Tag Archives: Knitting

A Guide to Yarn Weights

Lace yarn (or: fingering, thread, or cobweb)

US 000 to 1

1.5 to 2.25 millimetres

Super fine yarn (or: sock, fingering, or baby)

US 1 to 3

2.25 to 3.5 millimetres

Fine yarn (or: sport or baby)

US 3 to 5

3.5 to 4.5 millimetres

Light yarn (or: DK or light worsted)

US 3 to 5

3.5 to 4.5 millimetres

Medium yarn (or: worsted, afghan, or aran)

US 7 to 9

4.5 to 5.5 millimetres

Bulky yarn (or: chunky, craft, or rug)

US 9 to 11

5.5 to 8 millimetres

Super bulky yarn (or: roving)

US 11 to 17

8 to 12.75 millimetres

Sunday Picnic Sweater

This is the simplest sweater I’ve knitted. It’s also the third sweater I’ve knitted, and the only one I haven’t unravelled. The pattern is by Angeline Webb on Ravelry. I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted yarn in Peacoat for the sleeves and back, and an undyed skein my mother gave me for my birthday last year.

This sweater is knit flat, even the sleeves, and then seamed together after being blocked. The first two sweaters I tried were knit in the round. One had cables, and the other had colour work. I think I have this problem where I try too much too quickly, because I get overexcited and forget that I’m still relatively new at knitting. Now I’m a little more experienced, but when I made my first sweater I could definitely have used more practice before attempting intermediate techniques.

Lily wearing the Sunday Picnic Sweater

One of the things I love about knitting is that even if you make hundreds of mistakes, all is not lost. You can reuse yarn for new projects, backtrack to fix dropped stitches or wrong stitches. And even if you don’t catch a mistake until you’ve washed your project, woven in the ends, and folded it away into your closet, it’s okay. The point of any hand-made thing is to be perfect because it was made by you, not because it’s free of errors.

When I wear hand-knit sweaters I don’t care that I accidentally knitted instead of purled a couple of stitches, and I really doubt anyone else cares either. I remember how it felt when I wore the first sweater I made. It was warm and heavy. It smelled like coffee and vanilla hand lotion and wool wash and my cats’ fur. I was proud of myself. Even though that sweater doesn’t exist anymore and its yarn is going into a new pattern, I don’t think about the mistakes I made more than I think about how excited I was that I had taught myself how to knit.

Designing and De-stressing

I’ve been following @motherofpurl on Instagram for a few years now, since before I began to knit. They recently put up a new website, and I really like the design. Lauren from Mother of Purl designs patterns, sells art yarn and wool rovings, and holds classes on fibre art. Their website is designed to be a business, and you can see the appeal of their creations right on the home page with curated photos of their collections and hand-dyed or spun fibre.

My favourite part of the website is probably Lauren’s thorough About section. They include their values and a bit of their history and experience with knitting, and the features available through Mother of Purl. I admire the layout as well, they continue to use a few main colours- pale olive, burgundy, and light green- throughout the website and this section, so even though the format of each page is different there is a good flow. Their logo has the same colours, and it cleverly represents the title of the website- a clam shell with a ball of yarn as its pearl.

I like to follow experienced knitters and fibre artists, because I think knitting is one of the many crafts that is passed down through generations, and still retains techniques from many years ago. It’s a unique craft in the amount of time that it takes and its artistic practicality. Lauren, and many knitters, have built their business and art from fibre, and it is good to see that this slow craft can sustain people even in fast-moving times.

I finally feel like the design of this website is coming along, so I’ve been more relaxed. I got some good marks back on assignments from a couple of classes that I was nervous about. I know academic validation can be an unhealthy thing to base confidence on, but it still feels uplifting to get good feedback.

This weekend I’ve been trying to think about my health a little more. Since starting school I’ve succumbed to the daily routine of: wake up late, drink loads of coffee, grab snacks whenever I can, study for hours without much moving around, and go to sleep when it’s already tomorrow. Over the past few days I caught up on doctor’s appointments, cleaned, went running, cooked lunch, and spent more time giving myself breaks. I didn’t do anything about my sleeping schedule- I’m convinced it’s a lost cause. I know every weekend won’t give me the chance to do all of this, but it helped to take a breather.