Knitting with Unconventional Materials
My results from experiments of knitting with several unconventional materials.
7/14/20253 min read
Usually, when we think of knitting, we do so with yarn, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. This week, I experimented with knitting up some unconventional materials. Here are my findings:
Jewelry Wire
I knit these bracelets a while ago; they were a lot of fun to make! If you’re going to knit with wire, I recommend using some cheap aluminum needles that can get scratched up. I added beads to the wire before I started knitting and pulled one into randomly placed stitches. I love how they turned out, and they were recently sold in an auction for charity.
Fabric Strips
I made this “yarn” out of some old sheets that had a hole in them. I cut them into strips, leaving the edges intact to create one long continuous piece. I knit this sample on US size 50 (25mm) knitting needles, and while some threads came loose and got everywhere, I really like how it looks!
Cassette Tape
It certainly was an experience knitting with tape from a cassette. The tape feels weird in your hands, and it tends to stick to the needles, even metal ones. This picture doesn’t really do it justice; it looks much more interesting in person! I knit this sample on US size 4 (3.5mm) needles, and I may go down a size when I go to knit an actual project. This theoretically could work with a VHS tape as well, but on bigger needles.
Mesh Tubing
I’ll be honest here, I have no idea what the intended purpose of this material is! I found it in the floral section at a dollar store, and this bright green was calling to me to knit it. It was a little difficult to knit with, given the stiffness of it, but I LOVE the result! I knit this on US size 11 (8mm) needles, and again, may go down a size when I make something out of it.
Crepe Paper
I had to knit this VERY slowly and carefully so that it wouldn’t rip, but I think I did pretty well! I knit it on US size 50 (25mm) needles, which gave it an interesting look. I’m not sure how I feel about making an actual project out of this. If you have any project ideas, I’d love to hear them.
Decorative Mesh
This was another thing I found at a dollar store, but I don’t know what it’s really intended for. I also initially thought it had several thinner rolls of mesh, but once I opened the package, I saw that it was all connected and very wide, so I broke out my US size 50 (25mm) needles again. I knit the entire roll here, so any project I make must be small, but the result is much prettier than I expected!
Fairy Lights
I had a few strands of these leftover from my wedding last year. I knit this sample on US 4 (3.5mm) needles, and it came out really cute! If I were to make an actual project with these, I would look for some with much longer strands or use bigger needles.
This was definitely the most fun blog post I’ve written to date, and I hope you’ve enjoyed my ideas! Have you knit with any unconventional materials? Send me an email using the form below, I’d love to hear about it!
