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FUZZY GALORE |
It's well known that using energized singles in handspun wool
makes a plain stockinette stitch lean very definitely away from
the vertical. This is the basis of the advice generally given
to avoid knitting handspun singles in stockinette. But any
property can be used for its design potential instead.
Anne Blinks
has the earliest example I've seen of a nice zig-zag pattern
which is achieved by alternating bands of S and Z spun yarn
in plain stockinette.
And Kathryn Alexander
also uses it in her knitting to great effect.
But there's a way to achieve this effect using only one direction of yarn. It's very simple: you knit a plain stockinette section for 1-2" depending on the weight of your yarn and the desired stripe width. Then on a row where you're supposed to purl, you knit instead. Follow with another section of the same height, but in reverse stockinette (which isn't any different in the knitting, it just faces the other direction). And so on, with the stripes of plain or reverse stockinette determining the direction of the fabric slant, naturally forming a zigzag pattern while you're knitting a perfectly square rectangle stitch-wise.
There are a few things that will allow you to get a nicer scarf.
Check my article on improvisation
to see how to use your spinning and colors in simple ways to get more variety.
Since you will only be using singles, a long-staple fleece is
a good idea, in the case of the small sample I used Lincoln.
But I've already done
this in short corriedale, and varying proportions of silk and merino.
The 'coral' colourways here is a 50/50 mix of silk and merino by Nancy Finn,
and the 'desert' below is 100% merino, also dyed by her.
All you need to do is to use enough twist for the yarn to hold together
securely.
You need to spin the yarn rather tightly, at least as much as if you
were going to ply it. Don't follow the advice generally given
to spin singles loosely, whose whole point is to avoid
the slant we're trying to achieve here.
A loose gauge is necessary, almost lacey, or
you will lose the collapse effect.
On the white sample, my yarn was spun at about 8 wraps-per-inch
and I used size 8 (5mm) needles. The coral scarf yarn was more twisted,
thicker, and knit on size 10 ½ (7mm) needles.
Note that a too loose gauge will allow the yarn to kink within a stitch,
which is a fine effect if that's what you want,
and if really too loose might allow the twist to spread enough to be unnoticeable.
In any case, you will need to allow your yarn to set on the bobbin at
least overnight, preferably for a few days, to make the twist more
manageable. You will also need to knit with a bit more tension than
usual, to avoid extra kinks. Kathryn Alexander uses a tensioned
Clever Kate to knit right off the bobbin.
In the knitting, it's a good idea
to make nicer selvages by purling the last stitch of each row,
and slipping each first one.
If you're making a straight scarf, purl the first row and
knit the first section, reversing at the end, so the ends lie flatter.
It would also be easy to graft the ends together into a Moebius scarf,
as long as you were careful to finish on a stripe facing the same direction
as you started, so the continuity would be preserved once they're joined.
You should also be generous in your dimensions: after washing,
the whole thing will shrink a bit, especially in length.
But washing will make it much softer, although if you got the gauge right
you'll still have a slightly crunchy texture.
We're flattered to see our concept given both the cover and a 7-page spread in Spin-Off's Spring 2006 issue. See how easy it is to use with minimal variations:
If you don't know how to spin, do come and learn at one of the many spinning groups if you are in the SF Bay Area :-). There is also an easy cheat: Afghans for Afghans imports a limited quantity of some luscious mohair singles that'd be perfect for this pattern, and sells it for a good cause.
First published: 19 feb 04
Last updated: 13 apr 06
All rights reserved. © Fuzzy Galore 2002-2006.
