And the results are in

Yes, the results are in! Not of the US Mid‐term elections, but of my experiments with reflective yarn. In my last blogpost, I was talking about the problems of being seen when out walking or running now that the nights are drawing in. So I have been testing some RetroGlo yarn and have been trying various techniques to incorporate some of this into my knitting. 

And I am pleased to report that it works brilliantly (pun intended...!) Or rather, when it works, it's great. I first tried using the reflective yarn by duplicate stitching it into the ends of a scarf but I found that it made the scarf a little heavy and rough where I had added the thread. 
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I then tried knitting with one strand of yarn and one of the reflective thread. However, it wasn't particularly effective since the thread tended to bury itself into the soft knitting stitches and did not glow as I really wanted it to. Also, I found that I did not enjoy knitting with the reflective thread running alongside my regular yarn as the yarns are so dissimilar. 

However, I was more successful using it on a pocket for a backpack. I am working this in two‐tone grey with orange and yellow highlights. The RetroGlo yarn was almost a perfect match to the lighter grey yarn and can hardly be seen when viewed in the day‐time. ​

However, there is a big difference when the lights go down, as the thread really catches the light and bounces it back at you.

But the real test is what it looks like at night. Then it can be seen as a series of brilliant dots which shine straight back at the source of light, such as a car's headlights. As the light moves a little to the left or right, the pattern of visible dots also changes slightly so that they almost flash and move. Amazing! 

It has certainly been an interesting experiment so far and of course there may be different reflective yarns that are easier to work into knitted designs. I saw some interesting yarn by Viking Yarns when I was in Sweden recently, for example, so I may give that a try too. 

Do let me know if you have tried reflective yarn in your knitting and what worked for you and what didn't. I'd love to hear your ideas. 

By the way, this piece of knitting is actually a sample I made for a brand-new backpack and I hope to be posting that pattern soon. I will be calling this the Westernesse Bag, so please watch out for more news of that one soon.

Until next time – Happy Knitting! 
​
Moira

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