i’ve been knitting with handspun a lot lately, and i’ve come to the conclusion that the proper relationship with handspun, especially slubby or funky handspun, is play.
witness this hat.
it is a subtle stripes hat with only two colors of stripes. i spun it bulky and knit it up as a sample. first i tried it on 13 needles and that really wasn’t working for me. i had no 15 dpns, so i went up to 17s and it turned out great! who knew? and i didn’t necessarily want to go up to 17s, so you see how i learned my lesson. (as in, i’m in love with the hat people… in love!)
so i thought i’d try to demonstrate the difference in between needles with some swatching… and encourage you with handspun in your stash to just get it out and swatch! hopefully it will help you decide what to do with it, or which commercial yarns you can pair it with etc.
witness this yarn. woolen spun from a batt. very slubby.
size 13 needles
size 15 needles
size 17 needles
13 was certainly too tight. not pleasant to knit and the fabric looks bunched rather than showing off the nice slubs. 15s were certainly better, but my fave? the 17s. although if a windproof garment were necessary, i’d do 15s. i just love how the sample knit on 17s shows off the fuzzy slubby yarn.
more handspun!!
a new pattern, still in the making
and a prayer shawl
my new rule? knit the handspun on larger needles than you’d think.* anyone knit anything out of handspun recently? i’d love to see links!
*i always tell people at my booth this, but do i put it into action when knittng myself? in this instance, only when forced!
cosymakes 
I need to get pics of my subtle stripes hat- I finished it almost 2 weeks ago! Mason loves it and so do I =)
Cosy- love the hat, and that little sweater is ADORABLE!!! Oh my gosh I love it.
I love the new pattern! Fantastic.
I think part of the fun of handspun is getting the change to play with its irregularities.
Those are all gorgeous!!! I love how the texture and color really play off one another!
I’m in love with that hat too!
i love it all! i think it’s very true for handspun that it looks better with bigger needles. like the fabric breathes a little bit more, and i think that the handspun blooms a little more once it’s worked with. so cute! :)
I have to agree with everyone: the hat is super cute, and the sweater is adorable. Now, I just need more handspun to play with.
That’s so true about handspun. When I first started knitting with it I used needles that were too small and the resulting fabric was always really tight and firm. All the beautiful bumps were smoothed down and unnoticeable.
I knit this!: http://nataliemake.blogspot.com/2009/06/handspun-hats.html
i made this, the on-day-beret, from my handspun..i didn’t have a circ. needle big enough, so i knit it on smaller size, but really loose..
