The Roots of My Affection

I think I may have mentioned before that I have been knitting since I was eight years old.  I have always loved the rhythmic, almost meditative motion of looping yarn around needle, but truthfully I did not find my true passion for this craft until I discovered felting, or fulling as it is technically called.  (Since most knitters don’t call it fulling, I am going to call it felting for the purposes of this review.)  Felting is the process by which a fabric of knitted wool is exposed to hot water and agitated, causing the wool fibers to shrink and lock into each other, creating a tight, thick fabric, or felt.  This can be accomplished by hand with a boiling pot of water on the stove and a lot of stirring, or more simply, the fabric can be run through a washing machine on a hot wash.  I have tried both methods, but I prefer to use my washing machine, both because I can felt several items at once and because it takes far less time to achieve the desired degree of felted fabric.  The uses for such a fabric are nearly endless: hats, bowls, bags, pouches, scarves, mufflers, shoes, and jackets are just some of the projects I have seen fashioned out of knitted and felted wool.

Once I discovered the process of felting my knitted works, I was entirely hooked.  I am always amazed at how forgiving this process is.  If my knitting is not entirely even (with a mixture of tight and loose stitches), if I have obvious mistakes, or even if I have somehow made a hole in my work, the felting process manages to hide my errors.  I also enjoy the look and feel of the felted wool; its smooth, nearly solid surface is great for making very warm winter accessories, and it is tight enough that purses and handbags can go unlined without fear of losing their contents.  When felted, yarn colors seem bolder and brighter than they do in their original yarn form, allowing the knitter to create really interesting plays on color and form.  Simply put, felting takes knitting to new levels of fun for me.

A Great Medium Weight

Let’s get back to the Cascade 220.  I’ve tried other wools for felting and many perform well in their own right, but Cascade 220 is my favorite and best by far.  Some wools are very scratchy to work with, but I love the way Cascade 220 feels in my hands.  A more refined wool, Cascade has no tiny sticks or scratchy bits to irritate my skin as I work with it and so far it hasn’t made me sneeze despite my slight allergy to wool.  I have found that some wools are quite smelly, perhaps because they are rich in lanolin?  I don’t know why some smell and some don’t, but Cascade doesn’t stink and, being somewhat sensitive to odor, this is important to me.

Cascade comes in such a variety of over 95 colors, from solids to tweeds to heathers.   A rainbow of choices means you can nearly always find just the right shade of soft pink, kelly green, or periwinkle blue.  Perhaps the best news I can give you is that even the very lightest of Cascade 220 colors will felt nicely.  They may require a slightly longer agitation time, but you will still be able to achieve the nice, tight felt that you desire when you set out to make a project.  So many white wools will not felt, but I promise that Cascade 220 will not disappoint you in this area!

A Useful, Affordable Yarn

I don’t want to give the impression that Cascade 220 can only be used for felting.  Much to the contrary, this wool would be great for sweaters, mittens, blankets, and any other type of knit.  Each skein of Cascade yarn is 100gr/220 yds of 100% Peruvian Highland Wool and should be cared for as such (hand wash, lay flat to dry).  For regular, non-felted knits, a size 7 or 8 needle is recommended.  I recommend a size 10.5 or 11 for felting purposes because if the yarn is knitted too closely it won’t be able to agitate enough to felt.  At around $5.00 per skein, Cascade 220 is the perfect wool to stash up for those wool projects you’ve been meaning to get to.  If you’ve been curious about felting do give Cascade 220 a try.

For more information or to locate a retailer near you that stocks Cascade 220, please visit Cascade Yarns .  Coming soon: a free pattern using Cascade 220!  Check back at the Qwowi Stitches Blog in the upcoming week for the free pattern to make the bag shown above.

Recycled Cotton yarn is made from the leftover scraps that would normally be thrown out when a t-shirt is cut from cotton jersey.  The scraps are sorted by color before being made into yarn to reduce the amount of dye needed, and then they are blended with acrylic for added durability.  The final product is a soft, medium worsted weight, cotton blend (74% recycled cotton, 24% acrylic, 2% other fiber) that is perfect for baby knits, washcloths, or other lightweight fabrics.  Made by keeping the ideas of reducing waste and conserving resources in mind, Recycled Cotton yarn keeps perfectly usable material from being dumped into a landfill or incinerated, and instead uses it to create a usable product that is both functional and attractive.  This is a thoughtful product that just makes good sense.

And the colors!  Soft tweeds and heathers in a seven color palette include: sunshine (pictured), sand, seagrass, rose coral, pebble beach, seashell, and marine.  With names that invoke the idea of summer on the shore, I find myself immediately brainstorming for warm weather knit ideas, despite the 40 degree temperatures outside.  I can imagine a soft summer sweater for my daughter made from sunshine (pictured), and a floppy beach hat made from seagrass (a soft green blend) would be perfect for my son.    At around $4.00 per skein, this is a yarn that I can afford to buy a lot of, so even a lap quilt for those cooler summer evenings would not be out of the question.

For color swatches and free pattern ideas, be sure to visit the Lion Brand Yarns website.  Recycled Cotton Yarn can be purchased through the LionBrand Yarns website or at your local JoAnne Fabric and Crafts Store.

Another great idea from Lion Brand Yarns is the LB Collection, a line of luxury fibers at affordable prices.  Today we’re featuring the Cotton Bamboo yarn (52% cotton, 48% bamboo), which is a steal at just $5.00 per skein.  A light worsted weight, this yarn is the perfect choice for knits of all seasons.

Why buy a bamboo yarn?  Bamboo yarns are known for their silky softness and for their drape, or the way they hang from the body in an aesthetically pleasing and flattering way when knitted into a garment.   Bamboo is also an easily renewable resource, a grass that reaches harvest-able maturity within 3-5 years, making it a great choice for all manner of products from interior decor to flooring, and of course, yarn.

LB Collection’s Bamboo Cotton blend boasts great softness that feels wonderful against the skin.  Like most natural fibers, this yarn will get softer with age and use, so the garments you create will be loved well into the future.  Bamboo Cotton comes in eight flower-inspired colors: magnolia, cherry blossom, hyacinth, chocolate dahlia, persimmon, hibiscus, gardenia, and snapdragon.  The colors range from bright to dusty solids and will truly span the seasons for all types of garments.  I cannot wait to get my skein of cherry blossom on my needles!

For color swatches and free pattern ideas, be sure to visit the Lion Brand Yarns website.  Recycled Cotton Yarn can be purchased through the LionBrand Yarns website.