Yarn Halp?

[sioneva]

So. I know I have knit-witty friends here. Also crocheting friends. I crochet. My knitting is fairly crappy, in that I've learned how to knit and purl about a zillion times and forget almost immediately. My knitting efforts amount to two scarves knit in furry yarn, which look great but were hell for a first-time project

Comments

[rhiannon76]

The Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb that the pattern recommends is really soft. And the Handmaiden Sea Silk that I used was lovely and soft and silky (no wool in it), but rather slippery, which I wouldn't recommend for someone who hasn't done a lot of knitting or crocheting in a while (it's also several weights finer than the yarn the pattern calls for.)

Honestly, I recommend that you go down to one of your local yarn shops (I have some lovely yarn that Libby brought me from So Much Yarn last year, and lots of Ravelers seem to like Hilltop Yarn) and talk to the folks there about recommendations, letting them know about your wool sensitivity. Then just walk around and pet the yarns. Seriously. It's the only real way to tell what a yarn feels like to you. Since this will be a scarf/shawl, rest them against your neck/shoulder/collarbone-- this is a good way to tell if it might irritate your skin or not.

It's nice to have at least a little drape in the Clapotis (though the dropped stitches also help with that), so here are some things to keep in mind about the behaviors of different fibers. Wool has a lot of memory (that is, elasticity), which helps it to cling when needed (as in ribbing, or fitted garments). Alpaca and angora have less memory, and will drape a little more. Plant fibers, as a rule, have little to no memory, so anything cotton, linen, bamboo, hemp, soy, seaweed, rayon, or corn based will be drapey. Silk has no elasticity at all and is very drapey. Knitting or crocheting with a straight silk or plant fiber may be frustrating and tiring, because the lack of elasticity means your hands have to work harder to maintain tension. So going for a blend of wool and something else would give you a good combination of drape and elasticity.

I'd suggest looking not just at wool/silk blends, but also at wool/cotton, wool/bamboo, wool/soy, etc. Or even blends of 3-4 fibers. And don't rule out acrylics altogether-- just as there are scratchy harsh wools and soft lovely wools, there are horrid squeaky acrylics and soft smooth acrylics. A LYS will have higher-quality acrylics and acrylic blends that you might quite like. You might also look in the baby yarns sections to see what you can find that would be good for sensitive skin.

If you prefer to order online, you might also look at KnitPicks-- they have a great selection and good prices. I really like their wool/cotton blend, it's very soft. You can order sample cards from them if you want to see what the yarns and colors are like before you buy a shawl's worth of yarn.

Also, why you knitty folks don't live closer to me so that you can teach me how to knit better, I don't know. Work on that!!!

Get yourself on Ravelry and find yourself a local stitch & bitch, my dear. Or ask at the yarn stores (they probably all have open knitting nights.) And, if you felt inclined to brave the knitting waters again, I think the Clapotis is an excellent project for a new knitter: it really only uses knit and purl stitches, but it teaches you how to increase and decrease using both knits and purls, how to increase with yarn overs, and you get to drop stitches on purpose.