Navajo Plying, Knitting Lefty, and a Knitting Book Review

fiber with singles

I finally finished my first full (although small) skein of Navajo plied wool. I really love how this yarn looks. It is soft and smooth and pretty consistent! When I do two-ply yarns, I have a hard time coming out with a yarn that is the same gauge throughout unless I overtwist them. The Navajo method, with more plies, balances the thick and thin of the different plies better.

I dyed this merino when I was first learning how to dye. If I had it to do over, I would have made the colors more saturated, but it’s still really pretty. I just don’t know anyone who would wear this color! I’ll probably end up using it to make baby hats for afghans for afghans.

the final results

Another thing I’ve been working on lately is learning how to knit continental style. I’ve gotten to the point where I can knit relatively well, though it is a long way from feeling natural.

The big hangup I’ve had is purling. If you’ve ever watched people knit continental, you know that it requires moving the yarn from the back to the front just as in English knitting. I tried and tried and tried to purl continental and all I got was a horrendous cramp in my hand. I decided to reserve my continental knitting for giving my right hand a break during stockinette-in-the round.

That was, until a few days ago when I was perusing Ravelry and found out that there’s another way to do it that doesn’t require moving the yarn to the front! it’s called Norweigan purling, and it’s the answer to my continental knitting prayers. I found an excellent video tutorial at KnittingHelp.com and gave it a try. I was amazed at how little time it took for me to learn this method, and now I’m continental knitting and purling without any cramps. Continental still isn’t my preferred method, but it’s good to know.

Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski

I have a new favorite book: Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski is a fantastic resource for anyone who knits with handpainted yarns. Before you get to the patterns (which are all beautiful, by the way) there is an entire section about the different types of handpainted and hand dyed sock yarns, how they’re made, and how to use them to their greatest potential.

As an indie dyer, I am always trying to provide as much information as possible to my cutomers about how my yarns are dyed and what can be expected when they are knit up. I would confidently recommend this book to them.

Speaking of knitting socks with handpainted yarn, I’m making slow but steady progress on my 9-5 socks. I’ll work on getting shoem progress photos as soon as my new sock blockers arrive!