In all my years of working with fiber, I’ve seen the term “mercerized cotton” used quite a bit.  From sewing thread to embroidery thread to knitting and crochet yarns, I’ve known that I love anything “mercerized”, but never knew exactly what the term meant.

According to the dictionary, mercerize is a process “to treat (cotton yarns or fabric) with caustic alkali under tension, in order to increase strength, luster and affinity for dye”. dictionary.com

Here’s an excellent article explaining the process fiberarts.org. In the knitting and weaving world this yarn is also called “Pearl” or “Perle” cotton.

We recently received a shipment of closeout colors of Mercerized cotton in 3/2 weight (approx 1260 YPP).  This are priced well below the regular list price for “perle” cottons.

 

Pair a very simple sweater pattern with a fabulous yarn like our variegated Rayon Ribbon for a spectacular garment! Let the yarn do all the work!

We used the purl side for texture, the variegated yarn added color interest and shine, and the ribbon gave simple crochet edges just the right finishing touch!

This unusual novelty yarn knits beautifully on the mid-gauge machine.  Lightweight and “springy” texture for a very special garment.

You might consider using this for knitweave - showing off the unusual yarn construction and beautiful colors.

Available in 3 colorways, this yarn was created for a well-known knitwear designer and it is waiting for your special creative touch!

Unlike hand knitting terms (worsted, fingering, lace etc), weavers and machine knitters often refer to yarn by numbers.  Much of the yarn we use comes directly from the mills and is intended for production knitting.  Hand knitting terminology is too vague for manufacturing.

Here’s a great link to explain the numbering system http://www.cara4webshopping.com/cara_free/yarn-wts.htm

The bottom line: 

1. The first number refers to the number of plys in the yarn (cotton yarn is the reverse - the plys are listed second)

2. The larger the second number, the smaller the yarn.

Super Lamb 4/8	Super Lamb 2/24

3. The best indicator when shopping for coned yarn is the yards per pound (YPP) number.  Compare the yarn with yarns you’ve used in the past on your knitting machine.Â

Here’s a “sneak preview” of a garment from Knitwords issue #44.  Using BT Yarns Space Dyed Rayon yarn in Harvest color, Mary Anne Oger created a standard gauge version of her Mid-gauge garment “Trapese Artist” from issue #43.

 This is a great reminder that you can take any pattern and knit it in any gauge, using any yarn!  Mary Anne uses a pattern charting device, but using the schematic you can do a little math and create your own garment with your favorite yarn  …. any gauge!

The Space Dyed Rayon comes in 4 beautiful colorways!

Happy New Year!

New year’s resolution number 15 - wear more knits!  I love the comfort, the look and the freedom to wear whatever style I want, no matter what is being shown in the stores for young women. 

Wool Rayon (aka, Wool Crepe Deluxe, Velveen, Cravenella, 727 etc, etc, etc) is such a delight to work with!  It knits beautifully, blocks well and hold its shape … no matter what! 

These swatches were an interesting experiment with color - a simple, repetitive fairisle pattern and 6 different colors - each has it’s own appeal. 

 The hard part is choosing a color!

I am so intrigued with this yarn!  I’ve never worked with the really fine gauge yarn single stranded - it’s opening up a whole new world to me!

Knit in a simple 3 x 1 Tuck, single stranded - this looks like gossamer!

The tuck pattern was suggested by a customer.  She is knitting our undyed 8/2 Tencel  in this stitch pattern for hand dyed scarves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Playing with our new 2/18 Alpaca. (This yarn is sold out! Take a look at our beautiful Baby Alpaca - lots of color choices)
Gorgeous dark brown - incredibly soft and beautiful! I was concerned it would be too “fragile” for lace on the machine, but it knit beautifully! Standard gauge, tension 5-6.

I’m especially appreciating the knitting machine after recently hand knitting some laceweight silk - enjoyed the process (and the challenge) but all those YO’s, PSSO’s, K2tog’s and counting!

Yikes!!! … it will be a while before I do that to myself again!