Super good points, thank you for bringing it up! I’m 50+ years knitter, that now for 3 years spin and teach spinning. I ADVICE every knitter to own basic spindle and use it to ply yarns. It does matter. You can ply without spindle - just put rubber band on yarn ball and twirl it, then repeat on another yard of yarn. (Spindle is better and faster) I often add or remove twist on store yarns to obtain effect I need and make unusual yarn. Best thing, you don’t even need to know how to spin! Just own cheap spindle and try
You're dangerous! The first of your videos I watched was Sequence Knitting. I was so taken with the idea and so excited about the book that I tried every library system in my area but none had it. So I bought it -- I really really don't need more books! I justified it by saying that my vacation project was going to be trying out a bunch of the sequences in the book. Now I'm watching this video and it's another beautiful book by the same author. But this time, I won't give in to temptation! (I can't afford another book of this expense and don't have the room for another book of this size). But the color charts are extremely appealing.
I've done marling in the past without knowing it was called that - actually back in the 1980's knitting sweaters for Christmas for my ex-in-laws. And I knew that it definitely changed the gauge of your knitting. But, the idea of having a chart that tells you how to combine them to get the weight you want that is really accurate is worth the price of the Making Marls book to me. Thank you so very much!
OMG, I love Oscar, what a ham! I also love marled knitting to get through my stash but have no colour sense. Thanks for the cute technique of mini swatches. That heavy cotton sweater would be great on chilly nights with a white or mustard coloured tank top underneath. It would be such a shame to get rid of it, in my opinion. Thanks again for a very informative podcast.
I bought the book and love it too! I used the micro swatches to decide what colors to marl for a Penguono cardigan by Stephen West and it worked so well. Endless possibilities for sure.
I love marling but dislike the look of marled fabric. I discovered that if I marl two yarns together and then overdye the FO then it looks truly beautiful. Then I discovered that if I soak the FO in nappy soaker and heat it then it pulls some dye out of the yarn. If I then add vinegar the dye sets back into the yarn and the whole garment ends up a blended colour of the two yarns. If the yarns have different fibres then the fabric this produces is truly stunning and amazing for using up scraps.
Your summer cardigan is gorgeous! You could wear it over a classic white button down shirt in the spring when the weather is still chilly and you need a pop of color after a dark winter.
Ten years ago, I wanted to make the Fiona coat (all garter stitch) from Lene Holme Samsoe in Essentially Feminine Knits but did not have the yarn for it. So I used a rough 100% wool black fingering yarn (it even had bits of straw in it) with a silver mohair blend of white wool and dark gray nylon. It turned out absolutely perfect. I did not know then that I had marled. So now intuitively when I do not have the required weight, I marl I guess. So much fun! ❤
I just finished the simple something sweater and used 4 fingering weight sock yarns in a green yrloe to dark green fade held with a cream coloured fingering weight wool yarn. I love how the cream mutes the other colours and makes the whole more cohesive. A good way to use those single skeins of sock yarn when both yourvsovk drawer and your husbands sock drawer are full. Ps also oniy my husband a granny stripe blanket with a cone of natural and all of my tiny sock left overs. My 80 + husband that gets cold uses it almost everyday.
i did my first marled project a few weeks ago. i knit a marled faded pair of socks, using 2 strands of fingering held double. each colour used about 10 grams so it was a great way to use up small scraps.
I just spun a marled yarn using a solid single with a gradient single to make more of the yarn to be able to knit something with it ... do not know yet... but love it all the same.....to marl two separate yarns I would bobbin each separately and then ply two together to get the store bought look
Lovely visit. I started a marled coat. Mixed a multi-color with a solid. Not good colors on their own but made a lovely combo. Took so long to make it, I gained weight. Never finished.
Well, now I know what it was called when I was making fingerless gloves with a gradient from dark to light using different coloured solid-colour yarns. I did it that way so that I could have complete control over how the gradient worked -- because using gradient-coloured yarn generally meant that the gradient changed either too slowly or too fast for the effect I wanted. It meant I had to calculate and write down how many rows of each combination of yarn I would be doing, but it worked nicely.
Hi :) About this summer sweater - it's so great! 🥰 and it's in fantastic colour! Aboslutely adorable! Maybe you could wear it on a long sleeve dark shirt or a "basic" long sleeve shirt in the autumn or winter. Or - maybe - you could just knit long sleeves to it and make it "SUCH a sweater":) . Anyway - it's too great just to stay in the closed - that's for sure :) Marling is GREAT - it gives something like a third colour. And sometimes when a colour is beautiful but too "strong", marling can make it "milder".
Another good episode, and so many lovely projects! I especially loved your gradient marls. But what would you do if Oscar didn't have your back? He deserves a cashmere dog bed for all of his technical assistance. 🤣 The sequence knitting book is great, I'll have to check out her marls book. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it! I'm with you on texture against the skin sensitivity. I love Purl Soho's Linen Quill (wool, alpaca, linen), and made a Half-and-Half Wrap with it. No problem! So I ordered two sweater quantities. I knit a pullover with it (as have so many others, apparently without issues) and ended up frogging it because I could not wear it against my skin. Yes, it felt like a bunch of biting ants! I reknit it into a Hitofude Cardigan, but will have to make sure to have sleeves covering my arms when I wear it. Sigh.
Oh man…you got me so excited there for a minute about the Linen Quill 😋😂 Oscar can be very helpful, if slightly snarky at times. The jury is still out on the cashmere dog bed, though. 😉
Maybe you could rip back the sleeves of the shortsleeve cardi and make a vest-style/tank top, or rip them back and then make a contrasting color sleeves as a cardigan for fall? Or a complementary color.
Great thoughts! The “sleeves” are just a continuation of a circular yoke, so they can’t be unraveled to the shoulder. I do like the idea of a tank style though. 😊
I’ve used marling to use up my stash. Including the Ranunculus. Like you, my skin cannot tolerate fuzzy fibers, and am definitely allergic to mohair. (Itchy watery eyes, sneezing,…) so I have yet to do the Love Note.
Do you consider holding mohair or suri alpaca with another yarn to be "not really marling" just because there's so often a close color match and (as you already said) it's more for texture? I am guessing that mohair/suri alpaca with high contrast/of a very different color to a second yarn would be more along the lines of a classic marl? It sounds like yes, just curious! Thanks for the comprehensive rundown.
Yes, that's exactly right. My understanding is that a true marl would allow you to see both distinct colors. While many of the fingering/mohair pairings are not the exact same color, they do tend to blend together enough that they "read" as a sold color 😊
I am a spinner - you can twist the two yarns together - however, pay attention to the direction of the twist of the yarns. There is an S twist and a Z twist. Both yarns you are marling should have the same direction of twist. And when you go to twist them, go in the opposite direction! Otherwise you will have a curling, knotted mess! If you don't understand S and Z twist or cant' tell which is which, google it and there are many illustrations that will show you better than I can explain it.
Nicole, I have only just found your channel and its quite wonderful. I have always wanted to know how to Slip Stitch and it turns out that you live there. If also think you would be lost without Oscar. Catch up soon its going to take me a while. Take care.
How long does it take you to knit your sweaters? I have not done a sweater yet. On your spring summer not spring summer sweater pick up stitches on the inside of the sleeves and add a long sleeve and just make it fall winter.
Another interesting video-- thanks! Could you say something about marling yarns with different fiber combinations? For example, would it be all right to marl a wool/nylon fingering weight yarn with a superwash dk yarn?
Absolutely! You can marl any two yarns together…HOWEVER…I strongly recommend that you swatch, wash, and block a sample of the combo to ensure it’s going to behave the way you want 😊
If you’re worried about being too heavy and warm, just ask your doctor for thyroid problems. I am cold all the time now I can remember when I was one of those hot natured people but now I wear sweaters sweatshirts I didn’t even put away my winter clothes this year and today it’s June 1.
To “spin” 2 yarns together, you first have to establish how each yarn was originally PLYED (and you’ll need both yarns PLYED the same way!) The most commonest PLYING is “S” (Look at the strand, you can overlay the letter S…it has the bar of the PLY in the same direction as the bar of the letter S) Now, you need to undo that ply, so spin in the Z direction (the opposite to S). Do this to both balls of yarn, then re-ply in the S. I do this when making thicker yarns (incorporating more than one stand), as it avoids one of the strands becoming the “leader” in your knitting (and thus resulting in pooling).
@@sleepydrJ you could… I’m coming from a technical spinning perspective 🥺 (You end up with a softer, more uniform yarn doing it s) Do an experiment on a piece of yarn using your finger to twist (first in clockwise direction Z, then in anticlockwise direction S], then after each, allow to ply back on itself. You’ll definitely see the difference. UN-plying [from s] brings all the strands back into alignment, whereas doing more z it still keeps each yarn in its own identity even when plyed. My opinion! 🤣 EDIT: some crocheter’s say that S plyed yarn often unplys when working (some yarns are designated “Z” ply specifically for crochet). HOWEVER, it would be interesting to hear whether a left-handed crocheter had this happen (that is, whether the S ply yarn unplys as with a right handed person) 🤔🤔🤔
I’ve been doing this since I was a child (in the late 70’s making clothes for my Barbie and Teddy Bears). For all these years, didn’t know combining two different colours held together had a name. I also remember my mother using yarn balls that consisted of two high contrast colours (I think it was Carnival brand ). Is this kind of yarn also referred to as marl? Also, is there a different name for working three colours or more together?
I'm not on the naming committee 😉but I think that any high contrast yarns held together would constitute a marl, including three or more strands - although that could end up being more of a "blend" than a marl, depending on the colors 😊
I marled a silvery gray 100% bamboo with Sandness Garn lavender mohair. The mohair grabbed the bamboo and helped with tension. The color it made is gorgeous. I made the Sheer-v sweater by Jessie Maed and dropped the bamboo for the V. I love the sweater.
You can't marl it with a machine, when the stretch is very different like cotton and wool for example. This combination is better done manually. But doing it by hand you can combine all sorts of material. Manually just meaning letting the balls unwind separatly while knitting.
I have had trouble with ysrn if I wind it together. I love marling but I hold each yarn together as I knit. Never wind them together becsuse of tangling problems I have had in the past. @@nancyborgeson440
