KNITmuch Issue 12

Machine washable in warm water, and tumble
dry makes Cotton Supreme Waves an easy-care
summer garment solution. My own personal
preference is to wash my cotton knits in cold water,
tumble dry until damp, and then lay flat to finish
drying. This way, the colors stay bright and cheerful
and depending on the item, I can shape if needed.
Each 3.5oz [100g] cake contains 230yds [210m]. I
was expecting the color gradients to be consistent
in the balls of yarn, meaning each cake would
start and end with the same colors. But not so as
the color runs are very long for each color. What
this means to me is that I want to make sure my
selected projects flow from one to the next when
attaching the next cake.
It’s rated as a Light (DK) weight yarn with a
recommended gauge of 21 sts x 28 rows using
a US 6 [4mm] needle. Quite often, sweaters
designed for cotton tend to have a tight gauge,
which helps maintain the garment’s shape over
time. I find knitting with cotton at a tight gauge
to be uncomfortable on my hands, so in the
next article, I’m showing swatches I knitted to
determine the needle size that’s most comfortable
for me to achieve the pattern gauge.
I know that some people shy away from selfstriping
yarns because they don’t really know
what to do with them. Sometimes, the results
are not desirable depending upon the project.
For example, knitting a sweater flat and seaming
together can result in mismatched stripes. If this is
the look you’re after, great. If not, then you may be
disappointed with the finished project. It’s all about
choosing the right project for the yarn which is
what this feature is all about.
Each cake is unique due to the long color runs.
For my projects, I’ve selected a top-down Tee, an
oversized shawl, and a baby blanket using my
selected colors of Heliotrope (pinks and purples),
Lagoon (turquoises), and Equator (blues and
greens).
Photos by Cindy O'Malley
KNITmuch | issue 12
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