(For those overseas and/or unaware of Lion Brand, it's a low-budget yarn company that provides mostly acrylic yarn and free patterns for knitters at mega-mart craft shops. My snobishness over acrylic aside, their products are usually badly spun and hard to work with. I've yet to have a good experience with one of their yarns.)
Lion Brand has a new yarn, "Ruffles". It's a tape, about two inches/3cm wide, and you stick your needle through the tape and just knit up the edge of it. (Photos of the process here; it's a clever idea.) This leaves the rest of the tape flopping around and, well, ruffly. I'm intrigued and thinking of breaking the Lion Brand ban in my house to go buy some of this and knit it up and see how it works. (In the back of my mind I'm wondering if I can then go buy some loosely woven ribbon that's nicer, and do the same thing with it.)
Anyway. So. Lion Brand has a new 'yarn' that produces ruffles when knit.
When, I ask you, does ANYONE use ruffles? Little girls' clothes, right? What else are you gonna put ruffles on? The husbeast's fisherman's gansey? No. It's all about the little girl frocks with ruffles on the bottom. I even did an informal poll, asking what types of clothing a person would put ruffles on, if they were designing. Everyone immediately answered 'girl's clothes'. So what colors is 'Ruffles' available in? White and black. No pink. NO. PINK. What's the fucking point of knitting ruffles unless they're pink??!!?? Yet another big duuuuh for the folks at Lion Brand. (And what in hell am I gonna put black ruffles on? An evening gown??)
I also got the new Patternworks catalogue, and they're continuing to do what I've watched for the last five years: carry more and more expensive specialty stuff and less and less classic 'plain old yarn'. Who can afford to knit every project with yarn that costs $30 for 150 yards? Other retailers (Webs, Halcyon Yarns) are trying to find value-priced yarns, and Patternworks is off, seeking out the latest cashmere and space-dyed linen. Ugh. (Yeah, the space-dyed linen is cool, but I can't afford it.)
Sometimes I really wonder what people are thinking. (Often they aren't thinking. That's the real problem.)
Sooooo. Anyone know where I can buy some Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight, on line? Other than Patternworks? Anyone?
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16 comments:
I was looking for Brown Sheep Nature Spun, but didn't want to spend much money. So I ended up substituting Knit Picks Telemark. Can't beat $1.99 for a ball of wool--especially when your husband has requested a historically accurate Dr. Who scarf. (Endless, endless garter stitch...but good for TV and movie watching.)
http://www.yarnware.com/web%5Cyarnware%5CYarnware.nsf/Yarn/BROWN_SHEEP-Nature_Spun_Sport!openDocument
I was going to suggest Knitpicks and Elann.com for affordable, quality yarns for future projects too.
And the thing that bugs me about LionBrand is that even though it's a cheapy yarn it's still way overpriced (at least in Canada)! Patons & Bernat provide the same types of yarn, slightly better quality, for much cheaper here.
OHOHOHOH!!! I DO! Go here: Lorien. The owner is a very nice person to deal with, and her prices are great.
Here's the Nature Spun Sport for $3 a skein. Can't beat that.
Oops, here's the link to the Nature Spun: Nature Spun Sport
OOPS, here's the link to the yarn you're looking for.
Nature Spun
Sorry, I'm not trying to spam you! Blogger keeps doing strange thing today. Seriously, sorry for the duplicate comments.
What exactly is space dyed yarn? I have this mental image of astronauts with big dye pots dipping hanks of yarn while they circle the earth.
While I sort of like the idea of knitting ruffles I can't for the life of me (and I've been trying since reading your post) think of a single thing I might do with a completed ruffle. I'm also stumped on the Brown Sheep question. Not my night tonight...
I've never liked the look of Lion Brand. I think they have some butt ugly patterns too.
April: "space-dyed" is the thing you get in a lot of sock yarn so that the colors change abruptly to get the effect of colorwork without having to actually do it.
Check here for an example picture:
http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID4728469DD545446-Knitting/Knitting-Yarn/Regia-Yarn/Regia-6-Ply-Colors/Regia-Yarn-6-Ply-Wool-Jacquard-Colors.aspx
Thanks everybody for the help!
April, Carrie answers the space-dyeing question, though I like the idea of dye pots in orbit much better.
And Lisa, I've fought with Blogger enough, I understand. No worries. :)
I like idea of space died yarn out in orbit, April. I'm thinking the astronauts need to make us a new batch while they're up there...
Do try www.alpacafleece.com for GREAT Brown Sheep prices. They are the best.
Now that I look at the previous comments, I think this is who Lisa was recommending.
I'm curious about why you have a Lion Brand Ban in your household?
Yeah...mutant sheep fur and silk-worm shit is definitely the way to go for yarn choices...I wish I'd figured that out 27 boxes of acryllic ago...
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