Tag: fashion design

Designing Clothing That Fluctuates With You

This is inspired by a discussion from Maybe Bre, which made me reflect on something I hadn’t discussed before. As well as my own experience wearing clothing, as a garden-variety human who loves fashion but doesn’t always enjoy how our clothing is made.

By this, I mean the patterns and fastening of our modern times. The zipper is a wonderful thing, and so is the structured waistband. I love them in jeans because denim that isn’t compromised by stretch is a rugged and sturdy garment that isn’t a piece that conforms to you; your body is housed within the trousers. I feel the same way about a structured coat. In doing so, I buy these pieces oversized for comfort, which leaves me with a garment that most of the time doesn’t technically fit me. If I did buy it to fit me right now, there is no guarantee that over many decades it would continue to fit me – I’ve been burned before by this problem. Hence, all my “staple, investment pieces” from college no longer live in my closet because they are no longer my size. If I had planned ahead and bought them a bit oversized, they might still be with me, but they wouldn’t have “fit” me at the time.

My problem with clothing is becoming clear, isn’t it? I desire longevity and wearability from clothing, in a way that is not offered off the rack. I desire my clothes to grow and shrink with me, depending on how my body changes over time. This has been my design focus in the last few years as I have placed myself in the driver’s seat of my wardrobe through the process of sewing and knitting.

My idea is not innovative; it is historical. Clothing, because it was so expensive and hard to make, was more adaptable in the past. Fastenings such as tie waist, lacing, and buttons with multiple sizes of tightness were common because clothing was not as easy or cheap, and they were not seen as disposable or replaceable. Changing fashions came with garment reworks, ye olde upcycling as it were. This is what I desire: the ability to change the fit of my garment.

I recently figured out how to sew with elastic, which is a game-changer for shorts and gathered sleeve hems! Before this, though, I was making most of my bottomweight garments with tie waists or several options of buttons to let the garment adjust to the needs of the day, I’ve also sewed with intentional relaxed fit, initially due to a lack of tailoring skill but over time it has been to allow wiggle room in pieces I have spent days or weeks of my life crafting.

Being present in the making process has taught me to treat my clothing with more respect, even when it is time to discard the current version of it for something more useful. I’ve stopped donating as much, decluttering, and rebuying, to be honest, to be more intentional with the garment and its life cycle. I am the one who brought it to life, I can’t simply consume and discard it like it is nothing. I am deprogramming my brain from decades of fast fashion insanity.

I believe if clothing were made with this design philosophy, that clothing would fluctuate with you over time, I believe we would enjoy wearing our clothing more because instead of buying stretch fabric everything, we could still wear good natural fibers, maybe a bit bulkier than spandex and less figure hugging and lurex denim, but would be better for the humans and the planet. Style and substance, as they say on the Great British Baking Show!

Will I Wear a Knit T-Shirt?

I asked myself this question last summer with genuine uncertainty. Knitting is such a cold-weather medium that a knit made to be breathable and light for warm weather seemed, well, a bit like an impractical fashion piece. I think this is an important question to ask of ourselves before we jump on a trend. Whether it is to buy a knit t-shirt or to handknit (which means you are dedicating weeks of work to a project), having the right expectation matters. Trying on a knit t-shirt beforehand helped me visualize what I was in for. Knitwear for all seasons is currently having a moment even in ready-to-wear, which makes this a great time to go try on a piece before committing to a big project.

Wearing my Grandma’s cotton knit t-shirts, although they were two sizes too small, helped me visualize knit as a process to make a fabric instead of a woolly winter garment. That’s what makes knitting and crochet extraordinary skills; they are versatile. The fiber maketh the project. The stitch maketh the airflow. Lacey, open weave? Fantastic for hot and humid days. Not so much for a pair of mittens. 

To remedy this, I think fiber acquaintance is a fantastic way to learn whether a knit t-shirt is right for you. When I began knitting in 2012, I knew there was wool yarn and acrylic yarn. That was it. However, there is actually a rainbow of fiber waiting to be discovered, and the lineup sure has expanded in the last 13 years!

Cotton

Linen

Bamboo

Hemp

Pineapple

Lyocell

Rayon

Yak

Alpaca

Camel

Mohair

Cashmere

Silk

Did you know that wool has two unique properties? It helps you regulate temperature and is naturally antibacterial/antimicrobial; therefore, it inhibits bacterial growth naturally on the fiber and prevents odors, which is why it is such a great sock material! Although I wouldn’t recommend wool for summer tops, it is a remarkable fiber. There are two fibers, though, that are breathable and naturally don’t let bacteria and microbes hang around – it’s linen and silk! For fiber education and the chance to feel these materials, I recommend finding a friendly local yarn shop and talking to the experts.

Finally, I do have one possible hiccup with my current selection of hand-knit t-shirts. I can’t wear them in 85 degrees Fahrenheit weather and above with humidity, but I do believe a knit tank would fix this problem, and a lacey stitch technique in future projects will solve this. I don’t like sweating a lot in my handknits, and because I was learning with my first few tees, the knitted cotton fabric is a bit bulky. That’s my error. You know what is so cool about knitting, though? You can unravel the finished garments and try again, so I can rework these finished garments in the future. Anyway, I hope you will consider the knit t-shirt as a warm weather staple in your wardrobe, it’s a lovely way to use crochet and knitting all year round!

Finding That Spark After a Creative Slump

A few months ago, I wrote about my 2025 being a creative slump. Well, things have changed, and now  I’d say I’ve found my pace. It’s a dash! I have more ideas than my hands can craft and it feels freeing, like all the crap from the past few months have lifted and the world makes sense, as long as it is crafted from needles.

New Materials

Maybe it’s the new yarns? I’ve been branching out to find new brands and new favorites. Loops and Threads cotton has provided an affordable fiber to try new techniques and play around. The Caron Big Cakes and Blossom Cakes are getting me excited for every stitch, and Knit Picks Pima Cotton has been a dream to work with.

With the news of Big Twist coming to Michael’s, I’m excited to have my tried and true affordable winter yarn to keep pushing my creative limits.

The most exciting new fiber, though, is a recent pickup from my local farmer’s market. A skein of yarn, from sheep in my neighboring county, that was processed and spun over the border in Ohio. It’s not quite the LYS I was wishing for, but it makes me hopeful for the future!

DIY Merch with Yarn

The North American leg of the 2025 Stray Kids Dominate Tour made me feel some big FOMO for the unique merch sold at the shows. From the SKZ Baseball jerseys to the Evil Skzoo tees, dang, I wanted to participate, until I heard the stories of long hot lines at the baseball stadiums and endless screechers, I came back to reality. But – it got me thinking, why can’t I make my own? So I’ve been designing, knitting, and feeling a buzz of happiness because these pieces are some of my best work to date. I can’t wait to share them!

Kokka Fabrics and Firecracker Fabrics

I’ve found new fabric sources and new go-to brands I love. In support of small businesses, I made a purchase from a local fabric store – Firecracker Fabrics, online, because honestly, it is far too difficult to go into Pittsburgh in road work season. Through this purchase, I fulfilled a goal – to try Kokka Fabrics. They are a textile design brand out of Japan, which is sold at my local shop, and it was a dream to work with! With the bad news of Joann’s and the uncertainty of tariffed materials, to be honest, I was thinking my sewing days would be cut short, but this is a fantastic resource. It was affordable, good quality, and unique – all the things I look for in fabrics but have struggled to find at Joann’s, which made me shop at Mood Fabrics. Now I have another option!

I also thrifted some fabric from my in-town thrift store, truly unique fabric that has pushed me forward to try making shorts again and overalls. For not sewing as quickly this year, the garments I have completed are more daring, and I think that is the new materials and new techniques, like elastic, that are pushing me to design more than just sew. I feel like I am back in my 2021 mindset, and I am ready to make clothes that express my design point of view. I lost that in 2023 and got burnt out in 2024, yet a six-month break got me back into it. Maybe that is one good thing that has come from the chaos – a break to reset.

New Inspiration

I’ve found inspiration from K-pop stages and historical sewing channels up to this point, but it was getting stale. Nothing was sparking that drive to create, until recently, when I found some new making channels. I like to watch other people make things, not to copy, but to learn by observing and then channel what I learn into my own inspirations, such as learning how to embroider, make eyelet openings for corset-ish vests, upcycling ideas, etc. A recent find has been Maybe Bre’s channel with her “Mama Mia Summer” video, inspiring me to make overalls. Mark Vogel’s channel has me itching to learn crochet after seeing his granny square vest, and finally Kali’s Threads/Handmade with Kaye – these sisters are innovative. I didn’t know I wanted to wear a crochet polo button shirt until I saw Kali’s finished garment; it’s beautiful!

Final Thoughts

Sometimes we need a break. Sometimes we need limitations to make us push forward in our goals. Sometimes a change of pace helps rediscover our passion. I’ve started gauge swatching, pattern writing, and looking for pieces I think I should make to enhance my wardrobe that are more fun, less functional. It’s weird how the creative process, when you hit a slump, can convince you of a lack of talent. When really, maybe your cup is empty? Or in my case, maybe you have lost your spark because you needed to raise your standard and make new, challenging projects to ignite your passion again. Until next time, thanks, reader, for spending time with me today. Happy creating to you! 🙂

Ideas for Summer Stashbusting Projects

As a yarn enthusiast, sometimes I have many skeins of different yarn that I don’t know what to do with. This happens when I buy sale yarn, find unexpected yarn secondhand, or buy too much of one color for a project. Purchasing the right yardage is definitely a learning process!

So, how can you make your yarn stash go further and use up those skeins you don’t know what to do with? An easy fix I’ve found is to get really scrappy, lean into stripes, experiment with colorwork, and my new favorite – blending yarn by holding two strands of different yarn, even variegated yarn, to make something fresh and inspiring! This has helped me need to destash, donate, or feel weighed down by my yarn inventory.

Once you have a color story, what do you stitch up? There are the tried and true tanks, tote bags, and scrappy cardigans, but what about something outside the box?

  • Baskets
  • Small Storage Bags with Zipper
  • Shorts
  • Sailor Collar
  • Overalls
  • Mini Skirts
  • Koozies
  • Tapestry

I get stuck in the idea of knitting as wearables, but it can be used to make so many things, and at the end of the project, you’ll have something truly unique from your own hands!

One of the most satisfying ways I have found to use up random yarn is colorwork. Hints of color with scrap that add a touch of whimsy? Sign me up!

Knitting a Dress for the First Time

Knitting a dress, how hard can it be right? It was actually pretty managable garment as an intermediate knitter. I would not recommend unless you have made a sweater before but would definitely recommend knitting a dress if you want a soft and stretchy garment that hugs you!

Inspiration

I have made plenty of dresses over the past 5 years, but they have all been cut and sewn from fabric. Knitting kicks it up a notch, asking you to assemble the dress, but make the fabric to boot. I thought it would be silly to try until I discovered some lovely crochet designers on You Tube who make with imagination!

I was inspired by Mama Gwen of TL Yarn Crafts to give designing a knit dress a try. She makes such beautiful dresses all from self-drafted patterns in knit and crochet. Along with Dana from Blondie Knots. Her Coachella scrap two piece outfit helped me have the boost of confidence to try something new.

Materials

Last summer at Joann, before the shenanigans began, I purchased 14 Big Twist Cotton 50g skeins on a sale with the intention of knitting a top. Many months later, this yarn was sitting in my stash with my mind uncertain if the punchy color changing yarn was my cup of tea for a cotton knit top. But a dress? Yes, that could work. Did I have enough yarn though? I’d have to make it so because there was no more being sold.

Because of the circumstances, I decided this dress would be my goodbye to Big Twist.

Design

I knew from sewing, my design would need to be a dress that was either tubular or empire waist to suit my body shape. I decided to knit this on US 7 needles, straight needles. Sometimes I would shift to circular, but this was not knit in the round. With the combination of yarn minders, a measuring tape and patience this dress came together!

To start I knew I wanted the bodice to be the anchor I worked out from so I cast on stitches to work horizontally. From the bodice, I then added one strap to plan the width and placement of the top. I was uncertain how much yardage the skirt would consume, therefore I paused to determine sleeves later.

My plan for the skirt was to knit a section by casting on the bottom of the bodice, adding stitches to increase width until I finished a skein. Repeat and fill out the row by picking up stitches to join the sections vertically into a tube. I continued on, and on  until weeks later I had a skirt but panicked that I was not going to achieve my desired length and second sleeve!

I decided to pull a teal yarn from my Landscape Painting with Yarn project. This hue pulled the cool tones into harmony in a pleasing way. I used two skeins of this teal color and then finished with the original Water Lily tonal yarn. I finished the second sleeve and tried on the piece with relative ease. There was one fit issue – plunging neckline. But it was a lovely, cozy knit from scratch dress!

The final touches to this project were addressing the neckline and the sleeves which were set too deep. I cast on to the neckline to fill in the gap and provided structure to the straps with several rows of decreases to give the dress a cap sleeve befitting my vision.

Final Thoughts

I am definitely making more dresses with knit! It’s far more pleasant than sewing if you want a comfy yet elegant style. You have both control of the drape and the fabric design. It’s your world, as Bob Ross would say.

This project was more than a goodbye to Big Twist, it was a new chapter for me. I began this journey 5 years ago to learn how to make and now I feel empowered by knowing I can make my own clothes, not just with fabric but with skeins of yarn and needles. It has been a wonderful journey of discovery!

If you want to knit a dress, I’d say go for it! If you’re a beginner, make one but not as your first project – you will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of time this project took. It was weeks of work that as a beginner, would have scared me. In time I know you can do it though! ❤

Structure and Flow: Sewing in Two Minds

Like I said in my 2025 So Far Has Been a Creative Slump, I am sharing the projects I’ve hidden away in my closet and the photos buried in my gallery. It’s time to catch up on this blog on what I’ve been sewing, because it’s been a journey of new discoveries.

Go With the Flow

In 2022, Kyle gave me a unique birthday present. He curated a mystery box of fabric for me to do my own “Project Runway” challenge – one of those fabrics was this sheer wheat colored criss-cross fabric. It has lived in my stash ever since. It was a fabric that scared me but intrigued me. It’s a stretch mesh burnout pattern, and for over a year, I was baffled at how to sew it without destroying it.

Even so, after I sewed it into a garment, how would I apply it? Would it be a garment that would be sewn layered on top of an opaque fabric? What would that look like? Should I use a high contrast fabric or something similar in tone? It stumped me. I lived with it a bit more in my stash, and it came with me through the move and into the fall once more. In 2024, after two years, I had an idea – sheer layering. A garment I could wear under or over other pieces to add dimension and disguise the oatmeal color that I was concerned would wash me out.

My decision was to make a shirt. I thought making it a “basic” would provide the most opportunity to style it in my wardrobe. I sewed the delicate fabric with my machine very slowly. I relaxed the tension of the thread and progressed delicately, ready to hand-sew at any moment of panic. It was not terrifying; it was possible.

Structure of a Bodice – Armor

Many years ago, back in 2021 (four years ago, what?!) I crafted a structured dress, based on Lizzie Bennet’s dress, when Charlotte Lucas announces her marriage to Mr. Collins. It was a vest and a skirt, with buttons and a collar. It was ambitious but rubbish, yet a project I can’t stop thinking about how I could have made it better.

Enter this fabric and this bodice shape. It looks like an armor piece made of vintage ditzy flower fabric, lined with muslin. I wanted to reclaim what I learned in 2021, but try again in 2025, since the failure of my early projects made me shrink back to “easy” projects. I’ve made things that have challenged me a little bit, but not a true experiment. Constant growth is painful. Think of your body after consistent workouts, you’re going to hurt. It’s part of the process of getting stronger, and it feels at times like a negative experience. That feeling ground me down. I was tired of the learning experiences that felt more like loss and waste than an expression of crafting and artistry. It’s human, it’s passion, how can we not want the fruit of our labor to produce something good?

I made this dress slowly, over several weeks, while working on other projects, while being sick. It was a slow, steady, careful process to make a dress that would bring me joy from the creation and the wearing. The other thing I had to wrestle with, in this project, was shaking off the demons of my Lizzie Bennet dress. It was a dress I felt pretty in, but that I took a lot of crap for my appearance when I wore it out. It was structured, fitted, and flowy. The waist was not perfectly matched to the small of my waist, due to my lack of tailoring knowledge. This dress prompted a stranger to ask me when I was due, and then doubled down that I looked pregnant. I wasn’t pregnant, so to her, I looked fat. Thanks lady.

It was rude and such a breach of boundaries. Don’t ask random strangers if they are pregnant; wait for them to clearly tell you. It feels like a slap in the face for so many toxic culture reasons, the main one is the unwanted comment on your body with the double standard of “pregnancy being the most beautiful,” but don’t look pregnant, aka don’t be fat, because the zeitgeist is fat-phobic. I got rid of the dress and don’t have any photos saved of the dress; that’s how much this experience ruined the dress for me. I lacked the confidence to brush it off. I didn’t understand my body’s proportions and lines, therefore, I blamed my body and myself for the dress not working, instead of my tailoring skills being the problem.

2025 Style – Layering and Reclaiming

I chose to confront this feminine dress style once again. I knew it would clash with the natural lines of my body. I don’t have an hourglass body shape, which this fit and flare dress calls for. I’ve been scared to wear it, but I am challenging myself to try. I layered the sheer shirt I made in 2024 with this dress and a belt to create balance. It’s going to take time to get comfortable, for sure.

The dress not only has this flowy skirt, but it is fully lined, and the front gathering has been tracked down with stitches to reduce waist bulk. I also added eyelets and lacing at the back of the garment to define the waist, Lastly, I added a belt to my waist, which I don’t enjoy wearing, but the effect of pulling the eye to the waist should reduce unwanted comments, I hope. I like the contrast of these garments together. They have flow and structure. Together they create a complete thought, and in my opinion, look like designs with a point of view, which is what I am aiming for in my designs 2025.

My 2025 So Far Has Been A Creative Slump

I can’t believe it’s May already, I’ve been so busy with our garden project and a follow up project of screening in our back porch, distracted by Joann’s closure and the evil running rampant in our world that I have been on a slow creative trajectory, and its really catching up to me!

Upcycling, Alterations, Mending

As of late, the bulk of my sewing projects have been preservation, updates, or reworking the garment into something new. In mid-winter, I decided to tailor every t-shirt in my closet. This meant I would be hemming every shirt to end above my hip and bringing the end of the sleeve upward, to end higher on my arm, which is more flattering to my vertical line. I’ve had to repair a few garments and mend some older pieces. I’ve also been taking some of my clothes in and tearing them apart to be upcycled into new projects I can’t wait to share. That I thought I already shared. This leads me to the next point: I have a backlog of projects I held back last fall.

The Head Games of Content

I still battle imposter syndrome, and in doing so, last year, feared that I would run out of ideas. So I slowed down my posting to keep these good ideas and projects in the tank for a rainy day, and instead of this giving me the freedom to create and write without pressure this gave my type-B nature and out to avoid writing, because I had the ideas, and so I sat on them and now it is almost a year later, without these projects having their time to shine. Grinding it out on Instagram last year definitely took my focus from me, and then these constant recession fears have kept me in a place of fear, which has stifled my desire to create, in case I can’t buy more materials in the future. I worry too much. Writing for two years, on this site, led me to a sophomoric slump heading into 2025. I lost the urgency to keep going and backslid into complacency and a lack of creativity. I have also transitioned into a slower creative process in hopes of gaining that spark again!

Hand Sewing 2: Electric Boogaloo

When I began sewing in 2020, I did so through sewing by hand through the tutorials of Bernadette Banner. I did this for two years and then acquired my Heavy Duty Singer, which I switched to using exclusively from the end of 2022 through the beginning of 2025. But this year, I am having some struggles with my sewing machine. I love the speed at which you can make things, but I fear that this boost in speed has dampened my craftsmanship.

When I was sewing by hand, I had the time to consider the project and to ponder where the design was going to lead me. With my sewing machine, I have fallen into a bad habit of making without pausing to ponder. I also started designing simpler, easier-to-sew garments for efficiency instead of art. But speaking of efficiency, I don’t think sewing machines are as efficient as we make them out to be. Mine is quite finicky. It eats fabric and thread. I go through the thread considerably quicker using my Singer than I do by hand. I have to rip seams and sew again, many times, because the machine messed up a stitch or skipped stitches altogether, and I’m tired of it. So my machine and I are taking some time apart.

Slow and Steady, A Life of WIPs

And so, here I am months later with a few finished garments, many WIPs, and a better life balance. Including a refreshed creative well. The time spent working outside with Kyle crafting our screened porch, tilling garden beds, painting, upcycling furniture, studying Japanese, drawing, reading, exercising, etc, has been a wonderful way to remember why I love creating. I find knitting to be my happy place. For a week, I barely knitted, and my mind was filled with far more rage without the needles weaving yarn into cloth. I’ve come to a place in my sewing journey where I want to learn and be ambitious again. I’ve filled my closet with good handmade pieces, but I want to create exceptional, one-of-a-kind things.

I have learned that knitting is my favorite mode of creation, and sewing is the freedom to make what I don’t want to buy or can’t find offered. The process is just as important as the final product, as trite as that is, creation and crafting are where we thrive, not consuming. I find moments of calm in working with my hands and feel satisfaction in stepping away to old creative haunts, like painting or gardening. I think the slump was an important part of growing. I hope that you find creative refreshment and know that you are loved. Stay safe out there, these are dangerous times, and know that I care about you all very much.

What About the Garment Workers? 2025 Edition

There are a lot of things about this new Trump term that are setting my jaw. The newest one, though, happens to be the tariffs zeroing in on Vietnam, and something we are losing sight of in this discussion—what is going to happen to garment workers?

Vietnam is one of many countries in the global south that are responsible for the garments and shoes we wear every day. In May 2024, they surpassed China as the largest textile and garment market share for U.S. imports. The nation employs around 2.5 million people within the 6000 garment and textile factories across Vietnam. This rapid growth of 37 billion USD worth of garments being made in Vietnam in 2024, from 26 billion USD in 2017, is due to the low wages of Vietnam compared to the higher wages of China and even higher wages in the United States. In the 1980s, before Clinton’s NAFTA in 1993, garments sold in American stores were made in the United States, but this changed during the Clinton era and has gotten worse in the 32 years since through the rise of fast fashion and the fashion industry’s reliance on cheap labor at the expense of the garment workers.

So, now we bring the so-called “Liberation Day” of tariffs, and since this is a space I like to keep safe, I’m going to move on because I have nothing nice to say. What I want to focus on is not making this job American again, the rising prices of garments, or anything political, and instead I’d like to zero in on what seeing the world with a Kingdom (God’s Kingdom that is) lens has taught me so far this year.

I’d say that my eyes being opened began last year with diving deeper into Fashion Roadman’s channel, which led me to watch two documentaries – The True Cost of Fast Fashion and Perfume’s Dark Secret in 2024. The other revelations that were exposed in 2024 such as the labor practices of Armani and Dior, were very telling for how are garments are made from luxury to fast fashion. It’s no secret that the fashion industry, including luxury brands, is not concerned with the moral cost of their decisions and is solely focused on getting money in their pockets for their shareholders. So, what is going to happen within the fashion industry as a result of these tariffs set on Vietnam, especially with no sign of negotiation from the Trump Administration? I think it’s going to be bad for everyone.

I think costs from the brands will be cut from the quality of the garments being made, to the materials, to the contracts with these factories. I think garment workers will probably see the biggest hit in their work environment and wages, as their economy is hurt. Or potentially the factories will no longer get these contracts to cut labor costs, meaning the production of garments will be further entrenched with slave labor in countries where workers are exploited. Then what will those women be left with? Garment Workers are primarily women, and they are skilled laborers who could be left without a way to provide income for their families.

It’s not okay for so many reasons.

That is why, as we look towards Easter, I am thinking about those who are oppressed in our world, because Jesus came to be a new Moses and lead us through the Exodus Way. Thank you, dear reader, if you stayed with me on this one. I wish this world weren’t such a downer right now, but just know, although we are from the United States, we are not pleased and empathize with how this is affecting you too. ❤

Is A Yarn Made From Recycled Marine Plastics Any Good?

As I have dove deeper into the world of fiber crafts and created often, I’ve become more conscious of the fibers I choose. Mainly because when a project doesn’t work, I feel like a jerk for making that mistake in hard to break down acrylic. I would feel less of a fool if my mistakes were constructed in biodegradable natural fibers like wool, cotton, linen, or bamboo. Starting in 2024, I began to migrate back to natural fibers, which I mentioned before in my Summer Knitting Plans post from last year. I had been hesitant to use wool before that, supposed allergies that I debunked in 2024, which led me to explore the many fiber offerings of Knit Picks.

When I was looking at sock yarns in the fall, a particular fiber caught my eye – Oceana. The Oceana line has this vibrant kaleidoscope of colors that evokes the tropical hues of a coral reef. It’s stunning! When my stepdad gifted me a Knit Picks gift card for Christmas, I knew exactly what I would order – the Oceana! Not just for the colors, but the innovative fiber content.

L to R: Sea Lettuce, Spirulina, Tiger Fish, Swordfish, Axoloti

This yarn is composed of 54% Superfine Alpaca and 46% Polyester SEAQUAL, which is made from marine litter cleaned from the ocean, and that plastic is then recycled into polyester (acrylic) yarn that is blended with the Alpaca fiber to create the Oceana yarn. The halo seems to be the Alpaca, based on my experience working with this yarn, and the interior chain fluffy fiber strand seems to be a combo of the recycled polyester and Alpaca fiber. Now, fiber blends are not the best for decomposing, but I like the motives behind this yarn. Instead of using newly created polyester, which doesn’t break down easily and is cluttering our environment, they are taking the trash out of the ocean and repurposing it into something useful. How cool is that? Can more polyester-based products start with recycling the plastic litter before making more? We literally have endless resources of trash, thanks to Shein and our rampant overconsumption.

So how does this yarn knit up? Excellently! It has this plush texture with a fuzzy halo that to me looks like those mohair strands knitters use to plush up a sweater.

I’d say the only cons I have are the price and the yardage. I didn’t find this yarn went far, and had to play yarn chicken a few times. I secondly was only able to order five skeins with my gift card, the yarn was on sale might I add, with a 50 USD gift card. When I ran out of yarn, I chose to supplement with Knit Picks Palette yarn in fingering weight, held in double strands to match gauge. I do understand that part of the price is the process of SEAQUAL and the Alpaca fiber costs as well, but it was just a bit too much for me to purchase more at full price when I ran out, especially when I had existing yarn in my stash that could work.

I had planned to have this project done by the time I reviewed the yarn, but as it is now April, and I’ve shifted to summer and spring knitting it is unlikely this project is wrapping up soon. Here’s a look at the project at its current state. 🙂

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