| Universal Summer Linen |
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| Written by Barbara Rottman | |||
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The Look Universal Yarn’s new Summer Linen is a premium blend of 50% cotton and 50% linen plied together in a light weight (DK) yarn. It’s the best of both fibers and just about the best fiber combination for summer knitting. Summer Linen is a cool, breathable fiber for hot weather wear. You’ll love this yarn for lacy summer tops, jaunty cardigans, market bags and even for home décor. Its companion, Linen Tweed, is the same premium blend of 50% cotton and 50% linen, with a marled strand for a tweedy pattern effect.
The Feel Summer Linen is soft and pliable, like a much-used linen towel. Think of those colorful souvenir linen tea towels stamped with maps, calendars or holiday motifs that get softer and softer with use. Summer Linen has the strength of linen and cotton, but without stiffness. It rates a 6 on the softness scale.
The Patterns Universal Yarn makes eight patterns (including two free patterns) for men and women’s wear featuring Summer Linen. Since linen and cotton both tend to relax with washing and use, look for patterns that have a relaxed shape and looser fit, but don’t avoid texture or lace as linen has excellent stitch definition. Browse through the summer fashion knitting magazines or your favorite knitting book for patterns knit at a gauge of 21 – 24 stitches over 4 inches. You will find a nearly unending range of designs readily available.
Color Range Feast your eyes on the beautiful range of color available in this yarn – you could almost mistake balls of Summer Linen for scoops of icy fruit sherbet. Summer Linen is available in 14 of the most desired seasonal colors and the seven stylish colors of Summer Linen Tweed coordinate perfectly with the Summer Linen palette. You will look great in the local sunshine anywhere from Key West to Coos Bay when you wear Summer Linen.
Working It If you have knit with linen before, you might expect that Summer Linen will be stiff and hard to control, but it is a very “knittable” yarn. Linen isn’t difficult to knit, but it just doesn’t bend all that willingly and tends to spring off those amazingly smooth metal needles. The 50/50 blend of linen and cotton in Summer Linen tempers the linen’s rigidity, and it knits more like soft cotton than rigid linen. You can easily overcome any tendency toward runaway stitches by switching to bamboo or wooden needles, which will gently grip the stitches. If only everything else in life were so easy to control!
After all the talk about how soft this yarn is, it sounds contradictory to refer to “crisp” stitch detail, but Summer Linen does deliver sharply defined stitches. That means yarn overs, shaped decreases and increases, and other textural stitches will keep their shape and stand out in bold relief to show off all the detail you so carefully counted out in your knitting.
What I’d Like to Make with It Rumpled linen suits are comfortable in summer not because they haven’t been ironed, but because the linen fiber wicks moisture away from the body. As the moisture evaporates, it cools similar to what happens with air conditioning. Summer Linen would be an ideal choice for a hot weather top, either a tank or loose fitting shell. Add a lace panel either down the front or above the bottom edge to the armpits, or knit the entire garment in a lace pattern. Alternatively, you might like to knit a summer shawl or stole in this light weight yarn. It is a good choice for hot weather because, face it, no matter how hot it gets, you still have to put on clothes.
Knitting Outside the Box Now that I mentioned those handy linen tea towels, why not sample Summer Linen by knitting a handy tea towel. Calculate the number of stitches you will need to knit a towel approximately 19 x 24” (100) and design your own towel – it’s as simple as knitting an oversize gauge swatch.
Blocking It Do not apply heat to this yarn. Lay flat to dry.
Washing It Both Summer Linen and Summer Linen Tweed are easy-care machine washable, and they continue to soften as they are worn and laundered. Whether you hand wash or machine wash (gentle cycle please) this yarn, use cool water and mild soap.
Wearability Linen and cotton both take dye well. Summer Linen did not bleed any color when washed; you can expect long-lasting color. While you wouldn’t call linen rugged in the same way you might describe denim, you can expect years of wear from Summer Linen. I have a years-old summer shell knit in a linen/cotton blend that continues to get more comfortable and softer with wear. I would expect the same from a garment knit with Summer Linen. Overall Recommendation Summer Linen is an excellent value – the yardage is generous, the colors eye catching, and the yarn is made to quality standards. Try Summer Linen for a cool summer project. I rate it #10.
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