It’s been an instant gratification kinda week! I’ve finished a hat and a cowl!
The hat, for a co-worker’s new baby, started over a beer…
and by the next morning, I had this…
Nothing fancy, just a little square hat with umbilical cord corners! Details on Ravelry!
and then, there’s this…
I had fun improvising a pattern…provisional cast on, couple inches of garter stitch followed by 18 inches of two color brioche with a contrasting colorway and grafting the ends together.
I like the vibrancy of the colors. I gifted it to a friend and she was very happy with it. The red/orange/rust bits are really her thing. She’s always wearing cowls and turtlenecks so I’m confident it’s found a good home.
Now, for the complaints. The yarn is Lion Brand Landscapes and I hate it. My Mother always taught me not to hate things because hate was a very strong emotion. Now, I understand why I had to reserve hate for only the very despicable things in life.
Like hideous acrylic yarn.
Ack. It’s the worst. Remember Lion’s yarn ‘Homespun’? It’s like that, only think of fingernails on a chalkboard at the same time. It’s that bad.
What makes it worse that going to sleep with gum in your mouth and waking up with gum in your hair? It’s barely spun. If it were wool, we’d certainly call it roving. The result of this exceptionally loose single ply is the worst splitting I’ve ever encountered. When you split wool roving and pull your needle back out, the roving kind of collapses back onto itself, that’s the amazing springy quality we love about wool.
Now imagine 100% acrylic, it’s just strands of plastic laying next to other strands of plastic. If you accidentally split the yarn, it stays split. It doesn’t have any bounce to it so reassembling the pieces that were split is quite a chore. Frankly, it was maddening.
I don’t like to label yarns as ‘splitty’ when so much of it depends on the individual knitter. The best advice to avoid splitting is slow down and be more careful. I certainly reminded myself of that frequently as I worked this cowl.
Okay, fine. Maybe it’s not the yarn, maybe it’s me. Whatever. I’ll be more careful and I’ll deal with the splits when they do happen. It’s good to practice one’s patience and understanding, even if it’s with an inanimate object.
Until this happens:
It might be kind of hard to see but if you expand these photos perhaps you’ll see the faint outlines of garter stitch on the left and columns of knits on the right.
These are photos of my bathroom sink after blocking this stupid acrylic cowl. I thought surely, blocking this thing couldn’t go wrong. It was literally impossible. It was designed for the washing machine and I was just giving it a gentle 30 minute soak in cool water, with no additives, just water.
I literally thought to myself ‘at least it’s not MadelineTosh, I know it won’t bleed.’
ha. Apparently, I don’t knock on wood nearly often enough.
I don’t think the yarn bled, per se. The blocking bath was entirely clear. Somehow though, dye transferred from my cowl to my bathroom sink. WTF, Lion?
I hate this yarn. I don’t even feel bad saying that.
I really tried but it turns out, I’m a yarn snob for a reason! I make no apologies! I counteracted the acrylic by casting on a new project with Hedgehog Fibers! I’ve been squirreling away skeins all year…it’s time to bust them out! Tune in tomorrow to see my progress! I’m loving it so far!
FogKnits 
That…well, it’s a horrible thing to have happen, but the idea of dying the bathroom sink with knitting designs sounds kinda fun really…
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Someone else said the same thing…now I’ve just gotta do it again so the rest of the sink matches. LOL! I’m assuming it’s not permanent. I haven’t tried to clean it beyond a measly bit of wiping (that did no good).
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I love this post so hard! Thank you for being such a truth teller – and HHF is surely the cure to whatever ails ya.
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This post made my day. :) I have no words, but I know exactly what you are saying. Enjoy the new cast on.
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Your cowl looks beautiful but I understand the frustrations. Love the little hat
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Oh my…I have several skeins of that in my stash from back in the day when I only crocheted and didn’t know about all the beautiful yarn out there. Now I’m wondering if I should try with it or send it to someone knitting for charity :) The colors are beautiful though and I love your FO! And your baby hat is super adorable.
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Not to complicate matters but Lion actually has an older (retired) yarn called Landscapes. That one was a plied wool/acrylic blend I believe. I used it once and it was a million times better than this! I believe it was a bulky weight? So if it’s from waaaaaaay back in the day, maybe it’s the good one :)
I feel bad for the unsuspecting newbie that buys this stuff…it’s going to make them think knitting is hard :(
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I should have checked my stash on Ravelry before posting this :) I actually only have 2 skeins of the Landscape bought in 2015. I was thinking of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable :D Still, maybe I’ll send it off to a new home. I really need to do a destash and get rid of yarn that I’m probably never going to knit with.
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Totally agree with you about acrylic yarn. I hate it and vowed on my last acrylic project never to use it again. I had pink yarn to use up that I bought in France and I plowed through and finished a little sweater but it did not hold it shape and to me look like it should be tossed. It was a gift and the receiver has no idea because she’s only 18 months old. The mother was thrilled because it could be thrown in the wash, but never again! It’s too much work to knit and be disappointed with the finished product.
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