Monday, March 28, 2011

2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day 1






A Tale of Two Yarns   2KCBWDAY1

Favorite yarn...  You mean I need to pick just ONE??!?  That will be tough to do.  I have many yarns in my stash that I dearly love.  Many I have not yet crochet or knit with yet so I can't give an opinion on how much I love (or maybe didn't love) working with the yarn.  So I narrowed it down to something that I loved in the skein, something I loved knitting with, and something that feels wonderful now that it is all done!

One yarn that I bought a while back and finally found something to make with is this:

It is Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca DK Paint and it is such a soft lovely yarn! I bought it at Webs last summer. I made it into a pair of socks that I can wear around the house.  They might be OK in a pair of runners (haven't tried that yet) but I doubt they would fit comfortably into other shoes. It was a dream to knit with and feels so incredibly soft!  Here are the socks that this yarn became:

Least favorite yarn...  This would have to be the yarns that fall into the "fun fur" category! It's not a single yarn but a category of yarn... I once bought a BUNCH on a Black Friday sale for something like 50 cents a skein and then I couldn't figure out what to do with it...  I actually went back to AC Moore to buy more while it was still on sale...  Here is what some of that batch looked like (a nice fuzzy variety):

I wasn't knitting much at that time (still a pre-beginner) so crochet was my option.  Unfortunately I found this stuff impossible to work with...  Finally after researching what others had done with this, I tried using a second strand of yarn along with it and made myself a giant fuzzy afghan (after of course going out and buying even more of the stuff because now I needed to have enough to finish the afghan!).  The afghan is actually nice, warm, and fuzzy AND fits a double size bed.  Perhaps not the most pleasant crafting experience making the thing, but the end result is not too horrible (well, that is open to debate, but I kind of like it although I would NEVER make another one!) 

One day I may learn (maybe, but don't hold your breath) that I do not need to buy all the yarn I can get my hands on just because it is on a good sale! 

10 comments:

  1. I did learn this lesson after a certain bamboo yarn incident. Now if I could just learn to ignore destashes of yarn that I want to try out, I'd be golden.

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  2. You would have thought I would have learned my lesson, but alas not so... I also bought a pile of fingering weight discontinued yarn last fall... I have used a bit but still have plenty! I am slowly (read very slowly) learning...

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  3. Oh boy, fun fur! I know it can actually be used to make pretty stuff (a coworker once made a gorgeous, enormous stuffed monkey with it and it looked great), but every time I see it, I have to think about the What Not To Crochet blog and giggle.

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  4. I love your afghan - but is it very heavy when wet/washed ?

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  5. I haven't washed it yet and hope that I don't have to worry about doing that for some time. I use it over top of other blankets so it should stay pretty clean for some time.

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  6. I love a sale too. I went a little nuts buying fun fur when it was on a sale a few years ago, thinking I could make all kinds of crafts with it. But it was so hard to work with because I could never see any of my stitches. But you put it to good use with your afghan! And your socks are very pretty.

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  7. That Baby Alpaca DK paint looks amazing!
    I'm not a fan of that fur stuff. It would be cute though to make them into boas for little girls for dress up.

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  8. Yes I have now decided not to buy tonnes of yarn before trying it out first. I have a lot of bamboo in my possession that s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s so badly. Bargains are sometimes NOT a good thing.

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  9. I bought clearance yarn once, because it was cheap and pretty. It took me fifteen years to figure out what to make with it, and I had to buy more to finish. :)

    I have a scarf made out of funfur, and I'm certain that the lashes are intelligent because they're always seeking out and trying to slide up my nostrils. My sister's used funfur to make faux-fox stoles, and my sister-in-law loves it. Me, I think that things made from funfur and other eyelash yarns have a tendency to look like Muppet skin and that's just not my style. :)

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  10. I think we all are guilty of falling into the "fun fur" frenzy.

    I find that non-knitters seem to love scarves made with this yarn. Not sure why...

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