The FOlio: A Tale of Two Yarn Substitutions

In the FOlio, I reflect on a finished knitting object and what the process of knitting it taught me.

Pattern 1 : Pinkyotto Sweater (Ravelry Link) by Boadicea Binnerts (@boadigram on Instagram)
Knitted from: June 2019-July 2020
Original Yarn Called for : DK cotton/merino blend
Yarn I Used : DK silk/linen blend (Queensland Collection Savanna in Waterfall and Ostrich Feather)

Pattern 2 : Poecile Cardigan (Lovecrafts Link) by Audrey Borrego (website)
Knitted from: August -October 2022 (but not blocked and finished until August 2023)
Original Yarn Called for : Sport wool/linen/flax blend
Yarn I Used : Sport 100% wool (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport in Bramble Heather)

Lesson: when picking a completely different yarn works …and when it doesn’t.

I rarely use the exact yarn called for in a pattern. This is a habit that started when I learned to knit and was using a decades old pattern book and whatever yarn my mom had in her stash from the 80s (Tangent 1: my mom taught herself to knit in the 80s but got frustrated when she encountered intarsia and stopped, she did pick it up again after I got really into it and has knit herself a pair of socks, but it’s not her preferred method of crafting). It continued in my early 20s when Vogue Knitting was my primary source of inspiration and my living-in-NYC-with-student-loans budget needed whatever yarns I could pick up on sale or from a cheaper brand.

(Tangent 2: I do sometimes wonder what my knitting life would be like if Knit Picks hadn’t come along at the *exact* moment I needed a budget friendly source for sweater quantities of yarn. Also helpful – discovering local yarn shop purchases were eligible for the NY State Sales Tax Holidays on clothing, which is how I bought my first sweater quantity.)

As I started to understand gauge and grist better, I got more confident substituting yarn that was a little further from the yarn called for in the pattern. Where previously I might have tried to match the fiber content as closely as possible, now I was willing to experiment a bit more, especially if I had something in my stash already that I thought might work. This is a case study of two such yarn substitutions, one which worked brilliantly, and one which wasn’t an outright fail, but wasn’t as successful as I would have liked.

Pinkyotto

I purchased the DK linen/silk yarn (at my then LYS, Annie & Co.) for a completely different top that I started and realized very quickly I didn’t like (it had a very textured stitch pattern that looked great in the photos but in real life felt too bulky for a summer top). But the yarn was lovely and I really wanted some more summer appropriate knitted tops, so I went on the hunt for a two-color tee pattern, and discovered Pinkyotto. The bold graphic nature of the grid pattern really appealed to me and once I got into it I really appreciated the technique (a column of purl stitches marks where each set of vertical lines goes, making it really easy to crochet those lines over the top during finishing without getting wonky). I suspected it would work with a linen/silk because it would drape nicely so the boxy shape of the top wouldn’t be too overly structured for my taste, and I was correct. It took me over a year to knit because the finishing was pretty complicated and I also set it aside when winter hit to work on other things.

If I have one critique of my substitution it is that I didn’t account for how much less stretchy linen/silk would be compared to the original merino/cotton and went ahead with the foldover collar with no modifications. This makes the collar a little tight going over my head (I have to take my glasses off to get it on as there is absolutely no stretch left). But it isn’t tight against the neck so it’s just a moment of discomfort when I take it off and put it on.

I honestly should wear this top more, as every time I put it on I am reminded how cute it is and how breezy it feels in hot weather.

Poecile

I bought the Knit Picks yarn I used for Poecile to be the body color for a colorwork sweater, only to discover it wasn’t a high enough contrast with the yarn I bought for the chart. So I ordered a different color for that project, but realized that I had been lacking a brown/tan neutral cardigan in my wardrobe for a while and this was a good opportunity to fix that. (I’m not a big brown fan or a big neutral fan in general, but because of this I own a lot of brightly colored T-shirts and blouses and sometimes want something a little calmer to throw over them.)

Searching for a nice sport weight cardigan, I came across Poecile and was charmed by the lace sleeves and the cute matching patch pockets. Also once I got into knitting the pattern itself I became a convert to the garter stitch button band and cuffs – this was so much easier than ribbing and I was pleasantly surprised how really lovely it looks.

And yet, as I got closer to finishing the knit (which I tore through in about three months, one of my fastest sweater knits to date), I started to get a sinking feeling in my gut. I knew that, having chosen a 100% wool yarn rather than a wool/plant fiber blend as called for in the pattern, my yarn wasn’t going to drape as nicely but I had hoped that wouldn’t be much of an issue, especially since the pattern had optional shaping for different cup sizes built in, which I thought would help it hang better on my torso. Unfortunately this didn’t entirely prove true. I might have been better off not knitting the cup shaping, because it kind of bulges out in a way that is not my favorite, especially when the cardigan is open.

However, it’s still cozy and it still has cute patch pockets, and since I knit it in relatively inexpensive and sturdy yarn, I’ve decided it is my designated house cardigan for doing messy crafts, gardening, or anything where I don’t want to worry about ruining a precious handknit. I may someday reknit this pattern in a more drapey yarn, but for now it’s nice to have a sweater to grab when I don’t want to think too hard about what I’m wearing.

The main lesson I’ve learned from both these substitutions is that it’s really important to look carefully at a pattern where you are considering a yarn substitution and think about how a different type of yarn might affect elements of the pattern. I wasn’t wrong that Pinkyotto worked great in linen – but I should have considered how the lack of stretch would impact a foldover collar. I also didn’t think through that using a more structured yarn in my Poecile might make short row shaping that worked fine in a more drapey yarn less effective.

Have you ever made a yarn substitution that was very different from what the pattern called for? How did it go? Tell me about it in the comments!