This past February we explored the Thread Lace technique on standard gauge machines, but did you know you can also create beautiful Thread Lace patterns on a Bulky machine? Make sure your bulky knitting machine has a fairisle setting, and you can get to work creating beautiful and unique BULKY Thread Lace!
When selecting your yarn and pattern to create Thread Lace, there are a couple of things to remember:
- For cohesive results, it's a good idea to ensure your thread and yarn colors match. That said, do a few test swatches experimenting with different yarn and color combos
- Use a heavy yarn and a thin yarn for best results. For the "heavy yarn" you can use a double, triple, or even quadruple strand of your yarn. Ellen liked working with 4 strands of Alpaca Lace, while Cindy chose 2 strands of Yarn Country. Lace, Sport, and Fingering weight yarns are great options.
- Avoid long floats.
- Use weights - be sure to place them evenly along your work, moving them up as you knit.
- The thread in feeder 2 or "B" will knit the pattern. Both yarns will knit together on non-patterned areas, so be sure to set the tension for knitting both threads together.
- Set end needles to working position every row to ensure that both threads knit together.
KH Machines (Brother, KnitKing): Push back the end needles if selected by pattern every row.
- Either side of your knitted work can be the right side, depending on your visual preference.
- If you use tuck stitches in your pattern work, your piece will not curl.
- Knit with a smooth rhythm, and pay attention to your edge stitches.
It's scary to think that it's already time to start planning your winter knitting projects. Why not deviate form a basic scarf by sprucing it up with a little Thread Lace!
Note: The terminology Thread Lace refers to that produced on a Brother machine, versus Punch Lace on Studio, Singer, and Knitmaster machines. In the end of the day, Punch Lace and Thread Lace are the same technique.
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