The yarn that you just can't seem to find that perfect project for?
The yarn that you can never get the right gauge with?
The yarn that you must have been crazy to purchase?
The yarn that has been frogged so many times it has that funny halo?
Oh, surely I'm not the only one!
This is Regia Hand-dye Effect, my outcast yarn. It is fingering weight 70% wool (scratchy wool...), 25% nylon, and 5% acrylic, so I was already destined not to like it because I strongly dislike most yarn with that much nylon and acrylic content.
It also has this odd thread plyed into it (to balance? to make it hold together? to make it fancy?), which drives me crazy. At the time I probably bought it for the colors, perhaps I was mildly intoxicated as well, who knows?
It has almost been three separate pairs of socks and a shawl, and each time frogged violently. I've been gradually trying to force myself to do something else with it. Seeing Lisa magically turn her skein of this stuff into the most gorgeous Wingspan certainly gave me courage.
So now every last yard will become a shawl (Azzu's Shawl), which will not be immediately frogged, if it's the last thing I do!
Now come on, I can't be the only one with problematic yarn
do tell.
It's very pretty! You can throw it my way. ;) I hope the shawl works out! It's a gorgeous pattern.
ReplyDeleteI have LOTS of outcasts - most of them are my hand-dyed, handspun yarns! I love how they look in the skein, but knit up, not so much!
ReplyDeleteI had this Knit Picks Chroma fingering yarn that gave me a headache. I tried doing a lace scarf using it with no luck. I eventually conquered it in another project, but it have me a run for my money.
ReplyDeleteI have a few rotten eggs in my stash... I actually have a skein of this too, same color and everything! lol its the color! definitely not the fiber content.
ReplyDeletei'd be convinced if you told me you bought it for the colors. they're really pretty, even if the wool is scratchy. ;_;
ReplyDeletei actually have a lot of outcast yarns, mostly donated from friends who heard of my love for knitting!
the whole gang's here: the fuzzies, the eyelashes, the ladder yarns, and let's not forget about every manner of bright or pastel or squeaky yarn. all acrylic, all very, very loud.
i can't bring myself to donate them, though. i feel that it's my duty to find something for them, even if it ends up being gifted to someone else!
I think that's what made me buy it the first time too, the colors! But I agree, that yarn is just pathetic and not good for socks, or really anything.
ReplyDeleteMy unloved yarn...hmmm... right now? I am not really sure. I do love all the yarn I own, but some of it has been in the stash WAY too long!
I have far too much yarn in my stash, one in particular which I have no idea what it is (charity shop purchase), but it too has very scratchy tendencies. I'll find a way of using up at some point. Your shawl on the otherhand looks great I'm sure over a jacket or sweater it will be fine, and hopefully will soften with washing. Another pattern added to my library
ReplyDeleteI've had a few skeins that just stare at me henever I open the yarn cabinet. I hate them, but just can't bring myself to get rid of them. My current like that is FIVE skeins of Berroco Vintage that just didn't want to be a sweater, or a baby blanket, or baby toys...
ReplyDeleteI had a bunch of unloved yarn that I tried to sell at yard sale but then just ended up donating to a hospital, where I'm hoping some long-term patients are making good use of it!
ReplyDeleteI gave away several skeins of that exact yarn because it was driving me nuts. My main complaint was the black thread plied with the yarn: it would snag on my needles or be "dropped" and looked awful. I am glad to be rid of that yarn and will never buy a skein with the thread again.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it will be a pretty shawl.
ReplyDeleteI do have a few skeins/balls in my stash I really don't know what to do with... Don't we all have those moment were we just grab a ball on sale or just because it looks pretty (there and then)..?
Nice start, I think maybe you've hit it this time. Yeah...I got some yarn like that....haven't even looked at it in a while. lol It's in time out.
ReplyDeleteOh, I totally feel your pain about outcast yarn! Mine is a skein of Lorna's Laces' Helen's Lace, in the - I kid you not - "Camouflage" colorway. I bought it because it was 50% off, refusing to face the fact that I would never, ever knit with it. I've started things several times, but always rip it out because I can't stand the colorway. Once I even attempted to ply the yarn together with my wheel, hoping for usable sock yarn, but there was too much bad karma attached to it and I quickly ceased.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're actually using your outcast yarn, and making something so pretty with it! :)
Scratchy even tho it has nylon and acrylic? I would think those elements would give it some softness?
ReplyDeleteI hope this shawl pattern works out for you for this yarn. I kind of have outcasts but more so because the kid-mohair-silk drove me bonkers when I had first worked w/it.
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ReplyDeleteI use problem skeins as a way to tie up presents. I'd rather spend my time knitting something I love rather than waste it in hatred. Unless it's a personal challenge, or you don't want the yarn to "win".
ReplyDeleteAfter more years than I care to admit, I'm finally coming to grips with my persnickety yarn preferences and taking action.
ReplyDeleteItchy - gone. Scratchy - gone. Nylon/acrylic - gone (or slated for charity knitting). Strange novelty yarns - gone. Sheddy - gone. Fuzzy - gone. Rough to the touch - gone. Limp - gone. Snarly - gone.
It's wonderfully freeing to know the yarn still in the stash will get used. The rest of it has been released into the yarny cosmos where my what-was-I-thinking rejects can become someone else's perfect choice.
I have two different balls of yarn that I was gifted. I like it though, but it really isn't enough to do anything with. I am currently trying to run through the icky yarn with my blanket knitting so that I can buy some luxurious yarn for my own purposes!
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