Knitters? Crotcheters? I Need Yarn Advice

Kitty Pryde said:

I love those fluffy Lion Homespun yarns in baby pastels. My friend did a baby blanket and it came out so soft she didn't even want to give it to the baby! They are synthetic material. So soft!

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That's what I use, for my projects!

Very flexible to do a variety of patterns.

Lordy, I've just finished a hat in Lion Homespun, and it was the fiddliest dang yarn. At least for me, and I've discovered that I tend to knit a bit too tightly. It *is* supersoft, though, ITA.

Also, the Vanna White stuff mentioned upthread? I've just finished off a few skeins of her Vanna's Choice, and it knit up beautifully for a few hats and scarves for my little Cranksters.

AZ_Dawn said:

I did see a thin string in it that looked like it might be a problem.

I think I might use Bernat's Softee Chunkee for the blanket. A) I've used used it before and had no issues with it. B) I made a test swatch out of some leftovers and had my sis check it out; she liked the feel of it. Now I just need to figure out how much I need...

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Hope that works out. I've only tried (thus far) Bernat's bamboo yarn. Ooooh, it was luscious! I've got a bunch of Bernat's Satin yarn on the way, and I'll be giving that a go.

/ramble

Is that the Bamboo Ewe (bamboo and wool) yarn, or just bamboo? I am making the hubby a pair of socks out of Bamboo Ewe, and it really is wonderful.

I am also making my first wool hat. It's so darn cute right now, but I'm bad about never checking my gauge. I usually have no idea if something will fit or not until it's mostly finished and I try to squeeze my head into it without slipping the stitches off the needles. I've learned that I really prefer DPNs to circular needles.

The last hat that I made turned out so great, at least to look at. Himself doesn't have a big head, but it was way too tight. He said, "Wow. Beanies by Trojan. Awesome."

Carole said:

While we're asking, I would like to find a good resource for learning how to knit on circular needles. It seems there's something pretty fundamental that I'm missing.

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Susie said:

Hey, guys,

Can someone tell me what is the difference between a petal and a cluster in crocheting? Many thanks!

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For everybody - sign up at Ravelry if you haven't already -- takes two seconds and it's free. Amazing site that I've already learned a ton from and I've only been there a week or two. Those answers should be there (I should know the crochet one off the top of my head though! )

They have a bunch of categories that all cross-reference each other, and one category is yarn. I've learned so much from that yarn tab! I'm someone who has to feel the yarn first too, so if I buy a skein I love the feel of without any clear idea of a project for it, I can go hit the yarn tab, put in that exact yarn type, and see what projects are listed for it. Love that feature.

Cranky said:

Lordy, I've just finished a hat in Lion Homespun, and it was the fiddliest dang yarn.

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I bought some Homespun to make an afghan. It is not crochet hook friendly. I returned the unopened skeins, and I'm sending the open one to a friend who knits. It should be enough to make a scarf.

MM

Thx much, Moth. I'll check it out.

I've got my eye on alpaca wool - when I finished the numerous baby blankets I've got going on, I want to try my hand at socks. Eventually, I'm making me a pair of oh-so-soft-and-toasty alpaca wool socks...

AZ_Dawn said:

Some time back I made a little doll-sized hat on my round blue Knifty Knitter loom and slapped it onto the scanner so I could show it off online. I saw the picture of the squashed-flat hat on the screen and thought, I can't put that online; it looks like a condom!

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But you know, someone somewhere would want a knitted condom. It could be a trend! Think about how cozy. LOL!!

AZ_Dawn said:

Some time back I made a little doll-sized hat on my round blue Knifty Knitter loom and slapped it onto the scanner so I could show it off online. I saw the picture of the squashed-flat hat on the screen and thought, I can't put that online; it looks like a condom!

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I crocheted a tube to put over the frying pan handle to take it out of the oven. My friend's husband saw it and wanted to know why I had made a penis warmer.

MM

stay away from anything with mohair or alpaca of soft stuff like that. it has little fuzzy hairs that'll get in his eyes and just be an irritant. a really soft cotton would be awesome. not peaches and cream either. lol the Debby Bliss cotton is great. very soft. or even a bamboo blend. that's really nice and soft and they sell that at michaels.

yeah sugar and cream. and omg scented yarns??? that's horrible. today's society is taking this scented craze a bit too far if you ask me. if i want my sweater to smell nice i make sure i am showered before i put it on. im not an anti chemical freak by any means but all that scented stuff is just too much.

AZ_Dawn said:

Ressurecting this thread with another question. My baby nephew's going to be a year old in June and I want to knit him up this cute little ball. I'll probably use acrylic or cotton in a nice friendly yellow, but there's other yarns at the store to tempt me. Is there any type yarn I should avoid using for safety. For example, I hear acetate's highly flamable, and Lion's Fun Fetti yarn looks like a choking hazard.

Thanks!

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You might try some kind of superwash wool, depending on how much wear you expect the toy to get--it tends to pill in garments after a time, But for a toy I think it'd probably be okay. Then I went to Knit Picks to see if I could remember the name of their worsted superwash I was thinking of, and the first thing the site showed me was their machine-washable yarn, which tends to be mostly cotton blends. So there's that.

The Knitpicks washable wool is called Swish and it comes in several thickness (gage?). i've used it and washed it and it washes up like a dream in delicate. I was very impressed with it. Didnt get fuzzy at all.