Introduction

A Little Song, A Little Dance, A Little Fiber in Your Pants
There’s a new appreciation among yarn manufacturers, designers, and knitters for ancient fibers like linen and hemp. And then there are the new fibers developed by progressive yarn companies (I love these guys) who aren’t just taking whatever they can find - but working to create new fibers, yarn textures, and blends.

Fiber Families, Substituting, and Your New Career as a Yarn Detective
You can see that within each group the fibers differ in their exact natures, but they’re similar enough that thinking of them as families will help steer you to the most suitable section of your LYS (local yarn store) for your next project.

Learn to Love Your Geeky Thing
When it comes to nonwool knitting, the reason you knit a little something before you knit the bigger something is to learn more about the yarn than just gauge.

Projects  

Bacardi: Designer Barbara Gregory is a genius with color. She’s taken the mesmerizing yarn shop wall of Tahki Cotton Classic and distilled it into the most elegant of muted sonatas using simple stripes and occasional rows of two-color short-float stranded knitting.

Eileen : This simple, beautiful shell was inspired by the clean lines of a famous clothing designer named Eileen. I wonder if she knits?

Network: Silk hats might feel great, but silk + hair = static. In winter, we have more than enough of that without external help.

Tuscany : This shawl uses the yarn that turned me into an obsessive evangelist for all things sheepless – Handmaiden Silken. It’s the yarn that proved to me that knitting without wool is not hardship.

Intoxicating: Designer Kristi Porter is mad for mosaic knitting. And when she combined a coordinating pair of mosaic patterns with lace and pure, shimmery silk, I was Intoxicated.

Twist: Designer Jillian Moreno says Rowan Summer Tweed is an unpredictable yarn unless you knit it tighter than ball-band gauge. But she loves it for its nubby texture and this tweedy ribbed baby is the result.

Bespoke: Designer Libby Baker loves the texture, flow, and crisp feel of linen. For her tailored, classic coat, she chose an affordable cotton/linen blend that gives heft, drape, and crispness without pomposity.

River Rock Scarf: Inspired by water flowing around pebbles in a bubbling creek, the River Rock Scarf does not pretend to be an exact imitation of nature, although the sumptuous silk yarn does indeed flow like water around the beaded rocks.

Manly Maze: Men are hard to knit for. (The male knitters and sweater-wearers I know agree.) But what guy wouldn’t be intrigued by a sweater made from hemp?

Sweet Indulgence: This exquisite-but-simple silk robe is knitted in the most intriguing of silk yarns – a bulky weight shimmery silk from Classic Elite.

The Bag: Designer Wendy Wonnacott is well known on the Web for her beautiful knitted bag patterns. She pays attention to detail unlike anyone else, and now she’s turned her cotton-loving design eye to hemp.

He and She Ganseys: Ganseys are the coolest things. Texture without fuss, and so comfy, who could refuse? Designer Jeannine Sims made one for him and one for her.

Berthe Collar: I would be quite surprised if you didn’t have a few one-skein delights in your stash…single skeins of something dramatically delicious that you couldn’t put down in the yarn shop, but had no idea what to do with when you go them home.

Cables and Os: This luscious, sexy cardigan is knitted in kissable pink from a linen-rich cotton blend yarn.

Midwest-Style Thrummed Mitts: These ultra-warm mittens are a take-off on the traditional Maritime design.

Drunken Argyle: When designer Holli Yeoh came up with the first Drunken Argyle, a man’s crazy argyle vest knitted in fine-gauge wool, I was in love. Thankfully Holli was able glad to oblige the other half of the population, and take on the sheepless challenge at the same time.

Morrigan: Ask knitters, “can you knit an aran without wool?” and they will probably deny it. So, how do you get it wool-free? Try this Morrigan.

Tomato: As comfy as a bowl of tomato soup, but exponentially sexier.

Peerie Fleur: This cardigan is knitted in yummy chocolate brown accented with fleur-de-lis-inspired motifs in strong pink and an indefinable color Rowan calls “ghost.”

No-Wool Socks: Don’t be fooled into thinking that socks have to be knitted out of wool.

Abbreviations

Glossary of Techniques

Contributors

Sources for Supplies

Bibliography

Index