It’s all about the Yarn
After reading Kate Davies post about needle size being immaterial this week I thought I’d take another crack at my post on yarn. As a hand spinner and someone who still struggles with gauge I would agree that needle size is immaterial. Needle size is just one of three elements that effect the fabric and resulting garment when you knit something. The second is the yarn. The third is the pattern/design whether it be a pattern that someone else has written or design you have in your head. Of the three of these the yarn is the most important. You can’t make Selvoubotter mittens with chunky yarn that actually fit a human hand no matter what size needle you use. And it’s not just about the size of the yarn. If the fabric you are desiring for you project is drapey it’s going to be hard to achieve that with a bouncy elastic Merino or Targhee yarn. And finally the quality and type of yarn will effect the look and feel of the finished garment in imperceptible ways. Think about how different a fair isle garment looks when it’s knitted in Jamison and Smith as opposed to some other kind of yarn. Stay tuned for my next post on why “It’s all about the yarn”