I got an email from someone asking if I’d ever used Yeoman Yarns Brittany? Does the Pope have a nose? Have you used it for plain stockinette? Heck, yeah! Does it bias? Never happened to me! But guess who has 2 cones of Brittany in ‘pale primula’, well-aged (as is virtually everything on my shelves!) – it’s not quite the Pantone colour of the year but I have a couple of rayon print fabrics, recently purchased, slated for spring dresses and I think this goes perfect!
My inspiration, that last lacy cardigan, Smokin’ – love it! And
in this cotton, oh my, so excited!
So, what’s the big mystery about cotton? And how do you know what to do?
You’ve probably heard the horror stories: it grows during wearing and ends up
stretching out; it makes a really heavy, draggy garment, hard to work with
because you need to pre-shrink before putting together, the garment biases and
twists – NOT to all that! My guess is
these stories are based on hand knitting or people using industrial cotton, not
meant for our knitting machines, something that should only be used for
knitting dishcloths (and WHY do they make dishcloths??? – sorry, Bonnie from WI
– she did give me 3 back in 2018, I think, at the Founders Fest and honestly, I
used them and came to love them – sadly, the last one developed holes and I
think it’s time to put it to rest).
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| unwashed swatch |
My method of using cotton – allow for the shrinkage when making your swatch.
This yarn, (Yeoman Yarns Brittany) is what I call a soft cotton – not
mercerised and has a matte finish. Sample out or test knit for the gauge. You
want it to look a little loose because laundering will shrink it and cause the knit
stitches to become smaller and tighten up. I do use the dryer but don’t
over-dry – that will cause the cotton to become stiff and hard – if this
happens, no worries, just add water and try again! My theory from here is that
when you launder the garment, regardless of the stitch, whether it is
stockinette, lace, tuck or whatever, it is all going to shrink at the same rate
so there is no need to pre-wash the pieces before assembly. I make the entire
garment, put it all together (yes, it will be too big, at least, too long) and
then launder it and presto, you have a lovely finished garment that fits and
was easy to assemble!
1 comment:
Well stated and explained. I do the same thing and have never ever had an issue with cotton. I make all of my swatches a bit larger then the norm then launder. I always assemble what I have knitted before it is laundered. I take many of the pieces off on waste warn and don't want to have anything unravel in the washer. Results are always as expected.
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