The Secret Life of Yarn — PDF

Your sweater grew a size in its first wash. The hat that felt kitten-soft in the store itches. Your socks wore through in a month. Was it bad yarn? Usually not. It was good yarn for the wrong job.

The Secret Life of Yarn follows yarn on its journey — from the sheep, the field and the cocoon, through the spinning mill and the dye pot, the store shelf and the needles, to the sweater you wear for years. Your guide is Skein, the voice of every skein in the world. Alongside it: solid knowledge you can use right away at the yarn shop and on your needles.

In this book you'll learn:

- why two yarns of "the same weight" can give completely different fabric,

- how to read a ball band and compare yards per 100 g,

- how to substitute the yarn in a pattern — and when it won't work,

- how wool, alpaca, cashmere, mohair, cotton, linen, silk and synthetics really differ,

- why sock yarn has nylon in it, and what superwash does to the scales,

- how to spot traps on the shelf: softeners, empty words, "bamboo", price per skein instead of per yard,

- how to block, wash, store and mend your knits so they last for years.

Inside:

- 4 parts, 23 chapters

- 25 at-home "Lab" experiments

- Fiber Atlas — 21 cards

- 15 line drawings and diagrams

- printable swatch and project cards, formula cheat sheet, tables, US/UK glossary, index

- US units first, metric alongside

This isn't a pattern book. It's the book after which a skein stops being just a color and a price.

What you get: a PDF file (6 × 9 in, 222 pages), available to download right after purchase. Read it on screen and print it for your personal use.

Look. Choose. Make. Wear.