This week I’m knitting with some of the new colors of Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted Tweed. This classic tweedy look yarn is a great choice for warm and cozy garments, accessories, and home decor. In addition, I’m using Lantern Moon Destiny handcrafted ebony circular knitting needles.
Yesterday, I knit a cowl using a free pattern that’s readily available on Ravelry. We even talked about using some of the sizing attributes from the Day 3 hat pattern to adjust the size of the cowl. In both cases, the yarn performed beautifully for both projects and looked great as a single color.
Today, we’re combining colors in a weaving and knitting projects. When I first felt the yarn, I was just as curious as to how it would weave as it was to knit. The softness, the color and the tweed effects were wonderful for knitting, but now I want to see how it looks in a woven fabric.
Beet, Great Lakes and Putty are 3 of the new colors of Deluxe Worsted Tweed.
I’m setting aside the knitting needles for the Rigid Heddle loom, and this time, I’m using all 3 colors together to weave a wrap or oversized scarf. To begin, I had to plan out my design and finished size of the project.
Design draft of Houndstooth weaving pattern using 3 colors of Deluxe Worsted Tweed
I decided on a houndstooth pattern which usually is in 2 colors, however, I opted to use all 3 colors together. I was shooting for a finished size of 15” wide x 66” in length without a fringe which meant I needed to plan for approximately 18” wide x 72” long. The yardage requirements calculated as: Beet 166, Great Lakes 176, Putty 242, which means I need 1 ball of each Beet and Great Lakes, and 2 balls of Putty.
Houndstooth pattern on the Rigid Heddle loom using 5 dents per inch
The heddle I used was 5 dents per inch (dpi) which means there are 5 warp threads to the inch and I tried to weave at 5 picks per inch (ppi) for the weft threads. I was concerned that it was too loose and wished I had used 7.5 dpi. When I took the finished project off the loom, I hand-washed it and laid it flat to dry. It looked a little better, but I still thought it was too loose. A suggestion made by one of my Weaving Guild friends was to put it in the washer and dryer. So, I followed the laundry instructions for Deluxe Worsted Tweed which state, Machine Wash Cold Gentle Cycle, Tumble Dry Low Temperature and voila!
Full length view after laundering, the 5dpi was perfect for this weight of yarn.
Close-up view after laundering; the 5dpi was perfect for this weight of yarn.
It’s perfect. It launders beautifully, and the finished product is soft and luscious. The yarn has bloomed in both color and feel. I’m so pleased with the results and the finished size turned out to be 14” wide by 66” in length without the fringe.
This makes me want to weave some more. But I have one last knitting project I want to do – a houndstooth hat, this time using 2 colors, Beet and Putty.
I deviated from the Bankhead pattern a little bit for this one, so I’ll write out what I did and what I used since I use the Magic Loop method. If you don’t use Magic Loop, you may prefer to use double-pointed needles or 16” circulars.
materials
yarn
- 1 ball each of Deluxe Worsted Tweed in Beet (MC) and Putty (CC)
needles
- US6 [4.0mm] Lantern Moon Destiny 32” circular knitting needles
- US7 [4.5mm] Lantern Moon Destiny 32” circular knitting needles
abbreviations
K = Knit
P = Purl
MC = Main Color
CC = Contrasting Color
K2tog = Knit 2 sts together
St(s) = Stitch(es)
Rib section – 2 x 2 rib
Using smaller size needles and MC, cast on 96 sts and join in the round being careful not to twist the stitches and place a marker to denote the beginning of round.
Knit in 2×2 rib (K2, P2) for 3” or desired length.
Knit 1 round increasing 4sts evenly around (100sts).
Body section – Houndstooth pattern
Switch to larger size needles and join CC.
Beginning with Row 4 of the Houndstooth chart pattern, work pattern 6 times (or desired length) and end with a Row 1 of the chart.
Crown section
Switch to smaller size needles and knit 1 round in MC.
Decrease rounds:
*K8, K2tog, repeat from * to end of round.
Knit 1 round.
*K7, K2tog, repeat from * to end of round.
Knit 1 round.
Continue to decrease in this manner until 20sts remain on the needles.
K2tog to end of round.
Cut yarn leaving a long enough length to thread through the remaining 10 sts, draw tight and secure.
Weave in all ends.
Houndstooth knitted hat in Deluxe Worsted Tweed in Beet and Putty.
There we have it, a weaving pattern incorporated into a knitting pattern. Because of the houndstooth pattern, I opted for a 2×2 rib instead of the twisted rib pattern. I thought it flowed better, but it tends to be looser which is why I started with 96sts, but increased to 100sts and the larger size needle for the 2-color section. This helped to keep it from being too tight. I could’ve used the crown decreases from Bankhead which would have worked just as well but I really like the spiral effect of the decreases on the crown.
As much as I love both the woven and knitted version of the houndstooth pattern, I wouldn’t wear them both at the same time. I think the scarf with a hat made with Great Lakes or with Beet would be lovely together, as would the hat with a cowl knit with either Beet or Putty.
Hats and cowls knitted, and scarf woven with Deluxe Worsted Tweed
This was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed working with Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted Tweed and using the Lantern Moon Destiny wooden knitting needles. It’s good to step outside of your comfort zone now and then. As you can see from the photo, I’m far from finished. I intend to use up every bit of this lovely yarn to make warm and cozy items to donate to charity. Of the 9 balls of yarn I started with, I still have half of it left which means I have a lot more knitting to do over the next couple of weeks. Look for my finished projects on Facebook.
I hope you enjoyed this week and hope you will experiment by taking a tried and true pattern and having some fun with it.
Happy knitting.
