Cotton vs wool

Summer has finally found its way to Norway, it remains to be seen how long it lasts ... sometimes it lasts for a couple of weeks and then it is "gone". And by "gone" I mean temperatures are falling and it is raining most of the time 🌦🌧⛈🌥

Anyhow, after last weeks newsletter, a few of you came back and said it is too hot here - to even think about wearing wool, so I cannot knit any of the beautiful Norwegian designs.

Of course you can! 

Any given pattern, can be knitted in any yarn you want, as long as you know how to find substitute yarns and/or make a few adaptions to the pattern according to the yarn specifics. 

Another question I got was, do you really use wool in the summer? Answer is sometimes :D 

The dress/tunika and sweater on the picture here are from the "Symphonie Ω Symfoni" collection and are knitted in wool. Of course we would not ware those kinds of clothes on a hot summer day, but on a cold summer day on the other hand ... and in spring and in winter. 

So, back to the wool vs cotton question. 

There are two things you need to take into consideration when you substitute wool with cotton.

First of all, wool as a natural fibre memory and finds its way back to its "natural" state. Cotton does not have this ability, so when it stretches it will stay like that. 

Secondly, cotton that have the right tension/gauge to replace wool is generally denser in texture and thus heavier than wool. Therefore it tends to sag a bit. The reason for this is basically because of the combination of its natural weight and this thing called gravity - and this we cannot really do much about that.

In other words, cotton knit will stretch a bit, so dont knit your cotton garments too long, they must rather prefer to be a bit too short than too long.🧶 🧶  

Good luck with your knitting and happy summer knit (or winter knit if you are south of the equator) 

Knitting vibes from