Tuesday, March 27, 2007

And the Answers Are...


Well, that was fun! Pretty much everyone recognized the Koigu.

I have no idea what the brown tweedy yarn is. I was curious what people would guess. This scarf is from my early days as a knitter, when I didn't fully comprehend the idea that you can always frog something that isn't really working. This scarf is ridiculously too wide and too short, but the yarn is nice. It might be Classic Elite Waterspun. Not sure.

These lovelies are, from left, Colinette Jitterbug and Cider Moon Glacier. The Jitterbug was a very generous prize from Cat (I was the 100th commenter on her blog). The Cider Moon is made by talented hand-dyers here in Ohio. I bought this at the Knitter's Mercantile in Columbus the evening after the first day of the bar exam. The people there were extremely nice, helpful, and sympathetic about my ordeal. They agreed that yarn was definitely in order.

There seemed to be a split among the guessers with respect to the garter stitch project: many thought it was Cotton-Ease and almost as many guessed Knit Picks Shine.

Sorry. Wrong. It's Red Heart Soft Yarn.

Lolly recently posted about a cute, cute shrug she is knitting from Caron Simply Soft Shadows. She opined, and I tended to agree, that not all acrylic yarns are created equal. Some of them are actually nice. Her commenters had many suggestions for good acrylic yarns, which naturally I felt compelled to road test. We'll see how this stands up to the washer and dryer. But right now, I am tempted to dub Red Heart Soft Yarn the "Two-Buck Chuck of Yarns."

Now, I'm not going to argue that this is as good a yarn as, say, Rowan Felted Tweed anymore than I would suggest that Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc is as good a wine as my favorite French Sancerre. But, for the price, this yarn is excellent. It is soft as can be, feels silky not plasticky, knits up nicely, and comes in some decent (read secondary and tertiary) colors. And it was $2.99 a ball. For items that will take some abuse, where allergies or woolphobias are concerned, or when you're on a budget, I'd say this is a good choice.

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Link-o-Rama, Baby!

I have really been enjoying the links that Faith at No More Sweaters and Vera at freehand sketching have been closing their posts with. So much crafty goodness! So much inspiration! I decided to shamelessly steal their fantastic idea!

- Pamela Wynne at Flint Knits has made two of the Cutest Blouses Ever.
- Soe at sprite writes has a lovely recurring theme of "Three Beautiful Things" on her blog.
- Consistently hilarious Ellen at Knit Sisters blogs about the Healing Power of Jello.
- If you're looking for something good to read, you might check out this post and this one at Fig & Plum.
- Theresa at Knitting Underway is looking for manly sock yarns and patterns. Did I mention she's having a contest?

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10 Comments:

Blogger Lola and Ava said...

Don't you love the Cider Moon colors? I bought some (also from KMerch) & I can't decide what to do with it. They are going to be at Knitter's Connection in June, so I'm planning a shopping spree.

3:53 PM  
Blogger Sonya said...

Sometimes a good acrylic is just what you need. I made a baby blanket for my cousin's son a few years ago and it's held up beautifully. My cousin would have done me harm if I had introduced any high maintenance knits to her life.

Thanks for the links. I just added about 5 blogs to my bloglines.

5:39 PM  
Blogger K8 said...

I have to agree - not all acrylic yarn is all that bad. I made a scarf for the Red Scarf project out of Caron Simply Soft and really loved how it felt. Not bad for an acrylic at all :)

8:24 PM  
Blogger Jennifer said...

Two buck chuck... *snicker* I'm not against all acrylics. Red Heart Soft is a nice soft yarn.

I love Cider Moon colors too!

8:52 PM  
Blogger pamela wynne said...

Wheee, thanks for the link! and for the Red Heart Soft info -- I don't fear the acrylic yarns, but it usually takes an enthusiastic review to get me to try a new one. :)

7:31 AM  
Blogger Olga said...

Well, I'm so glad you posted about the Red Heart! My next post was going to ask for recommendations for a nice, hard-wearing but soft acrylic yarn. For a baby blanket. And that's all I'm going to say (except that it's not my baby).

11:29 AM  
Blogger gray la gran said...

hmm ... i don't know what the tweed yarn is, but i don't think it's waterspun ... from what i remember, waterspun was a solid ... not tweed. ever.
(i have an incomplete waterspun aran afghan. seriously incomplete!!!)

9:22 PM  
Blogger Theresa said...

Love the new links - all sorts of knit-bloggy love.

5:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for linking to my Ode to Jell-O, Laura! It pleases me greatly.

For obvious enough reasons, I wrote that one to amuse myself, being badly in need of amusement last week, but I'm glad someone else found it funny.

How's the crocheting going?

2:12 PM  
Blogger knitspot anne said...

the tweedy yarn could be classic elite donegal tweed . . . their colors often had funky-colored neps thrown in that totally didn't harmonize. and it's been around forever . . .

12:13 PM  

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