Monday, 28 March 2011

A Tale of Two Yarns - 2KCBWDAY1



Choosing two yarns to talk about was quite difficult, I went to my stash and pondered. I have a lot of yarn. I could talk about any of them and I like all of them for different reasons, some are silky and soft and others are rustic and 'wooly'.

I decided my first yarn would be Mini Mochi. I love the colours in this yarn, long repeats (which sometimes don't actually repeat, but I can live with that, I don't need things to match exactly). I bought two balls in the 'Baby Face' colour, the pastel colours reminded me of Rainbow Brite, a cartoon I remember fondly from my childhood, I decided to use it to knit my sister a pair of socks for her birthday. Thats when it all started to go wrong.



I hated knitting with this yarn. It hurt my fingers, it split a lot, it was fluffy and there was a limited amount of stretch in the finished socks. I loved the pattern, Baudelaire by Cookie A. I didn't get a photo of both socks but they did get finished (in a cloud of rude words) and I wrapped them up and presented them to my sister.



She proceeded to felt them in the washing machine.

I think it was a sign.

My second yarn is The Knitting Goddess 4ply Merino Nylon Sock, I have more skeins of this yarn than any other and more finished objects made from it too. I like to knit socks and while I am yet to wear a hole in any pair I've made, I like the thought of the nylon protecting me from having to learn how to darn. It's a smooth, balanced yarn and I love knitting with it. This skein is my current favourite (I'm fickle and my head is often turned by new colours) Bollywood, the colours are so vibrant and deep. This will probably become a pair of socks....

9 comments:

  1. I love The Knitting Goddess yarns. I'm ridiculous though, I have several skeins and NONE of them have been knitted with.

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  2. The purple is lovely. I have yet to try my mini mochi socks in the washing machine, I think I will stick to handwashing them

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  3. I agree with you about single ply yarns - they always look great in the ball, feel great against the skin - but they just don't wear well do they? I recieved a beautiful cowl made from lornas laces silk/wool single yarn, it was heaven to wear, once. And accidentally went in the washing basket and felted in a cold wash. So disappointing.

    The purple colour of your second yarn is gorgeous. So vibrant!

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  4. Mini Mochi looks so delicious... I've never knitted socks but I'm willing to learn (one of my knitting resolutions for this year...)

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  5. Totally agreeing on the Bollywood colourway, that's gorgeous! I love the bits of bright pink!

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  6. I had the same issue with the mini mochi. Only it felted and pilled like crazy after one wearing!!

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  7. Oh, Rainbow Brite. Who could have known she would lead you astray...

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  8. Flinched at the image of all that work going to waste by felting, but yes, a sign. Do not buy that anymore.
    That Knitting Goddess sock yarn is in such a divine colorway - awesome!

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