...Wait for it...Swatching. Here's my swatching checklist; and here's some more handy tips on yarn substitution.

Sandi Wiseheart is the founding editor of Knitting Daily. She is now the author of the popular Knitting Daily blog: What's on Sandi's Needles.