Hi all. I'm wondering what experience has been had with knitting cabled garments in wool/acrylic blends? I would like to knit up the Central Park Hoodie in Lion Brand's Wool Ease since it's for a teenager, it's machine washable/dryable, and it's cheap as heck right now. The only worry I have is whether or not the cabling will hold true after drying/blocking since the yarn isn't 100% wool. Is it possible to get decent results with acrylic blends--that is, results worth the effort of knitting--when doing cabled patterns? Or does it make more sense to stick to plain-jane patterns when using this type yarn? Apologies for the naive nature of this post!

Thanks!

Stacee

I use wool/acrylic blends all the time. I love the results I get with cables and all the other patterns I do.

Shari

Usually the look of the yarn is more important for cable definition than the fiber of the yarn. To really show-off cables you want a smooth, light-colored yarn. Texture and darker colors make it more difficult to see the cables.

Thanks to you both for the replies. I have seen lots of patterns involving cables on the various websites of brands who deal mostly in blended/acrylic yarns, but I hadn't actually used the yarn to make any of the patterns. I know about the color being more conducive to visualizing the cables, but wasn't clear about the block-ability of the yarn being an issue. I think I will knit up a larger-than-usual swatch including a good width of the cabling and see what happens, including before/after washing results!

Thanks again,

Stacee

P.S. Does anyone have photos of finished products with cables using wool/acrylic blended yarn(s), specifically wool ease? I'd love to see them!

I made an afghan for my daughter last year that consisted of 20 different Aran patterned squares. I used Plymouth Encore, which is a wool/acrylic blend, because I wanted to be able to machine wash it. I was able to block it, but it's not as malleable as 100% wool. I didn't read the instructions carefully, so I was trying to block the squares separately before I seamed them. They all had the same number of rows and cast on stitches, so seaming wasn't a problem. The blocking was supposed to come later, and actually, that made more sense to me once I did it.

I have some photos of the work in progress, as well as the finished afghan on my blog .
Here are the dates that show squares, or the completed afghan:
Feb 15, although I think I drafted it in January, so it shows up there. "Tastes Like Chicken" is the title of that entry, and you'll have to scroll down to see it. In fact, on a lot of these you have to scroll past quite a bit of blah blah blahing to get to the photos of the afghan squares
Other dates that feature the afghan are:
Sept. 25
Oct 2
Oct 11
Oct 23
and the final picture is on Nov 4, titled "Dyed and Gone to Heaven"

For some reason, Blogger wants to label my 2006 blog entries as 2005. No idea why.

I'm speechless! OMG that is an amazing blanket!! I think the squares look unbelievable and I have to admit that I'm a little shocked at how great the stitch patterns show up, even though it's not 100% wool and not as 'convinceable' as wool.

I think it's safe to say that I will be knitting a Central Park Hoodie (or three) in wool ease without any worries! Thanks, Rox, for sharing those photos!

Stacee

Thank you for the compliment! It's funny, because I'm STRUGGLING with my cable swatches for Master Knitting Level 1, and it's making me crazy!

The think about wool/acrylic blends, and even 100% wool, for that matter, is that you need to swatch to really see how well the cables will show up. The pattern I used for the afghan is Janet Szabo's A Taste of Aran Afghan. I know from being on her FLAK yahoo group that she recommends going down a needle size or two to create a firmer fabric that will stand up to the weight of the cables. When we were all swatching last year with various wool yarns (and the occasional acrylic or wool/acrylic blend), I was amazed to discover the uncooperative nature of some yarns over the other when it came to showing stitch definition.

My point is that just because I had a good result with Plymouth Encore and this afghan does not necessarily mean that you will have an identical result with Wool Ease.

So you might want to buy one ball and swatch, wash, and block to make sure you get the results you're hoping for.

Wool Ease is not the same as Encore. I have knitted swatches in Wool Ease which I bought on sale. I decided not to use the yarn after washing the swatch. It is not as smooth as Encore so you will not get the stitch definition that Encore gives. Encore is a very stable yarn and wears forever. It is worth the little difference in price. Do a swatch test for yourself.

Good Luck with your project.

Pam

Loved your blog! I'm actually considering trying my hand at making socks. Have you ever made knee socks? I prefer them and have trouble finding pretty colored ones in stores. I especially liked your striped socks. Keep up the good work!
Cheryl

I have not made knee socks yet so I have no input there. The striped socks I have made were done using Lion Brand Magic Stripes. They're not the softest in the world but they are cute and have held up to lots of wearing. Good luck!

Thanks for the compliments on both the blog and the knitting!

Stacee