Chainette Yarn

Yarn

Mar 1

Written By

Every time I talk to my Granny about knitting in times of her youth, I realize how lucky we are. She grew up and lived most of her life in times of the Soviet Union when the stores, any stores, were empty and you couldn't get such things as furniture/clothes, forget about yarn! I remember her stories how she was waiting for a friend to come from Moscow to bring her yarn - pink acrylic skeins, very rough and pure quality, but it didn't matter, it was actual yarn that was enough for a scarf and a hat. She considered herself very lucky - most of the times, she was just unraveling old sweaters to reuse the yarn.So, each new and unusual skein for me is the reminder to be grateful for such small and simple things in our life such as original and beautiful yarn that bring so much joy! And I love to celebrate it with yarn "photostories" :) One of my "fiber goals" for this year was to try unusual yarns, particularly the chainette yarn. It is quiet an unusual way to spun the fiber - the thread is basically a tube made of knit stitches, like a tiny i-cord.I have my precious skeins of cotton/silk blend by Rowan (that are waiting way too long to be turned into a sweater!) that are made using the similar technique, but very different from this Paloma alpaca/wool blend from Debbie Bliss. Rowan "flattened" the tube and wrapped it with thin silk thread; whether Paloma has a lot of volume and space inside the "tube". Woolfolk yarn, that is on my must-try list, uses the similar technique to spun some of their gorgeous skeins.This technique creates a bulky yarn that knits incredibly fast, but the piece is so light and airy that it feel like it was knit in DK. I guess it happens thanks to all the air trapped inside the thread.The exciting thing is that this kind of spun can be done at home! I had this idea for a long time - the tube thread can be made from a very thin (lace/fingering weight) yarn using the i-cord maker! It will take time, of course, but if you have lace weight yarn in your stash and are scared to cast on a garments with it, because it will take quiet a lot of time, you can turn it into bulky chainette skein that will be perfect for cozy sweaters and quick to knit accessories. To speed up the process check this incredible tutorial How To Knit I-Cord the Fast Way. How amazing is that?!