Authors: Edith Eig,Caroline Greeven
Many knitters start their first project with very inexpensive yarn bought from one of the chain craft stores. It may seem like a bargain—only two or three dollars a ball—but these yarns are of inferior quality: they are
rough to the touch and because they’re held together with starch, you may notice the yarn has a sticky feel. Since you’ll be investing hours in making your project, it’s worth buying quality yarn that will add to the end result rather than detract from it.
I sell a broad range of wools, everything from ultrasoft fingering yarn to thicker and coarser wools that knit up into the classic ski sweater. A sturdy fabric, wool also has many practical attributes: a sheep’s coat helps maintain its body temperature, keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer, all the time repelling rain and moisture. It can do the same for you—but don’t forget your umbrella.
[
EDITH KNIT TIPS
]All Wools Are Not Created Equal
There is a clear distinction between virgin wool and pure wool. I always recommend that my clients knit with virgin wool because it comes direct from the sheep to you—unlike pure wool, which is made of recycled wool. So, to put an end to the wool controversy, wool vs. wool: unless the label specifically says “virgin wool,” you are purchasing the other kind.
Ripping Mohair
Ripping out mohair can be a hairy task! Individual rows may rip quite easily, but the last stitch can keep the row tied up in knots. To make the process easier, I advise my clients to use a sharp yarn needle to pry loose the stitch and to avoid yanking to separate the strands that have become entangled.
Back in the ‘60s, every woman owned a mohair sweater. It looked stunning until you actually felt the fibers, which were rough, prickly, and itchy. Today, mohair yarns have come a long way; spun from the belly of a kid goat rather than from an adult goat, the yarn is much softer and pleasing to the touch. Mohair yarn is often misunderstood and considered to be a very thin yarn. In fact, the opposite is true: mohair is a lofty yarn because you must account for the fuzziness as well as the core when working with it.
Angora comes from the full underbelly of angora rabbits—not your common neighborhood bunny. Like mohair, angora is also a lofty yarn and is often mistakenly considered much thinner than it is. As a result, people tend to knit with needles that are too small, creating a tight fabric. If
you knit with needles that are too small, you risk compressing the yarn and marring the beauty of the finished product.
[
EDITH KNIT TIPS
]Taking the Shed Out of Angora
Angora tends to shed, especially when you’re working with it. Eventually, the shedding will stop on its own. To shorten this process, however, you can put the finished garment in the dryer on fluff
without any heat
(this is very important) and let it spin. As long as you’re not exposing the garment to heat and high spin, you can keep the garment in the dryer on fluff for approximately a half hour. You may need to repeat this procedure several times.
Cashmere, one of the finest, most expensive fibers in the world, is spun from the fine, soft wool or down hair from the undercoat of a Kashmir goat. It takes one goat up to a year to produce approximately 100–150 grams of cashmere, making it one of the rarest and sought–after yarns in the world. You will need on average 350 grams, or the equivalent of three to four goats, to make a sweater.
ANGORA: SHRINKING RIGHT BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES
Years ago, people didn’t account for the loftiness of angora, so they knitted the yarn with size 2 or 3 needles. One of my clients knitted a pair of angora mittens. They came out beautifully, and she wore them all the time. As spring approached, she stored them away in a drawer, carefully wrapping them in tissue paper. To her surprise—or rather horror—when she unwrapped the tissue paper, she found a pair of pelted angora mittens the size of a baby’s hand. If I hadn’t observed this firsthand, I wouldn’t have believed it. What happened? Well, let me tell you. While my client was wearing the mittens, her hands kept them in a stretched condition even though they wanted to shrink; however, once they were stored away, the natural heat and moisture that had been absorbed from her hands caused the angora to shrink on its own—because the mittens had been knitted with needles that were too small.
When I recounted this
yarn
to my angora supplier, he had an equally funny story to tell. In the 1940s at the Parisian nightclub, the Folies Bergère, there was an incident involving a woman and her angora sweater. As she sat under the show lights, sipping her wine and enjoying the performance, she began to feel a bit uncomfortable. Her sweater had begun to shrink noticeably from the heat of the lights and the moisture from her body. Apparently, as she got hotter the sweater got smaller until she finally had no choice but to leave.It’s wise to remember the properties of angora—or any fiber, for that matter: yarn continues to breathe and will react to the elements.
CHENILLE—ONE WORM TOO MANY
“Worming” in chenille can happen at any time: immediately or over a period of time. One of my clients labored over an afghan for her college–bound daughter, using several types of very expensive yarns, including chenille. When her daughter came home during Christmas break, she brought the afghan with her. My client was upset when she saw its condition: everything was smooth—except for the chenille, which was worming throughout. With my help, we undid the entire afghan, and she reworked it without the chenille. A lot of time and effort wasted.
Alpaca comes from the alpaca goat, a cousin of the llama and the camel and a native of South America. Alpaca is warm, soft, and luxurious to the touch. It’s also significantly less expensive than cashmere and just a bit hairier. Because alpaca is very luxurious, it is commonly referred to as the poor man’s cashmere.
Tucked away in one of the cabinets in my shop is a pale blue sweater. When I made it some ten years ago, I was quite proud of it. I had designed a complicated pattern, including cables. As I happily began to sew the seams together, I noticed a slight looping and dismissed it as an error in my knitting. A few days later, while I was wearing it, one of my clients pointed to what appeared to be a pulled stitch. As I came to learn, these mysterious loops, also known as worming, is a negative attribute inherent to chenille. This is why I don’t sell chenille in my store, despite the frequent requests I get for it. You’ve heard the expression “pictures are worth a thousand words"? When someone requests this yarn, I pull this garment out of hiding and show them this “worm–infested” chenille sweater—which continues to loop to this day.
Acrylic yarns come in a variety of qualities, and there are many reasons for working with them. Over the years, acrylics have evolved for the better. They are commonly found as a component in novelty yarns, including some of the more recognizable yarns as eyelash, furs, and microfibers, which have become quite popular. Acrylics are also a favorite for knitting baby blankets since they are easily washable and can be put in the dryer.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR QUALITY
A
friend of mine had given me a very cherished gift: a vintage box of yarn, carefully preserved from the 1920s. Although the original owner never knitted with the yarn, she did recognize its superior quality and had stored it well. With yarn nearly ninety years old, I decided to knit a lovely Chanel–style jacket. Just like the namesake of my jacket, there is no substitute for quality. Make an investment in your yarn, take care when knitting with it and treat the garment well, and you will have an heirloom piece to pass on to your children and grandchildren.
Because novelty yarns have so much character, new knitters tend to rely on them as a design crutch, rather than expanding their knitting repertoire and developing their skills. Have fun with novelty yarn. Consider using it as a trim in a sweater, or find an interesting and unusual use for it beyond the simple scarf.
[
EDITH KNIT TIPS
]Zipped for Success
Slippery yarns continually unravel off the ball, so here’s a solution I offer my clients. Cut off one of the bottom corners off a ziplock bag and place your ball of yarn inside; thread your yarn through the hole and seal the bag shut. This will help keep your ball of yarn neat and prevent it from knotting.
Yarns Are Seasonal Too
Just like fashion trends are seasonal, yarns come and go and are often discontinued. So keep in mind that it’s important to buy all the yarn at once for a project rather than just a couple balls at a time. This will ensure that you have enough and from the same dye lot.
Knitting for Baby
.
The Debbie Bliss Baby Cash–merino is an ideal choice for knitting baby garments. It’s soft because of the cashmere, but the merino wool adds a little more resilience for the frequent washings that baby clothes endure and also makes it more affordable.
Knitting for Teens
.
Almost without exception, teens love bulky yarns. The look of these yarns never seems to go out of fashion, and the ponchos and scarves are fun and easy projects for easily distracted teens. Rowan makes great bulky yarns, with colors that change every season to reflect the fashions.
Knitting for Adults
.
When you love knitting as much as I do, it’s hard to pick a favorite yarn. I find myself drawn both to ribbon yarns and to yarns with a little luster or texture, particularly the hand–dyed yarns. Ribbon yarns are great for knitting the lightweight jackets I love to wear: they knit up in a large, loose gauge, and replicate the look of woven fabric in an interesting and stylish way. Yarns that have texture or character—a sheen, some variation in color—work well when making sweater sets. With the 13,000 different yarns lining the shelves of my shop, sometimes regardless of the project a client has in mind, she hears yarn “calling her name,” so she ends up going home with a completely different project. The first will just have to wait.
[
EDITH KNIT TIPS
]Don’t Judge a Yarn by Its Cover
So you bought yarn and, at the time, you loved it. But when you went to knit with it some months later, you wondered, “What was I thinking?” Not so uncommon; even I do this. Since you can’t return the yarn, make the most of it. I’ll help my clients redesign the original project to incorporate some of the yarn as a trim or an embellishment, saving the rest for something or someone else. Your change of taste might be someone else’s good fortune. If you knit an entire sweater and then decide you no longer like it, you can change the look by simply adding embellishments and buttons.
No Names
When knitting for a child, never put the child’s name on the garment. This is a safety precaution, as children tend to respond to their name being called, even by a stranger.
SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR
The first time Sarah Michelle came to the shop, she walked in and walked out. She had to move her car. With that done, Sarah Michelle sat at the table, and I taught her how to knit. A very fast learner, Sarah Michelle quickly grasped both the knit and the purl stitch. After she chose a pretty blue chunky yarn, I wrote a simple pattern for her to follow in which she could combine the two stitches—and she was off knitting her first scarf. She loved it so much that the next day she came back with her mom, and this mother–daughter team returned almost every Saturday. During the holidays when Sarah Michelle was filming
Scooby–Doo,
her mom came in with a tin of cookies, a gift from her and her daughter. One evening as I was about to close the store, I received a panicked call from Sarah Michelle’s agent pleading with me not to close. The agent was en route to the store to buy a gift certificate for Sarah Michelle’s birthday.
MANUFACTURES’ HOMAGE TO EDITH
I have a strong reputation as a knowledgeable knitting resource within the knitting industry—not just among my clients and with the press but also among the knitting yarn and accessory manufacturers.
Clover Needles:
For as many years as I can remember, manufacturers have been soliciting my advice on everything from color choices to needles and trends. Ever since knitting with chunky yarns became all the rage, I strongly suggested that Mr. Okada, the CEO of Clover Needles, introduce a size 17 and 19 needle to his line. He did. One afternoon the marketing director for Clover USA, Jan Carr, came to visit, and recounted how he had been suggesting this all along, but that his counsel had fallen on deaf ears. He said, “All it took was one of your calls to make a difference…. I’ve been suggesting this for years. You sure have a lot of influence.”The Edith Coat:
Knitting as an art has been around since the dawn of time. But only in the past several years did the knitting trend emerge. I have been credited by the media and by yarn manufacturers for contributing to knitting’s resurgence. As a thank you and to my surprise, Berroco Yarns created the “Edith Coat.” This elegant and stylish coat was one of the highest forms of flattery.Hana Silk:
Hana Silk by Noro had always sold very well at my shop. A thick, hand–dyed silk easily worked up in a size 10.5 needle. Then, just as quickly as it arrived, Noro discontinued importing Hana Silk to the United States. When I asked the manufacturer why, he said that it didn’t sell around the country. I explained to him that at my shop, it practically flew off the shelves. He told me that “if yarn could sell at La Knitterie Parisienne, then it’s worth reintroducing.” Hana Silk continues to sell very well in my shop, and throughout the United States, to this day.