What a Difference the Yarn Makes

I enjoyed knitting the Hurricane boot cuffs so much so I decided to create another pair. The first set was knit in an appropriate gray colour allowing the simple purled moving swirl pattern to show through. The yarn used was worsted acrylic with an i-cord cast on and bind off. The end product is heavy weight making this pair suitable for seriously cold climates.

Hurricane boot cuff

The second pair was knit using variegated lighter weight sock yarn called Sassy Stripes by Moda Dea. I love the blend of browns, blues and whites. It is common knowledge that when one knits with variegated yarn any pattern within the fabric knit will more than likely will be lost. Of course, I decided to ignore that common knowledge and added the swirling purl to this new pair. Let me show you the results.

Second pair of Hurricane boot cuffs

This yarn has created with a lighter weight pair of cuffs making them perfect for a milder type of climate. And as can be expected the variegated yarn also creates a pattern of its own causing the purl swirls to be virtually invisible. I also changed the start and end of each cuff using a typical knitted cast on and a sewn bind off. Since the cuffs were lighter I wanted the edges to be lighter as well. (Since I like to have two knit items that make a pair match one another, I manipulated the yarn to make that happen as well.)

Take a look at the two finished products side by side.

What a difference the yarn makes

This photo illustrates what I love about knitting, each time one picks up a pair of needles with a certain type of yarn or wool one is able to make a completed product that is unique. Sometimes that end result is more pleasing than at other times, but nonetheless the differences are due to the yarn.

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