the blue blog archives: hell hath no fury like a knitter scorned

Once I finished the back of the alchemy sweater, I could get back to the glisten cardigan. In a moment of extreme laziness, I decided just to pull the addis that I was using for the glisten cardi out of the bag and use them to start the syncrhonicity top. I can't switch needles now without affecting my gauge, so I'm stuck trading off - one piece of the alchemy sweater, one piece of the glisten cardi. It is quite a motivation to get through the glisten project, I can tell you.

I certainly finished the back wicked fast. But this was probably owing less to the needle issue than to the fact that I really can't stand this yarn anymore. It still feels lovely in the ball and is pretty and sparkly, but it is way annoying to knit with and I've got some serious problems with how it's used in this pattern. First, the yarn is still catching constanly on the needles. And this isn't just frustrating, but also seems to be causing it to fray slightly where the little sparkles are. This looks particularly bad along the cast-on edge (you can even kinda see it along all the edges in the pattern pictures - look close and remember, this yarn ain't fuzzy!). Second, although I'm doing my best to untwist the yarn as I knit, there must have been more twisting in the section where I was doing the armhole shaping, because it clearly has a different look to it. Blech. Then there's my issues with the pattern. Why, please tell me why, is this ribbon yarn knit at a gauge that makes a short-sleeved, cropped little cardi weigh a ton and use up 9 (yes, NINE) balls of yarn?! If this were knit on US10's instead of US8's, I think it would be much lighter, more drapey, and feel significantly less like chain mail.

And look at all those ends I have to weave in! So, riddle me this, why does every ball start with a separate piece of yarn that's only about 2 yards long???? This is not an isolated thing. I have found it in every ball. I knitted the first two of them in: the first, because I had no idea; and the second, because I thought that must have been some sort of a one-time manufacturing mess-up. Now I look closely when I start a new ball and it's fairly easy to see that there are really two ends at the top. I pull them both and one leads to the ball, the other just pulls off a 2 yard strip of yarn. Is this some sort of ribbon yarn convention that I don't know about? Tell me there is a reason for this besides vexing me and forcing me to weave in a thousand ends.

All I can say is thank goodness I get to switch back to the synchronicity top for a while! Back to the happy yarn place.

UPDATE: Check my comments in the comments section for some more thoughts from me on this yarn and pattern....

posted by alison at 9:41 am | in glisten

Comments

Sorry that you've had this experience. My LYS is closed this week to move, and they have ordered this yarn for the new shop. I wanted to knit a drawstring bag from the Accessories collection. Now I'm wondering about it. Anyway, one tip that I saw on that one-episode Lily Chin show was how to keep ribbon yarn from twisting. She put it in a shoe box on a dowel that went from one short end to the other. The yarn spins on the dowel but doesn't twist. Maybe that would help?

Posted by: jocelyn at March 30, 2006 10:08 AM

Jocelyn, I think this yarn could be fine in accessories. Yeah, it's a little frustrating to use, but when you're only using two balls of it, then it's no biggie. I'm eight balls in and I'm losing my mind. And the whole thing just seems too heavy for a full-on garment. I like the idea of the drawstring bag. And I bet that the wrap on the cover of the accessories book, which is knit using glisten and a different ribbon yarn, could be very nice.

Posted by: alison at March 30, 2006 10:16 AM

Me again! I should probably mention that I'm not a huge fan of ribbon yarn in general, so maybe all of this is typical ribbon yarn stuff and for those of you who love ribbon yarns (or have a greater reserve of patience than I do after a day with my boys) won't be annoyed by this yarn at all.

Look, Brynne made a beautiful version of this cardi in pink! In an earlier post, she notes one thing I forgot to mention - the sizing is rather large. She went down to the small size, which I should have done as well. We just thought medium for the store, but the medium is 43" around!

Posted by: alison at March 30, 2006 10:23 AM

maybe its a built in swatch yarn!! lol

I saw burn it!

Posted by: pixie at March 30, 2006 11:13 AM

Ack. That sounds maddening...

I think you need to buy another few sets of needles!

Posted by: Chris at March 30, 2006 11:15 AM

Wow, I thought it looked kind of wide for you. That's a medium? Then the large would fit me, not that I'd wear anything cropped.

Posted by: Dragonfly Judy at March 30, 2006 11:16 AM

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with this sweater! But it does look awfully cute -I wouldn't give up on it now that you're almost finished. The thing about the 2 yard built in swatch yarn (lol)... really weird...

Posted by: Lotta at March 30, 2006 12:41 PM

crud, lost my comment... Anyway, it looks very cute and thanks for all the info in case we brave the ribbony waters. :) It should be helpful at the shop when it inspires lots of other knitters to make it!

Posted by: Daphne at March 30, 2006 1:24 PM

I have to say that I thought I'd totally hate this yarn, but it really wasn't so bad. I dealt with the twist by keeping a fairly long piece of yarn in between me and the ball. This worked pretty well with only a few occasions where I really needed to untwist it. It is a heavier piece and when I tried it on before I set in the sleeves, I was convinced of knitting disaster. Fortunately the seaming really helped with the structure and I don't think it's too drapey or pulling out of shape. Here's mine on a mannequin (scroll down). I think it holds its shape well. The worst thing about this yarn? Seaming. You have to make sure that you're going perfectly through the stitch you're using or else there will be snags. It's surprisingly worth it though and I can't wait to get my sweater back after its vacation at the shop. It will be a fun piece to dress up a t-shirt and jeans. Playgroup luxe, here I come!

Posted by: Brynne at March 30, 2006 1:27 PM

And I forgot -- I have one ball out of the eight I used with a knot in it. I must have gotten a lucky lot.

Posted by: Brynne at March 30, 2006 1:28 PM

I love the pattern, but I'm not a fan of ribbon yarn either. It looks like it would be great for dress up or dress down.

Any suggestions for yarn substitution?

Posted by: Diane at March 30, 2006 1:35 PM

I've not had that problem with ribbon yarn (the 2-yard piece at the beginning), but I have had that with other yarns -- so frustrating!

Posted by: Mary at March 30, 2006 2:10 PM

Thanks so much for your feedback Brynne. It's good to hear that the things annoying me aren't all completely in my head! Your cardi came out so lovely, I think it may just be worth it all. I still have hopes that this one will be a good model for the store.

Posted by: alison at March 30, 2006 4:56 PM

Wow, are you patient. I would have frogged it!

Posted by: Emily at March 30, 2006 8:00 PM

Oh, you are sooooo good. I have to admit; I'd be getting another pair of addis at this point! I always like how my ribbon yarn projects turn out--but they often drive my crazy while I'm knitting, too!

Posted by: alliesw at March 31, 2006 2:03 AM

I feel your pain. I made myself a tank out of ribbon last summer and I will never knit with ribbon again. I can't seem to knit with it without it twisting and splitting and becoming a general mess.

Posted by: Kate at March 31, 2006 8:19 AM

I hate it when you get those stray pieces. I find it happenned quite a bit with the Debbie Bliss silk/cotton, which I bet was why it was on sale and never to be seen again. You could try to write to the company; the worst that would happen is they send you more yarn!

Posted by: Dava at March 31, 2006 8:49 AM

hmmm, kind of like every ball of Noro I've used (silk garden or Kuryon has had a knot in it where they clearly joined more yarn)

Posted by: Orli at April 1, 2006 3:45 PM