Article: Light weight yarns and patterns for transitional knitting
Light weight yarns and patterns for transitional knitting
As the summer seems to be coming quickly to an end, we’re still not quite ready to let go of our summer knitting. And if I’m completely honest, depending on where in the northern hemisphere you are located, you might still be in for a couple more months of warm and temperate weather.
Living in areas with “proper” seasons but where summer heat seems to begin early in the spring and linger well into fall, the Aimee Sher Makes team loves a good warm weather yarn. And our personal favorites combine summer fibers with wool in the form of fine weight yarns, for truly transitional garments.
Plus, knitting with fine weight yarn is a little more economical, due to the increased yardage per ball/skein/whatever, and who doesn’t need that right now?
We love lightweight yarns for layering and adding insulation to pieces that take you from late summer all the way into winter, and here at ASM, we have a number of designs suitable for these types of knitting projects. These knitting yarns range from fingering weight to light worsted yarns to truly cover most of the weights in the standard yarn weight system, so you have plenty of fun choices for different yarn weights and patterns. Here are a few of our favorite light weight yarns and patterns to match!
Knitting For Olive Pure Silk
If (like us) you are living in a climate where September means cool mornings before temperatures rise to a level that makes sure Summer reminds us it’s around to stay for a bit longer, we recommend Knitting For Olive Pure Silk.
Knitting For Olive pure silk is an ethically spun silk yarn, and comes in a beautiful range of colors. Silk has elegant drape and other beautiful qualities like heat regulation and can be worn either as a summer solo piece or as a layer under another item of clothing (or even knitwear).
Shown here, KFO Pure Silk is knit up in Soft Blue in The Relax Tee.
We love this light weight yarn in camis, tees, and shawls.
We carry this yarn in 27 colors. Shop Pure Silk
Knitting For Olive Cotton Merino
If you are lucky enough to live further north or are thinking of knitting for later in the more transitional months, we recommend Knitting for Olive Cotton Merino.
Combining a summer favorite plant fiber with a non-superwash merino wool for softness, this round and plump yarn is breathable for those days that might start out cool and end up warmer. It is also a great substitute for any patterns calling for Pure Silk or Merino. We especially love this yarn because it is much easier to knit than pure cotton yarn due to the merino content, which makes it easier on the hands.
Shown here in the Phoebe Top Mini, you can see that this yarn is nice and round with great stitch definition.
We love this yarn for a huge variety of projects, from tees and baby garments, to accessories.
We carry this yarn in 19 colors. Shop Cotton Merino
The Wandering Flock Cotton Lino
One of our favorite sport weight yarns, Cotton Lino is a stunning blend of cotton, linen, and mulberry silk. This custom milled base also includes a touch of alpaca for comfort and drape resulting in a yarn that is a pleasure to knit and even better to wear.
The plump, sport weight yarn worked up into a warm weather garment not only means that it will knit up nicely opaque for some added modesty, but also for some added warmth from an otherwise summer fiber yarn.
We love Aimee’s Weekend Cami in Burnt Siena.
A soft and smooth hand also means that this light yarn is also suitable as a baby yarn, perfect for baby items, next-to-skin accessories, base layers, and more.
We carry this yarn in 10 colors. Shop Cotton Lino
Organic Wool and Linen Fingering
Looking for yarn offering a little more wool for insulation? We’ve got you covered. We have come to love this beautiful and round 4-ply fingering weight base so much that we carry it from two of our favorite dyers.
Consisting of 30% linen, this one is breathable and airy. Meanwhile, the wool helps retain crimp and structure, making it still easy to knit. The non-superwash fibers with the linen content, also means that the yarn takes up dye gently for a muted, softly variegated effect.
Shown here in Majyo, knit up into the Oolong Tank pattern.
Hand-dyed by Big Little Yarn Co. in Hyogo, Japan, we carry this hand dyed wool and linen yarn in a small selection of colors. Shop Now
Looking for beautiful semi-variegated colors that are perfect for sweater knitting? Asian American dyer Sharon of Rui Knits dyes this base in the Bay Area, CA. She has curated a six color collection for Aimee Sher Makes, including our custom colorway, Basking in Oolong. Shop Flaxwool
Rui Knits Silkenwool
Love the idea of organic merino wool but with the softness and drape of silk? Silkenwool is the perfect yarn for you. This sleek and super-soft base of non-superwash, 21 micron merino and 40% mulberry silk is one of our favorite hand-dyed yarns for transitional garments.
This lightweight yarn has a cool and smooth hand, with a lovely sheen from the silk. The merino content makes this yarn easier to knit than a pure silk yarn, while offering the amazing heat regulating properties of both fibers!
Shown here in the Oolong Tee, you wouldn’t know that these photos were taken on a 90° F day as we barely broke a sweat.
We love this yarn not only for tees, both short- and long-sleeved, but also for shawls, transitional sweaters, and more.
We carry this silk blend yarn in the same six color collection as Flaxwool, including our custom colorway, Basking in Oolong. Shop Silkenwool
Wooldreamers' Saona
In the woolen-spun category, we have an absolute fan favorite in Wooldreamers’ Saona. This is a stunning yarn that features 50% cotton grown in the Andalucian region of Spain. As a yarn company, Wooldreamers’ is one of our favorites due to their efforts to reduce their water use and implement fair trading and GOTS certification processes.
This yarn holds a ton of air in the strand and is very lightweight due to its woolen spun structure while the cotton content makes for a very breathable fabric and perfect for transitional tees and sweaters.
We love Saona knit up in tees like the Oolong Tee. Being woolen spun, it is also very insulating and will bloom a lot, which makes it suitable for patterns with many different knitting gauges.
It’s also suitable for other summer and transitional weather knits like tanks and lightweight pullovers.
Saona comes in 9 beautiful, neutral hues. Shop Saona
De Rerum Natura Candide & Robinson
Comprised of organic merino and recycled cotton, another warm weather woolen-spun yarn we enjoy so much that we carry it in two weights is De Rerum Natura’s sport weight Candide and its worsted weight sibling, Robinson.
To create the soft palette, part of the wool is dyed with natural plant extracts and then mixed with the unbleached cotton and fibers to create a beautifully heathered and slightly textured yarn.
Shown here in Pêche Melba for the Avenue Tee by Tori Yu.
This airy yarn is ideal for mid season and transitional projects. The worsted weight yarn version is excellent for winter clothing for warmer climates due to the cotton fibers, while still being a thicker yarn. Meanwhile, Candide is one of our favorite sport yarns for things like tanks and tees or even base layers.
Both lines are available in 11 colors. Shop Candide or Shop Robinson
Conclusion
We hope that you have found these great options helpful in the search for your next transitional knitting project, no matter the weight of yarn you are looking for. We love all of these yarns for summer and fall knitting and hope you do too.
If you're interested to learn more about plant based and silk fibers, we have more for you! Check it out:
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