The Bamboo Stitch adds insulation to cotton yarn knits

Bamboo stitch is an interesting stitch I haven’t heard of before. When I was looking for a pattern to use for our featured yarn, Creme de la Creme, I stumbled across the Bamboo stitch in a pattern on Red Heart’s website. Because this was much better, I chose to talk about Bamboo stitch in today’s post.

Bamboo stitch is the perfect stitch to use if you’re knitting something with a solid colored yarn and there are very few fancy increases or decreases. A baby blanket knit from this stitch is adorable not to mention original. This amazing texture is going to add more air space in the blanket and make what you’re knitting nice and squishy — perfect for a play blanket or a stroller blanket. Bamboo stitch traps more air which ups its insulation value, much the way down jackets feel, so light yet so warm. Given that cotton doesn’t really have “insulation value” a textured stitch is one way to trap some air to give it a little warmth.

I know what you’re thinking, “a warm stitch? It’s July!” Let me explain: I felt that the lace stitches in yesterday’s post were very ‘cool’ stitches, and I wanted to balance it out for those who are ‘thermodynamically’ challenged.

Personally, I’m always warm, but I have several friends who are always freezing (even in the summer). I hereby dedicate today’s post to all those who can’t stand the air conditioning in every store, car, and house. I don’t understand, but I’m thinking of you.

Stay tuned — tomorrow we’ll talk about the patterns for Bamboo Stitch on the Red Heart website. There are two of them, and, worked in Creme de la Creme, they do a fabulous job of showcasing this stitch pattern.