The holiday season is a wonderful time for dressier garments that glitter. The Christmas lights on the tree and the warm glow of the fireplace or a few candles set the mood so much better when you sparkle just a little bit too.
With all those seasonal parties, photo opportunities at family gatherings and festive dinners to attend, creative needle workers dream about ways to dress up their projects just a little more than normal.
If you think that your knitting has to be plain, boring and dull because you don't consider yourself to be that creative, then you will love some of the specialty fibers available today.
Glitter yarn is easy to find and helps even the simple knits look fabulous and special. My favorite is silk rhapsody glitter from Artyarns. This to-die-for luxury fiber is a silk blend with a subtle, thin metallic thread running through it. It's available in worsted weight at 4.5 stitches per inch on a No. 7 U.S. needle. The seven color ways offer something for everyone at $45.85 for 100 grams.
Other manufacturers have glitter fibers and metallic blends from as little as $2.70 a skein. You can find wool blends, tape yarns, boucles, acrylics and polyesters at Lion Brand Yarn Co., Patons, Rowan Yarn and Cherry Tree Hill.
If glitter seems to be too much, why not try beads and sequins! If you thought you would have to string the beads or hand-sew the sequins, you'll be thrilled with the many fibers that are all set up for you.
The beads or sequins are stranded right on the fiber, and all you have to do is knit or crochet, making sure that the little gems fall onto the right side of the garment as you work them. It's as easy as can be to whip up something that sparkles, although you will have to get the hang of it at first.
Artyarns does it again. This time its glass-beaded or sequined fiber is 100 percent silk and hand painted too. Beaded silk & sequins yarn works up at 4.5 stitches per inch on a No. 8 U.S. needle. The 15 color ways are available at $44 for 50 grams.
Beaded mohair & sequins yarn by Artyarns offers another option. The beaded and sequined silk is wrapped with mohair to give it a halo effect. Artyarns also offers a cashmere version for a warmer, softer dressy look.
You can find beautiful, beaded specialty yarns at Berroco and Louisa Harding, among others, and at a price to suit your dress-up budget.
All that glitters is not just for sweaters and shawls either. "Elements of Style" by Rosemary Hill (Interweave Press, $22.95) will teach you how to create stunningly beautiful knitted, crocheted and felted jewelry.
Hill celebrates haute adornment by fashioning unique chokers, necklaces and earrings that use beading and traditional wire work. She combines them with gorgeous findings and a new yarn by Habu Textiles for the sculpted qualities that it offers.
Stainless steel micro wire, originally used as an industrial yarn for oil filters, is wrapped with silk for a beautiful fiber that has memory, as well as glitz appeal. This lace-weight specialty yarn from Habu Textiles is worked with two strands on No. 2 or No. 3 U.S. needles.
The seven color ways are priced at $19 for 40 grams.
Dress up and live a little. Show off your needle skills with lots of shine and glamour in your own wardrobe, or give a special person on your Christmas list something to light up the season.
Catherine Hollingsworth has lived in Alaska for 20 years. She is a professional knitwear designer, past president of knitters of the North and The Alaska State Yarn Council. You can reach her at twosticks@ymail.com.
By CATHERINE HOLLINGSWORTH Daily News correspondent