Stiff Material

How-to Questions
1

Hey everyone,

I’m working on my second project and I’m having something of a dilemma. The first scarf I made was out of Paton’s Decor and was adequately soft. My second, one, however, is being knitted with TLC Essentials, 100% acrylic and the material feels very stiff to me.

Here’s a photo of it:

My questions is: is this just the nature of the yarn, or am I knitting too tight? I tried to knit more loosely on this than my previous scarf, but I can’t seem to. Should I rip it out and wait until I can find larger needles (7US is the largest I have), or will washing soften it up? Also, the stripes are Paton’s Classic Merino Wool, so I probably should wash the whole thing by hand, right?

2

I looked it up and it seems the needle size recommended is 8. Knitting with a needle that is too small can produce a very tight, stiff fabric.

It may also be the yarn. I haven’t knit with that, but as I recall it wasn’t very soft. If it is soft then you probably just need a larger needle. I’d go with at least an 8, maybe a 9.

3

I agree. I think you need a larger needle.

4

If your stripes are 100% wool, you will need to handwash the whole thing, unfortunately.