Warning: knitting is highly addictive
Although I am not an advanced knitter by any means – I am far too impatient to become one -, I must say that I find knitting highly addictive.
Handmade textile products // Knitting with strips of fabric
I love exploring different textile techniques. Lately I have discovered the possibility to knit with strips of fabric.
Materials I used
For this project I used unbleached 100% cotton fabric with a plain-weave. To get fabric strips in different colours and shades, I dyed the strips by hand.
You could also create strips out of left over fabrics, sewing fabric never used up, or fabric from clothing or bedlinen no longer wanted.
How to make fabric yarn for knitting with fabric strips
Step 1 of making yarn: tear the fabric into strips
I turned the fabric into ‘yarn’ by cutting slits about 1,5cm apart across the selvedge of the fabric and ripping the fabric from each slit into strips. The benefit of woven cotton is that it is easy to tear it along the grain.
Step 2 of making yarn: sew the strips together at the ends
I used a sewing machine to join the strips together at the ends to make one very long strip. I did not knot because it would create bulk at the join.
Proudly presenting my first ‘knitting-with-strips-of-fabric-work’
Knitting with strips of fabric
After winding the long strip into a ball, I started knitting, using a knitting needle size 10 mm. I love the cast on method as shown on the picture, because it lets me pick up the stitches easily and start knitting the other direction.
Major disadvantage of using fabric strips
When I was knitting, I found out a major disadvantage of using fabric strips: the enormous amount one need. Nevertheless, my first project of knitting with fabric strips resulted in a short jumper. I love the idea of making cushions and floor rugs tough.
