(The Hiking Moose pattern is nearly done. Maybe next post…)
This knitting/crochet thing… it’s supposed to be fun, right? Yes? I just thought I’d check, because, y’know, well because of this:-
More on that abomination in a moment, but first of all we have a giveaway winner to announce. Remember this beauty?
Thank you to the 225 of you who entered before the deadline, and I’m only sorry that there can’t be 225 prizes, because this is rather a splendid book. As usual, I numbered all the entries, then left it to the inscrutable folk at random.org to do the rest. The result of their hard work? ‘Tis here:-
So who is this shadowy individual? Why, it’s none other than MaryBeth Billington! Congratulations, MaryBeth! I’ll be in touch in order to arrange for your prize to be delivered. Meanwhile, a huge and hairy thank you to Running Press, for providing the prize for this competition.
Back to the yarn.
I was in a yarn shop the other day with a couple of good friends. Or at least, I thought they were good friends: this time last week I’d have sung their praises if you’d asked. So we were wandering the length of the shop, browsing and chatting. My eye fell on some novelty yarn:-
Can I assume that we all know about novelty yarn, yes? We know that whilst it may be enticingly pretty in the ball, it’s best left well alone and admired from afar – and preferably through inch-thick security glass, just to be on the safe side. Because whilst I think we can all agree that sanity is a good thing, the route to sanity most definitely does not lie in working with novelty yarn. I know all this, the friends I was with know all this. And yet…
I’m a bit of a sucker for a rainbow. “Wouldn’t that make a lovely knitted rainbow cushion?” I said. (It’s King Cole Tinsel Chunky, in case you’re wondering.)
Now if these two women had been real friends, they would have said, “No.” Or at least, “Yeah, but you’ll go insane trying to knit that stuff: leave it alone, you clueless fool.” That’s what a real friend would have said. But these two wicked enablers? I think their exact words were, “Oh wow! You’ve got to buy that. It’ll be brilliant!”
And yes, I should have known better myself, but I really do have a bit of a thing about rainbows, and don’t we all have our little lapses of judgement now and again?
I bought the yarn. Seven balls of the stuff. Mistake number one.
And I started to improvise a crocheted rainbow cushion cover. Mistake number two. With knitting, you do at least know where your stitches are, as long as you don’t drop any. But can you imagine trying to crochet this stuff? The yarn is called Tinsel for obvious reasons. You could pretty much just drape it round your Christmas tree and call the job done. But what’s good for Christmas trees isn’t so good for crochet.
There were times, many times, when I resorted to stabbing my hook near-randomly into the morass, because I’d had enough of trying to work out what was stitch and what was extraneous fluff.
But due in no small part to bloody-mindedness and gin, I finished the hairy beast.
I probably ought to say that looking at it makes me smile at its cheerful colours. But mostly it makes me want to get different friends.* As it happens, one of the twinnage has fallen in love with the cushion anyway and has appropriated it for his own use. So I’m making another one. In knitting.
I was planning to write up the pattern in case any of you wanted to make one, but (i) I don’t actually want you to suffer that much, and inflicting this son-of-a-stitch on you would be an act of cruelty, and (ii) portions of the pattern would say things like, “Keep stitching until you’re somewhere vaguely near the end of the row.”
∗ Not really, of course.
alicadabra says
April 25, 2017 at 11:46 amIt looks fabulous!
But having now attempted to crochet with the fluffy stuff I bought (which, I must point out, you failed to stop ME from buying, despite it also being a stitch-visibility-nightmare), I can very much feel your pain and think that knitting the second one is definitely the way to go!
gladeridercrafts says
April 25, 2017 at 11:49 amOh wow, you’re braver than me! I don’t go near that stuff…it’s worse than black mohair in a dim room I swear!
quietwatercraft says
April 25, 2017 at 11:51 amSounds like you had a bit of an ordeal. It does look fab though!
sisterjoyous says
April 25, 2017 at 12:02 pmDear Twisted, you(r friends) are insane. But in such a good way :0).
This is the only thing I’ve ever seen in novelty yarn that makes me think, ooh I want to make one of those … if you were indeed insane enough to make another (knitted) one, that is, I’m not at your advanced level of bonkers. Although I do like the idea of a pattern that just involves instructions for random stabbing …
You twisted, twisted woman. Look what you’ve done. Off to ditch my virtual basket full of real yarn for some squeaky stuff to make this joyous creation! Thanks, as ever, for sharing the fun :0)
Rainbow Junkie says
April 25, 2017 at 12:11 pmI used a similar sort of yarn to knit a Womble and it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be but crochet………..At least I now know not to try.
Ms Sue says
April 25, 2017 at 1:18 pmI made a beard (as a gag gift) for my son to fasten onto a hat once. Never again! I tried knitting and it was a nightmare, so went back to crochet and did better. You may not have been able to know where you were hooking, but at least you knew you had the thread on the hook. It makes absolutely wonderful hats for chemo folks. I was the recipient of two of these – one in rainbow colors which always made me smile to see it, and another in mingled brown which looked a lot like real hair. They were so very soft and comforting to wear. The ladies from a local church earned extra stars in their crowns for knitting those!
Your pillow looks amazing and would make me smile to see it – as long as I didn’t have to knit or crochet it.
J J says
April 25, 2017 at 2:05 pmI found some of that in my the depths of one of my boxes. I had made hats one year. Darling Sis-In-Law had one loved it and wanted another . OMG why didn’t I learn! Feels so good when you stop,
Barbara says
April 25, 2017 at 2:26 pmIt should have a tag on it…”Don’t Attempt This At Home,” but it does look compelling and the design is good. Brave woman!
Joanne says
April 25, 2017 at 2:29 pmYou’re welcome!!!!!
knitigatingcircumstances says
April 25, 2017 at 2:47 pmOh, this brings back memories (nightmares?) of novelty yarn. I spent two summers teaching arts & crafts at a seniors’ home in the late 70s. I developed a strong aversion to nylon. (And an appreciation for good storytelling.)
Bridget Lawrence says
April 25, 2017 at 3:17 pmOh no i can’t believe you got further than one row. If I had been in the shop too I would of helped and said NO NO NO NO
Lol but having said that it does look very pretty so well done 🙂
Mum has knitted with it and loves her hedgehog but very clearly said she won’t be making another one. I crocheted what was left around the edge of a hexi cushion. I was gonna do more than one row but as you found out that’s hard going.
Your cushion is very pretty 🙂
Yolanda Chavez Sherman says
April 25, 2017 at 4:57 pmLOL You had me at son-of-a-stitch! I too have found myself in a situation of stabbing my way through a project. Lesson learned! But I also found that I could more easily use those fun yarns inTunisian crochet. So I haven’t completely abandoned them. 🙂
Tanya says
April 25, 2017 at 6:18 pmLovely, I almost categorically refuse to work with novelty yarn…I’ll likely “re-gift” it if it’s “gifted” to me. That being said, I have a feeling your friends had a good idea that if they’d said, “No,” you would have simply said, “I can make it work,” and bought said yarn anyway…I think you had that go for the novelty yarn look in your eyes;-)….and one of your twinnage loves it. (p.s. it’s okay not to make another;-)).
rachel says
April 25, 2017 at 7:02 pmDamn, my smallest has just asked for a fluffy rainbow cushion for her 5th birthday. She hadn’t seen yours (should I show her? Probably not….) But this sort of coincidence, surely it’s a sign….amd I’ve got 22days to do it….
Shall I?
Tinke says
April 25, 2017 at 7:28 pmI so hate this yarn, same story here. Never again.
narf7 says
April 25, 2017 at 7:35 pmI got suckered in by a winter sale of oddments. Should have realised that the reason that there was SO much of this stuff left in a bin at a very popular yarn store going for 20c (your equivalent of 10p) a ball was a warning sign but I grabbed a tonne of it and arrived home triumphant at my “bargain purchase”. After a harrowing crochet blanket that we shall NEVER speak of again after this post (and that Earl promptly ate a week after I finished it…) where I had to use senses that were never designed for humanity to use in the hooky arts and where I suddenly understood why those weird deep sea fish have those big dangly lights in front of their eyes and wondered why nature hadn’t provided them with big dangly magnifying glasses at the same time ‘OH nature you are a cruel mistress!’ I finally made it but I still have a large haul of this torturous yarn in a big bag on the top of my wardrobe. Occasionally it dangles itself longingly out of the bag and tries to entice me with it’s fluffy sirens song but my motto is ‘once bitten, twice shy’ and I was bitten all over by this sodding yarn. I feel for you Ms T and I think it’s time to buy your friends a rainbow of this ‘lovely’ yarn each as a Christmas present 😉
Kristie Cook says
April 26, 2017 at 2:27 amHaha! I have a plethora of novelty yarn bought with a “friend” as well YEARS ago because it was “clearanced”. Guess what? Eventually she GIFTED her haul to me as well! I’ve found that mixing it with a regular yarn makes crocheting much easier. Of course stabbing at it until it looks finished is a perfectly acceptable solution too! Who will really know what’s going on with the stitches? They’ll just say “it’s so fluffy!” ?
nanacathy2 says
April 26, 2017 at 6:53 amThe good news is that knitting with this yarn is fine. I found it enormous fun and had to forcibly stop myself from just doing more and more. Not tried crocheting with it. But I have got some left over yarn, mmmm
Laurel says
April 26, 2017 at 7:43 amI actually like that sort of yarn, but I have fond memories of learning how to use circular needles in making a hat. A fluffy, Monster’s Inc yarn colors hat that had a carrying yarn was the first project, a lovely red hat the second. The move from straight needles and seams to circular and no seams has been revolutionary for me. And in simply using a size or two smaller as the second needle at the top was the easy solution suggested by my LYS (now out of business, alas.)
Debbi says
April 27, 2017 at 12:23 amI made a circular cat bed with eyelash yarn held with worsted. I know, what was I thinking? It was an epic pain but the cat loved it his entire life. My daughter had it cremated with him so he would go over the rainbow bridge with his bed. It was totally worth every wretched novelty yarn stitch in the thing.
MaryBeth says
April 27, 2017 at 2:30 pmYou made me laugh out loud. It’s a good way to start my day.
Thank you for allowing me to enter your Sereknity giveaway. I am so excited that I won! I never win anything. I can’t wait to receive the book. Thank you, again.
aprettypotato says
April 28, 2017 at 7:57 pmUrg I can’t even imagine how hard that was to work with! On the bright side though the finished cushion is wonderful!
Heather Toepfer says
May 3, 2017 at 6:09 pmI have tried to crochet with that kind of yarn and it is super hard! I give you kuddos for making such a big project with that yarn!