TWO CONES ARE BETTER THAN ONE 

MATCHING TRICKY COLORS. I was trying to match an unusual color recently and having trouble. The goal was to knit a fairisle trim to make a jacket coordinate with a skirt that already had a dramatic lace trim in an odd red. As far as I could determine, there is no yarn anywhere that matches. So I cheated and it worked wonderfully. By running a skinny strand of bright red along with a skinny strand of fuchsia yarn, I came up to the correct size and got a match. It’s not literally true. A close examination of the fairisle shows some stitches look redder and some pinker but the effect when viewed as a total in the pattern is convincing. [photo at right]

This fact got me to thinking about how many times and for how many reasons, running 2 thin strands of yarn together to create 1 proves useful.

TO CREATE A SOFTER DRAPE. On the surface of it, 7 stitches per inch = 7 stitches per inch, right? That is the gauge of the jacket for which I needed the fairisle trim. But the jacket itself is knitted in 2 strands for several different reasons and drape is one. It is a kimono shape, which is basically square. I am not basically square and have no desire to appear so. Therefore, the fabric needs to drape softly around the body. Careful choice of fiber helps with drape as does knitting a little bit loosely and so does the 2 strand solution. This is because if those strands were twisted together and simple became a single larger yarn, the twist would make them a little bit firmer in a way that running them alongside each other doesn’t do.

TO GET SUBTLE COLOR GRADATIONS. My kimono jacket is long and designed to be worn over a skirt that is also long. The primary color is navy, which is classic and flattering and I like it. But it did seem to me that a whole body covered lengthily in the identical color might be a bit much. Still, I wanted navy...A bit of pondering produced an inspiration that worked well. Each piece has one strand of yarn in common and the second strand is different. So the skirt is navy and black while the jacket is navy and a slightly lighter blue run along. They share tone and color family and blend together nicely due to the common yarn but the jacket is lighter in hue. It worked out very well.

TO MAKE A SKINNY YARN MORE ROBUST. The main yarn on this outfit knits fine by itself on the standard gauge machine. But kimono jackets are designed to fit loosely. To get the fit I wanted, the thin yarn would have required a few more needles than were available. Adding the second strand made it knit-able at the top of the stitch dial resulting in more than enough needles for me . Had I been knitting for a larger friend, I would still have had enough.

TO REINFORCE A WEAK YARN. My yarn stash includes a very thin green cotton yarn with sparkles. I bought a colossal cone of it, intending to wind off multiple balls and run about 4 strands together to create a normal standard gauge yarn. HA. Total failure. Being cotton, it has no resilience and the multiple strands simply tangled and broke over and over and over. Before giving in to despair, I tried using a single strand of the skinny green with sparkles along with a more ordinary standard gauge acrylic yarn and the problem was solved. Using the novelty yarn as run-along contributed a little bit of color and sparkle but the other yarn took all the strain. The same trick works with many very delicate yarns and with those spun loosely for hand knitting that fail to feed well through the tension mechanism of the machine.

TO SALVAGE DAMAGED YARN. Back to the navy outfit. The reason I had enough navy yarn for the whole thing was that I once bought a huge bargain cone of very nice rayon blend navy yarn with high hopes for a dressy suit. Unfortunately, it arrived damaged with lots of broken pieces showing at the bottom of the cone. We all know what that means: knit, knit, knit, disaster, drop stitches, fix it, it proceed, repeat. The prospect was daunting but I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw away such a big cone of nice yarn and rewinding seemed pretty daunting, too. So, second cone to the rescue! Running 2 yarns together meant that I could knit along, carefully watching for the broken spots to appear. But if one got past my eagle eye, the result was part of a row knitted in the other yarn rather than the entire piece crashing to the floor. I could simply un-knit that row, rethread with both yarns and proceed. This prospect gave me the courage to proceed. In fact, out of at least a dozen broken ends, I caught most before they fed through. Only twice did I have to un-knit a row. That’s not such a big deal. The knitting is done and my sanity is intact.

ECONOMY. Very often, industrial yarns are available at excellent prices, but they are a bit thin for home knitting machines. Multiple strands of such yarns run together achieve the necessary size. Sometimes high quality industrial yarns are available for as little as $6 a pound, making nice outfits and blankets very, very affordable.

TO STRETCH A LIMITED YARN SUPPLY. The navy outfit serves as yet another example. Though my cone was large, I wasn’t quite convinced I truly had quite enough for the outfit I wanted if using the yarn as a solo performer. By adding a second yarn to each piece, the supply was effectively increased and was more than enough to make the entire outfit.

MATCHING SINGLE BED WORK. Double bed fabrics make terrific jackets and blankets. Passap knitters will be especially aware of this, though it is true for all machines. But generally skirts and baby clothes work best in single bed fabrics. What do we do about the occasions when we’d like to make a matching baby blanket, onesie and booties for a new arrival? And what about matching jacket/skirt sets for ourselves? A few yarns do knit well in both circumstances. Tamm Estilo is an example of a yarn that makes great double bed and single bed fabrics. But on a Passap, the largest hip circumference achievable in a two piece (one front, one back) skirt is about 40”. The majority of adult women need the finished hip size to be larger than that. Running 2 strands of Estilo together for the stockinette skirt changes the gauge entirely and makes a more suitable skirt weight fabric, too. Two strands of Estilo knit just fine for single bed work. The jacket may be made in some wonderfully double bed stitch using a single strand and the stockinette skirt made with a double strand of yarn will be a perfect match. The same principle applies to many thin yarns.

Two cones is not actually a limitation of any kind. I’ve covered the floor with cones of thread-like yarn and fed all through the same feeder. This allows for some unique and beautiful blends. So have fun experimenting with multiple cones.