Tag: yarns

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The Best Yarn to Use

What’s the best yarn to use?

The one that makes you happy. Happy when you’re using it and afterward.

While cost certainly is a factor (no one should go broke getting yarn) the costliest yarn isn’t worth a thing if you find you don’t like the drape, the color or the feel of it. On the other hand, you can find some really nice yarns on the shelves of any craft store. Craft stores have stepped up there yarn games of late. They’ve started to include some wool blends and natural fibers other than cotton on their shelves.

When I first learned, acrylic was the yarn of choice. Red Heart Super Saver was the go to yarn. It was inexpensive – OK, it was cheap – had some fun colors and you could tunr out a scarf with it in almost no time or money. Today, RHSS, is not on my list of yarns to buy. 

My yarn snobbery is almost nonexostent but RHSS is a beginner’s yarn and I don’t purchase it to make items I’m going to sell at designbcb. But my stash is about 97% acrylic yarns. I never really got into paying lots of money for a ball of yarn. For one, I didn’t have it. Second, I didn’t see the need. But I have relented from time to time and I have some wool, wool blends, cotton, bamboo and even some silk and camel hair in the stash.

Some folks swear off anything acrylic but I don’t have any more joy knitting with merino or alpaca than I do with a really nice acrylic.

Cost is the most important factor to me. I am likely to purchase a yarn and it is going to take up residence for months in the stash – Some members of my stash are over ten years old. Spending a lot of money on something that may never be used makes no sense to me. Nor do I want to feel that it’s so precious it can’t be used.  My projects will end up on sale or as a gift so I can’t grow attached to fiber that makes them.

This is my year of yarning dangerously so no new yarn is coming in unless it’s going right back out for a project. I will be shopping the stash and I suspect I will find things I forgot I had. I’ve already discovered treasures from the move. I will enjoy my yarns whether it’s made, grown or grass fed.

To read about choosing the fiber for your project: Read this article from The Spruce Crafts.

 

 

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The Temptations

These are The Temptations. Classic. Iconic. Talented beyond measure and addictive. If one is a true music aficionado, one cannot resist the temptation. Some of their song define my knitting life quite accurately.

Ball of Confusion
I’ll Try Something New
With These Hands

I mark long trips in the car with how many times I have to play the CD I have of their greatest hits. That’s the one disc I can play over and over because it is my car jam.

These are also temptations. Especially those four balls over to the right. Those are skeins of Lion Brand Jeans yarn. And I am in love. It has been quite some time since I had a yarn that I loved. I have an affinity for all things yarn but when one knits so much and does so for a job, then yarn can sometimes be nothing more than a means to an end. 

I am surrounded by yarn – certainly more than I will use in the next few years. Note to self: set a challenge to use 100 balls of yarn in 100 days. It is the act of knitting itself that I am most in love with. Although, I won’t knit with just anything, I learned on a ball of crochet thread. it is knitting that gets to me. The yarn is a partner.

But the first time I used the Jeans, I wanted to live in the stuff. I love the feel. I love the drape.I was tempted to stock up when Lion Brand was doing a 45% discount and again when JoAnn had it on sale plus a 20% off coupon. But I didn’t. Because I have to discipline and control over having this nectar in my cup. My yarn blitz is in December and then it’s on.Both the Jeans and the Jeans Colors will find themselves grazing with the other free range skeins in the yarn room. I have only used one of those four yarns pictured there. The others are on the range somewhere. I think I know where one of them is but can’t say for sure. The others I will run across at some point in time. I am filled with anticipation at the thought. I won’t go looking for them on purpose. That’s part of the fun of being me. Avoiding the temptations is a way to enjoy the indulgence when I finally find it. After all, I Ain’t Too Proud to Beg I’m just glad I don’t have to.