Knitting with lace weight yarn can seem daunting at first, but with a little practice and patience, it can yield stunning results. Lace weight yarn is thin and delicate, which means it requires a bit more care and attention than bulkier yarns. Here are some tips to help you successfully knit with lace weight yarn!
- Use the right needles: Because lace weight yarn is so thin, it’s important to use needles that won’t split the yarn or cause it to snag. Choose needles with a sharp tip and a smooth surface.
- Keep tension even: With lace weight yarn, it’s easy to accidentally pull too tight or too loose, which can result in uneven stitches or even dropped stitches. Practice keeping a consistent tension by knitting slowly and making small adjustments as needed.
- Use a lifeline: A lifeline is a thin piece of yarn that you thread through your stitches every few rows or so. If you make a mistake or need to rip back your work, the lifeline will help you keep track of where you are and prevent any dropped stitches.
- Choose the right pattern: Not all patterns are well-suited for lace weight yarn. Look for patterns that have open, lacy designs that will show off the delicate texture of the yarn. Shawls, stoles, and lightweight sweaters are all great choices.
- Block your finished work: Blocking is the process of washing and shaping your finished project to even out the stitches and create a professional-looking finished piece. With lace weight yarn, blocking is especially important to ensure that the delicate stitches can be fully appreciated.
One last tip! When working with a fuzzy lace yarn (like mohair or alpaca), it can be very difficult to frog your work, as the fine hairs can snag on one another and tangle, increasing breakage.
We heard of a simple hack to make frogging easier…freeze your project! ❄ We thought it sounded just crazy enough to try.
So, while Aileen was working on that lacy scarf with our Suri Alpaca lace-weight yarn, we asked her to test out the hack. She put her unfinished scarf in the freezer overnight, and the next morning…pulled the working end of yarn and the stitches slipped right out. Amazing! Keep this in mind if you find yourself working with a fluffy yarn that simply does not want to frog 🐸
If this post has inspired you to start a new project, check out All Free Knitting’s collection of free patterns for lace weight yarn HERE.
And of course, we’ve got your yarn needs covered! Check out our SHOP to see our premium selection of lace and fingering weight yarn for whatever project you have in mind. Happy knitting!
