Our very own Jeanne stars in this knitting instructional video discussing techniques you can use with hand dyed yarn. We hope you enjoy it!
Hand Dyed Yarn Techniques
We all love the hand-dyed yarns that we carry, including those from Koigu, Madelinetosh and Lorna's Laces. We carry a wondeful book, The Knitter's Guide To Hand-Dyed And Variegated Yarn by Lorna Miser which is a great resource for working with hand-dyed yarns. Jeanne talks about some of the techniques in the book and also gives you some basic tips about working with hand-dyed yarns.
When you buy hand-dyed yarn, you need to keep in mind that how the colors look in the skein can be very different than when the yarn is knitted up. Also, keep in mind that the number of stitches in your piece will affect color placement. Working in the straight or in the round will also affect how the colors manifest in your finished project. Your swatch and your knitted project may look different because of these differences if you don't take them into consideration while swatching.
There are many, many ways to manipulate how the colors look in your projects.
For instance:
- You could use different stitch patterns to change how your variegated or hand-dyed yarn knits up.
- You could blend two different hand-dyed yarns to get a different look for your garment.
- You could change your stitch count in the round to make stripes or not make stripes.
- Be wild! Be adventuresome! Don't be afraid to try new and unusual ideas, you might just stumble upon something your really love.
Above all have fun!
Posted by Laura of Jimmy Beans Wool
