Ask Tara – Free Knitting Patterns for Bananaiére

One of the most common questions I’ve recieved asks  about pattern suggestions for Bananiére. For example,  a customer recently wrote:

“Can you give me a few ideas on the banana yarn.. what have you made? What have others made with it? I’m trying to come up with something to do with it.. such an interesting yarn!”

Let’s start with what other customers have made:

Jenn made a lovely wrap:

LuluBean made a scarf (looks like a 1×1 rib to me):

Can I knit a sweater?

I’m often asked:

Is it suitable for a sweater?

Not so much. This yarn is heavy and dense (by virtue of being handspun) and doesn’t have the elasticity of wool. This means that it tends to stre-e-etch when knit in St st or garter stitch.

There are a few ways of working with the inelasticity:

• Crochet – while crochet will be denser (and heavier) it will create a stronger fabric (most stitches) and help it bounce back into shape
• Knit in a stretchy stitch and the yarn will stretch when necessary and bounce back.
• Knit a biased fabric. It will still stretch in width rather than length – perfect for a bag or scarf
  

Even with those solutions, I still wouldn’t use Bananiere for a sweater – the resulting garment would be very heavy without the natural warmth of wool or alpaca.

So let’s work with the natural traits of the Banana yarn.

Bananiére is

• Strong
• Cool (as it not-warm…although it is “cool”, like “groovy”, too!)
• Interesting

Because of this, I suggest making:

• Shawls
• Bags
• Accessories (belts, bookcovers, skinny scarves)

And here’s what you’ve been looking for, the free patterns!

Free Shawl patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Bloom Shawl
• Bob & Weave
• Sunday Market Shawl

Free Bag patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Unbiased
• Saturday Market Bag
• Nordstrom Crochet Hobo Bag

Free Accessory patterns suitable for Bananiere

• Bias Scarf
• Simon Belt (opens a pdf)
• Crochet Belt
• Book cover (my own pattern!)

These are just a few of the many possible patterns.  A quick search on Ravelry for “free” and “bulky” will pull up many more! You can usually substitute Bananiére for any pattern that calls for a bulky, cellulose fiber (cotton, hemp, linen) but remember the above characteristics.  The yarn is similar to Sari Silk in construction – it’s easy to substitute one for the other!

I’m always looking for new Bananiére patterns, if you’d like to design one, just let me know!
Did I miss your favorite pattern? Suggest it in the comments below!