Yarn Choices

This morning when I was writing the “On the Needles” post, I thought . . it would be nice if I shared more about each yarn I work with. The yarn choices are a struggle for me because, since I’m ordering, I cannot feel the texture, I cannot ask the yarn shop ladies what they think, though seriously, if it’s in their shop, they’re probably not going to tell me is horrible yarn. As much as I love yarn, there are some yarns I consider horrible.

Yarn and opinions of yarn are just like fabric and probably most everything else. There are quilting fabrics I love and quilting fabrics I don’t love. There are fabric companies who put out fabrics that are thicker with heavier threads (Moda’s Sandy’s Solids) and those same companies put out thinner fabrics with finer threads (Moda Marbles). Those are examples from years ago . . I don’t even know what new fabrics feel like any more. Some people rave about the thicker fabrics (me) and some people rave about the thinner fabrics (not me).

So, from now on, when I share a knitted project, I will try to remember to share my opinion of the yarn. Again, like fabric, because a yarn feels good when using it doesn’t mean it will hold up well to wear and washing. I will differentiate between my “brand new” feelings about yarn and my “after it’s worn” feelings.

With yarn, so many things matter:

• How does it feel while being knitted? Does it split? If you have to rip back how does it handle that?
• Is it colorfast? Does it bleed onto your hands and needles while knitting? Does it leave behind brightly colored water after soaking? Is the finished garment obviously lighter after soaking or was it just excess dye being released into the water?
• How does it block? Does it grow substantially? Does it lose stitch definition after soaking/blocking?
• How does it wear? Does it hold it’s shape? Does it droop? Does it pill or fuzz up badly? Do holes begin to appear after a few wearings, especially in high rub areas (like heels of socks or under the arms on sweaters)?
• How does it launder? If it says machine washable . . is it really? 

Yarn is darned expensive. The time it takes to knitting a garment isn’t as big a deal to me because I love doing it and think of it as entertainment value but if I’m going to spend the money on the yarn, and then knit a project, I want to be proud to give it to someone and proud to wear the things I make for myself.

Ravelry has a comment section for just about every yarn available. It’s a lot like Amazon reviews. One person loves it; the next person hates it so you have to take the comments with a grain of salt sometimes. If I see a good number of people saying the same thing, I’ll give that a little more consideration.

The project I’m currently working on, I’m using Dream in Color Smooshy. It’s the first time I’ve used this yarn. I love knitting with it. Before telling you that I love knitting with it, I wanted to read the comments on Ravelry. Here’s an example.

The first comment I read: I am totally, totally, totally in love with this yarn.

Just a few comments down:  I do not like this yarn!

Farther down . . someone made socks. Loved them. Loved how they felt. Wore the socks three times and had a hole. They will not buy the yarn again.

The yarn is 100% wool – no nylon. In my opinion, it is NOT a good yarn for making socks. I love my Toyota Highlander but if I decided to use it as a boat, I wouldn’t be too happy with its performance. That’s a bit of an extreme example but seriously, using a 100% wool yarn for socks, in my opinion, is problematic. I did it when I first began knitting socks and I was always unhappy with the way the yarn held up.

Yet, when I look at the projects made using Smooshy, there are many, many socks. Even though at this stage of my knitting, I would not use 100% wool for my socks, some people do and they are quite happy with the results.

Several years ago I made a sweater using Miss Babs’ Heartland, which is 100% wool. It pilled like crazy and I left a bad review for the yarn. I later learned that because it’s such a soft yarn and because it is not superwash, that’s just the nature of the yarn. Apparently everyone (and I mean LOTS of people) use it and LOVE it. I do love Miss Babs’ yarns but apparently I used Heartland in a way that caused me not to love it, though it’s still a very much loved yarn by everyone else.

All this to say:  One yarn may be loved by one and not loved by another. It’s really hard to know what you will love; what yarns will serve you best. Life is short . . try them all!  🙂

I will do my best to give you an honest opinion of the yarns I use but really, it’s going to be no more than my opinion and you know what they say . . every one has one!