It’s the little things

that keep me sane. I ran across a beautiful scarf pattern on Ravelry (where else?) and decided that it was perfect for some yarn that I bought over Thanksgiving when I took a trip to my parent’s house. We were fortunate (or I was pushy) enough to visit the distant Joann’s while I was there, and I was shocked to find that it was a Joann’s Superstore! Ah, the things I never paid attention to as a teenager…

While I was there (buying armfuls of Patons Classic Merino for $3.00 a skein…) I ran across their new line of Debbie Mumm yarn that I’ve heard so much about. My local Joann’s doesn’t carry it, apparently only the larger ones do, but I thought I’d take the opportunity to investigate the buzz-yarn. Debbie Mumm Traditions (the most talked about of the line) has been touted by many as an alternative to Noro Kureyon, for those who like the colors but not the feel (or the price) of the more expensive Japanese wool. It may not seem like much of a price difference, but it really adds up. Kureyon retails for $6.99-8.50 per 110yd ball, while the Traditions sells for $5.99 normally (although Joann.com has it for $5 at the moment!) for 149 yds. That puts the Noro at 6.3 – 7.7 cents a yard, as compared to 3.3 – 4 for the Traditions. Let’s say you’re making a pullover and need 1000 yards (not unlikely); with the regular price for the Traditions you’d pay $41.93 for 7 skeins vs. $69.90 for 10 skeins of the sale price Noro. So you see? Quite an appreciable difference.

Of course, the next question is whether the yarns are even comparable if you take the colors out of the equation. A lot of folks were excited when the yarn came out but disappointed when they started working with it. The problem was not the texture (it’s quite soft, and pleasant to the touch) nor its appearance in person – the colors are just as lovely as advertised and the yarn itself has an appealing, softly-spun look to it – but the structure of the Traditions has left many people frustrated. You see, the yarn looks softly spun because it is. The colored portion is loosely twisted around a solid black core and if not treated with a delicate hand, the black core will protrude, the outer portion will bunch, ‘worming’ occurs, and chaos ensues. Even with those reviews, I bought three balls of it because it was so pretty – plus, I had a theory that it was one of those yarns that was easier to crochet with than to knit.

Working with it I found that I had to use the lightest possible touch to guide the yarn; you can’t even slide it through your fingers between your work and the ball without causing the outer layer to slip down and the yarn to curl. Once I realized that, though, it wasn’t very hard to adjust to working that way. The first few times I caused a curl I tried to smooth it out, but I soon figured out that I could just let the bumps come up to my work and they could easily be concealed inside a single stitch (something crocheting has over knitting in this instance – the stitches have more layers and irregularities in the yarn stand out of your work less). My first skein ran out about 3/4 through the scarf’s edging and I decided to match the color repeat when starting the second skein. I pulled out a few yards of yarn to find my place, began crocheting, but after only a few inches along the border I ran into a knot, attached to a completely different part of the repeat (hey, just like Noro)! I grumbled, but fortunately it was the color right before the one I wanted and it wasn’t too difficult to pull out a few more yards, reattach the yarn, and finish the scarf.

Speaking of, the scarf I made was a Tea Scarf, from a lovely and simple free pattern provided by Pixeldiva.

I really like it – there’s something very striking about the way the yarn worked up into this pattern. Something special. I showed it to Greg and he started to say something absently but stopped, looked harder, and said, “You know, that looks really . . . earthy.”

I think so, too. Sort of rustic. Now all I need is a similarly unusual hat pattern to go with it! I’ve still got over a ball and a half of this stuff left, after all, and I’m looking forward to working with it again.

Something to show off

You may remember that before my other blog crashed, I was talking about a crocheting project that I’d finished but hadn’t managed to get a proper picture of. (To be honest, half the delay was because I hadn’t bothered ironing it yet…) After about half an hour of fiddling with the self-timer setting on my shiny new camera, I got a useable photo. It’s a starf! I mean, it’s a scarf, shaped like a shooting star – a shooting starf.

I used Knit Picks Merino Style, and it is just gorgeous. I’ve heard a lot about how pilly merino wool is, but it wears like iron compared to the Main Line I used for my cloche. (At least, so far. I haven’t exactly been tobogganing in it or anything, but it’s not fuzzy yet, which is more than I can say for the Main Line.) I’m pretty sure this is the first project I’ve ever done that was made with nice, new wool, and now I understand what people mean when they say that wool is ‘springy.’ That’s the perfect word to describe it. As far as this specific yarn goes, (if you’re looking for a review) Merino Style is very soft. I have no qualms about wrapping it around my neck. The stitch definition is great – I used crocheted ribbing, which can look very flat in the wrong yarn or gauge, and it looks beautiful. This would probably look very nice with a cables. I like the colors: they’re strong and saturated without looking like a box of markers. Would I use it again? Oh my, yes. Lovely, soft, warm, rather inexpensive – I can absolutely foresee myself purchasing this yarn for another project.

Getting back to the starf, I made it short enough that it only goes around the neck once, but wide enough that it scrunches to provide nice, cozy warmth. A loop on the back of the star secures the end, which reappears out from under it like the tail of a shooting star! It’s a simple design, but I really like it. The concept has been loitering in my design file for years. Another one down! Unfortunately, it’s much faster to think of these things than to execute them. I have a feeling I may never get to all of them.

In other news, it’s been raining here. A lot. For a long time. Texas is flooding. And while it does keep the temperature down (a bit) and saves me having to water my grass, I have to wonder what nasty bug or disease or wild animal is going to appear on the scene, that only comes out when you get rain several times a week for a month or two. Any guesses?

Yarn Shop-ping

The sheepghan is in time-out again for being difficult. (I have to unravel a few rows, I think. Baaaaa. I mean, bah.) Apparently, I frustrate easily. Or maybe it’s just that I have so many other things I can work on that won’t fight with me – and it’s more fun to work with those.

On Saturday Greg and I swung by Yarnivore again. I went with two skeins of my Gloss to avail myself of their ballwinder. Melanie was very nice (again) and showed me how to do it, and I have to say that it is pretty darn cool.

While we were there, we picked out yarn for Greg’s scarf. (Oh yeah, I’m making him a scarf. I started making and planning mittens and socks and sweaters and hats for me and Max and Charlie, and Greg said, “So I don’t get anything?” I asked him what he wanted and he said a scarf.) Greg’s specifications were as follows: Black – or dark – with bits of color. Kind of big – puffy – and pretty plain. I interpreted that to mean a black or gray or navy tweed in worsted or heavier and a basic rectangle. I showed him some pictures and he seemed to agree. I actually found a black wool tweed that seemed to match, but we didn’t buy that. We bought this:

Greg said he liked the little ‘flyaways’ and how soft it was. Awww. If he’d only told me he was looking for a soft, fuzzy scarf that still looked manly and serious, we could have started there. No wonder, though: it’s Plymouth Indecita Alpaca Boucle – 90% Alpaca. Gorgeous.

And in other news: Crocheting.