Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Welcome to I’ll Knit (& Spin!) If I want To! I asked y’all to send in some of your questions (from everything from fiber arts, to designing and on!) so I could put together a little video for y’all every Friday doing my best to answer your questions!
Sign up for my newsletter here: Sign up for the DRK Newsletter: eepurl.com/diPxsr
In this week’s episode we cover:
1. I’d love to know your thoughts on frogging super fluffy merino/silk core yarns ( the fiber company suggests heavy dk-bulky weight). I knit a cardigan with the fluffy yarn with 5mm needles and the fabric was ahh-mazing, but after a few wears the fluff of fibers have gone down leaving visible ‘holey’ stitches. I’ve tried re-steam blocking and then fluffing with a sweater brush with no success. I am considering frogging it to reuse the yarn with a smaller needle but am worried I’ll do even more harm to the yarn. Are there special things to consider when frogging these fluffy yarns? How can I keep my fluffy sweaters from deflating? I recently knit a nebula with a fluffy alpaca and do not want it to suffer the same fate! Pleeease and thank you!!
2. i Andrea, thanks for the wonderful weekly Q and A. I've listened since the beginning and it's so fun that you are still going strong. Anyway, a friend of mine, who is a newish knitter, reached out for help: she wanted to knit a baby cardigan as a gift. I thought long and hard about what pattern might work best, and determined that a cardi with raglan shaping might be too tricky (understand and keep track of raglan increases, pick up arm stitches, knit tiny circumference, etc.). So I found Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, which has 30K+ knits on Rav and thought, bingo! She started in and the pattern is so hard to follow if you're not fairly experienced (it says easy, but it's not--I should have read the comments...). I decided to start knitting with her and I am intuiting lots from experience as I knit it. My question is: what do you recommend as a good starting sweater for a new knitter? Should she have tried an adult size first? Pullover not cardi? I think she is close to throwing in the towel and I feel badly for encouraging her to try this pattern first. I'd love your thoughts on introducing new knitters to sweater knitting. Thanks so much!
Tin Can Knits
3. Please, please pick this question!!! I’m a self taught, new-ish knitter. Every time I gauge swatch I’m always off (usually my gauge is too tight). Even when I increase needle sizes, it seems my gauge never changes. At some point the needles are so big, my gauge finally matches, but the fabric is awful. I must be doing something wrong but have no idea what it is. Do you have any thoughts?
4. Hi andrea, I want to knit a colorwork yolk sweater and I am curious i have seen quite a few knitters go up in needle size to do the colorwork then go back down to the regular needle size.. i am a tight knitter. I have only knitted a colorwork cowl. Any suggestions. I have made a few sweaters i loved your weekender light by the way. Thank you and welcome home to Michigan your coming at a good time of year.
Today I am wearing the Moonwhistle
Ravelry: ravelry.com/patterns/library/moonwhistle
My Website: dreareneeknits.com/shop/moonwhistle
Instafriends KAL - hosted on Instagram from 9/18/24 to 1/31/25! Just use the hashtag #instafriendsKAL2024 and tag @dreareneeknits and @shoplamercerie
Brume Sweater KAL - hosted by Wool & Honey! Head here for all the details: woolandhoney.com/product/brume-sweater-kal
DRK Spin It to Knit It KAL
Ravelry KAL Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/topics/4300929
Instagram Hashtags: #DRKspinittoknitKAL2024 #DRKspinsTHETRAVELER
Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
Welcome to I’ll Knit (& Spin!) If I want To! I asked y’all to send in some of your questions (from everything from fiber arts, to designing and on!) so I could put together a little video for y’all every Friday doing my best to answer your questions!
Sign up for my newsletter here: Sign up for the DRK Newsletter: eepurl.com/diPxsr
In this week’s episode we cover:
1. I’d love to know your thoughts on frogging super fluffy merino/silk core yarns ( the fiber company suggests heavy dk-bulky weight). I knit a cardigan with the fluffy yarn with 5mm needles and the fabric was ahh-mazing, but after a few wears the fluff of fibers have gone down leaving visible ‘holey’ stitches. I’ve tried re-steam blocking and then fluffing with a sweater brush with no success. I am considering frogging it to reuse the yarn with a smaller needle but am worried I’ll do even more harm to the yarn. Are there special things to consider when frogging these fluffy yarns? How can I keep my fluffy sweaters from deflating? I recently knit a nebula with a fluffy alpaca and do not want it to suffer the same fate! Pleeease and thank you!!
2. i Andrea, thanks for the wonderful weekly Q and A. I've listened since the beginning and it's so fun that you are still going strong. Anyway, a friend of mine, who is a newish knitter, reached out for help: she wanted to knit a baby cardigan as a gift. I thought long and hard about what pattern might work best, and determined that a cardi with raglan shaping might be too tricky (understand and keep track of raglan increases, pick up arm stitches, knit tiny circumference, etc.). So I found Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket, which has 30K+ knits on Rav and thought, bingo! She started in and the pattern is so hard to follow if you're not fairly experienced (it says easy, but it's not--I should have read the comments...). I decided to start knitting with her and I am intuiting lots from experience as I knit it. My question is: what do you recommend as a good starting sweater for a new knitter? Should she have tried an adult size first? Pullover not cardi? I think she is close to throwing in the towel and I feel badly for encouraging her to try this pattern first. I'd love your thoughts on introducing new knitters to sweater knitting. Thanks so much!
Tin Can Knits
3. Please, please pick this question!!! I’m a self taught, new-ish knitter. Every time I gauge swatch I’m always off (usually my gauge is too tight). Even when I increase needle sizes, it seems my gauge never changes. At some point the needles are so big, my gauge finally matches, but the fabric is awful. I must be doing something wrong but have no idea what it is. Do you have any thoughts?
4. Hi andrea, I want to knit a colorwork yolk sweater and I am curious i have seen quite a few knitters go up in needle size to do the colorwork then go back down to the regular needle size.. i am a tight knitter. I have only knitted a colorwork cowl. Any suggestions. I have made a few sweaters i loved your weekender light by the way. Thank you and welcome home to Michigan your coming at a good time of year.
Today I am wearing the Moonwhistle
Ravelry: ravelry.com/patterns/library/moonwhistle
My Website: dreareneeknits.com/shop/moonwhistle
Instafriends KAL - hosted on Instagram from 9/18/24 to 1/31/25! Just use the hashtag #instafriendsKAL2024 and tag @dreareneeknits and @shoplamercerie
Brume Sweater KAL - hosted by Wool & Honey! Head here for all the details: woolandhoney.com/product/brume-sweater-kal
DRK Spin It to Knit It KAL
Ravelry KAL Forum: ravelry.com/discuss/dreareneeknits/topics/4300929
Instagram Hashtags: #DRKspinittoknitKAL2024 #DRKspinsTHETRAVELER
Ask a question for next week’s Q&A: https://forms.gle/pKM9gF9SixkdQwmS7
