Yesterday, I talked about why there are 5 double-pointed knitting needles in a package; let’s continue with our Gallinule Hat and talk about variegated yarn. Namely, let’s talk about my biggest concern with the Fibra Natura Cobblestone yarn: how it would look when knitted up.
A skein of Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Mallard
We’ve all been there, I think. We’ve seen a stunning skein of multicolored yarn online or at a yarn store, only to discover that, when it’s wound up and knit, it turns into a muddy mess of colors, nothing like what it looked like in the skein.
The Fibra Natura Cobblestone yarn is both a marled yarn and variegated yarn, so, it would have been very easy to turn into an undistinguished morass of color. Indeed, if you look at the sample pictures for the pattern, the nature of the changing colors does, in some photos, obscure the pattern of the knit two, purl two ribbing. A yarn that’s only variegated will show slower, less muddied changes because the color changes run longer, and only one colour is in each knit stitch. The marling, however, means that at any stitch within the knitting, two (or more) colors are visible. Put all that together, and you end up with a good bit of color in a small space, which could easily obscure the knit fabric.
And that’s the first consideration. If you have a stitch pattern you want to feature, you have to consider how much the colors of the yarn will obscure the stitch pattern. For a solid fabric, like cables or ribbing, the multicolor nature of the Cobblestone Yarn will be on full display, and would easily overpower a more subtle textured pattern. So, the fact that the Gallinule Hat is almost entirely simple knit two, purl two ribbing (except for the crown decreases, which will be the next blog post) is a good thing. The Gallinule Hat isn’t showing off a complex pretty stitch pattern, it’s showing off the beautiful colors of the Cobblestone Yarn, and that’s what you want when you have a very colorful yarn like this.
A close-up of the Gallinule Hat knit two, purl two ribbing, done in Fibra Natura Cobblestone yarn in Mallard
The second aspect to consider is the choice of colors, and Fibra Natura has excelled in this area. Blending colors is truly an art form, and they offer a range of colorways in their Cobblestone yarns that complement each other beautifully. Some colorways, like Mallard, consist of shades within the same or similar color families, while others, such as Mai Tai and Mardi Gras, display more contrasting colors.
I chose the Mallard colorway because I was concerned that high-contrast colorways could look ‘jumbled’ when knitted. Additionally, I strongly prefer jewel-tone blues and greens, which further influenced my decision.
This is also where swatching is essential. Knitting a swatch in the chosen yarn will help you determine how the various colors will play with each other and the stitch pattern. It will save you so much heartache if you realize your swatch looks jumbled, rather than getting halfway through a project and deciding only after many hours of knitting that you don’t like how the colors turned out.
Oh, and when you’re swatching, it’s equally important to test out all the stitches in your pattern, not just the main stitch pattern! The Gallinule Hat is almost all knit two, purl two ribbing, but that pattern starts to change at the crown of the hat – which changes how the colors work, among other things! Stay tuned tomorrow for what that looks like using Fibra Natura Cobblestone yarn!
This is part 3 of 5 in this series
Go back to part 2: Why are there 5 Double Pointed Needles in a package? | Knit Picks
Go to part 4: 5 critical tips for knitting hat crowns successfully
