What yarn is right for my pattern/

Here’s a fun thing to try next time you’re out. When someone looks at their watch, ask them what time it is. They just looked at their watch right? So clearly they know what time it is right? What you will find is that they will invariably need to look at their watch again in order to tell you what time it is. Because you see, when we look at our watch, we are not asking what time it is? Rather we are asking a context question. Is it time for me to go? How long have I been waiting? Will she be here soon? How much longer do I have? Because knowing what time it is in the absolute it’s really not that useful. You need to know what time it is relative to something else that is going to happen at another given time. Make sense?

Over the past few months, as I’ve said in several posts, when I ask people what they are interested in, they say “I want to learn about Yarn''. I can talk about yarn all day. Fibers,Blends, construction, color, weight. It’s my favorite subject. Talking about Yarn in the absolute, it’s like talking about what time it is without the context. The real question being asked by everyone who says they want to understand Yarn is “what yarn is right for my pattern?”

And that is a question with infinite answers. 

Certainly if you’ve chosen a project with a recommended yarn, that yarn will work for your project. Right? Maybe.It certainly worked for the designer, but will it be right for you?  There’s been a lot of fuss lately about designers using yarn that’s outrageously expensive or generally unavailable to mortals like us.  Yarn that you can’t get or can’t afford or can’t get  is probably not going to work for you. Even if money is no object, sometimes yarns are discontinued, or you don’t like the feel of it, or the  colors.  Then what?

Sometimes, there’s no specific yarn recommended at all.  I think that's almost worse.  

HOW DO YOU KNOW what to choose??

What if, instead of having to choose a yarn that works for your pattern, you could create a pattern that works for the yarn you want to use?  How awesome would that be?  

About 10 years ago, Amy Herzog had exactly that thought.  An outstanding knitwear designer obsessed with fit and a professional software engineer, Amy created Custom Fit, a program that generates patterns based not only your gauge, but your measurements.  How cool is that?  . What’s even better is that we can also help you re-create a favorite design in any gauge you like. With a variety of fits and shapes and gauge, you can pretty much have anything you want.  It’s kinda magical, no?  

It’s a total game changer that makes the process of choosing the right yarn a lot easier. We’ve been using Custom Fit pretty much since it came out, and have helped dozens of knitters make sweaters that fit, often for the first time. 

Join me This Wednesday at 7 pm for a live interview with Meg.  She’s adorable and smart, and a super sweater knitter with lots of brilliant ideas for Custom Fit.  I can’t wait to introduce ner to you!  See you then.

Ellen