Hi, I am planning to make a cardigan for my daughter. She fell in love with mine and asked me to make her the same sweater in different colors. The yarn recommended is Rowan purelife cotton which is discontinued. I found 2 other 100% cotton on their website. Here comes my question……Can I use 2 different yarns? There are stripes in the sweater and she wants 3 colors that are not available in either of the yarns. Thank you in advance!
Laurie
Rowan Summerlite DK22 sts 30 rows.
Rowan hand knit cotton 19-20 sts 28 rows Dk light worsted
Mixing yarn / gauges
The best way to tell if this will work in your hands and with your needles is to work a good sized swatch with both yarns. That way you’ll be able to evaluate the two yarns as they would be worked in the sweater.
Good-looking sweater and a beautiful knit!
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I think I’d personally go for a different yarn if I wanted it all to look even.
I was really happy with a top I made with different yarns but that was the effect I was going for. Unless you have both of the yarns to swatch with, you won’t know if they have a different look or sheen to them, and that’s fine if you (or rather your daughter) like it that way, different yarn can add another dimension to a design.
If you/she wants it consistent throughout then perhaps fine a single yarn which offers the colours she wants.
Yarn sub has lots of options for similar matches
https://yarnsub.com/yarns/rowan/purelife_organic_cotton_dk
Depending where you are some of the suggestions are easier or harder to source.
Paintbox have a large number of colours (63)
https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/paintbox-yarns-cotton-dk?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20662353567&utm_term=paintbox%20yarns%20cotton%20dk&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwveK4BhD4ARIsAKy6pMLa0ADrKxF16idOaRtYnJMLX1SQNjj0PiRMAxVRqHprB2oWxgGAC-kaAjLnEALw_wcB
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You can do a rough calculation to compare your two replacement yarns, i.e.
Summerlite DK 130m per 50g
Handknit Cotton 85m per 50g
… Oops, my brain just quit. But if you calculate the percentage difference, I think it is a fair bit. I would guess that a difference of up to say 15% would probably not be noticeable, but above that the fabric would look and feel different, even if you adjusted the stitch count. But of course you would have to swatch as salmonmac says.
One way to overcome this would be to knit the textured portions in the thinner yarn (because textured knitting feels and looks thicker), but I am not sure how that would work with the design or colour placement. You could do more textured portions, perhaps.
Did you want dark grey, light grey and ochre as the three colours? If so, I would be happy to have a bit of a search for a DK that has all those and is close to the original yarn. Just let me know where you would be purchasing from e.g. UK.
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Thank you for your reply. I have decided to switch up the colors and go with Summerlite for the entire sweater. I appreciate your time.
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Ah, Summerlite should be very nice, I think. I am sure your daughter will enjoy wearing the cardigan. It’s a nice design, with a bit of variety and some interesting details, so it should be fun to knit too.
Do post a photo (if you can) or let us know how it goes!
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