Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Why knot?



Awhile back I mentioned working with my new yarn from Quince & Co., their fingering weight Finch. A couple of other projects jumped ahead but I have finally settled in with it. I'm working another of Wendy's Summer Mystery Shawlette. Such a pleasant pattern.



These skeins have 221 yds/50 grams so I needed two. Just before reaching the point where I needed to add in the second skein, I luckily happened to read Jean Moss' blog post where she had embedded this YouTube video for how to join your yarn by making a double knot. Jane Richmond is the mind behind this tidbit. Interesting, yes?


I would have thought knots were frowned upon in knitting. Perhaps they are. Not long ago when knitting the Stonechat Shawlette, I encountered a couple of knots in the yarn. Very small, quite fine knots. The yarn was already wound in a ball when I received it, and I happened upon the first knot mid row and decided to leave it there. That yarn was dark and handpainted and I was never able to even able to spot the knot afterwards.



I figured I could try it here, when I still had a good twelve inches or so of the working yarn and, if I didn't like it, I could cut out the knot and work in the new yarn as I have before.



Well I have to tell you that I now embrace knots in knitting. I was lucky in that the knot just happened to fall in the three-stitch garter edge, but it is invisible. I am not sure how it would have looked if it had happened in a yarnover section, but really that tight double knot was so thin, no thicker than the yarn on either side, that I doubt it would be noticeable even there.



I left that first photo large. You should be able to click on it to see it more closely. Can you spot the knot? Even knowing where it is it still looks better to my eye than an area where ends have been woven into the knitting.


Neither of these photos show the color correctly. I'm using Lupine which is a purple. Sometimes in sunlight at little too purple for me, but this is intended for a gift anyway.




Yarn is nice to work with and I am really looking forward to seeing how it blocks.

So the next time you need to add in more yarn, depending on your project and inclination, why not knot?












3 comments:

Sheri said...

You are a wealth of information, on so many things! I hate having to cut yarn to add in a new ball! This stuff we knit with isn't cheap and to ruin several inches, or yards depending on what you're working on, doesn't seem right. And I agree, weaving the ends in doesn't look good at all. I will try this on my next project! Thank you for that.
Sheri

Mimi said...

Thank you for all the links. This was my knitting lesson for the day.

minipurl said...

First of all, thanks for this interesting tidbit.
I shall give it a try soon.
Second of all?? I am in yarn lust land over the color of that yarn.
Yummmmm.