Multiple strands of yarn in menswear.

 

Feast your eyes on the colors and textures in this.  It's a men's scarf in which I mixed some Tribal Earth Tones yarn with the soon-to-be-listed Warm as Toast series and some other similar yarns.  And it's far easier to knit than it looks.

Simply hold all the strands together and knit on large needles--US size 13 works well for many people--in a garter stitch or stockinette or whatever fairly simple stitch that you love and feel confident using.  The more complex the stitch or the pattern, the more challenging it may be, but I have customers using my yarn for entrelac and cables.

I listed this scarf on Etsy, if you'd like to see more details.

If you've never used multistrand yarns before, you will want to practice using two strands on large needles before advancing to more strands or to smaller needles, but virtually all my yarn customers get the hang of it.   If you stab the needle through part of the stitch, your mistake will likely go unnoticed because of all the colors and strands involved.  And your work can't unravel because the strands you DID stab will hold it all together. 

Crochet takes a bit of practice, too.  I recommend sticking with the larger hooks. 

I have more advice about multistrand knitting in this blog.  

dj runnels
Life's an Expedition

An example of using multiple yarns in one project.

Hope I don't sound like a broken record, but I am sometimes asked how it is possible to use more than one strand, or more than one yarn, in a single project.  And I did promise that I would show examples on my blog once in a while.

Here is a freeform crochet scarf called Brighton that I listed on Etsy.  It contains four yarns by Life's an Expedition:  Nightscape, Castle Gold, Millefiori and Tantallon Castle.

The most challenging part in working with so many yarns is dealing with color breaks.  Many people refuse to knot the yarn and are adamant about weaving it in, but I find that the ends come loose after awhile.  I tend to knot the yarn (gasp!) using a square knot.  Very important.  It must be a real square knot.  There are knots that look like square knots, but they are not.  If you have any doubts about whether or not you are tying it correctly, ask a Boy Scout for help.  (No, I AM serious.  It's kind of hard to tell with me, I realize, but I am being serious at the moment.)  Often I will pick up a needle and thread and secure the knot to the back of the garment to make sure it doesn't work its way to the front.  I do this especially when I mix yarns while making a handbag because a handbag needs to be super durable.

dj runnels
Life's an Expedition on Etsy.

Here's what I've been working on today and as I tore up the silk fabric to make this, I suddenly remembered a concerned customer asking me, well...isn't this scarf going to shed?  Or leave lint?  Or (I can't believe she said this) fall apart?

Ah, no.  How do I know this?  Because   I wear black.  Nearly every day, I have on black/dark jeans or black capris--depending on the weather--so that's what I wear when I work on my scarves.   If they were going to create a lint storm, I'd have the evidence on my lap.

Fortunately, my customer was open-minded enough to just go ahead and wear the scarf she bought from me.   She was pleased that (1) it did indeed hold up and (2) it generates many compliments.


The reason I thought of this while working on this particular scarf is because I used a type of silk I have not used before and I cut it in a way I have not cut silk fabric before.  It did leave lint on my cutting board.  I had to shake the fabric out in my front yard before I could continue.  Then I made the scarf and it was fine.  Another thready crisis averted.

I guess the next time I get a concerned customer, I will direct her to this blog post.  But what about the people who drool over my scarves, eye the threadiness cautiously, then don't buy without asking me for reassurance? I suppose that sort of thing happens a lot to any seller.

< Silk Bamboo is the name of this scarf.  There's no bamboo in it.  That's just the name.

dj runnels
Life's an Expedition on Etsy.

Making what is "good" v. making what sells.

Every day, I face the same dilemma. Should I make what people want? Or make what I know will sell? Or should I make what I know is good, even if it doesn't sell? Or both? I am sure you know what I'm talking about, no matter what line of work you are in.

Well, here is what it is like as a yarn designer: I learned years ago which gauges and color combinations sell the best. If I want to have a more lucrative business, I will stick with purples, teals and greens. People scarf those up in a heartbeat.

But in my heart, I know that the average yarn buyer does not necessarily look good in purple. It takes a certain complexion and hair color range to wear it, e.g.: Women of Color or Caucasian brunettes with brown eyes and dark hair. A pale blonde, on the other hand, does not really wear purple well; purple wears her. A pale blonde often looks outstanding in peach. But peach yarn is the kiss of death in terms of online yarn sales. I have made peach color combinations that took over a year to sell out. 

And peach is far from being the least popular. Pastels in general do not sell as quickly as bright colors. Gray is worse. I have a wool blend yarn called Paiolo that I think is to die for, but it is gray and copper, so it sells slowly. And gray is nothing--NOTHING--compared to maroon and navy. I rue the day I created a maroon, navy, silver yarn that echoed the New England Patriots colors. It was a stunning, dramatic yarn but took three years to sell.

I know I cannot change the buying public. But I wish I could hold little workshops and show people which colors work best with their coloring and which fibers work best for certain applications. That fuzzy purple acrylic from Walmart may be easy on the wallet, but it will look very cheap worked up as a child's sweater and will start pilling after a few washes. It's not a bargain. I have non-fuzzy acrylic strands in my yarn studio that do not pill and add strength to any garment. I'm sure I repel the purists by using it, but I know that when I mix it with cotton, it makes the yarn easier to knit, whereas 100% cotton yarn can be so stiff, it makes your hands ache. And when mixed with wool, it adds strength.

Sorry, I digress. I was talking about color, not fiber.

Chinchilla, the yarn at the top and bottom of this post, is a great example of what I mean. I put a lot of thought into it. I used gray, beige, taupe and ivory to give it lots of texture and depth. The gray or beige alone would have been boring, but the two together, especially with the multi-color beige/tan strand I used, make it a fascinating yarn. I put a thin green rayon in there for pizazz, without disrupting the overall muted quality. The ivory is an odd crinkly wool that gives the yarn a bit of fluffy excitement without going overboard into a chunky, mohair fluff extravaganza which is unflattering in a sweater--although fluffy can be very nice in a hat. Chinchilla could be stunning on a man or woman with graying hair or anyone with muted coloring. It's also a classic, dignified, sophisticated palette. But it's going to languish in my shop for some time, I feel sure, since it isn't a neon shade of purple that makes your jaw drop and your heart pound.

dj runnels

Life's an Expedition

Modular knitting and crocheting

Modular knitting is increasing in popularity. Western society is mobile and this craft lends itself to being on the road. Did you ever try to make lampwork beads in an airplane? Or shove a floor loom into the back seat of a Jetta? Even if it was your Jetta? I'll bet you've been arrested less often than I have, too. Knitting and crochet are so portable compared to other crafts. Even if this were not one of my primary hobbies, I would probably do it as a lesser hobby, just to have something portable to do during school recitals and road trips. Especially if I am not driving.

I am grateful to see that the piecework knitting / crocheting repertoire has extended beyond granny squares, as they used to be called back in the day. There are some excellent books out there--I believe one is called Domino Knitting--that show you the many wonderful newer options. You can make intricate squares, triangles, bargello-looking patterns and more out of single color yarn that really show off your skills. Or, if you're more like me, you can make simple squares out of intricate yarn and no one will know what your skill level is because they'll be too mesmerized by the colors.
There are many benefits of modular knitting, which is another term I've heard applied to this method:

• If you totally mess up a square, you can toss it out, if you are not adverse to doing so. That's a lot easier than ripping and backtracking, which I loathe.
• If you don't like how the colors look compared to the other squares in your project, you can save the piece for another project. No work goes to waste and you are exonerated in your quest to be Green.
• It's portable. Take a little or several yarns with you in a tote bag to the doctor's office or your kid's soccer field. Much nicer than lugging a large sweater around and you can skewer the opposing team's soccer ball with a knitting needle if you feel especially rowdy that day. (At the police station, tell them your name is D.J. Runnels.)
• One of the most onerous tasks in knitting a garment is in continually measuring it or trying it on or double-checking your gauge. With modular squares, you can set one square on top of another and say, "Yep! Looks good to me."
• You can add to the piece later, especially if it's an afghan or baby blanket. You could be 75% done and start using the so-called finished piece and just keep adding to it when you feel like it. Imagine making a baby blanket for a new mom and adding another row in a different color when mom has another baby. Imagine a four-foot winter scarf becoming a five-footer or six-footer as your schedule permits.

Yarn sold in our Etsy store.


A few disadvantages or considerations:

• It's easy to come up with a garment that screams of 1970. You see this sort of thing at estate sales all the time and it often smells like moth repellent. Ewww. Maybe you want that. Maybe you don't. Several ways to avoid this trap are to use good wool instead of cheap acrylic--and darlin', I would hope you are not wasting your time with cheap Walmart acrylic when there are so many worthwhile yarns out there that will do your work justice. Secondly, you might knit instead of crochet the squares. Seed stitch would look lovely. Thirdly, carefully consider what you are making. An afghan made of squares makes a great deal of sense. A vest is likely to look like a throwback to an earlier decade, but then again, maybe you WANT that '70's look and that's okay if it's what you want. But you could also make modular rectangles, stripes or triangles instead and that will update your look considerably.
• I tend to feel that modular crochet has more substance to it than modular knitting. Not always but often. Crocheters, feel free to whoop triumphantly. I am a knitter, so you just scored a victory here.
• There's a lot more assembly involved. Some people hate piecing their work together. I kind of like it. You will do more fitting and measuring at this stage that you were able to avoid earlier, but at least you can make modifications.
• What if you're all done knitting and now you're piecing together, say, a jacket and it's just a little too big around. The typical person might go ahead and leave it too big rather than take out some squares and end up with something too small. Okay, fine, I'll confess, that person would be me. Or I might make some "half-squares" to go into the side seam to get a better fit. Or what if you leave off one square on the sleeves and add some extra-long ribbing? We can be flexible with modular knitting and be willing to break the rules when needed. So what if it's not entirely made of squares. The jacket is there to serve you, not vice versa.

dj runnels
Life's an Expedition