When I have knitted hats or neck warmers with ribbing (generally K2P2), it looks great and is nice and stretchy until the person wears the item a few times. After wearing the ribbing is all stretched out and washing the item doesn’t seem to restore it.
Is this the nature of ribbing or is it me or the yarn I’ve used? I have tried Plymouth Encore and TLC Baby.
Thanks.
Angelina
There is such a beast as Knitting Elastic (made by Rainbow), but good luck finding it. You hold it with the yarn while knitting the cuffs. I have been to 2 LYS and haven’t found it. Gutterman makes elastic thread, but depending on what you are making it may be too thick and comes in a limited color palette. If you find it, please let me know!
Candice
Is this what you mean by Knitting Elastic? http://www.k1c2.com/Rainbowelastic.htm
Is it always in 100% wool? Strange… you should be able to block it to be stretchier. Don’t stretch it wide: when it’s wet, gently pull it taller and let it pull in as much as it can. That might help.
Sarah
Yes, that is it. I emailed following the link on that page about a month ago and got a reply back that said the company sold off that division to Bryson Distributing. On the Bryson website, I did not find the Rainbow Elastic.
Candice
It was buried pretty deep on the website, but I did find it here (http://www.brysonknits.com/bryson.htm scroll down close to the bottom). Several stores in my area are listed, so I will be checking them out.
Thanks.
Angelina
The 2 yarns she mentioned are both acrylic, I believe, so wool blocking is out.