What do I do with that amazing art yarn?

---- is one of the most frequently asked questions here at MadWool.  We have an amazing selection of Handspun yarns, which delight and amaze knitters.

This is a project I did with her bulky wool chenille--I made a pillow that took me longer to sew than to knit.  I cast on 8 stitches on size 50 needles, knit a few rows (4), then did a row with an extra 'yarn over', dropped the stitch next row, and finished in 4 more rows.  Add pillow form, and sew fabric to back.  I also added some Sari silk ribbon through the 'yarn over' row.

One of the things most knitters are unhappy about when knitting with art yarns is the loss of the great texture of the original yarn.  Usually this is due to using small needles to knit with (even 17-19 can be too small!).  Here are your new friends, 'needle-zilla':

Here is a scarf/infinity scarf I made from some yarn I got from Shannon of the Spun Monkey.  It had lots of interesting mohair curls throughout, and I didn't want to lose that from the finished product.  This is something to consider when choosing a project/needle size for knitting/crocheting--you really don't need complex patterns--let the yarn do the work.

An easy scarf recipe:  First, read your yarn.  What does it want to be?  Some yarns are so amazing, just wrap the skein around your neck and be done with it.  Stop in to the shop for examples---what could be faster?  Next, grab those huge needles--we do have them in circulars as well.  I usually only cast on 10-12 stitches, knit 3-4 rows in garter stitch (knit every row), and on the fourth row, I do an extra wrap or two over each stitch--a 'yarn over'.  On the next row, drop all the wraps except one, and this will grow the length between rows and this will show off the texture of the yarn nicely and any interesting bits that need to be shown off.   I did this one straight, and bound off.  I wanted an infinity scarf, and didn't know how much yarn I had, so I did it straight and rather than sew the ends together, I wove a sari silk ribbon to hold the ends together which I call my 'Provisional Bind Off"--I can take it out and wear the scarf straight if I want to.  I usually wrap it twice around the neck.

Here is one I did on size 19 circulars, and just did 2 knit, 2 purl, and added some ribbon here and there.  It was yarn I spun to have coils in it, and this scarf shows them off.

Please feel free to ask us what to do with that Art yarn next time you grab a skein and don't know what to do to show it off.  We have lots of ideas...and plenty of amazing yarns.