Fiber to Fabric: How the underlying fiber informs the knitted fabric

About Fiber to Fabric: How the underlying fiber informs the knitted fabric

From dependable sheep’s wool to tricky rayon, every yarn is individual. Each type of fiber, from a specific breed of sheep or other fiber-bearing animal, from plants like bamboo, hemp and flax, manmade or remanufactured, brings its own distinct benefits and challenges to a knitting project. Learn to evaluate the potentials of your particular yarn and approaches that ensure success in your hand knit garments. We will cover the roles of garment architecture, fit and borders, ways to prevent sagging and biasing in inelastic fibers, and pattern stitches and seaming to stabilize garments. Class will be a combination of lecture, hands-on work, and discussion. Students will take away an understanding of fiber characteristics, yarn behavior in knitted fabrics, and an arsenal of techniques for best results. Note that homework will be assigned to be completed before each of the four class sessions.

Instructor will discuss the characteristics and show images of major fiber groups (sheep's wool, other animal fibers, bast and plant fibers, remanufactured fibers, silk, etc.) and how these characteristics translate into the behavior of knitted fabrics. Students will learn to evaluate yarn characteristics before knitting, to evaluate the knitted fabric based on swatches, and to evaluate the behavior of ribbings and other borders added to their swatches. And students will create a log of the characteristics of each yarn they are sampling, providing a reference for future use in their fiber practice. We will discuss why results differ from yarn to yarn and from person to person and how yarn and fiber characteristics affect garments, with emphasis on designing and on modifying existing designs to customize them for each particular fiber and yarn.

The capacity for this class is 25 students.

Class Materials

Students should provide:
One ball of each of the following yarns. Sport, DK or worsted weight preferred.
1. 100% fine wool (for example, Merino)
2. 100% longwool, primitive, or coarser wool (for example, Lincoln, Icelandic, or Wensleydale)
3. 100% other animal fiber (for example, angora, alpaca, or cashmere)
4. 100% cotton
5. 100% linen or hemp (be sure to get natural which is stiff, not rayon)
6. 100% silk or rayon (look for a soft slippery yarn, rather than one that’s been processed and spun to feel like cotton. Fine yarns intended for weaving can be used doubled or tripled for knitting.)

A small amount of stretchy fingering weight wool yarn (for example sock yarn)

Needles in the sizes used to knit homework, plus needles 2 and 4 sizes smaller and 2 sizes larger.
12-inch Ruler

Calculator

Optional: Wraps per inch (wpi) tool. You can also use your ruler, a narrow piece of cardboard, a short dowel, or a pencil marked with a 1” or 2” length using permanent marker.

Optional: Tags for labeling swatches

If you have one, a notably successful or a notably unsuccessful garment knit in yarn from a single fiber (i.e. 100% wool, cotton, silk, angora, linen, rayon, etc.). Post a clear photo of the garment to the Lessonface Class Discussion at least 48 hours before class begins, with notes on what worked or did not work in this garment.

Basic knitting supplies (scissors, markers, cable needle, etc.).