There are times when you abandon a project and can’t even unwind it because the yarn doesn’t unravel well. I was working on a scarf that I had set aside and forgot the pattern and when I started working on it again, I did something different. The different wasn’t really noticeable but the yarn wasn’t working well with that pattern. When I tried unraveling it, it snapped apart. The yarn worked better with an openwork pattern rather than shells and cables. I don’t know the name of the yarn, I bought it at JoAnn in a value bag and it’s unbanded. Now, the partially completed project and the yarn will be going in the donation bag because the yarn is too frustrating to pull apart.
I don’t even think anyone will want to try to unravel this yarn, it just breaks when it’s pulled apart forcefully enough to separate. I would use it again if I had some, but would not try to change the pattern or unravel it.
There are two other scarves that I am working on now. I like the colors of one, but the yarn is rather scratchy. The other, same manufacturer is much softer. I think it depends on dye lot of other things. I know in the future not to buy that particular color way. Easy to work with and nice and bright but a bit scratchy.
When I went to Dollar Tree today, I saw some yarn that I considered buying. I think it was mislabeled because the label had the wrong color and weight. The band said light teal and that the weight was 4 but it was neither of those things. I passed. Yarn that looks good, or feels good isn’t always good to work with it may be even more trouble what it’s worth.
For me, once I find a yarn that I like to work with, I like to try lots of different color ways and combinations. There are some that I like more than others. Often it is easy to stick with the yarns you know because when they are pleasant to work with, it’s easy to get into a rut. That is why I try different yarns to be able to make a fair comparison and to have an idea of yarn that an be substituted for or paired with another.
Lately, I have gotten into a rut of just using the same yarn, which is why I found the colorful yarn from my working stash. The colors are vibrant and that is what drew me to the yarn. Nothing can be done about the scratchiness, but the drape can be improved by using a larger hook and different stitch pattern. Cables work well with soft but sturdy and strong yarn. A larger look will always improve the drape but nothing can really improve the scratchiness.
The only way to determine what yarn you like, it to sample the unknown…
Happy crocheting!
In a few weeks I am going on a trip to Costa Rica and staying at an all-inclusive resort. I have started making a list of things that I need to get that I normally wouldn’t take on vacation – extra sun screen, bug spray and maybe some tablets for stomach issues. What I am having trouble figuring out is how much yarn should I take with me.
I few weeks ago I reached my halfway mark for scarves – 25 out of 50. Last week, I finished my 30th hat. Though hats are smaller than scarves, the hat milestone meant more to me since I haven’t been making hats as long. (Or at least hats that I felt I really liked.) Over half of the hats that I have made this year are top down. I think I prefer bottom up hats – start working at the brim, upward and then decreasing for the crown. I have figured out the math to make several interesting patterns so that the decrease will be even and the crown warmer.
I have two yarns I want to put together and I was trying to maximize the size of the scarf based on the amount of yarn that I have. I was pre-planning with avoiding yarn chicken if you will and this fear of not having enough yarn combined with the desire to not buy a jumbo skein just to complete a row was at the forefront of my mind. I started with a pattern in mind, then I realized that I wouldn’t have enough yarn to do that, so I started again, realizing I wouldn’t have enough yarn for that, I started a third time and thought of possibly adding a third yarn to the scarf to stretch it, but then realizing I didn’t like that, I put the skeins away with the hook and the portion that I already started and began another scarf knowing that I had more than enough to complete the project.
This is how I feel when I have to frog projects and rip things out. Only to have to rip out a section and start again. I tried a new-ish stitch pattern. I liked how it turned out the first time I tried it with a different yarn and thought that the stitch pattern would look nice in a color changing yarn. It did but the yarn was a heavier weight and made it a difference in the drape. At the end of the rows it started curling up. The rows were the same width but there was a slight curl on the edges like a soft ripple.. I persevered. Then when I added another skein of the same yarn, same dye lot, same hook, same stitch and everything… something happened. The rows got wider. I had mistakenly added a stitch. So I ripped everything out from that section and began again. It happened again. I checked and counted and there were the same number of stitches but my gauge was totally off with the addition of this new skein. I tried a third time. Same thing.
Then I decided to give up, rip it out and find a new stitch. I only did a couple of rows because I unraveled, and rewound and started fresh in an open shell stitch [Star stitch, from the Crochet Bible], one that I hadn’t done in a while. It’s similar to the Iris stitch that I started in the current lunchtime scarf. It’s started out better than the previous one and I don’t think my gauge will vary. Some stitches work best with lighter weight yarn to create a better drape with the yarn. The heavier the yarn, the “less fiddly” or rather, simpler the pattern should be because the weight of the yarn is an element itself and changes the drape.
The pattern I used with the single crochet starting row and additional stitches at the ends goes like this:
