I just discovered Arcane’s TH-cam channel, and have been fascinated watching how he dyes. So having you tackle how to best showcase variegated yarns is a wonderful bonus. I really appreciate all the work you go to to help the fiber community learn new information and skills!
What an interesting discussion! I loved the hat! What a wonderful result! Loved your wise remark about not closing our minds to things we dislike now…as we grow & learn we may come back to things.
What a fun bunch of yarn. Don’t forget you can always mix the variegated yarns with solids for shawls, hat and the like. I don’t need matchy matchy perfection, random color can be just as enjoyable. Have fun with your journey.
When I use a sweater’s quantity of the hand dyed yarns, such as Madelinetosh, I don’t just “alternate” two skeins, such as casting on with Skein A and alternating it with Skein B until both skeins are used…then knitting and alternating Skeins C and D. You’re still going to get an obvious boundary line between the two “countries “, America being skeins A & B, Canada being skeins C & D. A better way to handle 6-8 skeins is to BLEND skeins. Eg: using A until she’s 30% (30 gr) used, then alternating her with B, until A is 60% used and B is 30% used, then alternating B & C until B is 60% used, and C is 30% used. After that, continue to alternate in similar fashion. For example, you may want to start alternating A with C until A is all gone, and C is 60% used. Anyway, it’s called “blending”, more elaborate than merely “alternating”. There are TH-cam videos on blending several skeins of hand dyed yarns.
I do something similar, but I’ve discovered I’m usually happier when blending by using helix knitting if knitting in the round. This way I don’t end up with a tension issue where I switch yarns.
I love Arcane yarns and have ordered from them ( I am close) I like to make hats and cowls ( which I like to donate). I like socks to and make them for friends and myself. I am knitting a hat from the Interweave magazine. It’s the gift issue. The stitch used is called the Bamboo Stitch. Your Whip it hat is great! The color and pattern. This was an interesting podcast to. Thanks
Oh, Tyler at Arcane! He's my favorite yarn dyer. You got all the new colors. Nice!!! I guess I'm more random than planned pooling. The design that develops as I knit with indie dyed yarn keeps my knitting fun.
I’m glad you discovered Wool Needles Hands. It’s one of the it knitting podcasts on my regular rotation. (Yours is, too, of course!) Thanks for another informative and fun episode!
Great video! I’m looking forward to see the techniques you revisit with these gorgeous yarns. It’s neat that your husband is appreciative and active in selecting hat patterns and yarn colors.
Loved this wonderful video. Full of surprises and wonderful ideas. Love to see your thoughts about looking back to 2005 what was available for us knitters at those years and what's available for us today. Can't wait to see what you'll do with the rest of the surprise yarn you received from Arcane.
Thank you for this review of knitting with variegated yarns. I, too, have experienced some pooling problems, and have steered away from using variegated yarn for sweaters for me. At this age, I don’t want to draw anymore attention to myself by wearing sweaters knit in wild variegated yarns! I will use subtle tonal yarns and have had success with those yarns for sweaters. Socks, however, bring on the fun yarn! Usually no one but me sees the yarn on the socks, so I love to have fun with the sock yarns for my socks. thanks for the resources on knitting with variegated yarns. I agree with your husband; they colorways Arcane sent to you were stunning; yet, as you point out, you have work with the variegation in the yarn for the project result you want.
22:00 Oh my goodness, Roxanne, you must be the reason that Nerdy Knitting suddenly showed up in my feed! I'd never seen her before, watched one episode and immediately subscribed. On the subject of variegated yarn, I've become extremely wary about buying any of it because it looks so pretty in the skein and almost always completely atrocious as a knitted fabric (and I can feel completely free to say this because I don't have a TH-cam channel so don't care if people get mad at me!). I would be very interested to see people with your skill level and experience experimenting with different ways to incorporate these yarns into projects in a non-atrocious way. This is a void waiting to be filled! 🤗🙂
I'm such a fan of Arcane Fibre Arts yarn it was a joy to watch you unbox your gift! Tyler's videos are fun to watch! I like your suggestions for how to approach variegated yarn! Great topic!
You contribute much to the knitting community. Glad to see that someone recognized your efforts. I enjoy your thought processes on how to use this variegated yarn and will be very interested to see what you come up with and the research you will have done. Good luck from an east coast Canadian.
I'm definitely a yarn collector, so I have tons of hand dyed variegated sock yarn. They're too pretty to leave behind! Right now I'm actually making a granny square hand dyed yarn sweater thing lol! It's possible for granny squares to look good with almost any type of yarn imo! Variegated yarn is definitely a non-traditional look, but I love it.
I am a self taught knitter and have learned so much from your channel. Thank you so much for all the content. I want to knit a sweater badly!! I wish you would do a beginners tutorial for those of us that want to be brave, but need a little hand holding. 😊 Can't wait to see your further projects with these yarns. 💞
Thinking about how different results are appealing to different people, I really enjoy looking through the "Examples of Pooling good or bad" thread in the yarn forum on Ravelry. It's fascinating seeing lots of examples of how yarn can work up, but even moreso it's fascinating seeing people's reactions to it. It feels like nine times out of ten, my favorite stuff is the "accidental" pooling where the colors are just doing crazy stuff. It's like most of the fun of a multicolored yarn for me. But then you can see how other people may hate it, because they wanted something more blended or because that wild splotch of color is drawing attention to part of your body you maybe don't want to draw attention to.
What fabulous yarn. Several of those look like they would make beautiful fade patterns. I’m not a shawl person, but there’s a free pattern called the Pincha Shawl (it’s on Ravelry) that is really great for a single skein of variegated yarn. I’ve made at least 10 of these because when I wear mine, there’s always someone who begs me to make them one like it. It’s always a big hit as a gift.
Wow! What wonderful surprise for you! The colorways are so beautiful. I enjoyed this video as I have obtained a lot of variegated yarns over the past few years and have difficulty planning projects for their usage. I will definitely be revisiting this video and the additional videos you have provided links to. Thank you for discussing this topic. So informative and inspiring!
“…never a last page in the book of knitting…” I heard this as a beginner beginner knitter. It set the hook for me. I now search for who it was that said it or where I heard it. Your channel and your studies of subject are sure and certain proof of that. Great teacher! Thanks.
Oh! I have drooled over Arcane Fiber Arts for a while now. His videos would pop up on my you tube feed, and each one is like a little artistic gift to watch. Simply magical. I bet you could auction off skeins you wouldn’t work with and send the money to a charity- or something like a raffle. They really are awesome works of art. I also appreciated your look into variegated yarns. They really are beautiful but they do require a different way of designing patterns. This process is just as much a puzzle as knitting and, Can be considered a creative challenge. I once was gifted a skein of variegated sock yarn that when knit up into socks, I found it to be highly repulsive, but reworked as an Eileen market bag, it is still being used and loved 10 years later!
I can’t wait to see what you do with that box of yarn. I like buying beautiful variegated yarns but then usually am VERY disappointed in the final project.
Wow! What a lucky ducky you are to receive such a wonderful generous box of such gorgeous yarn!! I have been following Arcane's yarns on Instagram and I'm in love with the colors of his yarns. I plan to treat myself to a few skeins for Christmas. The hat you knit is so unique and handsome. That's cool how you have your husband pick out his own pattern. He did a great job. You said this was an enjoyable knit and you mentioned that you had several skeins picked out for projects for yourself. QUESTION: I am wondering how you felt about the quality of the yarn and how it handled when you were knitting it? It looks very soft and not splitty. It does look like it would indeed be an enjoyable experience to knit with it. It is so nice that he sent you a variety of weights of yarn and in particular some sock yarn and Superwash yarn which can be used for gifting. I am sure you will have fun deciding on how to use each skein. I am very excited about this new direction you are going with describing and using variegated yarns. I am very partial to them myself and in particular hand dyed yarns over box store brands. So looking forward to more episodes on variegated yarns and especially to seeing what you make with each skein. I really hope we get to see a project for each color way. They are all so lovely. Thx so much Roxanne for your videos. I just can't begin to tell you how much I have learned and advanced in my knitting because of everything you share. :)
Hello Roxanne, its always really informational and also inspiring watching your casual friday episodes. Only once I had bought a multicoloured yarn from the brand Wollmeise (a German Handdyer who does really awesome colourways) with which I had a hard time to knit something I'd liked. Now reflekting about the problem I came to the conclusion it was because there were a lot of colours involved that I dont wear or like in particular. I dont mind wearing socks who are not exactly twins because that is the fun knitting with handdyed yarns. To make them more twinny I use the method of doing hem, heel and toe in a contrast colourway and that works for me really good. Im also a hand spinner and my latest spinning project was creating a variegated handspun yarn such as Zauberball or Noro. Now Im knitting a sweater out of that yarn holding a mohair-silk-blend together for two reasons. The first reason to smooth the colourway changes and the more important one to provide more durability to my knit. You are absolutly right saying it all depends on your taste and how you want your knitwear to be finished. And we as crafters have nowadays way more possibilities to select yarns in colours and variations to create our own fashion and thats fantastic. Greetings from Germany Bille
Thanks! I have encountered many of those issues and mostly avoid variegated yarns -- one of the joys in knitting is to play with colours myself. However, occasionally I want a quick sock for mindless knitting during long meetings, and then I do variegated in stripes with some solid colour. Then the stripes tie socks together and clearly indicates it's a pair. Another of my solutions to make garment more similar to beauty in skein is to include purl sectors, As always, thanks for a video. It stands out in a flood of beginner level and shallow videos. I'm a fan, and often I start with the assumption "What can be there to know more about X, and there is always more to know and if - very rarely - not, then some interesting related tidbit.
Those surprise box yarn colors were so gorgeous. A lot of people seem to be doing the whole match their dye work to a photo these days. I type while I watch and was thinking...what will you do with it, most of what you do is solids then you said that LOL. Interesting hat. There are some pretty cool color work designs that use 2 colors and one is a solid high contrast and one is a variegated. Have fun with those :)
That was so much fun! I popped over to Tayler at Wool, needles, hands and watched that. I discovered her channel a short time ago. Next I'll have to check Arcane's channel. Maybe I should do the dishes first... Thanks Roxanne!
Oh how cool, I was so wrapped up watching this I almost forgot to push the like button. You sure got a 'Pandora's Box!, that was so nice of this man to send this to you. I can tell you are enjoying this!
I really appreciate this video because of your honest critique of the pitfalls of this type of yarn. It's hard to find commentary on it that isn't biased in the direction of constant praise for it. I started knitting in 2019 and quickly got seduced by variegated yarn. And just as quickly learned about wavy gravy and promptly fell out of love with it. I mostly knit with solid and tonals now, but I still have about 30-something skeins of variegated that I'd like to use up, but I don't fancy going around looking like one of the old tv screens that have slipped their horizontal hold. Pretty in the skein doesn't translate to pretty knitted up. Since I am primarily a sweater knitter, I particularly don't care for the wider striping that happens on the body versus the skinny stripes that develops on the sleeves. I have used Tayler's suggestion at Wool Needles Hands of holding mohair with it to soften down the loudness of a variegated yarn. I plan to use what I have of the stuff, but will not be purchasing any more.
I’ve never seen linen stitch rib before and couldn’t find a demo video on TH-cam. If you do a series of stitch pattern videos please include this one. Cheers 😊
Your Jaywalkers around 36:25 remind me of a pair of socks I had knit some time back that pooled in a very distinct way - one sock had a "harlequin" effect where the bulk of one of the colorways was on the front side and a different colorway was on the back side, then the second sock had a much more chevron effect. They are Frankenstein fraternal twins that have clearly the same colors but in different ratios. I am a perfectionist and this bugged me, but they were intended as a gift and I decided to give them anyway (the knitting itself was quite nice). I was gratified at how much my recipient loved and still loves them but it is proof positive that I am not a machine and that certain dyeing techniques really can augment the differential outcome of even a tiny change in gauge. I decided to consider it an interesting experiment and I am glad to have had the chance to see what pooling can do, even if wholly unintentional.
I went all in one toe-up socks 19+ years ago. Now that I am retired, I really found that my “sock” yarn stash was huge. 22 socks later in 2023, I am still exploring new methods for toe-up. Thanks for this series on variegated!
One technique I use to break up potential flashing and pooling with any hand dyed yarn is to knit in the round using helical knitting. There is no visible join, as where you switch yarns moves on every round. The only downside is tackling areas of texture or lace where you'll have to do some jiggery pokery to keep in pattern.
I have learned a lot about using multi-colored yarns from several teachers of online classes in the last couple years. The most thorough was probably Caroline Sommerfeld of Ancient Arts Yarn in Canada. Her IG profile says, “We are a woman owned artisan hand dye company specializing in custom high quality, eco-friendly, and breed specific hand dyed yarns.” Their associated TH-cam channel is Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts, but I don’t see there a specific video to recommend to you. Dawn Barker is a sort of “queen” of assigned pooling, and is featured in Knit Stars season 8. “Yarn Snob” Keith Leonard also dyes and teaches about planned and assigned pooling.
I have lots of variegated skeins! This was very useful for me. I have watched Arcane Fibre Works for some time, but this really allowed me to see his beautiful work! Please tell us the name of the sweater you are wearing here. I LOVE the collar!
I love looking at variegated yarn IN THE SKEIN, but have gravitated toward solid colors. That said, I have a lot of variegated in my stash (note to self: taste changes, so do not build up a big stash! Oops too late) and would like to use them in marled projects or planned pooling if they qualify for that. This is a really valuable discussion, thanks! I will look forward to seeing what you come up with. Tayler is spectacular.
Gosh that was really interesting and exciting. The Arcane Yarn man was very generous with the yarn he sent and I love the hat you knit. I am about to complete another Sweater and would like to start some toe up socks for my Sister in Law for Christmas. I have been a little off colour lately and I have to push to knit, it might come right. Thank you for your visit today. Take care.
Yes, very nice sweater (not from the decades project). Hope hubby loves his hat. Quite beautiful and a perfect choice of variegated. You do rise to the occasion! Another knitter might say, "Thanks, but that's not what i knit with..." Can't wait to see the yarns you like materialize into projects.
Hi! I love all your videos and this one especially because your knitting "journey" and lifetime is so, so similar to mine! Take a look at the sweater pattern called Viimein by Veera Jussila. It was designed with variegated yarn in mind. As you mentioned, it does not have any cables and it knit in stockinette pairing it with a solid yarn. I have this in my queue to knit with a variegated yarn that I just could not resist. But then after I bought it, I had no idea what to make with it and I'm just not a shawl person! Thanks for all your great videos!
I was so drawn into the mystery of the unknown parcel delivery! What a lot of yarn. I love how you take a subject and dive right into it. I used to buy lots of single skeins of hand dyed because they are works of art in themselves, but as you said, that doesn’t always translate into a good looking knitted fabric. I reserve variegated and self striping for socks these days, and I particularly enjoy Opal yarns and Crazy Zauberball. They are fun to knit and hard wearing too. I much prefer more rustic non-super wash for garments though. I still have some hand dyed skeins in my stash which I plan to micro stripe (helical) with a plain colour for socks. Not my idea, I saw this on The Republic of Me podcast. It looked very effective. Also, I can recommend the Kinfolk Hat by Ambah O’Brien. I knitted a few of them years ago. It a good pattern for variegated yarn and I’m sure it was a lot simpler to knit than the one you have just completed, although yours does look very nice. However, I like hats to be simple and quick. I look forward to seeing what you make with your box of yarn. 😅
Oh my goodness!! I love Arcane colors. Haven't been able to buy any but always on dream list. Congratulations!! I look forward to seeing what you make with it. Even this discussion is helpful (I've watched the other videos you mentioned so I guess I'm on a good learning path). Thanks so much
Wow! I have been getting Arcane videos in my TH-cam and they do beautiful dying. I always knit toe up socks because I have big feet 😏 and like a longer cuff. So when I get a skein of sock yarn I can split it and knit the cuff until the one ball runs out.
Lucky you! Have fun! Thank you for the tips and references when knitting with Indy died yarns. I have a few of what I call "souvenir " yarns, but I really don't buy them. I, too, may have an awakening and try them again. Thanks for sharing.
I know what you mean about disappointing variegated colorways! You mentioned planned pooling, and unplanned pooling. My biggest disappointment EVER is what I call “unplanned mud”. A gorgeous “hank” of yarn with glorious reds, yellows, greens, blues, etc etc…and it knits up as MUD. Not one of the individual colors that existed in the ‘hank’ were present when knitted into a st st project. The whole thing was mud. It forever turned me off to ‘impulse purchases at a LYS’. Now, I go to Ravelry to find THE YARN, and THE COLORWAY, and then inspect every project that used that colorway.
Great episode! I steer away from variegated yarn because of the uncertainty. I wish the yarn stores would knit a swatch next to the skeins - of course my knitting would be different, but at least I would have some idea of how it knits up. Anyway, I appreciate you tackling this subject! Also curious about how the size of the darning needle can make a difference when seaming. Thanks a lot!
34:24 Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😊 Would you also be able to share the details of this yarn AND the pattern? I cannot tell you how these socks just draw me in…😍
I added a link to my Ravelry project page for those socks to the Show Notes. The project page includes links to the pattern page and yarn page, as well as my notes on the challenges of making the socks match.
I strongly associate verigated yarn with the type ly mol stashed when i was a kid in the 2000s and made projects i didn't like (was really not into the rustic vibe knitting tended to go to at that time) or that ended up staying at the bottom of the box for decade like some type of metaphorical licorice that stays when you're done with the rest of the box of candies. I guess working with some coloured yarns would help expand my work and artistic steak into more purposeful and varied choice of yarn
My “Go-To” technique for variegated yarn is to combine it with a coordinating solid and use a 2 color slip stitch pattern. You’re never quite sure what you may get, but it gives a nicely balanced effect. Typically, I’ll do this for things without shaping, like scarves. When I find a variegated that I think will work as a vest, I’ll steek the V-neck so I don’t get pooling on one side of the neckline which never matches the other side of the neckline when dividing and attaching a new skein.
I actually work for my country's postal service, I was on the verge of screaming into the screen IT'S THE LAST TWO LETTERS THAT MEAN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hmph How do 'I' get strangers to send ME 500$ worth of yarn ? .... ice cream, hand-thrown pottery, gift cards for the cafés and bakery I go to, oh - and needles, and white cotton shirt sleeve T-shirts (white), annnnd, let's see..... oh, I need new lilies, and some pillisissisars, and [Edit] and, I'm in Ontario! Less shipping charges for My fellow Canadian admirers!!!
I just discovered Arcane’s TH-cam channel, and have been fascinated watching how he dyes. So having you tackle how to best showcase variegated yarns is a wonderful bonus. I really appreciate all the work you go to to help the fiber community learn new information and skills!
I've been loving his dying videos.
What a nice surprise to see one of my mug rugs in your "Show and Tell"! Glad you find it useful. 😀
I love Arcane yarn! The colors they dye are gorgeous. You are so lucky, I wish someone would send me a box of their yarn.😄
What a lovely gift! How very nice of him. Thanks Roxanne for your thoughts on variegated yarn. Very interesting and informative.😊
Excellent explanation of variegated yarns. What a generous gift from Archane knitting fibres. 🇬🇧
I cannot express how much I love your videos. This is another fabulous, inspirational video. Thank you for making us all more adventurous knitters!
What an interesting discussion! I loved the hat! What a wonderful result! Loved your wise remark about not closing our minds to things we dislike now…as we grow & learn we may come back to things.
What a fun bunch of yarn. Don’t forget you can always mix the variegated yarns with solids for shawls, hat and the like. I don’t need matchy matchy perfection, random color can be just as enjoyable. Have fun with your journey.
Lovely yarn! I hope you continue to share how You are using it. Variegated yarn is so pretty and can be such a challenge to knit with.
When I use a sweater’s quantity of the hand dyed yarns, such as Madelinetosh, I don’t just “alternate” two skeins, such as casting on with Skein A and alternating it with Skein B until both skeins are used…then knitting and alternating Skeins C and D. You’re still going to get an obvious boundary line between the two “countries “, America being skeins A & B, Canada being skeins C & D. A better way to handle 6-8 skeins is to BLEND skeins. Eg: using A until she’s 30% (30 gr) used, then alternating her with B, until A is 60% used and B is 30% used, then alternating B & C until B is 60% used, and C is 30% used. After that, continue to alternate in similar fashion. For example, you may want to start alternating A with C until A is all gone, and C is 60% used. Anyway, it’s called “blending”, more elaborate than merely “alternating”. There are TH-cam videos on blending several skeins of hand dyed yarns.
I do something similar, but I’ve discovered I’m usually happier when blending by using helix knitting if knitting in the round. This way I don’t end up with a tension issue where I switch yarns.
I love Arcane yarn. He dyes yarn to match the colors in photos and is amazingly good at it.
I love Arcane yarns and have ordered from them ( I am close) I like to make hats and cowls ( which I like to donate). I like socks to and make them for friends and myself. I am knitting a hat from the Interweave magazine. It’s the gift issue. The stitch used is called the Bamboo Stitch. Your Whip it hat is great! The color and pattern. This was an interesting podcast to. Thanks
Oh, Tyler at Arcane! He's my favorite yarn dyer. You got all the new colors. Nice!!! I guess I'm more random than planned pooling. The design that develops as I knit with indie dyed yarn keeps my knitting fun.
I’m glad you discovered Wool Needles Hands. It’s one of the it knitting podcasts on my regular rotation. (Yours is, too, of course!) Thanks for another informative and fun episode!
I got goosebumps when you did your big reveal. Such gorgeous yarns!
Great video! I’m looking forward to see the techniques you revisit with these gorgeous yarns.
It’s neat that your husband is appreciative and active in selecting hat patterns and yarn colors.
Loved this wonderful video. Full of surprises and wonderful ideas. Love to see your thoughts about looking back to 2005 what was available for us knitters at those years and what's available for us today. Can't wait to see what you'll do with the rest of the surprise yarn you received from Arcane.
Thank you for this Roxy, I love the dappled nature of some variegated yarns but you have given me some ways to cope with those I struggle with!
Thank you for this review of knitting with variegated yarns. I, too, have experienced some pooling problems, and have steered away from using variegated yarn for sweaters for me. At this age, I don’t want to draw anymore attention to myself by wearing sweaters knit in wild variegated yarns! I will use subtle tonal yarns and have had success with those yarns for sweaters. Socks, however, bring on the fun yarn! Usually no one but me sees the yarn on the socks, so I love to have fun with the sock yarns for my socks. thanks for the resources on knitting with variegated yarns. I agree with your husband; they colorways Arcane sent to you were stunning; yet, as you point out, you have work with the variegation in the yarn for the project result you want.
22:00 Oh my goodness, Roxanne, you must be the reason that Nerdy Knitting suddenly showed up in my feed! I'd never seen her before, watched one episode and immediately subscribed. On the subject of variegated yarn, I've become extremely wary about buying any of it because it looks so pretty in the skein and almost always completely atrocious as a knitted fabric (and I can feel completely free to say this because I don't have a TH-cam channel so don't care if people get mad at me!). I would be very interested to see people with your skill level and experience experimenting with different ways to incorporate these yarns into projects in a non-atrocious way. This is a void waiting to be filled! 🤗🙂
I'm such a fan of Arcane Fibre Arts yarn it was a joy to watch you unbox your gift! Tyler's videos are fun to watch! I like your suggestions for how to approach variegated yarn! Great topic!
One of the nice things about the Arcane website…he shows a swatch of the colorway along with the 3-5 photos of the hanks. Very thoughtful!
I wish they all would do swatches!
Thank you Roxanne , I loved this episode , it was so interesting.
You contribute much to the knitting community. Glad to see that someone recognized your efforts. I enjoy your thought processes on how to use this variegated yarn and will be very interested to see what you come up with and the research you will have done. Good luck from an east coast Canadian.
I'm definitely a yarn collector, so I have tons of hand dyed variegated sock yarn. They're too pretty to leave behind! Right now I'm actually making a granny square hand dyed yarn sweater thing lol! It's possible for granny squares to look good with almost any type of yarn imo! Variegated yarn is definitely a non-traditional look, but I love it.
I am a self taught knitter and have learned so much from your channel. Thank you so much for all the content. I want to knit a sweater badly!! I wish you would do a beginners tutorial for those of us that want to be brave, but need a little hand holding. 😊
Can't wait to see your further projects with these yarns. 💞
Thinking about how different results are appealing to different people, I really enjoy looking through the "Examples of Pooling good or bad" thread in the yarn forum on Ravelry. It's fascinating seeing lots of examples of how yarn can work up, but even moreso it's fascinating seeing people's reactions to it. It feels like nine times out of ten, my favorite stuff is the "accidental" pooling where the colors are just doing crazy stuff. It's like most of the fun of a multicolored yarn for me. But then you can see how other people may hate it, because they wanted something more blended or because that wild splotch of color is drawing attention to part of your body you maybe don't want to draw attention to.
What fabulous yarn. Several of those look like they would make beautiful fade patterns. I’m not a shawl person, but there’s a free pattern called the Pincha Shawl (it’s on Ravelry) that is really great for a single skein of variegated yarn. I’ve made at least 10 of these because when I wear mine, there’s always someone who begs me to make them one like it. It’s always a big hit as a gift.
Wow! What wonderful surprise for you! The colorways are so beautiful. I enjoyed this video as I have obtained a lot of variegated yarns over the past few years and have difficulty planning projects for their usage. I will definitely be revisiting this video and the additional videos you have provided links to. Thank you for discussing this topic. So informative and inspiring!
“…never a last page in the book of knitting…” I heard this as a beginner beginner knitter. It set the hook for me. I now search for who it was that said it or where I heard it. Your channel and your studies of subject are sure and certain proof of that. Great teacher! Thanks.
Oh! I have drooled over Arcane Fiber Arts for a while now. His videos would pop up on my you tube feed, and each one is like a little artistic gift to watch. Simply magical. I bet you could auction off skeins you wouldn’t work with and send the money to a charity- or something like a raffle. They really are awesome works of art.
I also appreciated your look into variegated yarns. They really are beautiful but they do require a different way of designing patterns. This process is just as much a puzzle as knitting and, Can be considered a creative challenge. I once was gifted a skein of variegated sock yarn that when knit up into socks, I found it to be highly repulsive, but reworked as an Eileen market bag, it is still being used and loved 10 years later!
I can’t wait to see what you do with these !! What beautiful yarn !! Thank you for showing it to us in such depth!! Great video !!!
Thanks for the video. I learned a lot. And now, I’m binge watching Arcane Fibers!
I can’t wait to see what you do with that box of yarn. I like buying beautiful variegated yarns but then usually am VERY disappointed in the final project.
I love Arcane Fiber Works! They have beautiful yarn. Lucky gift!
Wow! What a lucky ducky you are to receive such a wonderful generous box of such gorgeous yarn!! I have been following Arcane's yarns on Instagram and I'm in love with the colors of his yarns. I plan to treat myself to a few skeins for Christmas. The hat you knit is so unique and handsome. That's cool how you have your husband pick out his own pattern. He did a great job. You said this was an enjoyable knit and you mentioned that you had several skeins picked out for projects for yourself. QUESTION: I am wondering how you felt about the quality of the yarn and how it handled when you were knitting it? It looks very soft and not splitty. It does look like it would indeed be an enjoyable experience to knit with it. It is so nice that he sent you a variety of weights of yarn and in particular some sock yarn and Superwash yarn which can be used for gifting. I am sure you will have fun deciding on how to use each skein. I am very excited about this new direction you are going with describing and using variegated yarns. I am very partial to them myself and in particular hand dyed yarns over box store brands. So looking forward to more episodes on variegated yarns and especially to seeing what you make with each skein. I really hope we get to see a project for each color way. They are all so lovely. Thx so much Roxanne for your videos. I just can't begin to tell you how much I have learned and advanced in my knitting because of everything you share. :)
Look at you, throwing yourself into a whole new thing. So fun and interesting, Roxanne. 😊
Hello Roxanne, its always really informational and also inspiring watching your casual friday episodes. Only once I had bought a multicoloured yarn from the brand Wollmeise (a German Handdyer who does really awesome colourways) with which I had a hard time to knit something I'd liked. Now reflekting about the problem I came to the conclusion it was because there were a lot of colours involved that I dont wear or like in particular. I dont mind wearing socks who are not exactly twins because that is the fun knitting with handdyed yarns. To make them more twinny I use the method of doing hem, heel and toe in a contrast colourway and that works for me really good. Im also a hand spinner and my latest spinning project was creating a variegated handspun yarn such as Zauberball or Noro. Now Im knitting a sweater out of that yarn holding a mohair-silk-blend together for two reasons. The first reason to smooth the colourway changes and the more important one to provide more durability to my knit. You are absolutly right saying it all depends on your taste and how you want your knitwear to be finished. And we as crafters have nowadays way more possibilities to select yarns in colours and variations to create our own fashion and thats fantastic. Greetings from Germany Bille
Thanks! I have encountered many of those issues and mostly avoid variegated yarns -- one of the joys in knitting is to play with colours myself. However, occasionally I want a quick sock for mindless knitting during long meetings, and then I do variegated in stripes with some solid colour. Then the stripes tie socks together and clearly indicates it's a pair. Another of my solutions to make garment more similar to beauty in skein is to include purl sectors,
As always, thanks for a video. It stands out in a flood of beginner level and shallow videos. I'm a fan, and often I start with the assumption "What can be there to know more about X, and there is always more to know and if - very rarely - not, then some interesting related tidbit.
Those surprise box yarn colors were so gorgeous. A lot of people seem to be doing the whole match their dye work to a photo these days. I type while I watch and was thinking...what will you do with it, most of what you do is solids then you said that LOL. Interesting hat. There are some pretty cool color work designs that use 2 colors and one is a solid high contrast and one is a variegated. Have fun with those :)
That was so much fun! I popped over to Tayler at Wool, needles, hands and watched that. I discovered her channel a short time ago. Next I'll have to check Arcane's channel. Maybe I should do the dishes first... Thanks Roxanne!
Oh how cool, I was so wrapped up watching this I almost forgot to push the like button. You sure got a 'Pandora's Box!, that was so nice of this man to send this to you. I can tell you are enjoying this!
I love watching Arcane’s dying videos. They make such beautiful color ways.
Arcane Dyeworks is a local to me indie dyer. He is really a lovely dyer.
I really appreciate this video because of your honest critique of the pitfalls of this type of yarn. It's hard to find commentary on it that isn't biased in the direction of constant praise for it. I started knitting in 2019 and quickly got seduced by variegated yarn. And just as quickly learned about wavy gravy and promptly fell out of love with it. I mostly knit with solid and tonals now, but I still have about 30-something skeins of variegated that I'd like to use up, but I don't fancy going around looking like one of the old tv screens that have slipped their horizontal hold. Pretty in the skein doesn't translate to pretty knitted up. Since I am primarily a sweater knitter, I particularly don't care for the wider striping that happens on the body versus the skinny stripes that develops on the sleeves. I have used Tayler's suggestion at Wool Needles Hands of holding mohair with it to soften down the loudness of a variegated yarn. I plan to use what I have of the stuff, but will not be purchasing any more.
I’ve never seen linen stitch rib before and couldn’t find a demo video on TH-cam. If you do a series of stitch pattern videos please include this one. Cheers 😊
I had never seen it before, either, and couldn't find any other information on it. It's possible that the hat designer thought it up themselves.
Your Jaywalkers around 36:25 remind me of a pair of socks I had knit some time back that pooled in a very distinct way - one sock had a "harlequin" effect where the bulk of one of the colorways was on the front side and a different colorway was on the back side, then the second sock had a much more chevron effect. They are Frankenstein fraternal twins that have clearly the same colors but in different ratios. I am a perfectionist and this bugged me, but they were intended as a gift and I decided to give them anyway (the knitting itself was quite nice). I was gratified at how much my recipient loved and still loves them but it is proof positive that I am not a machine and that certain dyeing techniques really can augment the differential outcome of even a tiny change in gauge. I decided to consider it an interesting experiment and I am glad to have had the chance to see what pooling can do, even if wholly unintentional.
Thank you so much for this! Your explanation will help me because I used to find this confusing.
Thank you Roxanne! As always, a very informative episode!❤
What a great box! Arcane is making some great colorways. I look forward to seeing what you decide to do with an intriguing collection. Have fun.
Thank you for opening up my mind to knitting with variegated yarn ! ❤❤❤
I went all in one toe-up socks 19+ years ago. Now that I am retired, I really found that my “sock” yarn stash was huge. 22 socks later in 2023, I am still exploring new methods for toe-up. Thanks for this series on variegated!
Super fun video! Thanks a ton!!!
One technique I use to break up potential flashing and pooling with any hand dyed yarn is to knit in the round using helical knitting. There is no visible join, as where you switch yarns moves on every round. The only downside is tackling areas of texture or lace where you'll have to do some jiggery pokery to keep in pattern.
Made me smile when Rox said "I'm not much of a stasher", sitting in front of a whole library full of every knitting book ever produced! 😂
I collect information, not yarn! :-)
Great podcast thank you
I have learned a lot about using multi-colored yarns from several teachers of online classes in the last couple years. The most thorough was probably Caroline Sommerfeld of Ancient Arts Yarn in Canada. Her IG profile says, “We are a woman owned artisan hand dye company specializing in custom high quality, eco-friendly, and breed specific hand dyed yarns.” Their associated TH-cam channel is Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts, but I don’t see there a specific video to recommend to you. Dawn Barker is a sort of “queen” of assigned pooling, and is featured in Knit Stars season 8. “Yarn Snob” Keith Leonard also dyes and teaches about planned and assigned pooling.
That yarn is gorgeous!!! Wow.
Very informative thank you❣
I have lots of variegated skeins! This was very useful for me. I have watched Arcane Fibre Works for some time, but this really allowed me to see his beautiful work!
Please tell us the name of the sweater you are wearing here. I LOVE the collar!
I always include a link to whatever I'm wearing down in the Show Notes. :-)
Oh you can make beautiful socks for everyone in your family! I will be watching for videos about lots of toe up socks to! Maybe I will give them a try
I love looking at variegated yarn IN THE SKEIN, but have gravitated toward solid colors. That said, I have a lot of variegated in my stash (note to self: taste changes, so do not build up a big stash! Oops too late) and would like to use them in marled projects or planned pooling if they qualify for that.
This is a really valuable discussion, thanks! I will look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Tayler is spectacular.
Really interesting examples. That hat turned out so cool.
Oh I love them . I order yarn from them all the time. He makes videos of dying his colorways.
Great episode!
Gosh that was really interesting and exciting. The Arcane Yarn man was very generous with the yarn he sent and I love the hat you knit.
I am about to complete another Sweater and would like to start some toe up socks for my Sister in Law for Christmas. I have been a little off colour lately and I have to push to knit, it might come right.
Thank you for your visit today. Take care.
Yes, very nice sweater (not from the decades project). Hope hubby loves his hat. Quite beautiful and a perfect choice of variegated. You do rise to the occasion! Another knitter might say, "Thanks, but that's not what i knit with..." Can't wait to see the yarns you like materialize into projects.
This was a great video!
Interesting coincidence: I'm in the middle of a cowl that uses the same stitch as the Whip It Hat: Blushing Lace Cowl by Lauren Weinhold. I love it.
Oh I love Arcane’s yarn!!! I have a subscription 😁
Me, too! In fact, isn't it about squishy mail time? ❤
@@knittielynnie Yes, I believe you’re right!!! 😍
Hi! I love all your videos and this one especially because your knitting "journey" and lifetime is so, so similar to mine! Take a look at the sweater pattern called Viimein by Veera Jussila. It was designed with variegated yarn in mind. As you mentioned, it does not have any cables and it knit in stockinette pairing it with a solid yarn. I have this in my queue to knit with a variegated yarn that I just could not resist. But then after I bought it, I had no idea what to make with it and I'm just not a shawl person! Thanks for all your great videos!
Neat variegated yarns!
I was so drawn into the mystery of the unknown parcel delivery! What a lot of yarn. I love how you take a subject and dive right into it. I used to buy lots of single skeins of hand dyed because they are works of art in themselves, but as you said, that doesn’t always translate into a good looking knitted fabric. I reserve variegated and self striping for socks these days, and I particularly enjoy Opal yarns and Crazy Zauberball. They are fun to knit and hard wearing too. I much prefer more rustic non-super wash for garments though. I still have some hand dyed skeins in my stash which I plan to micro stripe (helical) with a plain colour for socks. Not my idea, I saw this on The Republic of Me podcast. It looked very effective. Also, I can recommend the Kinfolk Hat by Ambah O’Brien. I knitted a few of them years ago. It a good pattern for variegated yarn and I’m sure it was a lot simpler to knit than the one you have just completed, although yours does look very nice. However, I like hats to be simple and quick. I look forward to seeing what you make with your box of yarn. 😅
Oh my goodness!! I love Arcane colors. Haven't been able to buy any but always on dream list. Congratulations!! I look forward to seeing what you make with it. Even this discussion is helpful (I've watched the other videos you mentioned so I guess I'm on a good learning path). Thanks so much
Wow! I have been getting Arcane videos in my TH-cam and they do beautiful dying. I always knit toe up socks because I have big feet 😏 and like a longer cuff. So when I get a skein of sock yarn I can split it and knit the cuff until the one ball runs out.
Lucky you! Have fun! Thank you for the tips and references when knitting with Indy died yarns. I have a few of what I call "souvenir " yarns, but I really don't buy them. I, too, may have an awakening and try them again. Thanks for sharing.
Now I’m keen to try some swatches with the mystery multicoloured yarns purchased over the years that have ended up lost in my stash. 😊
What a wonderful challenge!
Tyler of Arcane has lovely yarn! He's local to my province and I have been purchasing yarn from him from almost 4 years.
I know what you mean about disappointing variegated colorways! You mentioned planned pooling, and unplanned pooling. My biggest disappointment EVER is what I call “unplanned mud”. A gorgeous “hank” of yarn with glorious reds, yellows, greens, blues, etc etc…and it knits up as MUD. Not one of the individual colors that existed in the ‘hank’ were present when knitted into a st st project. The whole thing was mud. It forever turned me off to ‘impulse purchases at a LYS’. Now, I go to Ravelry to find THE YARN, and THE COLORWAY, and then inspect every project that used that colorway.
Great episode! I steer away from variegated yarn because of the uncertainty. I wish the yarn stores would knit a swatch next to the skeins - of course my knitting would be different, but at least I would have some idea of how it knits up. Anyway, I appreciate you tackling this subject! Also curious about how the size of the darning needle can make a difference when seaming. Thanks a lot!
I thin needle will split the yarn more easily than a thicker one with a blunter tip.
Another way to use varigated yarns is entreloc, and helix knitting
Thanks for the information. Could you at some point talk about marling multi-colored yarns to disguise pooling.
The video I linked to on 5 things to avoid with variegated yarns talks about combining a variegated with a solid and has some good examples.
Thank-you
@@RoxanneRichardson
Prachtige patronen
34:24 Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😊 Would you also be able to share the details of this yarn AND the pattern? I cannot tell you how these socks just draw me in…😍
I added a link to my Ravelry project page for those socks to the Show Notes. The project page includes links to the pattern page and yarn page, as well as my notes on the challenges of making the socks match.
I strongly associate verigated yarn with the type ly mol stashed when i was a kid in the 2000s and made projects i didn't like (was really not into the rustic vibe knitting tended to go to at that time) or that ended up staying at the bottom of the box for decade like some type of metaphorical licorice that stays when you're done with the rest of the box of candies. I guess working with some coloured yarns would help expand my work and artistic steak into more purposeful and varied choice of yarn
My “Go-To” technique for variegated yarn is to combine it with a coordinating solid and use a 2 color slip stitch pattern. You’re never quite sure what you may get, but it gives a nicely balanced effect. Typically, I’ll do this for things without shaping, like scarves. When I find a variegated that I think will work as a vest, I’ll steek the V-neck so I don’t get pooling on one side of the neckline which never matches the other side of the neckline when dividing and attaching a new skein.
I actually work for my country's postal service, I was on the verge of screaming into the screen IT'S THE LAST TWO LETTERS THAT MEAN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hmph
How do 'I' get strangers to send ME 500$ worth of yarn ? .... ice cream, hand-thrown pottery, gift cards for the cafés and bakery I go to, oh - and needles, and white cotton shirt sleeve T-shirts (white), annnnd, let's see..... oh, I need new lilies, and some pillisissisars, and
[Edit] and, I'm in Ontario! Less shipping charges for My fellow Canadian admirers!!!
So glad you also lose tools.
Dpns, yarn needles, and needle gauges have a tendency to vanish!