Monday, August 29, 2011

Mixing it up: stripes

Self-striping yarn is just so darn fun to knit with. The yarn colors look so cool all mixed up on the ball so sometimes the results are much more stripey than I want. This is some Supersocke 100 Wellness-color 1070 sock yarn I was given.
When knit, the stripes can be much wider than expected. See the toe of the sock.
If you want wide stripes, fine. But if you don't, the solution is to knit with both ends of the yarn. Pull out the center of the ball and use it as well as the yarn that comes from the outside of the ball, knitting alternate rows with them. If you happen to get both yarns going in the same color, edit out a little of the yarn. (That only happened to me twice in the pair of socks I knit.) The results using alternating rows looked much more like the ball of yarn. I'm sure these socks are going to lift my spirits when I wear them.
Technical tip: The yarns will get twisted. Every so often, grab the two yarns and pull them away from each other, letting the sock twirl in the air. It will get the socks prepared for dancing later.

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