Handling Your Hand-Dyes!

Handling Your Hand-Dyes!

We knitters are a crafty bunch! We love our hand-dyed yarn so much, we've figured out ways to make it look its best, even when it's not on its best behavior.

As we talked about in our last post, color changes in hand-dyed yarn can stack up in an unattractive way in pools and unwanted stripes. Here are some ways to put it in its place!

First, you can add design elements that change your stitch count. In a small project with a thin yarn, like socks, just one stitch can cause the striping sequence to change, taking care of any pooling issues. Try adding or subtracting a stitch in an inconspicuous location to see the effect. In a larger project where gauge is not as important, changing a needle size can do the trick!

Monika figured out the best widths for her Brat Pack Headband that kept the yarn from randomly pooling. Take a look:

Lace is also a good solution. It changes the gauge of the knitted project and adds an element of visual interest that can distract the eye from and pooling problems you may be having. Heather used an eyelet pattern in her Bodacious beret to keep pooling out of the body of the hat, so it's contained to the top as a more controlled design element:

An asymmetrical shape helps with pooling, too! Rachel used this technique in her Cell Block Shawlette (top of page), along with purposely placed drop stitches, to control pooling issues. Kristen also used the asymmetrical shape trick and some simple eyelets to keep her Claire Shawlette looking neat:

Finally, Leanne took things up a notch and paired her hand-dyed yarn with a coordinating solid color to bust up color stacking and pooling in her Scrunchy Heart Legwarmers- so cool!

These are just a few tips - do you have more? Share them in the comments!

Happy Knitting!

Heather

[Yarns shown in photos are Lorna's Laces Limited Edition colorways '15 June - The New Black (still available in Helen's Lace) and '15 July - Brat Pack]