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 wasnt 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.

Knit Picks Shipment!

Yaaaay! (The package tracker said it wouldn’t be here until Monday. Woohoo!) I bought enough for free shipping, which equals a LOT of yarn. Don’t worry, though, each skein of it is tagged for a project. For instance:

2 skeins of Gloss in Cocoa. These will become a pair of Baudelaire (for me).

2 skeins of Gloss in Dusk. These will become a pair of Hedera (for me).

4 skeins of Swish in Deep Ocean. This will become a sweater for Charlie. (See how Deep Ocean goes with the Sea Blue Stripe?) Maybe a Sherwood.

5 skeins of Swish in Dublin. Probably a Sherwood for Max.

3 skeins of Merino Style in Crocus, Harvest, and Strawberry for a design of my own. It was on sale!

Also, something I’ve heard of but never experienced:

Complimentary color cards. Wow. Telemark and Palette. I already have Palette, but that just means Max gets to play with it. (He’s thrilled.) Mom thought I was crazy when I bought all of those color cards, but when I went to place my order, I knew exactly what the colors looked like.

My review: all of these yarns are gorgeous! Both to touch, and their colors. I’ll give better reviews when I use them.

Same-Day Satisfaction

Remember this yarn?

In a fit of - I’m not sure what - I worked it up yesterday, into the very project I purchased it for. Beat that! What was it, you may ask?

A cloche. I like them. (I like the one I made, too!) It’s crocheted with my own design, using two skeins of Knitpicks Main Line (one in Cocoa, one in Antique Rose).

It’s the first time I’ve actually worked with this yarn, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it. (You know you’re dying to hear them!)

PROS:

It’s very soft. I really, really, really love how soft it is. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it (and didn’t follow the link above), Main Line is a blend of 75% Pima Cotton and 25% Merino Wool. As you might expect from those proportions, it’s mostly cottony to the touch, with just a bit of woolyness to catch the fingers. I would definitely wear it next to the skin, and it’s warm without being hot or sticky. Main Line is also fairly inexpensive. That’s always a consideration. I really like the color pallete as well, those shades are right up my alley. It was really pleasant to work with. I didn’t find it particularly splitty - in fact, it has six plies! They hold together really well, with a firm twist that gives great stitch definition. I like it, and would definitely consider purchasing it again.

CONS:

Take a look at this:

I swear I did not abuse this while I was working it up. It’s just fuzzed up, already. It’s fuzziest at the crown (where I started) and I have to wonder how well it will hold up. Will it look like I’ve been rubbing it across the carpet after I’ve had it a week? Only time will tell.

Item two: unexpectedly short yardage. Yes, I know, I know it’s on the label. And I also know that cotton is heavier per yard than wool of the same weight (meaning thickness). Therefore, when yarn is sold by weight, a ball of mostly-cotton yarn will contain fewer yards than a ball of wool of the same weight. Still, I didn’t really think about the fact that it only had 82 yards per ball. Another 30 (heck, another 10) yards and I would have been golden: as it was I had to complete several redesigns to accommodate the yarn limitations. I’m still pleased with how it turned out, but be aware that you’re going to need more balls than a more wooly yarn to get the same yardage for your project. Want to see how much of the brown I had left?

Yup. That’s not much, at all. There was more of the pink, plus I totally could have economized on the bow if I found myself running short on it. I think you could make yourself a standard, solid-colored hat out of two balls, but if you want a turned-up brim, you might want three.

Anything else? Nope - this concludes my review of Knitpicks Main Line yarn. Overall, I think like it. I might re-evaluate when we see how much it fuzzes with use.

Lots of ‘New and Exciting’

Yesterday I went somewhere new…

and it was exciting!

I took pictures. I couldn’t decide if I felt more like a stealthy ninja-blogger, or a ridiculous yarn-store tourist (it was my first time at a yarn store!). I didn’t ask the other customers what they thought. They had lots of yarns I’d never heard of before, along with many ‘famous’ brands. There was, for instance, a wall in the back full of Manos del Uruguay:

Dang, that’s a lot of big, pretty yarn. Also fun things like Baby Alpaca Grande, Noro, some really lovely Patagonia Nature Cotton, lots of sock yarns, lots of other yarns; silk and alpaca and mohair, oh my! I think. It was a little much to take in all at once. I didn’t even duck into the room with the books, which is ridiculous, since (as you may recall) I have a full-blown case of PAS (pattern-acquisition syndrome) that is only rendered sillier by the fact that I almost never use someone else’s pattern. You know. The whole thing. I just looked: the last time I used a pattern was for Greg’s Christmas gloves. Almost six months ago. Only because I had never done gloves before. Sigh. I should probably invest in some good stitch dictionaries instead.

Anyway! I saw a sample in the ’specialty’ yarn area that reminded me of something the Yarn Harlot did last week:

Actually, it’s the same thing. Same yarn, everything. Look over on the left side of the picture - that red/orange/yellow ball even looks like the same color. At the time, I mentioned it to Melanie (the owner), and used words like “yarn harlot” and “blog” in public conversation and she knew what I was talking about (or, at the very least, pretended to quite gracefully. She said she’s not much of a blog reader. Hello, she owns a yarn store. Would you be on the computer?). It was surreal.

Speaking of Melanie, I asked her if I could get a picture of her for the blog. After a brief pause (I think she was trying to decide whether I was a crazy person) she agreed.

See? She’s very nice, and helpful, and seems to know a lot about the yarns and notions in the shop. (She endorses the Knitpicks Options needles, although of course she can’t sell them - she has good taste, too! I’m in love with my Knitpicks dpns…I’m going to get the Options. Eventually.) On the left there is Sheila the Dressform, Melanie of course is in the middle, and on the right is a selection of yarns dyed by the Yarnivore staff. See that skein just left of the yellow one? 100% Silk, and the color is lovely. A leetle bit out of my preferred price range, though.

I snapped the shot of the storefront while we were leaving, and as I was editing the photo today I noticed something interesting reflected in the window:

See? It’s us! There I am, taking pictures in full-blown blogging dork mode, while Greg looks in the bag and says to himself, “She spent 20 bucks on what?”

Now on to the yarn, of course:

It’s pretty.

I got two balls of Cashcotton DK in Sage, which I think, with care, will produce a shrug. I can do that with 284 yards, right?

It’s a Good Mail Day

Yaaay!

The package was crumpled. The package was late (it had weird redirect sorting stickers on it - I think it got temporarily lost). But now it is here, and the yarn is fine. So all is well! Here we have my recent Knitpicks ’sample’ order. I placed it over two weeks ago during the summer yarn sale. I’ve been meaning to test-drive some of their yarns, and since they were reduced, I decided to give this particular set of yarns a try.

Here are closeups and some first impressions of these fiiine fibers (sorry about the dark and vaguely blurry pics). First, Spinnaker (100% Pima Cotton)!

I drastically changed my opinion about this yarn once I got my hands on it (the only real surprise in the package). I have to admit, I thought it was an ugly yarn. I mean really - look at this. Or this. Please don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing the matter with the designs. I just feel that the texture of the yarn is ill-suited to these garments. Or perhaps, any garments. However, I laid my eyes on a skein of it and realized that this is an oddly attractive, tactiley appealing yarn. The cotton is very soft, and the bumpiness is pleasing (when it’s not being strangled into a sweater), both to the eyes and the touch. I’m not sure what it wants to be - I’ll have to play with it - but I think…I like it.

Oh, and I’ve heard people say it’s ridiculously expensive for a KP yarn (I thought it myself), but perhaps they didn’t realize that one skein is 200 grams. Most other yarns from Knitpicks are sold in 50 gram skeins. The price (per 50 grams) is comparable to other yarns that they carry. Moving on, though!

The Main Line feels lovely.

75% Pima Cotton, 25% Merino Wool, it has a lovely twist to it. Unlike the shiny-ness and smoothness of the Shine, it’s just a wee bit fuzzy. You can’t really see it, but you can feel it on the strand. And, while it isn’t shiny, it does have a lovely sheen. I can’t wait to get my hands in this stuff. I may actually start stashing this yarn just to have it, something I have never actually done. Knitpicks, you are daaangerous.

Next we have the Shine Sport -

and the Shine Worsted.

This is also a lovely yarn, 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal. Smooth, shiny, very soft. I like! I’m sooo pleased with the pliability of the yarn. I don’t have a clue what Modal is, I don’t know why Pima Cotton is special, but it doesn’t compare in the slightest with the cotton yarns I’m familiar with (Peaches & Creme, Sugar’n Cream, etc). I like it, it’s awesome, I could totally see using this yarn for a garment. The sport is eminently suitable for baby items, and unfortunately I can see myself dropping quite a bit of the yarn budget in that department, as well.

Once I get these worked up I’ll post further reviews on them, but I’ve got quite a few things up in the air that (sadly) push these yarns down the list of crafting priorities.