Working With Multiple Strands

February’s projects are following different themes. The beginning of the month was provisional cast ons. Now it is working with multiple strands. You could even say there is a finishing theme as I have finished two items.

The main reason for using more than one strand in a project is that the project uses a specific weight of yarn and I do not have that yarn in my stash. Or I really want to use certain yarn(s) and doubling them works the best. An example of this is the Odyssey Shawl. I was wanting to use yarn in my stash for something other than socks. I decided these three yarns went together, the pattern was for three colours of a thicker weight yarn. I just held the yarn double and voila a finished shawl and three skeins of yarn used up.

The first project I started this month is a blanket using the skeins from the swap. I frogged the blanket I had made and wanted to get something on the needles PDQ.

  I knew I wanted to make a blanket and I knew I would be adding my own yarn to it but otherwise had no idea. I had abandoned the original project as I would have had to use so much of my own yarn it would take away from what I had received. I chose a pattern from a book I own of squares made up of a centre colour and a plain outer. The pattern called for aran weight, the yarn I have is fingering weight. I started off using the yarn doubled but didn’t proceed with that idea as I would have to make more than one square from each colour I then held four strands together and the squares are a decent size using most of the mini skein. How do I work with four stands? Firstly, I wind a centre pull ball, then I rewind with the outer and inner ends to make a double stranded ball and work with the inner and outer ends of these four strands. I am really pleased with the outcome and am using two different greys from my stash for the outer rows.

 

The other project is a Tunisian crochet pattern that three of us are working on as a MAL (Make Along). The pattern was originally written for DK weight yarn and then a fingering weight option was added, with either option two different colours are required but four skeins total of DK and only two skeins of fingering. I wanted the squidgyness of the thicker yarn but did not have any in stash. I knew I could double fingering weight but what yarn? Thinking about it instead of sleeping one night I remembered yarns I had purchased to go together but the closest they had got was in the storage container. If I used them double I would need four of them. No problem. And I now have the start to a lovely squidgy shawl.