How to knit: Casting on with slub yarn

Casting on with slub yarn can seem like a daunting task for knitters.

For anyone who's never used it before, it's a type of yarn that's been deliberately spun in a way that creates an irregular shape - it has both thin and thick sections along its length.

Formerly something that was considered to be defective, slub yarn is far more popular today. Knitters love that it can be used to create garments and home interiors with real personality.

When using slub yarn, we'd recommend working with a simple stitch rather than anything fancy as the yarn already has texture on its surface.

Garter, stocking, rib and moss stitch all work fine and show up quite well when knitted in these lumpy fibres.

Would you like to get experimental with your needles? We have two fantastic patterns for ladies - available to download now - that look great worked in slub yarn.

Our Women's Vintage Striped Sweater is so gorgeous with short sleeves. If you use bold colours, the knitting pattern from the 1950s will get a modern makeover.

Alternatively, our Multi Textured Women's Top has such a timeless design. While we worked the knitting pattern in silvery-grey shades to ensure its versatility, you can pick any combination of tones that you like.

How to cast on with slub yarn

You can cast on using your preferred method - thumb or cable - but to compensate for the uneven thickness of the yarn, you need to make the height of the stitches the same throughout.

So when casting on with the thicker section of the yarn, make your stitches in the usual way. Make stitches looser when casting on with the thinner sections.

The same principle would apply when casting off.

For a quick refresher on how to cast on/cast off, grab a cup of tea and watch our handy step-by-step video guides.