Yarns to Love
Variegated Yarn: Pro Tips from the Front Lines
Dear Kay,
I don’t know, I don’t know, I have no idea how I blew the raglan decreases on this Main Squeeze Pullover.
Blame it on The White Lotus. Blame it on battle fatigue. Blame it on not doing the things you’re supposed to do that make raglan decreases happen in an OK way.
Main Tip: Count. You think you got it. You ain’t got it.
It’s fine, it’s fine. As I attempted to wish it all away, I heard Karen Tumelty in my ear going “Lifelines, I just love a good lifeline,” so I bit a very sour bullet and dug in a lifeline so I could undo all the perfidious decreases and get right back to the real knittygritty.
The lifeline needs to go through an all-knit or all-purl row if at all possible. Fortunately, the sand stitch in this pattern allows for this, and the stockinette sleeves made it easy enough. Like all moments of dread, a lifeline happens faster than you think it will, and all of a sudden you’re awash in feelings of competence.
Pro Tips for Making a Sweater Using Variegated Yarn
I started with a batch of skeins of MDK Atlas x Madelinetosh in the shade Oeste.
I talk a good game about not caring how this knits up, but I will confess that I actually got into scheming about how the yarn would land.
Tip No. 1: Open up your skeins to see what’s what. You may discover all sorts of things: densities of color, speckles, tones.
Hand-dyed yarn shows the hand of the dyer, and that randomness is what I love about it.
One of my skeins has a vague, pale pink cast to it, turns out.
This is a feature, not a bug. I’m glad to know this because I’ll aim to use this skein at the neckline, where it will appear for a fairly short time. The shadow of my ever-increasing jawline is going to minimize this pinkness. As ever, we thank gravity for its mighty powers.
Tip No. 2: Look for rhyming skeins. For this pattern, the sleeves are knit separately, then joined in a three-tube maneuver once the body is worked hem up. I did sort of want the sleeves to look sensible next to each other, to rhyme. So I found two skeins that had a similar rhythm of blurps and colors, and I’m pleased with how it went.
When I added a second skein to finish the top of the first sleeve, I noticed that that the colors landed differently, more white, less color.
For the second sleeve, I started a new colorful skein at the cuff, then used the remainder of the whiter skein from sleeve 1 at the top of sleeve 2.
Those curious to see how stockinette versus sand stitch looks? Here you go!
Tip No. 3: Use those gizmos in your interchangeable set of needles. Swapping out cables and needle tips is the game with this Main Squeeze Pullover. By using the cable stoppers and the cable extender in my Tulip needles set, I easily went from the hem (long cable) to the sleeves (magic loop) to the giant moment of two sleeves added to the body (long plus short), to neckline (short cable). It helped to have a variety of cable lengths in my set.
These babies earned their keep this week.
Current State: Almost Done
Front of Main Squeeze Pullover:
The back:
Final Tip: Don’t actually care overmuch. This is all fun and games. You’re never going to get a sweater with symmetrical color. I could have knit with wild abandon and still ended up with a sweater that looks more or less like this. But I’ve had a swell time fooling around with this yarn, this pattern. Thanks, Jen Geigley!
Love,
Ann
PS Need more procrastination? Head over the MDK homepage, the endless rabbit hole.
Looks fun!
Extremely detailed and helpful information!
Ann beware:
Murphy’s Law: If you think everything is going well, then you obviously don’t understand the situation.
Looks great Anne. Love the texture contrast between the body and the sleeves. The sand stitch is so cool and pixelated with this great yarn. Will remember the lifeline!
Hi Anne! One question: What is happening in the eighth from the top / sixth from the bottom photo? It looks like you are attaching the sleeves in the three kneedle bind-off section of the pattern. How did it go? That seems like the hard part of the pattern to me.
Your post was right on time (pre-sweater) and I love your writing.
❤️
Oh Jean, you beelined for the challenge portion of this pattern. It’s not hard; it’s just yanky. I made the sleeves. I made the body. When the sleeves are added to the body, it’s definitely a Moment. The thing to address at this moment is the length of your cable. It needs to be long enough to accommodate not only the body stitches but also two sleeves’ worth of stitches. After a bit of futzing around, I added a cable of 20″ to the 32″ cable I used for the body. (That Tulip cable connector was the key.) It takes a few rows for this new configuration of body + two sleeves to knit in a rhythmic way. There’s a fair amount of stopping, yanking stitches along the cable, then knitting a bit more. The decreases are starting right when the sleeves are added, so the stitch count decreases fairly quickly. At some point you ditch the short cable, work using the longer cable. And then (thank you Tulip!), you swap in the 20″ cable for the neck and collar. Or you could go magic loop with the longer cable. AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU ASKED ABOUT THIS? I AM JUST GETTING WARMED UP HERE.
First sweater I ever did I ran out of yarn. Lesson learned when the size you are making is the largest size that uses x skeins go up one. The manufacturer had discontinued that color and no one seemed to have one left in that dye lot. I was astonished at the variations in color. Spent a morning going to all the JoAnns and Michael’s in my area with a sleeve and found one that was really close. Used that to sew it together and stitch the collar and front. It worked pretty well. Glad to see even super experienced knitters sometimes have to play like that!
Necessity is the mother of buying more yarn! ; )
Ann-Thanks for the great tips. I’m just getting ready to knit my swatch-I can’t wait to get started.
I love my Tulip interchangeables that I bought from MDK! They don’t unscrew in my project—highly recommend these needles! Your Main Squeeze sweater is amazing! That is going to be a constant staple in your wardrobe, Ann!
I love to see the yarn in knitted form. It’s so hard to decide which color to buy because every color is beautiful!
I love that you love those needles! And thanks for the kind words–gotta hope for a cold snap so I can wear this thing before next fall!
These needles are my go to choice and I don’t know you have other options. They never fail or disappoint.
The sweater is fabulous. Hope you will model it soon.
I’m loving your use of “knittygritty”–I’ve added that to my vocabulary 🙂
If you know the song, it’s an earworm like no other, with a great visual of dancers. Ann knows I know this song so I’m thinking she earwarmed me on purpose!
I WARN YOU THIS IS GOING TO GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD IF YOU CLICK THIS YOUTUBE LINK (but it will be so worth it, this video lives in my head as a reliable source of happiness on demand):
https://youtu.be/P2v8IgJdsm4?si=_qugjG8RFpXJNQ1N
Double happiness – my YouTube feed went from that to Torvill and Dean ice dancing to Let’s Go To The Hop! Funnest few minutes I’ve had today!!
Looks like the choreographers for “Hairspray” were familiar with this number–looks much like what was on the Corny Cornelius show, especially the bouffant skirts and pointy-toed high heels!
Your sweater is beautiful. I’m in kind of a knitting slump right now and your gorgeous sweater has encouraged me to get going on some of my UFO’s from last summer. Three summer tops to be exact.
I am so into excavating UFOs–it’s like a gift from Past You. You love the yarn, the pattern, and check it out: you’re already halfway done.
Back in 2014 I joined a knitalong organized by Louise Scollay of KnitBritish – it was 2 months committed to finishing WIPs before casting on anything new. It was called WIPCrackAway, and if you need another earworm, go watch Doris Day joyously singing Whip Crack Away on a stagecoach. Anyway, it was a VERY productive and FUN knitalong! Yielded 5 finished knits (I expected 2), and all were – as you say – patterns and yarn that I already loved, with a big head-start.
I love this way of looking at UFOs! Except sometimes I have to wonder what Past Me was thinking. Like, why did I ever buy such a scratchy acrylic yarn? Or what made me think I would ever complete a 3,000 yard shawl in fine lace yarn? But as you say, Ann, UFOs can be like finding hidden treasure. After my current two WIPs, I have a nearly completed Slipstravaganza all in leftover blues that will be stunning. I don’t know why I never finished it in the first place. (Oh wait, yes I do. It was Ooh, Shiny! Syndrome, lol.)
Woah Ann!
This was great and you packed so much info in this small piece. Excellent demo photos too. Thanks so much. Sue. PS jawline. Hahahah!
Really trying for gratitude for the direction of my face. So GLAD it’s sliding southward! What a great thing! OR SOMETHING.
Great pattern and love your choice on that yarn… adding to my list of 100 things to finish before I die
I laughed. I cried. It was better than “Cats”!
!!!!! CRISTINA !!!!!!
I have always wound my yarn into cakes as soon as I get home. Your advice about looking for color pools makes me rethink that choice.
Question: Do you introduce the different skeins by alternating rows, or do you just end one skein and start with the next?
I end one skein, dive into the next. Some folks like to alternate rows only for a few rows at the end of a skein/beginning of the next, for a blended transition–I admire this yet have not tried this.
Thanks for your advice, and thanks for sharing your process!
Before I get too excited about this pattern, I have a question……are there short rows?
Nay, nary a short row. I do think the fit is sort of boxy in a good way.
Thanks; I like boxy!
Wow! Well done, Ann! Thanks for the tips!
This sweater is STUNNING!!!! And your notes and your writing…fantastic! I love it all! Thank you for this very detailed post!
I do love a good lifeline! Working on autopilot gets me in trouble so often!
Depending on the color variations, I sometimes use helical knitting on the body to smooth things out!
OK Mary Lou that is brilliant and superfancy. Love that idea.
Love the look of this pattern and that yarn is sooo yummy!! Great reminder about lifelines!! I just had to add one to a sweater I was almost done with … I was 2/3 through the second sleeve when I noticed I had forgotten to change out the ribbing needles from finishing the first sleeve to starting starting the second sleeve
This is turning out beautifully! No one likes to make mistakes, but I know I appreciate it when others have to go back and fix things, because it makes me realize everyone makes mistakes, even experienced knitters. I was intrigued by how you thought ahead and opened the skeins to see the colors and plan accordingly. Great advice! Thanks!
“the shadow of my ever-increasing jawline”
I feel seen! Ha ha!
Ann,
Very helpful dissection of the Main Squeeze in colorful skeins. Your work is brilliant! I laughed out loud :gravity’s effect on the jawline!
The texture of this and the Waffle Sweater are calling me. Can’t wait for my yarn to arrive!
Beautiful and inspiring.
Beautiful and inspiring.
(Sorry about that typo. Nan, not man. ???♀️
I was taught to alternate skeins to avoid color pooling and such. It doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue with the lighter colors, but when you get to a darker variegated color way it can be noticeable.
I’ve learned that I’m always happiest with the result when I alternate skeins, even in solid colors. I choose an unobtrusive place and alternate usually every two rows, crossing the strands on the back. With the first two skeins I only use half of one skein and then switch to a new one so I’m always offsetting the switch between skeins, giving a nice blend all the way through the project.
I don’t usually read my email in the car but my knitting is at the p2togtbl stage of the 8 repeats of flower stitch. So, when I read the message today I had to click through. Almost enough procrastination to get to the accountant. I enjoyed reading about your sweater journey. My sweater is in time out. I’ve been trying to blend 3 skeins with helical “stripes” and it’s driving me crazy. This was just what I needed.
P.S. I love your writing style.
Honored that you are knitting this – looks SO good!!! I blame The White Lotus. Lol.
I love my main squeeze pullover (made with Rowan cotton/linen) but I had trouble with the decreases too. I found the pattern not very clear and had to rip it out and do it again with my knowledge from other patterns. As much as I would like another one and would like to make some of Jen Geigley’s other designs, I’m a little leary to do so.
I absolutely love this sweater and yarn I wish I was good at predicting how variegated yarns will look. You inspire me. I too have futzed with where color lands.
Thank you pointing the use of the needle extender! I didn’t know it was part of my Tulip set! Love the tulip set, but didn’t see that handy tool in there…
Hi Ann,
Your sweater is so beautiful; I’m looking forward to seeing the FO. And you made me laugh out loud with your ode to gravity.
I’m a cocky knitter, and I don’t ever get around to using lifelines. I usually just eyeball my frogging destination (usually a plain row, no increases or decreases), place a locking stitch marker, and then rip. When I get to the row above the one I want back on the needles, I tink that plain row one stitch at a time, placing the freed stitch back on my needle.
Knit on, my friend!
Which pattern is knitted in the body of this garment
Beautiful spring colored sweater, we’re all human and make mistakes, ugh you might have to take it back to the start of cast off, ugh, or just make them longer to fit?
Love these tips! Ain’t touchin’ this pattern! (See “clarity” rating on Ravelry.) Glad you were able to get thru it w such beautiful results.
Speckled yarn is my favorite! Thanks for sharing your process, Kay. It was extremely helpful!