The yarn to be used for the upcoming “knitting experience” sweater still has not been decided. In a post recently I mentioned Stonehedge Shepherd’s Wool Worsted yarn. A reader wrote that she didn’t like it . . it pilled (fuzz balls) horribly. Then Suzanne (THE Suzanne who’s leading this KAL and sharing her knowledge) wrote that she loves it! This proves my point about not knowing til you try it. Not a very good analogy but we’re getting a new restaurant in town and I looked at their menu and they have a fried chicken gizzard dinner. Oh, my goodness . . I would eat fried gizzards every day and Vince would die of starvation before he would eat one. So . . are they horrible, as Vince believes, or, are the the best thing next to crawfish, as I believe? Same way with yarn. One person doesn’t like it and the next person loves it.
I once made a sweater out of a very popular hand dyed yarn and it pilled miserably the first time I wore it. I wrote them and expressed (nicely) my disappointment. They were also very nice and wrote me back explaining why it pills and the characteristics of the yarn. To this day, everyone but me seems to love it. It has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating. Heck, looking back at my projects, I see I used it for two sweaters.
I looked at the Stonehedge reviews on Ravelry. It’s been used in over 16,000 projects and has a 4.7 out of 5 star rating.
After Suzanne said she loves it, I decided to dig it out and swatch with it. Could not find it. Dug through the four totes of worsted weight yarn where I thought I had seen it. Nope. Not there. Came back to the house thinking maybe I had already brought it over here to swatch it. Nope, not in the house. Back to the yarn storage to make sure I hadn’t overlooked it. Nope .. nowhere! Came back to the house and said . . when all else fails, look at the spreadsheet!
Yarn Spreadsheet
The trusty spreadsheet tells me that I have 12 skeins, though The Loopy Ewe invoice tells me I have 13 skeins, and they’re in the “Worsted-5” tub. I didn’t even remember that I had a 5th tub of worsted weight yarn! Found Worsted-5 tub and there was the yarn I was searching for!
Looking at the weight of the two yarns, they’re both 250 yards/113 grams. I’m betting it’s pretty much exactly the same. I didn’t love it before . . would I love it the next time? I used a size 7 US needle on the sweaters I made with the pilling yarn. I’m a loose knitter so I’ll probably swatch with a 5 and 6 since I know 7 resulted in a fabric that pills. Sometimes knitting it tighter helps it not to pill. I have the yarn. I’m going to have to use it so I might as well try it.
By the way, the Stonehedge yarn was purchased in February, 2015. If I bought it today, it would cost $6.50 more. That yarn stash is like money in the bank. That’s my story . .
DonnainKS says
My fabric is the same. I’ve got Hoffman for which I paid 4.98 a yard and I will use it!! Some day! And I will still love it when I do! Other manufacturers as well. I found Robert Kaufman when we traveled years ago, the only LQS that carried P&B has closed. I continue to like both but find very little locally. So thankful for my stash! I also have a way of keeping my fabric accessible as you do your yarn.
dezertsuz says
And it’s a true story, too! I have fabrics bought at $8/yd, which I considered way too much, but now look at fabric prices! That spreadsheet was worth all the time it took to make it.