Are we ready to go? Yes, yes, yes! We are ticket-
we are ticking. We are talking blah blah blah! Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah...
Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. I'm Hannah. I'm here with knitting natter to
help you learn to knit the easy way. Today we're talking about knitting motivation,
and today I thought we could focus on the yarn. Yarn choice can make a big difference
on how willing you are to pick your knitting up and keep on knitting. So, yes, those big choices
that we make when we go into the yarn store can really really help us. Yes we're going
to look at a few details today but I'd like you to look and think about the big picture as well,
and a big picture can start with so many things. If you want the details about substituting yarn,
about fibres, weights, styles of yarn, then I do have two courses that can really help with this kind of
thing. This isn't courses about the very intimate techniques about knitting about that stitch or
this stitch. It's about the choices you make as you're knitting and before you start knitting,
so for very beginners we have the Masterful Knitter and for knitters who've been knitting
for a while there's the Intuitive Knitting and that will move you on from there; you can learn about
substituting yarn, you can learn about the yarn choices that you make that are very specific to
particular projects. So take a look at those if you want to really dive into the very details of yarn,
but today we are definitely looking at the bigger picture and just maybe a couple of those details
as well. So the first thing I want to talk about is the way that the yarn is given to you,
presented to you as you go in a shop and you look at it and you choose which one you want.
If you think about yarn in a yarn shop, you're likely to see two different things.
You're likely to see yarn in balls and you're likely to see yarn in skeins. So down here I have yarn
in balls. This is generally what I go for. If you buy skeins of yarn unless you are very well aware
of this you are all set up to do this yourself and you actually really enjoy this process of getting
ready to knit a project. A skein of yarn can actually hinder you. It can stop you from knitting
because there's a process to go through before you start knitting. I like to get yarn home and start
knitting. That's what I like about buying balls of yarn. The other thing you might want to make sure
that you do is get smaller balls of yarn. So here on the table I have 50 gram balls of yarn, I have
50 grams of cotton, I have 50 grams of felted tweed, and this is an ideal size for these thinner yarns.
If you go any larger than this you're going to have so many yards that it is possible that it
will get tangled, and it will be really pricey as well and you probably will be put off by that when
you start purchasing that kind of yarn. The next thing is as you get into thicker yarns you're more
likely to find the larger 100 gram balls of yarns. This is the caveat. I would say "Cor that's good!
Ooh let's get a larger ball, let's get a larger ball." 400 gram balls of yarn - I've used them before.
They've occasionally been all right and I've not had a problem with them but more often than not
a 400 gram ball of yarn will get tangled. As soon as you start knitting with it you think "Oh this is
great, this is great, this is great," and then in the middle there's this massive clump, and it's just
because winding that kind of, that amount of yarn into a ball of yarn it is. It's just going to get a
little bit knotted in the centre and that little bit of knotted can get a great deal of knotted
and I've had real problems with that where it's taken me a couple of hours to untangle it before
I can carry on knitting. Go for the smaller balls of yarn and you'll be much happier. This is 100
grams of the big wool, and there's only about 100 yards, not even that. I think it's 87 yards on this
and these will have just slightly more because it's a thinner yarn, and it does make a difference.
This kind of yarn you can get home and start knitting with it. OK, so while I've got the
yarn here let me just talk about the next thing: colour. You are not surprised that I'm going to
talk about this. I love talking about yarn colour. Yarn colour can make you pick up your knitting or it
can make you go "Got to knit that again." It can be that simple. Are you a neutrals person? Do you love
your greys? Do you love your greys with a blend of yarn in them like this? This has got the real blend
of colour in it. It's not one grey all the way through; it does feel like a journey. This purple
is very much the same purple all the way through. If you're a knitter who loves purple (and I know
there are quite a few of you out there - you all tell me that on a very regular basis),
then this is for you. This is a lovely purple and you just want to knit with it whenever you
see that knitting you go "Ah scrummy! I want to knit that, I want to knit that",
and in the summer I love these colours for the summer. Such beautiful summery tones
and in so many ways it can help you pick up the knitting. It really can it can: "Oh yes I'm really
looking forward to knitting that!". So the simple individual colour of a yarn can really help you
and keep you motivated about what you're knitting. The other thing is stripes. Let me get these
out. This is a striped yarn. I found it in a yarn shop and I just thought I'd experiment with it.
I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I just kept knitting and I thought,
this is one of those projects where I thought "Oh I'll just start and see what happens.
That's exciting! Ooh I wonder what's happening next and next and next and next," and I can remember
myself going "I'll just knit one more stripe because I want to see what the next colour is,
and then i want to see what the next colour is", and it was going through this rainbow with the
greys in between and I was absolutely loving it. So I think this is discontinued - I'm not sure it's
available anymore, but it's it's the kind of yarn that, it will make you keep on knitting because you
just want to know what's coming next, so that is a real treat! If you like this kind of yarn
then it can really motivate you to keep knitting to pick it up the next day and go "What's happening
next?" and, if you want to create stripes yourself, it can be another motivator (this is a hair scrunchie)
to just go through the project, Ooh I've got the next color coming up in four rows. Ooh it's coming
up in another four rows," and especially if you've got a rotation of more than one colour, say in the
cowl that i knitted, that's in the new autumn winter collection, that is four stripes and those
four colours repeat over and over and over again, so when I wanted to knit I challenged myself to
knit those four colours and then knit the next four, and then next knit the next four, so it was really
nice just going through that process and seeing myself through those four stripes every time I
sat down to knit. Right, so the third tip I have for you is about the yarn quality. Now this can be
a problem I know because of budget, and I've been there and sometimes I feel that I'm there again .
It's like "Hmm do I just upgrade the yarn a little bit because it's a large thing I'm knitting?" but
just go and watch this video that I've got. It's the budgeting yarn and I will link this
at the end of the video and in the description below so you can watch it once this is finished.
It's about being aware of your budget while you're knitting and upgrading the quality of yarn without
quite so much worry about your budget as well. There are lots of things you can look for when
you're looking at the quality of your yarn. Just know that it will encourage you and motivate you
to knit because it will feel nicer to knit with. It will feel easier to knit with as well. There won't
be so many kinks and knots and struggles with it as you're knitting, and as with cotton yarn the ply
is likely to be twisted more so you won't keep piercing the yarn while you're knitting too. Let's
just look at this yarn as an example. I've got two yarns here. This orange one is the same as this.
It's the Wool &The Gang shiny happy cotton. This is a high quality yarn. When I upgraded to this
i was kind of shocked. I didn't realize that there was such good quality cotton yarn. Yes I sell
it. No I'm not sponsored by Wool & The Gang. The reason that I sell it is because the quality
just blew my mind. This is the low quality yarn, and no I'm not going to tell you the manufacturer, I'm
just going to give you the details. I'm not shaming anyone here. I'm just telling you the
details so that you can look for this when you're choosing yarn yourself. So the yarn here has about
eight plies. That is eight little strands that make up the yarn. So you can see that there, and it's
twisted - all those strands are twisted together to make the final yarn. So when I knit with this,
I thought this was a great yarn. I was really, really happy with it. I used to pierce it sometimes
because while the twist is there it's not a particularly tight twist but i thought "Oh that's
cotton yarn, that happens," so i was just expecting it. That's eight strands of yarn. Just take note of
that. This is the shiny happy cotton from Wool & The Gang. This is a much tighter twist. I thought "Oh.
I don't pierce this while I'm knitting. This is a different kind of cotton." It's the same weight, same
thickness of yarn, do the same patterns with it, and then i looked at the number of strands and I thought
"Actually i can't count those strands." It looks like there are five there, but actually each of those
little clumps there have got four or five strands to them which means there's at least 20 strands of
yarn, threads of yarn making up this thread and the beauty of that is it's not only easier to
knit with, you're less likely to pierce it. When you finish knitting it and you're using this item once
it's finished (let's talk slow fashion here), this is going to last longer. If one of these strands
or even three of these strands gets pierced or cut or something, your stitch isn't going to
give up. There's a lot more strands there holding that stitch in place, whereas here if two or three
strands of this get stuck or they get cut or, you know, something happens to them, one of the
stitches is probably only about, may only be half of the stitch left holding it in place,
and you've got to look at these to realise that yes, quality can make a difference,
price can make a difference, but it's also the manufacturers who have gone through different
processes as they're looking for yarn and made different decisions as they're looking for the
fibres to make up their yarns. As you upgrade or as you go to a yarn store and take a look
at these yarns, make a decision based on what the yarn is like, not necessarily on the price
as well. If you're currently knitting with a cotton that's got only about four strands in it
you could upgrade to one that's got eight and just go through those processes one at a time,
but the Wool & The Gang for me seems like the elite of cotton worsted yarn (laughs).
So, it could be easier to knit with, it will feel nicer to knit with in your hands. This is a cotton
yarn that I thought I could never find a cotton yarn so smooth. I got used to knitting with cotton
yarns that felt a bit kind of rough, because it felt like linen and a bit of a coarse bit to it
but, no. Not the same. Do go and look at that budget video if you're sitting there going "But Hannah! I
can't afford those high quality yarns!". I know. I've been there, and like i said I'm there sometimes myself
too making those decisions about how much of a upgrade do I go to? Do I or don't I?,
and it it's definitely something to consider and there are ways around it. There are ways
that you can make those decisions and choose the better quality yarn. The fourth tip I have for you
is to do something that I tell you to do a lot of the time and you're going to
go "Oh Hannah would say this wouldn't she!" It's choose a yarn that you've knitted with before.
It can be that simple. If you find a great quality yarn, you really love knitting with it and you love
knitting with it before and you've chosen lots of different colours of it befor,e go and choose a
different colour or choose the colour that you've knitted with before, just use it for a different
pattern and really enjoy that process. Enjoy it! I have been knitting with felted tweed DK for well
over a decade. It's been manufactured for probably three decades now. There's so many shades in it.
We've only got a handful of them in the shop - we've got 10 of them and that's a
decent chunk to pick from, but, definitely, just go and find a yarn that you've knitted with before.
If you absolutely love it go for it. It's certainly a great motivation tip and something you need
to always remember when you're knitting, is that knitting with something you've knitted with before
may feel like a bit of a cheat but boy is it a great cheat! So, yes definitely think about that
as you are picking your yarn. I hope these tips have been helpful. We've talked about
how the yarn is delivered to you. If you love the process of creating a ball from a skein of yarn
then go for it, and if you really just want to get some yarn home and start knitting with it, finding
a ball of yarn will really, really help you enable you to just start knitting. The next one was choose
your colours. It might be a colour that you love, it might be that you're striping, it might be that you
have a colour-changing yarn, it could be all sorts of things, but just recognize the colour can really
motivate you to knit, and it can really put you off knitting as well. Next thing was thinking about the
quality of yarn and that budget video is right here. You can knit with quality yarns on a budget,
and the last one was choose a yarn that you've knitted with before. It can be that simple can't
it? Great! Thanks so much for joining me today. I do hope I'll see you again soon. Subscribe,
and I will see you next week. Bye for now. Happy knitting.