I’ll Knit If I Want To: Episode 188

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!
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In this week’s episode we cover:
1. Hi Andrea! I love tuning into your episode every week, you've taught me so many things and have inspired me to learn to spin! I really love your tessellated patterns and I plan to make the cardigan this fall. I'm not too well versed in mosaic knitting so I decided I would knit the Rad Plaid Cowl first to get a hang of the stitch pattern and see how my handspun will knit up! My question is, do you have any tips/tricks for keeping the three yarn balls from becoming a tangled mess. I'm only about an inch or two into the pattern so far and I feel like I'm spending just as much time untangling as I do knitting. I'm hoping that there's some sort of trick on how to arrange the balls when switching. Thanks!
2. I started the Framed sweater in July and was apparently too excited to read the pattern notes carefully before casting on (I'm normally very careful!!!). I had suspected my ribbing wasn't right as soon as I started in on the color work but I checked and double checked the directions, and I knew my gauge was correct from my swatch so I figured this was the intended look. I'm now at the shoulder ribbing of the front yoke and sure enough, my hem ribbing is wrong! Somehow I confused the needle size for the body and the needle size for the ribbing and didn't realize it when I didn't even switch needle sizes between the two! So, now I am waaaay past the point of ripping back but I'm concerned the final sweater will just look silly and unbalanced with a ribbing knit in size 7! What are your thoughts? Should I finish the sweater and go back, put in a safety line at the knit row right before the yarn changes and the color work starts, rip out the hem and knit it correctly? I would never have been brave enough to consider this normally but I've learned a lot from you podcast and feel like maybe, just maybe I can pull this off with a little help. This is only my second sweater (DRK Everyday was #1) but I am a confident knitter, just new to garments. Would appreciate your help and I LOVE your designs! Thank you so very much!
3. Hi Andrea - I’m wondering if you use 100% wool to knit for your kids. Do you have yarn suggestions for kids? If you’re using 100% wool for them is itchiness ever a problem? Thank you!
4. I'm a new spinner and and hoping to make your Traveler Cowl my first ever hand spun knit project. I have my first useable yarn made in a Chevoit 2 ply and to my horror just learned that I might have spun my yarn the "wrong way" (S twist singles and Z twist yarn). I was told that Z twist yarns are for crochet while S twist yarns are for knitting and am terrified that I will untwist my yarn as I knit. Is this true? Could I switch my style of knitting to save my project (go from picking to throwing or throwing to picking)? Should I chalk this all up to experience and for future spinning do Z twist singles and S twist plying? Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this. Have you noticed a difference between Z twist and S twist yarns in your designing/knitting?
5 . Hi Andrea, I am an experienced knitter but a new spinner. I’m familiar with substituting one commercial yarn for another (matching fibre content, gauge, etc), but nervous to substitute commercial yarn with my own handspun. Do you have any tips? As a newer spinner, my yarn is still thicker/thinner in many places. Do you have advice for what to look for in a pattern that would make it more forgiving of handspun irregularities? My eventual goal is to spin and knit a sweater. Thank you so much!
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Today I am wearing The Night & Day Cowl!
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