Marlisle is a simple yet novel technique developed by Anna Maltz. It’s essentially stranded colour work with a marled and textured twist. Two yarns are combined with some stitches being worked held single and some held double to create intriguing yet wearable patterns. Not only do you end up with a beautiful marled fabric, but marlisle has some really useful and intriguing purposes. Here are five things we love about marlisle.
1. It’s ‘marlyness’
Firstly, we love marlisle for, well, its ‘marlyness’. We love its beautiful texture and the pattern it creates where two colours magically become three.
2. Pairing two favourite yarns
Marlisle makes you look at your stash in a completely different way. You get to pair two of your favourite yarns together to create something totally unique. Hand-dyed with undyed, mohair with merino, bright shades with muted tones, the possibilities are endless. Also, as we approach Autumn and the weather gets cooler, it is worth noting that having two strands of yarn worked together creates a dense fabric that is extra warm and cosy.
3. Finally, a simple way of working motifs in the round
Marlisle is a really satisfying way of working motifs in the round. For anyone who has struggled with trying to work intarsia in the round or struggled with long floats between motifs, marlisle finally offers a simpler solution for adding motifs to your in-the-round-knitting (hooray!).
4. Hiding pesky jogs
One of the really intriguing benefits of marlisle is that you can use it to hide those jogs that occur when working stripes or garter stitch in the round.
5. Reversibility
Finally marlisle creates a fabric that is beautiful on both sides! Each side is different, but they are both interesting and wearable.
We are so looking forward to learning all about marlisle from Anna herself when she joins us in Brighton September 8th for one day only. We are running two classes which cover all the basics of the technique through swatching for two popular patterns from her book; Marlisle A New Direction in Knitting. Choose from the Selbbob Hat which includes how to work corrugated rib and how to form the perfect bobble, or the Ess Shawl which includes learning how to work a knotted steek. We can’t wait!
You can book into our classes here.
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