This week’s tip is to Choose The Right Project for the Yarn. This means understanding hand-dyed yarns can be and are usually different from machine dyed skeins including being a bit unpredictable in how the colors will look in a completed project. Because of the nature of hand-dyeing, the same yarn can often times look very different in different patterns and projects too.
I love hand-dyed yarns, especially a good variegated skein, but they are not always right for every project. Especially a project with a lot of texture or a lace pattern. Here are a couple of examples of what I’m talking about:
Patterns with Lots of Texture
Here are two versions of the Geology Shawl by VeryBusyMonkey. They’re both beautiful but the one on the left, using the yellow tonal colorway, allows you to see all the different stitches and textures included in the pattern. They’re definitely harder to see on the version on the right, made with a variegated colorway.
Detailed Lace Patterns
Besides texture, involved lace patterns are not always ideal for variegated colors either. You can really see it here in the two versions of the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. Again, both pieces are beautiful, but it’s so much harder to see the all the lace patterning and details in the version on the right. If you’re going to spend the time and energy to knit a lace pattern, I think you’d want to show off all that hard work you’ve done!
Simple Patterns are Best
So what should you look for in a pattern to show off that beautiful variegated hand-dyed colorways? Simplicity. That’s not to say that you can’t pick something with lace, just find one that is a little less involved. Here are two great examples:
