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The Ugly Duckling And The Beautiful Swan

December 14, 2013 by The Twisted Yarn 18 Comments

I’m going to be controversial here, again. First, I want you to imagine something. We’ll call this Scenario A:-

Imagine, you were in the LYS, and you saw the most stunningly beautiful skein of wool. ‘Twas gorgeous, wasn’t it? Pure cashmere, homespun, dyed with love and care. All those rich autumnal colours blended in just the right proportions. Curled tightly in its skein, red tumbled into sage green, and when you squished it, you glimpsed a flicker of orange amongst its browns. Admit it, you were in love.

So, you parted with hard-earned/sneakily-stolen/fortuitously-inherited cash and you bought the amazing yarn, and then you carried it home on the bus, or perhaps Jeeves chauffeured you home in the Bentley that day, and all the way you were smiling, just to know that so much beauty was yours.

And when you got home, you cast aside the afghan you’ve been diligently knitting for your grandmother, and you started to knit the beautiful yarn. Maybe you made a scarf – something simple because a wool this wondrous does all the work itself.

And then you tried it on.

And you thought… “Meh.”

Because the thing is, the beauty of the yarn was displayed with unsurpassable perfection in the ball, and now… well it’s just a stripy scarf. A pleasant stripy scarf, but it is no longer a thing of perfection.

(I’m not posting pictures here, because I don’t want to offend/libel any yarn producers.)

And now, consider Scenario B. You see some yarn. It looks nothing special, nothing you’d want to knit/crochet with. A bit of a cacophony of colour, designed in the dark by someone high on amphetamines. So you pass it by.

But then, you happen to see something knitted in this yarn, and you browse Ravelry and see some more, and you realize that this is the ugly duckling of the knitting world, and knitted up, it miraculously just works.

Or is it just me?

Scenario B is a recent one for me. I have some Adriafil Knitcol, an Italian 100% merino DK. It looks like this:-

Adriafil Knitcol
Adriafil Knitcol

And also like this:-

Adriafil Knitcol
Adriafil Knitcol

Yeek!, I hear you thinking. And I probably wouldn’t have bought either colourway if I hadn’t spotted the shade card and realized that all those jarring, shouty colours settle down to work their aesthetic socks off when they’re knitted, and that those funny stripy bits turn into pleasing alternating stitches of red and white that break up the solids nicely. So the ugly duckling becomes a swan, and we have one jumper for the twinnage in progress, with another planned:-

Jumper for twinnage in progress
Jumper for twinnage in progress

And I’m learning a lesson about not being seduced by beautiful skeins of loveliness.

Have any of you had the same experience?

 

Filed Under: Knitting Tagged With: Adriafil, beautiful yarn, homespun, Knitcol, knitting, wool, yarn

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Comments

  1. catrionadavis says

    December 14, 2013 at 10:56 am

    I LOVE that yarn – it looks gorgeous knitted up and will look fab on the twinnage! I totally have the same experience with some expensive yarns. Particularly the “hand dyed” variety. Seems you can charge an exorbitant amount if you say something’s hand dyed and sometimes that just means someone has stood in the back garden and thrown madder and green stuff at the yarn and when you knit it up it’s just a dreadful muddle. The slightly cheaper yarns often have some thought behind the colour changes. This one is particularly droolable though – one for my wish list! xx

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      December 14, 2013 at 11:15 am

      Thank you. Yes it does seem to be the hand-dyed variety that causes the most problems, which is a pity, because it would be nice to buy that rather than mass-produced yarn…

      Reply
      • zagnes says

        December 14, 2013 at 1:44 pm

        I think the problem is that when we buy hand dyed yarns, we always end up buying the multicoloured ones that look fabulous in the skein. But when you knit them up, hand died solids actually look a lot nicer than the multicolour ones!

        Reply
        • The Twisted Yarn says

          December 14, 2013 at 2:11 pm

          Agreed. I’ll never learn….

          Reply
  2. atangledyarn84 says

    December 14, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    The colors are amazing on that cardi!

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      December 14, 2013 at 4:41 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Twisted Witch Craft says

    December 18, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    I live the knitcol yarn. Lovely and cosy but soft enough for tiddly people. Both my wee dudes have hats knitted in it and they get complimented all the time.

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      January 2, 2014 at 8:13 pm

      Oh I bet those hats are gorgeous! The length of the colour strands would work really well for something on that scale.

      Reply
  4. lawlady1 says

    December 30, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    I’ve had this experience with both hand-dyed and commercial yarn – looks completely unremarkable (or utterly forgettable) on the skein or hank or ball, but once it’s “knit up,” it’s gorgeous. Stores (both LYS and big-name craft stores) used have swatches for many types of yarns, but I don’t see that as much. I think retailers are missing potential sales when we can’t see what it might look as a finished garment; particularly when there is such a dramatic difference.

    Then, again, I’ve had the experience where something looks yummy as a hank, but ‘meh’ when knit, so, maybe swatches aren’t a perfect solution.

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      December 30, 2013 at 9:44 pm

      Agreed. I know swatches aren’t perfect, but they give you some idea.

      Reply
  5. kaie says

    January 2, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    I know how you feel… I assume the Finished Product Nice-Factor is determined by the choice of project. Lol. I have also discovered that some really pretty yarns look awesome when knit but ugly when crochet. Sigh. 😉

    I think those skeins of yarn you posted are really pretty! I tend to prefer “loud” and colourful things. Come big or stay home, I suppose!

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      January 2, 2014 at 8:12 pm

      Interesting. I hadn’t even thought about the knit vs crochet angle, but yes, that makes sense. And I’m so with you on the loud and colourful. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Mind Margins says

    January 5, 2014 at 4:58 pm

    This is so true! I’ve always passed up the “cacophony of colors” yarn, as you call them, because they always seemed almost garish. But seeing your twins’ jumpers, and how amazing the color work looks, I’m going to have to give it a shot one day. Truly lovely.

    Reply
  7. jenpedwards says

    January 7, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    Oh how many times I have had this happen to me!! Thanks for the recommendation of this yarn that transforms into something MORE beautiful than it was before being knitted!!

    Reply
  8. Áine says

    January 17, 2014 at 2:37 am

    I sadly have also had this problem, I tried so many different patterns to try and recreate the beauty of the skein without any joy 🙁 I also have found that short colour changes look very bizarre in crochet, I think it might be thr amount of wraps a crochet stitch has compared with a single wrap a knit stitch has, I think it mixes the colours in one stitch so the colours end up looking muddy.

    I have found that long colour changes look stunning in crochet. I made a shawl/wrap called Sweet Eleanor (free on Ravelry) in Drops Delight colourway 12 and it was gorgeous! The pattern and the yarn were a match made in heaven!

    Reply
    • The Twisted Yarn says

      January 17, 2014 at 7:13 am

      I agree that some yarns are definitely more suited to knitting or to crochet. *Sigh*

      Reply
      • Áine says

        January 17, 2014 at 10:11 am

        I’ll second your sigh 🙁

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Vest tops and rainbows | the twisted yarn says:
    April 23, 2014 at 8:54 pm

    […] temporarily swerving a little away from the housey them of this blog, to indulge my longstanding love of Adriafil Knitcol (not to mention my longstanding love of the toddler twinnage 😉 ) and make a few of these in […]

    Reply

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If you're thinking of starting a blog, I have one very important piece of advice: DO IT!
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(I wheel this photo out almost every year. It's the cake that the Stoic Spouse commissioned for my first blogiversary. It was delicious as well as beautiful, but unsubtle hints have thus far failed to persuade him to bake or order any further bloggy gateaux.)
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#blogiversary #knitting #knitdesigner #knittingdesigner #nevernotknitting

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#strandedcolourwork #strandedcolorwork #strandedknitting #fairisletechniques #fairisleknitting #fairisledesign #fairislefriday

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#strandedcolourwork #strandedcolorwork #strandedknitting #fairisleknitting #Fairisle #knitdesigner #knitspo #stylecraftspecial #stylecraftspecialdk #knitspiration #fairislefriday #garn #strikke #virkning

Good morning, lovely people. Isn`t knitting just the BEST distraction?
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#strandedcolourwork #strandedcolorwork #strandedknitting #fairisleknitting #Fairisle #knitdesigner #knitspo #stylecraftspecial #stylecraftspecialdk #knitspiration #fairislefriday #garn #strikke #virkning
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302 9

thetwistedyarn

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Aug 15

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I usually just post stuff like this at my garden account - @the.twisted.garden - but I thought you might appreciate the colour. 
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Love this time of year, because there are so many different crops to be picked. Today: cabbage, beans, peas, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, patty pan squash, opium poppies (for seed), plums, Japanese wineberries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Yum.

I usually just post stuff like this at my garden account - @the.twisted.garden - but I thought you might appreciate the colour.
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Love this time of year, because there are so many different crops to be picked. Today: cabbage, beans, peas, broccoli, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, patty pan squash, opium poppies (for seed), plums, Japanese wineberries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Yum.
...

263 23

thetwistedyarn

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Apr 16

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Kittens sitting in the crocheted garden. By the way, someone pointed out that there's a fake account pretending to be me: it's at thetwistedyarn_  I can't view it because they've blocked me, but if any kind soul would be kind enough to report it, I'd be very grateful. Thank you, my Fine Fibrous Friends!

Kittens sitting in the crocheted garden. By the way, someone pointed out that there`s a fake account pretending to be me: it`s at thetwistedyarn_ I can`t view it because they`ve blocked me, but if any kind soul would be kind enough to report it, I`d be very grateful. Thank you, my Fine Fibrous Friends! ...

299 75

thetwistedyarn

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Jan 29

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There's a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com, or see link in comments.

There`s a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com, or see link in comments. ...

187 0

thetwistedyarn

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Nov 22

Open
Crunching numbers for a pattern for @stylecraftyarns . Crunch, crunch, crunch. I love-hate this stage. 
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#knitdesigner #stylecraftyarns #stylecraft #nevernotknitting #knittingpatterns #knittingpattern #yarn #garn #strikke #virkning #strikkedilla #knitspo #knitspiration #winterknitting

Crunching numbers for a pattern for @stylecraftyarns . Crunch, crunch, crunch. I love-hate this stage.
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#knitdesigner #stylecraftyarns #stylecraft #nevernotknitting #knittingpatterns #knittingpattern #yarn #garn #strikke #virkning #strikkedilla #knitspo #knitspiration #winterknitting
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113 3

thetwistedyarn

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May 3

Open
New blog post! See thetwistedyarn.com or link in bio. Warning: contains personal inadequacy and failure.

New blog post! See thetwistedyarn.com or link in bio. Warning: contains personal inadequacy and failure. ...

228 8

thetwistedyarn

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May 27

Open
Fancy a new blog post? See link in bio or visit thetwistedyarn.com. @novitaknits

Fancy a new blog post? See link in bio or visit thetwistedyarn.com. @novitaknits ...

83 1

thetwistedyarn

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Aug 3

Open
Previous design didn't work, but this one will. This is FUN.
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#strandedcolourwork #strandedcolorwork #knittersofinsta #strandedknitting #virkning #garn #strikke #strikkedilla #knitdesigner #knittingdesigner #nevernotknitting #fairisleknitting #fairisle @stylecraftyarns #stylecrafthighlandheathers

Previous design didn`t work, but this one will. This is FUN.
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#strandedcolourwork #strandedcolorwork #knittersofinsta #strandedknitting #virkning #garn #strikke #strikkedilla #knitdesigner #knittingdesigner #nevernotknitting #fairisleknitting #fairisle @stylecraftyarns #stylecrafthighlandheathers
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271 12

thetwistedyarn

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Nov 2

Open
Knitting on the rug beside the first fire of the season.

Knitting on the rug beside the first fire of the season. ...

175 7

thetwistedyarn

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Mar 16

Open
There's a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (or see link in bio). It's a little different from normal, as it pays tribute to my recently deceased aunt. But don't worry, normal yarny shenanigans will resume next post. 
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#copingwithgrief #grief #funeral

There`s a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (or see link in bio). It`s a little different from normal, as it pays tribute to my recently deceased aunt. But don`t worry, normal yarny shenanigans will resume next post.
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#copingwithgrief #grief #funeral
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148 8

thetwistedyarn

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Dec 14

Open
There's a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (or see link in bio). Just sayin'.

There`s a new blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (or see link in bio). Just sayin`. ...

162 3

thetwistedyarn

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Jun 2

Open
Places you can knit: deep underground in a cave!
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#knittinginpublic #knitinpublic #placesyoucanknit @novitaknits

Places you can knit: deep underground in a cave!
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#knittinginpublic #knitinpublic #placesyoucanknit @novitaknits
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109 0

thetwistedyarn

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Mar 5

Open
New blog post, right here: https://thetwistedyarn.com/2022/03/05/blue-and-yellow/

New blog post, right here: https://thetwistedyarn.com/2022/03/05/blue-and-yellow/ ...

174 4

thetwistedyarn

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Oct 31

Open
There's a new blog post in town. See link in bio or explore thetwistedyarn.com.

There`s a new blog post in town. See link in bio or explore thetwistedyarn.com. ...

157 5

thetwistedyarn

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May 22

Open
Sunday morning stitchery, fuelled by green tea. Watching insects bumbling about amongst the #nomowmay grass. Enjoying @novitaknits yarn.

Sunday morning stitchery, fuelled by green tea. Watching insects bumbling about amongst the #nomowmay grass. Enjoying @novitaknits yarn. ...

138 3

thetwistedyarn

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Jul 26

Open
For those of you remember Robyn-the-robin (my cheeky avian friend who fed from my hand and generally bossed me about for two summers), you may be interested in this. Here's a fledgling robin who hasn't even got his/her red chest yet, but follows me VERY closely around the garden. We've just had a little chat over some mealworms, and I'm optimistic that we'll be friends. 
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#robin #gardenbirds #tamebirds #gardenforwildlife

For those of you remember Robyn-the-robin (my cheeky avian friend who fed from my hand and generally bossed me about for two summers), you may be interested in this. Here`s a fledgling robin who hasn`t even got his/her red chest yet, but follows me VERY closely around the garden. We`ve just had a little chat over some mealworms, and I`m optimistic that we`ll be friends.
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#robin #gardenbirds #tamebirds #gardenforwildlife
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573 36

thetwistedyarn

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Jun 1

Open
Knitting and walking in the sunshine. ❤ 
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#knitspo #knitspiration #knitinpublic #knittinginpublic #knittingandwalking  #nevernotknitting @novitaknits #novitaknits #knitdesigner

Knitting and walking in the sunshine. ❤
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#knitspo #knitspiration #knitinpublic #knittinginpublic #knittingandwalking #nevernotknitting @novitaknits #novitaknits #knitdesigner
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130 2

thetwistedyarn

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May 11

Open
View from a sofa, as I contemplate ideas for a new blog post (that'll doubtless take weeks to be drafted and re-re-re-re-re-drafted).

View from a sofa, as I contemplate ideas for a new blog post (that`ll doubtless take weeks to be drafted and re-re-re-re-re-drafted). ...

168 18

thetwistedyarn

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May 2

Open
I finished designing a thing. @novitaknits yarns are lush. 🙂
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#strandedcolourwork #strandedknitting #strandedcolorwork #fairisletechniques #fairislefriday #fairisledesign #knitdesigner #knittingdesigner #nevernotknitting #novitaknits #novita #garn #strikkedilla #strikke #virkning #knitspo #knitspiration

I finished designing a thing. @novitaknits yarns are lush. 🙂
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#strandedcolourwork #strandedknitting #strandedcolorwork #fairisletechniques #fairislefriday #fairisledesign #knitdesigner #knittingdesigner #nevernotknitting #novitaknits #novita #garn #strikkedilla #strikke #virkning #knitspo #knitspiration
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352 48

thetwistedyarn

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Aug 3

Open
New blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (see link in bio). Includes happy times with fellow Stylecraft Blogstars.

New blog post at thetwistedyarn.com (see link in bio). Includes happy times with fellow Stylecraft Blogstars. ...

159 10

thetwistedyarn

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May 9

Open
My implausibly awesome friend @buttonspickles has just published this sock pattern. This a woman who seriously knows her cables and her socks, so this pattern is worth checking out. There's a link in her bio for purchase.

My implausibly awesome friend @buttonspickles has just published this sock pattern. This a woman who seriously knows her cables and her socks, so this pattern is worth checking out. There`s a link in her bio for purchase. ...

109 4
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