Yarn Guide
with instructor Steve Butler
Class 133
What is it?
A particularly enticing knitting technique is called stranded colorwork. Using two or more colors of yarn simultaneously allows us to create amazing designs in knitted fabric. With a full pallet of colors, a wide range of fibers and a limitless assortment of patterns available to us, the creative potential is unlimited. Fair Isle knitting with its beautiful symmetrical geometric motifs in muted colors or Scandinavian knitting with its striking large asymmetrical motifs in bright contrasting colors or even your own dramatic multi-color creative invention is the goal. The methodology to accomplish your creative intent, however, can be a challenge. And that challenge can be serious and ultimately determine the difference between blissful creativity or nightmarish remorse at the attempt. “Why did I ever think I could do this?” What is that challenge? Yarn management. Sounds simple enough, almost utilitarian, but don’t be too dismissive. When we start to use more than one color of yarn, and therefore two or more strands of yarn on the same project at the same time there’s always potential for trouble. Keeping track of multiple colors and keeping them in close proximity for quick access presents its own set of problems. Keeping our colors organized and holding our yarn strands so that they don’t get twisted or tangled is the key to working with multiple colors. Happily, the clever folks at Clover have produced the ultimate tool for working with multiple strands of yarn. It’s Clover’s Yarn Guide. Effectively eliminating twists and tangles and the resulting mistake driven frustrations makes our design process a totally enjoyable experience.
What does it do?
The challenges of organizing and controlling the multiple strands of yarn when doing creative colorwork are easily accomplished with Clover’s Yarn Guide. The Yarn Guide itself is made of a soft, lightweight but durable plastic. It fits comfortably on your index finger and is applicable to both English and Continental Knitting. Simply lift the hinged lid to reveal channels for four yarn strands. Place the active strands you intend to use in the channels that best suit your style and close the lid which snaps into place. The now slotted strands of yarn are held both apart and in close proximity making color selection convenient and preventing twisting, tangling and any unwanted tension influence. The desired result is more knitting and less untangling. And if we’re doing a crochet piece that requires extra yarn tension, simply open the lid, wrap the single strand of yarn around the Yarn Guide and close the lid. The more times the yarn is wrapped around the guide the more tension is applied. Adjust as necessary to suit the tightness of your desired stitches. You get the tension without the fatigue of holding the yarn and applying it by hand. No muss, no fuss.
How do I share it?
Stranded colorwork is an artform that everyone would like to add to their repertoire. Unfortunately many are intimidated and shy away from even the attempt. Provide beginner classes and use the Clover Yarn Guide to convince your students that any intimidation is unfounded. The Yarn Guide makes strand management a breeze and enables creative freedom. Another way to show its simple utility is to do live demonstrations in your shop. Just seeing it in action will fuel the fires of creativity among your friends. The happy result will be fans for life.
