Substitute for Rown Cotton Glace

[Sascha]

Hi all,

I've got the sweetest pattern for "baby slippers" in a Zoe Mellor book. She says to use Rowan's Cotton Glace but I've got some cottons in my basket begging to be knitted!

I checked the Rowan website but it's v. ambigious about the ply..."between DK and 5 ply"....

Can anyone suggest what ply would be best to use? Ormaybe what is the best brand to substitute so I can have the fun of choosing new colours ?

thx

[shazknits66]

Hi Sascha,

Cotton glace looks like it is probably around a 5ply.  What I would suggest is that you knit yourself some tension squares and see what your tension is compared to what the pattern states

Adjust your needle size till you get the same tension as in the pattern and then you can go ahead and make those baby slippers out of the cotton already in your stash

Sharon
http://shazknit.blogspot.com

[Sascha]

That sounds great! I'm a bit of a novice knitter with only a few projects under my belt so thanks for the advice.

Would it be silly to even try an 8 ply (I have the most darling lime green 8ply)?

[shazknits66]

No it is never silly to try anything  If I had something in my stash I wanted to use I would give it a go.

Make a tension square and see if you need to go up or down a needle size.

It sounds like it is one of those cottons that could be anywhere between a 5 and 8 ply so an 8ply might work well.  Every knitter knits differently which is why checking your tension is a good idea.  Together with one of my fellow knitters in my knitting group we are knitting the exact same pattern with the exact same wool, and to get the tension correct I have to use 4.5mm whereas she is using 5.5 and could have even used 6mm but she hates knitting on big needles.

let us know how you go,
Sharon
http://shazknit.blogspot.com

[chrisome]

I substituted the cotton glace for the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino knitting a cabled cardigan for my neice - I don't know if the debbie bliss indications of ply are any better.  Outcome was very successful, although I think the garment ended up slightly larger than it would have done in the wool blend...

C