One Skein, Endless Possibilities: Meet Ksenia Naidyon!
One Skein, Endless Possibilities: Meet Ksenia Naidyon
Ever bought a single skein of yarn just because you couldn't resist it, with zero plan for what it would become? Same. That's exactly the itch designer Ksenia Naidyon aka Life is Cozy, scratches with her brand new book, One Skein Knitting. Turns out you don't need a mountain of stash to make something gorgeous, just one good skein, a little imagination, and maybe a cup of tea.
We chatted with Ksenia about her book, her design brain, and why one skein can go so much further than you'd think. Keep scrolling, you're going to want to add all of these to your queue.
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Q1. One Skein Knitting is such a clever answer to every knitter's stash of gorgeous single skeins. What first drew you to designing specifically within that one-skein constraint, and did it change the way you think about pattern design?"
A1. Like many knitters before and after me, I am guilty of indulging in the occasional skein of yarn without assigning it a specific purpose or project. I might bring home a skein of cashmere from Venice, pick up a new-to-me base at a fiber festival, or simply fall in love with a color and have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it. And on and on it goes!
Then, sooner or later, I’ll want a small and satisfying project to fit in between larger ones, and that’s when I reach for those treasured single skeins. There’s something almost magical about taking a relatively small amount of yarn and turning it into a complete, useful object. And the limitation is actually part of what makes it so interesting to me. When you know exactly how much yarn you have, every design decision matters: you have to think carefully about texture, proportion, construction, and how to make the most of the yarn’s particular qualities.
Working within that constraint definitely changed the way I think about pattern design. Instead of starting with an idea for a garment or accessory and then finding the yarn to fit it, I often start with the yarn itself: its fiber, color, texture, drape, and yardage. I ask myself what kind of project would let this particular skein shine. That shift in perspective became one of the foundations of One Skein Knitting, and I found the limitations surprisingly liberating. They give you a problem to solve, but also a very clear place to start.
Q2. Designing for a single skein means every yard has to earn its place. Can you walk us through how you approached the Sloeberry Shawl's construction to get the most mileage out of one skein of Foxy Lady?"
A2. Foxy Lady has a gorgeous sheen and stitch definition, so I immediately wanted to use it in a more complex design, something intricate and substantial. Sloeberry started with a very specific challenge: how to create a richly textured shawl without letting the texture eat up all the yarn.
The tip-to-tip construction and shallow triangle shape were both a big part of the solution. The shawl grows gradually from one end and then decreases toward the other, which means you can use the yarn almost to the last yard: after working the increases, you want to have roughly 55% of the skein remaining before starting the middle section and then decreasing.
The texture was another part of the puzzle. Traveling and wrapped stitches create the look of cables without the bulk, while miniature Japanese faux cables trace the edges and weave through the leaf motifs, adding more visual interest without requiring much yarn. One thing I indulged in was adding the berry-like nupps. I just couldn’t not! And because they are not too large, they actually don’t take up a huge amount of yarn.
I love this kind of design challenge: finding ways to make the fabric look elaborate and intricate while being thoughtful about where every yard goes. The finished shawl feels much more substantial than the single skein you started with.
Q3. Foxy Lady is one of our signature bases, a 70% superwash merino/30% silk blend with a beautiful drape. What was it about that fiber blend that made you choose it for Sloeberry specifically?
A3. Foxy Lady actually has a bit of personal history for me. It was the yarn I used for one of my first-ever shawl designs published in a magazine: the Luce Shawl, which appeared in Making magazine’s Dawn issue in spring 2021. I fell in love with the base while working on that design, so when I was choosing yarns for my first book, I really wanted to include Foxy Lady. It felt like an opportunity to bring a little piece of my early design history into the book, and so I even incorporated Japanese faux cables into the Sloeberry as a reference to the Luce Shawl all those years later.
And, of course, I already knew that the yarn was perfect for the kind of patterns I love to design. Texture is very much my signature, and the silk in the blend gives the yarn a beautiful sheen that makes intricate stitch patterns shine, quite literally! The single-ply construction also brings in wonderful stitch definition, while the drape is absolutely perfect for a shawl. And it’s delightfully soft and comfortable against the skin, which is always a bonus for something you’re going to wear wrapped around your neck!
Q4. With 18 patterns in the book spanning shawls, socks, and accessories, how did you decide which techniques or stitch patterns to pair with which fiber types across the collection?
A4. A lot of it comes down to experience and, honestly, getting to know how different fibers behave in my hands. After working with yarn for many years, I have a pretty good sense of what a particular fiber is going to do once it becomes fabric, and I try to design with those characteristics rather than against them.
For example, plant-based fibers tend to have beautiful drape, but they don’t always have the elasticity or memory to support delicate, springy textures. They can be wonderful for more graphic or robust stitch patterns. I used a beautiful linen-silk blend for the Verba Cowl and incorporated miniature nupps to bring the sheen into focus, while filling the negative space with reverse stockinette to allow the drape of the yarn to do its magic.
Non-superwash wool, on the other hand, can be fantastic when I want crisp stitch definition and a fabric with a little more structure, like in the Arundo Mittens or Myrica Hat. And fibers with more elasticity and softness give me a lot more freedom when I’m designing something that needs to be comfortable against the skin or hold an intricate texture, like Foxy Lady does for the Sloeberry Shawl.
I also think about the finished object at the same time. A stitch pattern that is beautiful in a swatch might not be the right choice for a sock, a shawl, or a hat, because each one asks for something different from the fabric. So I’m constantly balancing the personality of the yarn with the needs of the project. The goal is always to find that sweet spot where the fiber, stitch pattern, and construction all make each other better.
That was probably one of my favorite parts of designing One Skein Knitting: finding the combination that made me look at the swatch and think: oh, yes. That’s exactly what this yarn wanted to be.
Q5. For someone who has a single beautiful skein sitting in their stash and isn't sure what to do with it, what advice would you give them as they flip through your book looking for the right pattern match?"
A5. First, I would tell them to start by getting to know their skein. Look at the fiber, weight, yardage, color, texture, and drape, and ask yourself what you love about this particular yarn and what you’d like to highlight. Is it the beautiful sheen? A gorgeous color? The way it feels in your hands? That can already tell you a lot about what kind of project it wants to become.
Then look at the patterns in the book through that lens. They are organized by weight, from lace all the way to Aran, so you can quickly narrow down your options. Then, decide on the project type you are most interested in. And finally, consult the color compatibility markers. These are the three circles positioned alongside the “Yarn Pairing” heading on each pattern introduction page, and they indicate which types of colorways work best with the pattern: 1 for solid and tonal, 2 for lightly variegated, and 3 for wildly colorful or self-patterning yarns.
If you find a pattern you love but your skein isn’t an exact match, don’t be afraid to experiment. Think about what you can change (size or number of repeats, for example) to make the project work with the yarn you have.
And then, swatch! I know, I know… nobody wants to hear it :) But with a one-skein project, a swatch can tell you so much more than gauge: it lets you see how the yarn behaves in a particular stitch pattern and whether the fabric has the drape and character you’re looking for.
Ultimately, I would encourage knitters to trust their curiosity. There isn’t always one “correct” project for a skein. Sometimes the most interesting result comes from looking at a yarn and thinking: I wonder what would happen if… That’s usually where the fun begins!
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