Kid Friendly Yarns!

Baby's Got A New Pair Of Shoes Sweater Set

While experimenting with a new self striping yarn last spring, I realized that my One Seam Sweater pattern works just as well with Aran weight yarn (slightly heavier than true worsted) as it does with traditional chunky (as opposed to the bulky weights that now use that moniker). For those of you who aren't familiar with the gauges of the aforementioned yarn weights - in a 4"(10cm) gauge swatch, worsted is 18-20 sts on 4.5mm needles, Aran is 16-18 sts on 5mm needles, and traditional chunky is 14-15 sts on 6mm needles. And just to round out the most common yarn sizes, dk (double knitting) is 22-23 sts on 4mm needles.

In other words, Cascade's Anthem Rondo knits to the same gauge as James C. Brett's Marble Chunky and Universal's Major giving my One Seam Sweater yet another look for the little ones in your life. (See top left corner of the first photo.) I would not try it with the adult sizes as the stripes could get too busy.

                                       

This week's offerings in the store include all the yarn sizes mentioned above so you can knit a wide variety of projects from your purchases this week, all in machine washable and dryable quality acrylic.

Cascade's Anthem and Universal's Uptown are the two worsted weight yarns and they play beautifully together so feel free to mix and match to get just the right colour combinations.

Berroco's Comfort dk and King Cole's Big Value dk, on the other hand, are very different yarns, both perfect in their own way.

DMC's Top This hat kits are great for making hats, stuffies, and (if you buy two kits) slippers.

There are a few other yarns thrown into the mix but you'll have to come into the store to see what they are.

And don't forget that you can now find us at Ponoka's Communty Market on Monday nights!

written by Lori, perturbed TCL owner, who doesn't understand why I can't use the strikethrough font in the title.

Two Projects Using One of the Newer Yarns in Stock - Cascade Yarns Anthem Rondo

 Many people freak out if they don't have the exact yarn that a pattern calls for. Many others just go full steam ahead with a yarn that's kinda the same size.

I decided to create two 18 month size sweaters: one following my own One Seam Sweater for a gauge of 15x30=4" on 5.5mm needles originally created with James C. Brett Marble Chunky, and the other following a free Yarnspirations pattern for a discontinued yarn, Bernat Mosaic, with a gauge of 16x32=4" on 5mm needles. If you are familiar with how knitting gauges work, you can get both of these gauges from the same yarn because the bigger needle has more ease, meaning the fabric relaxes enough to have fewer stitches in the same space.

The yarn I chose for both projects was Cascade Yarns Anthem Rondo, a long striping aran weight yarn which is actually smaller than the Marble Chunky and smoother than the Mosaic, which was a thick thin yarn.

So, how did they turn out? Well, I design according to the Craft Yarn Council guidelines with the recommended amount of ease so the sleeves of my One Seam Sweater look extra long in the rainbow (#07 Prep) colour because they aren't super deep at the armhole. The sweater based on the Bernat pattern (#04 Open Seas) (I say 'based on' because I knit the sleeves sideways, a trick you can do with garter stitch without changing the size of the garment piece) look more proportionate when laying flat but the sleeves are closer to 3/4 length sleeves than full length like my OSS. Guess what? They both came out to pattern gauge!

The bonus is that there was enough yarn left over from my OSS, that I was able to whip up a matching hat with about 2m to spare. The Side to Side sweater had only 5m to spare. If I actually sewed the seams together as recommended, there would have been less than that!

written by Lori, satisfied TCL owner, who is happy with the way both sweaters turned out.