How to effectively work lace stitches using the Super Saver Stripes yarn

When looking for a pattern to use with  Super Saver Stripes yarn, the Cozy Kiddo Poncho  jumped out at me right away. Last month, when we looked at a few patterns for With Love Stripes, we mostly looked at solid garments — things like hats and baby blankets. I wanted to do something a little bit different to show you what Super Saver Stripes can do.

Stitch patterns are not off limits with this yarn, you just have to choose them carefully. There are a lot of fun stitch patterns you can do with Super Saver Stripes and the Cozy Kiddo Poncho is one of them. It’s a very easy to memorize lace stitch pattern that is repeated twice and separated with an increase. The most important thing to remember with this pattern is, don’t forget your yarn over’s. When I was knitting up my sample swatch in another color, I kept having to go back because I had missed a yarn over. It goes without saying that these are of high importance to the pattern and overall look of your garment. With that being said, if you’ve made a mistake, the striping of the yarn goes a long way to take attention away from one little missed yarn over.

Since Super Saver Stripes is a medium yarn, and most lace stitches are usually done in a finer yarn, the stitches pop a bit more. Personally, I’d stay away from cables because I think cables are a lot of work and if I’m going to do them, I want to display them in the best possible way. A chunky cable would be visible and would look good too, so if cables are your thing then twist it up!

Aside from my tale of preferences, the best way to experiment with this yarn would be to knit swatches from a stitch dictionary. I’d also strongly encourage you to look up Japanese lace stitches. If you want to try something a little different from the stitch used in the pattern, you can just sub in a new stitch with the same base pattern. Just be sure to pay attention to your increases between pattern repeats. For example, if your new stitch is a multiple of 8, and your increase row needs to add 12 stitches, you’re going to have to adjust the placement of your increases. The easiest way to start is to look for a multiple in the substitute pattern that matches or can be fit into the multiple in the pattern itself.

Again, for example, if the pattern has 72 stitches, you could substitute a pattern that has a multiple of 6, 12, or 18 stitches, as 12 fits into 72 six times, and 18 fits into 72 four times.

I hope you take a chance to experiment with Super Saver Stripes. While it does stripe, you can always add a bit of texture throughout the garment to see what works and what doesn’t. I’d love to see a swatch afghan made of a bunch of Super Saver Stripes yarn all with different stitch patterns. If anyone knits that up, please post a photo and tag @RedHeartYarns and @KNITmuch on Instagram.