Dear Knit Nerd - Overheated but Hopeful

DEAR KNIT NERD

“I run warm and I’m trying to knit something wearable for summer. Can I just switch out the wool in a pattern for cotton, or are there other things I should be thinking about? Like, how do I know what’s actually going to be breathable and still look good?”

— Overheated but Hopeful

DEAR OVERHEATER BUT HOPEFUL,

I would strongly advise against knitting a top that was designed for wool or another animal fibre out of a plant-based yarn like cotton, linen, bamboo, etc. (and vice versa). Cotton and other plant fibres do not have the same elasticity as wool and therefore do not stretch or drape the same way. You will probably be very disappointed in the final garment if you were expecting it to look like the pattern sample. Cotton is also much heavier and denser than wool which can work against you if what you are looking for is a lightweight summer top. There can even be issues with substituting cotton for linen since cotton is so much denser.

To avoid disappointment and frustration, my suggestion is to search for patterns that are designed for cotton or other plant fibers. On Ravelry you can search patterns by fiber type (by clicking Patterns>Advanced Search and then filtering by Fibre on the left-hand side) which I find incredibly useful. If you do decide to explore knitting a pattern designed for wool and substituting cotton, I suggest looking for patterns with POSITIVE ease only. Pay special attention to the sleeves, if they look snug on the model they are probably designed with negative ease and the pattern is probably not suitable for cotton. You can also search through the projects on the pattern to see if anyone else made it out of cotton (by clicking Projects>Advanced on the pattern page and then filtering by Fibre type on the left-hand side) to see if it looks ok and reading their notes to see if they had any issues. For example, this is a search that shows projects where knitters have knit the Lovenote sweater by tincanknits out of cotton.

Sincerely,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Knit Nerd