Yarn Talk

I've been a hooker (!) for two and a half years now, and I still feel like a complete novice a lot of the time especially when it comes to yarn matters. My study in art/textiles mainly focused on fabric and stitch, so when I taught myself to crochet I also had to learn about all things yarn related. I remember standing in a teeny tiny little craft/yarn shop attempting to buy yarn for the first time and being faced with a whole wall of the stuff, it was quite an overwhelming experience. I immediately realised that crochet would be a most excellent way for me to indulge my passion for colour and it was the Colour Thing that I went for first and foremost (of course). I didn't care a jot about fibre content or yarn thickness, I was only interested in the colour playing possibilities. 

The very first yarn I bought to make my very first blanket was a mercerised cotton. It was labelled as a DK weight, and the lady in the shop advised me on which size crochet hook I should be using. I bought a dozen different colours and off I went scooting giddily into my first colourful hooky adventure.

When that blanket was finished I immediately began to plan my next one (the Ripple) and it was only then that I started to think about yarns in terms of their fibre content as well as the colours available. I went to a local yarn shop new to me (I had moved house/area by this time) and I fondled. I spent a long touchy-feely time with every single yarn on the shop shelves :: I pulled them all down one by one and I squished them and I rubbed my face against them and I scrutinsied the labels to learn about fibre content. I still had a huge desire for Good Colours, but I also began to think more about the importance of softness, of snuggleability (is that a word?).

All the yarns I've used so far in my Hooky career have been natural yarns and I can honestly say I've loved them all. From cotton to pure wool to cashmere/merino, they've all been beautiful to work with and have made me some gorgeous blankies. However, just recently I've begun to look for alternatives to the luxurious "designer" yarns that I've become accustomed to, wondering if there might be other types of yarn out there that deliver good colour and snuggleability (that has to be a word) without breaking the bank. Blanket-making yarns that feel good and look good but which are also cost effective.

First up for trial was the yarn in the above picture, called Kool Kotton. I wasn't honestly too sure about buying Kotton that begins with a K, but heyho, I overcame that and went ahead and ordered twelve colours to try out. This isn't pure cotton yarn, but a 50/50 mix of cotton/acrylic, and at £1.30 per 50g ball, it's very economical indeed.

Ordering from the internet has it's advantages and disadvantages. Main advantage is that you get the delicious experience of receiving yarn through the post, like a gift sent from a very special friend. Main disadvantages are that you have to hang around by the front door each day waiting for the yarn-gift to arrive, and that the colours are often badly represented on ones computer screen. I was a tad disappointed with the Kool Kotton kolours when they arrived, they weren't nearly as bright as I'd expected them to be. Quite chalky/muted in fact.

But it's surprisingly nice to work with and becomes soft and drapey when worked up. I decided to make a small cot blanket using the Vintage Vertical Stripe pattern (excellent tutorial for this can be found on the Bella Dia blog here). This is a fast stripe to work cos you hook in the gaps between the stitches :: I found it quite therapeutic zooming up and down in stripy rows using all one stitch cos my mind could wander off a little and the hooking didn't suffer too much when my brain was temporarily elsewhere.

So here's the almost-finished result :: not quite a Ta-dah moment as I still need to work a border around the long sides. I'm also planning on backing it with some soft fleecy fabric to make quite a substantial cot coverlet/quilty type thing.

What do you think of the colours?? I worked them completely at random and despite the chalkiness I do quite like them all together. It seems strange not not to see any orange/yellow brightness in there though, I think a teensy bit of orange or yellow always brings life and zing to a colour scheme and I miss it here.

I used the same yarn to make a cushion cover, I do quite like the results but again I miss the sunshine colours. Not had chance to make this up into a cushion yet either, I kind of got sidetracked by the arrival of the caravan.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh now thats SOOOooooo much better isn't it?????? We have Sunshine in the bag again, yaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my latest yarn experiment, ordered over the internet and very much more successful in terms of colour selection this time...isn't it scrummy? Mmmm mmmm, very delicious indeedy.

This yarn is 100% cotton, priced at £1.50 per 50g ball and is called Rico Creative Cotton. I ordered from first4yarns  who were lovely, I can't recommend them enough.

top row, left to right ::
76 tangerine
74 orange
05 red
13 fuchsia

2nd row
63 light yellow
73 watermelon
11 cardinal
39 royal

3rd row
44 light pistachio
41 pistachio
46 emerald
47 petrol

4th row
45 mint
30 aqua
36 turquoise

 

Its listed as an aran weight yarn which is normally worked on a 5mm hook, but here I'm using a 4mm to give a slightly firmer finish. It's a lovely soft yarn, quite frustratingly splitty it has to be said, but oh-me-oh-my the colours are so damn gorgeous that I am prepared to overlook the splittiness. Oh the colours!!!!!! They make my heart sing tra-lee-lah :o) !!!!!!!

I'm making a cushion cover to start with, I did these first two squares last night and seriously I was hopping from foot to foot and squealing to myself with delight when I saw how beautifully the colours are working together. Very very very exciting stuff for the likes of me. I've also invented a new way of joining-as-you-go by edging the squares in dc (worked between the stitches), I'm really pleased with it actually, I can't wait to see how it begins to look as I add more squares.

So depending on how the cushion cover turns out, I may well use this yarn to make a blanket with. I'm still contemplating acrylic but my heart is quite captivated by this cotton yarn. I think I might be falling for it in a big way. Ooooh Creative Cotton *Mwah*

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Edited to add :: Just a little note about Ravelry...many of you yarn-lovers will already know this, but for those of you who don't, Ravelry is a rather amazing "knit and crochet community". You need to join up to become a member (which is very easy to do) and you can then access all manner of yarn info, patterns, discussions etc and join any number of groups to "chat" about what tickles your fancy. Attic24 has it's own little group going on over at Ravelry, and its FAB!! It's called  "we love Lucy" and you are all more than welcome to come and join. There are over 700 members in the group now and we do a lot of chit-chat over there about crochet and the such like, it's a lot of fun. Just thought it was worth a mention xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Me again....(Thurs aft)....the lovely ladies at First4yarns have been inundated with your orders for the Rico cotton and have sold out!!!! I'm told that they've ordered a load more from their suppliers so it should be back in stock next week if you were wanting it, hope this helps xxx

Comments

[Hebah Helmy]

hello this my first comment am egyptian...congrats 4 ur new caravan...i was born in Dundee and i will be glad 2 send u egyptian cotton sheets if u want......

[Alba]

Coincidentally I am working with Rico 100% microfibre at the moment and finding it very easy to work with although as you say there can be some splitting of the yarn

[Susan]

Ok Lucy, have been reading your blog for a long time, never crochet in my life, however I am inspired and have bought my first Lucy Pack of wool from First 4 Yarns - now all I need is a crochet hook. Oh, and to figure out how to crochet!!! Thanks for your blog, it makes me very happy. Susan, Australia

[Jules]

Hi, meant to mention - you've probably already tried it - but I found a lovely wool at only £1.99 per ball - Cygnet Superwash- some of it may be a bit muted for you but the quality it really nice. I can't bring myself to use acrylic and the cashmerinos I favour work out quite pricey but this one is a nice compromise.

[Natasja]

Hi Lucy. Thanks for the fabulous post. I too was getting a bit anxious thinking of the price of Rowan Handknit Cotton and seeing how they changed the colours for Spring 2010. I love the idea of Kool Kotton but would like to know whether you had to block your striped blanket the way we have to with Rowan cotton? Seeing as it's half acrylic I'm hoping blocking won't be necessary...

[Kelley]

I just LOVE the Vintage Vertical Stripe pattern, and started to make my own, but... all those ends! How do you deal with them?

[Caro]

Made my Lucy Yarn Bag too big, so it became a cushion. Am about a quarter of the way into the summer flower granny square blanket, and now more colour love! This is an excellent find! Will be following the hordes towards Rico Creative Cotton. Thanks Lucy. PS Could we have the joining stitch you used in your squares?

[Sally]

Thank you for the mention of your Ravelry group! I wondered if there was one, and there it is. :) Btw, your blog is amazing!

[Emma]

snuggleability is definitely a word!

Thankyou for writing this. I'm very new to the world of crochet and have found a lot of rather pretentious blogs saying you must use this or that yarn and it's always very expensive (and often only to be found in America!). Thanks for a more honest and , to me, reassuring post. I will definitely check out the Rico creative cotton and your Ravelry group

:)

[Carolina]

Hello! It's been a while...
I'm here just to share a beautiful thing I found on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babukatorium/4447081260/in/faves-13789570@N08/

It's in my faves' and I just fell in love with it... I'm still trying to figure out how she managed to make such a combination of yarns...

Big hug!

[limecat]

I am very, very envious of your yarn stash!

[kathleen]

Hi!

I'm currently working on an Attic-inspired granny squares blanket and I'm using some of the Rico cotton. I was instantly drawn to the bright colours in my local yarn shop, like nothing else in there! I agree, though, it's very splitty! It makes work a little slow. My local yarn shop in North Lincolnshire has a website, and they do it for £1.82 a ball. They also sell my knitting bags, needle rolls, and needle cases too (although she never has got round to putting them on her site)!

[Wendi in Biarritz]

Hi Lucy,
Did you happen to wash your Ricco designs yarn to test it and see if it was color fast? I bought a ton of Rico Designs "Romy", 100% cotton 50 gram balls, 85m suggested hook size 4 to 4,5 and I hooked up a beautiful baby blanket for a friend. It was in pinks, lavender, purple and white. Well when I washed it in cold water the white was no longer white, it was light pink. I also made your big crocheted bag out of the same yarn-and I'm scared to death to wash it. I've got about 20 balls of the stuff left but I'm now afraid to use it. I hope you have better luck!

[Amanda]

just joined ravelry - hurrah

this is a weekend of firsts- my daughters first night in her own room- a new diet for a new me - a new fab knit group - summers coming and it all looks great!

Amanda

those poor ladies at the yarn place obviously dont know whats hit them - well done lucy!

[Emma Veenhuizen]

Thanks you so much for the links! I live in Australia and it's so hard to find cotton in such vibrant colours. I just did an order through First4Yarns and I'm SO EXCITED! I love looking at your blog for inspiration, so thanks!
Emma

[Dorien Ruben]

What a great idea to just fill up your basket and use up everything. And I love that you have bright colours again :)

[Carolinagrrl]

"We have sunshine in the bag again" I just love that sentence :-)

[Sarah]

I *love* your color combinations!!

[Rona]

Hope you are on commission! Your work and choice of colour shows everything off to its best!

[Froukje]

I've only worked with polyacrylic yarns so far, out of budgetary concerns (very tight budget here). But I'm very pleased with the softness of some of them. They don't really split, it's very easily washable as well.

My favourite is ONLine, Linie 50. 50 grams for just under a pound... I order online from a dutch store, But I'm guessing it'll be more widely available elsewhere. It's a German brand.

My other yarns are cheap ones (under a pound for 100 grams) from Dutch chainstores. One of them is nice, the other ones are too muffled and a little coarse for my taste...

[Jacquie]

My blog roll tells me you posted yesterday but when I try to link to it it doesn't work !!
I'm so frustrated .Has anyone else had a problem?
Jacquie x

[Erica]

Beautiful squares so far! Like you, I prefer more vibrant colors, but the softer shades make a nice change, too. Very much looking forward to the progress of your new blankie. And I absolutely adore Yarn Talk. If it were a TV program, I'd tune in regularly! I need people with whom to discuss yarn. INTERESTED people, I should clarify. :-)

[Christina]

Such a fun post! I just finished a very small baby blankie and am feverishly in search for my next project. Know that feeling? Your colors inspire me - I've always had to make things 'match' so I am excited to go buy a rainbow of yarn! See you on Ravelry - thanks for the invite!

[Laura]

I bought Kool Kotton yesterday! Admittedly it was pricier than yours, but then I was in central London. I liked the purple enough to try it out, but looking at your squares, I think I'm going to have to go over to Creative Cotton, because those colours are just gorgeous.

*cough* That is, once I've used up the milk cotton that I picked out of the bargain bin at John Lewis, and the Cygnet DK that I'm in love with at my local charity shop...

[Cilla Cameron]

Hi lovely colours but I know what you mean about missing the orange and yellow it gives a bit of pizzaz! I don't buy much yarn as I only dip in and out of crochet and knitting once in a blue moon........but since coming across your blog I have crocheted your lovely bag and a couple other bits...I buy cream DK or aran and dye it myself it works out about £1 per 50 grms .. the fun of dyeing it is sooooo exciting..I am a wool baby and not keen to use acrylics...I usually buy wool offers from ebay or charity shops . I use acid dyes you only need a small roasting pan and the 3 primary colours and black and hey presto.......have fun and thank for your inspiration Cilla