Choosing the Right Material for Knitting

By: Adrian Monterosso

The packaging of your yarn has some vital information listed on it which is known as the dye lot. This indicates when and where the yarn was dyed. Different lots can have what appear to be nominally different shades, but by the time you finish a project you will realise you have four different shades of green. It is important to buy all of the yarn you need for a project at one time and check the yarn has the same color codes

You have to unwind and ball the yarn, but it also means that you can work in a smaller, more manageable space.

- Hank: Twist it into a smaller bunch for easier packaging. Hanks have to be untwisted and rewound into a ball when you want to work with them.
- Cone: Huge projects can become infinitely more affordable by using cones. Commercial manufacturers use this format when they want to sell over a pound of yarn at a time, but the price per pound is often much less than if you bought the same quantity as a skein.

Material

Picking the yarn is the most exciting part!

The patterns you choose dictate exactly what weight and type work best for that
project, but exploration and creativity are essential aspects of knitting. You should use some of your own creativity and flair instead of following patterns word for word.

Looking at different types of yarn and using your imagination on different projects can be fun, especially if you are a an out of the box type of person. If you are the type of knitter that wants to know exactly how the yarn was made and from what materials.

Its important to know if anyone you are knitting for has any skin allergies to types of materials. You may want to ask about possible wool or other fabric allergies before picking up large quantities of a yarn just because it is their favorite color. I have included a summary of different materials for you to review;

- Synthetics/acrylics: has a tendency to pill and fade, acrylics have made a big comeback.
Generally they feel nice to wear, wash better than wool products. They are more hypoallergenic, which is great for babies and people who are allergic to wool

- Wool: Wool will last forever and is very durable through many years of wear and tear. Although some people have severe allergies to wool. In the wash it needs extra care.

- Cotton: Cotton is easy to wash, wonderful to wear, and looks great. Cotton can stretch out of shape and can look a little odd when this happens.

- Novelty: Yarns like boucle, which has the zig-zag appearance, fun fur, eyelash, chenille, and heaps of others. The knitter looking for something funky and different will find it in this category. I would say if you are beginning maybe progress on to these yarns when you have mastered other yarns as they are difficult to work with and may not turn out they way you want.

- Long-haired: These yarns are quite expensive and more for the luxurious knitter who like such yarns as angora and mohair. These yarns can be more expensive for the beginning knitter because if you make a mistake it will cost you dearly in extra yarn.

Chunky Weight is a heavier yarn for winter type garments like some warm sweaters or jumpers, scarves and other garments requiring chunky Yarn.