To do with quantities of yarn needed. You helped me out with something similar last year. Anyway, with novice enthusiasm, I bought various yarns without putting much thought into it - as a result I never seem to have enough of what I want to do anything more than accessories.
My question is this - up the needle size (accepting the different appearance which will result), follow the dimensions on the pattern rather than counting rows and can you do a project requiring 900yds with say 650yds ?
If the project is a scarf and you’re willing to make it one third shorter. Yeah, sure. Why not?
Or, if you’re willing to turn the sweater into a vest, you’ll be fine.
For anything else? I’m going to guess “no.” If it did work - (which I don’t think it would) you’d need to basically knit a sport weight yarn (typically knit on 3s or 4s) on size 10 and 11 (or higher needles). The difference in appearance would be huge and I think the lack of structure might end up costing more yarn as it hung and draped. You could try it (figure out the total # of square inches you want, do swatch of 2inchesx2inches) then unravel it, find out how much yarn you actually used to create the square and do the math.
But I don’t think it will end up being a good idea.
What are you making? Could you add some stripes in a different yarn? I do the same thing – fall in love with a yarn, but don’t have a project in mind for it, so I only let myself buy one skein. Then, I find a project that would be perfect for it, but I only have one skein and the color has been discontinued or the dye lot that’s in the stores now is really different from the one I bought.
If it’s just the dye lot issue, you might be able to get around that by alternating rows – one row from skein 1, one row from skein 2, etc.
Get you a copy of Knitting Without Tears. It will show you the breathtakingly easy way to make sweaters without a pattern, which gives you a lot more leeway for fudgin gray areas. Make a yoke sweater, and use random scraps of yarn for the yoke pattern.
Thanks amarinth & jacquilynne, you confirmed what I thought I knew.
stargazer if only it were that simple but I have a habit of falling for yarn which varies in colour along the length further complicating things :smack: Guess I’ll go for a hat, gloves and BIG scarf combo this time.
& lissener … what else is Christmas for if not others buying you books thanks for the recommendation.
Even with a varigated yarn, maybe you could throw in some stripes of a solid color found in the original goods. Or neutral stripes, such as black. But I wouldn’t recommend upping the needle size too much or you’ll get something mesh-y and messy and useless.
Oh, you could use it in a pattern that calls for heavier yarn or two strands and carry it along with a solid. You’d want to knit up a swatch, of course, to see how that looks.
thanks for the recommendation.