tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post116257613716076893..comments2023-12-29T15:48:55.596-05:00Comments on Samurai Knitter: Since we're ranting about yarn.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11710658334966849773noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162683345350377152006-11-04T18:35:00.000-05:002006-11-04T18:35:00.000-05:00Way back when, in the olden days, when I learned t...Way back when, in the olden days, when I learned to knit, the only place to buy yarn was T,G & Y - otherwise known as the "Five & Dime" - and the only thing they sold was Red Heart & Aunt Lydia's Rug yarn. So, I learned to knit on acrylic yarn. It's still my work horse today. A lot of the Red Heart yarn is stiff and hard to work with, but once you wash it, it softens up so nicely, and with just a little bit of care, it won't ball up. It's my favorite for baby blankets, because it can be thrown in with all the baby clothes and washed for all it's worth. The kidlet is now 15, and we still have the baby blanket I knit for her while I was preggers - it's too small for anyone to use for anything, but it's held up nicely.<BR/>Lion Brand has NO customer service - I know, I've fought with them on many, many occasions. I have about forty-seven-eleven skeins of that damned Homespun - it was a pretty color, and I was sucked in - until I tried to knit with it!!!!!!!debsnmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17023150694076405052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162610871649966822006-11-03T22:27:00.000-05:002006-11-03T22:27:00.000-05:00". . . how do you get straw and twigs in silk?"ooo...". . . how do you get straw and twigs in silk?"<BR/><BR/>ooo ooo, call on me, I know I know!<BR/><BR/>Here's the deal:<BR/>Good silk, they raise the silk caterpillars, let them spin their cocoons, then they kill them. That way the cocoon is all one nice long silky silk fiber.<BR/><BR/>Tussah silk is from wild silk moth caterpillars doing their thing in the tropical forest. They eat what they want (so the fiber varies in color), and they spin their cocoons wherever they happen to be, including bits of leaf or whatever.<BR/><BR/>That's where the straw and other vegetable matter comes from: bits of the whatever.<BR/><BR/>People go out and hunt for them, kind of like wool-gathering, only for silk cocoons.<BR/><BR/>Tussah silk can vary wildly, wildly I tell you, in quality. I was given a silk-angora sweater for Christmas once, and couldn't figure out why I was picking bits of clean yellow straw out -- until I read about tussah silk.Alwenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03200150883889857882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162605493377166472006-11-03T20:58:00.000-05:002006-11-03T20:58:00.000-05:00You know, I never thought about using acrylic for ...You know, I never thought about using acrylic for babies. I shudder to think how many of my new-mother friends have delicately made wool items from me that they can't bear to use because of the handwashing issue. That said, I made a fabulous crochet blanket for my nephew that my sister used endlessly. I have no idea how she washed it and last time I saw it, it was still in great shape. It was a rather delicate item, too - lots of 4ply (fingering weight?) squares....so I don't know.<BR/><BR/>We are mercifully free of Lion Brand here. But I'm sure we have plenty of our own shitty stuff.Bellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04043789311151515479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162600359085721672006-11-03T19:32:00.000-05:002006-11-03T19:32:00.000-05:00I actually don't mind using acrylics, especially w...I actually don't mind using acrylics, especially when I'm practicing a new skill and don't want to put a lot of money into what will no doubt be a failure. Lion Brand, while not the greatest yarn, is readily available to me and is used from time to time.<BR/><BR/>I don't have a great deal from which to choose here in deepest darkest Maine. But I will stand firm in this: the only tussah silk to touch the needles in this house is that which I have spun myself.Sheepish Anniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15564802976550099985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162594672458985982006-11-03T17:57:00.000-05:002006-11-03T17:57:00.000-05:00Some Lion Brand is OK. I do like Wool-Ease for ba...Some Lion Brand is OK. I do like Wool-Ease for baby afghans. But Homespun? Oh my ever lovin' Lord, that stuff is the spawn of Satan. Yet people continue to buy it.Aprilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15822650054072508484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21397483.post-1162585415597073212006-11-03T15:23:00.000-05:002006-11-03T15:23:00.000-05:00I'm embarrassed at how much money I spent on acryl...I'm embarrassed at how much money I spent on acrylic yarn, and on how much I'd managed to garner before I discovered what real yarn felt like... I will say this: Wool Ease (in all it's thicknesses) is a fairly reliable, very washable bang for your buck... since the only place I can find Plymouth OR Reynolds here is at the specialty yarn store (which I usually try very hard to support as opposed to the chain stores..) I don't always get the color selection I need if I'm doing stuff on the fly. I guess my main complaint against Lion Brand is how much of their product I've had to throw away because my time is more valuable than the cost of that GINORMOUS BRAIN WRAPPING SOUL STEALING KNOT that is waiting for you somewhere in the middle of every other ball of yarn.Amy Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04885706951931450373noreply@blogger.com