I’m working on a scarf with some trial yarn that I bought several weeks ago. I like the way that it is working up, but this is another one that I will likely never buy again. There are four strands of loosely spun four ply yarn which has a very pleasing effect from a natural to natural and light blue and then will end up as a royal blue. The problem is that the plies don’t always want to cooperate and even though I have a hook that a larger size than recommended, it’s not fun to work on. I generally increase my hook size based on the manufacturer’s suggestion. The portion of the scarf that I completed as show in the photo above, took me two sittings or a total of about 80-90 minutes. That’s pretty slow for a third of a scarf.
Another yarn that I bought in the same batch, also loosely spun but in cotton and bamboo, has made me dislike the project so much that I gave up on it and made me reconsider giving up on the four ply natural to royal gradient one. I crochet quickly. It is a productive hobby which I look forward to and I like making things to give away generally for charity but also for gifts. I like to try yarns but when I dislike a yarn so much that I can’t even finish a “gateway” project – a scarf, then I feel as though the negative energy and feelings that I have are being transferred to the item. When I make a hat, scarf, afghan or other handcrafted item, I think of the person being warm and feeling that someone in the world that he or she may never meet cared enough to make something special and handmade. When I am fighting with the yarn and it takes twice the amount of time that it would with a comparable weight yarn, and I want to chuck it out, then I don’t want that negative energy going into my work.
It does take time to decide whether or not you like a yarn but after what could be considered a swatch – the width of a regular scarf (six inches or so) and eight inches in length – I should have a good idea of whether or not I like working with a yarn. At that point it’s about 15% of a scarf. It was slow going through the beginning chain and then slow through the first single crochet row. The beginning steps are always the slowest, but I disliked having to go back every few stitches because one of the strands didn’t catch on the hook or I noticed it too late and then had to rip it out or loop it through so it wouldn’t just hang out like it was already worn.
As I was working on the orange scarf, I also thought of my mother who could tell whether or not I liked a book, by the speed that I would read it. If I really didn’t like a book it would take longer and she would say, “I can tell you don’t like that book.” I would ask her how she knew and she said because you are taking too long to read it. Even considering that there are some texts that I needed to digest more or think about; it wouldn’t take me as long. This is what I thought of these two projects. So instead of slogging through two scarves that I didn’t really like working on, they are both going into the donation bag. Another person may love working with these. I don’t. I’ve gotten some great yarns at thrift stores [partially competed projects tossed into a bag with full skeins] that may have met with the same fate from previous owners.
Have you ever disliked a yarn so much that you just took the entire project and tossed it out? That’s what is going to happen to both of these scarves. I’m still on track to meet my goal for the year, but these will not be included in the count. On the bright side, I did discover a newfound appreciation for #3 yarn, The drape on both of these #3 yarns is quite nice, though I didn’t like working with them. The upside of this is that I will expand my horizons when trying out new yarns and add light worsted and DK yarns to the fold (that are single ply or have a better twist).
My working yarn supply will not suffer. I have many other yarns that I know I will enjoy working with. This will not deter me from trying new ones.
