“Can I use these yarns together?” is a question I sometimes hear at the shop, and the answer is almost always yes. Maybe the perfect background color comes from one brand but the perfect contrast color is in another brand – if the fiber content and gauge are similar, go ahead and mix yarn to your heart’s content! For show-and-tell today, we’re focusing on projects that combine different yarns in different ways, for different reasons.

Here’s Jaime in her “Fall Sweater,” knit during Anne’s class on the subject. Jaime found three colors she loved in Retrosaria Rosa Pomar Vovó, and found the fourth in the now-discontinued Brooklyn Tweed Imbue Sport. As you can see, these two non-superwash sport weight wools knit up seamlessly together – such a lovely sweater! Pattern by Courtney Kelley.

Nancy knit this “Pine Point” hat for a child, modifying the size by using fingering weight yarn. For the solid purple, she picked Ewe Ewe Fluffy Fingering, a 100% superwash merino wool, and, wanting a variegated contrast color, she chose hand-dyed Dream in Color Smooshy Cashmere. The resulting hat is soft, colorful, and machine washable – just right! Pattern by Mary Lou Egan.

Margaretta mixed yarns for the same reason in her “Ocean Waves Cowl,” by Amy Christoffers. The mosaic pattern pairs a self striping yarn with a solid color – Margaretta used Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Crazy and Sandnes Garn Sunday, respectively.

Another time knitters often mix and match different brands of yarn is when we’re trying to use up leftovers from previous projects. Such was the case for Wendy, who makes socks often enough to have some bits and bobs on hand.

Here are her charming “Forester Caterpillar Socks,” by Alexandria Wenninger, knit with three different but comparable sock yarns: CoopKnits Socks Yeah!, Malabrigo Ultimate Sock, and Isager Sock.

Kristin knit this PetiteKnit “Melange Sweater” for her daughter, holding two different non-superwash fingering weight wools together throughout. Color was part of the reason – Kelbourne Woolens Camper had the right heathered black, Cascade 220 Fingering had the right bright white – but in the end, it came down to availability. This was the black and white combination we had enough of at that moment, and she was eager to cast on! I don’t blame her – I love the staticky look of a marled sweater, and this one is a beauty.

Thanks to Jaime, Nancy, Margaretta, Wendy, and Kristin for sharing their projects with us! And thanks to everyone who starts their projects with a trip to HYS – we can’t wait to see what you come up with next.