Friday, November 18, 2005

Comfort Knits

I've been thinking about the yarns and the projects I've enjoyed knitting with. Does this have anything to do with the how fast I complete a project. In my last post, I mentioned how I did not like knitting the handwarmers with Noro silk garden. I found the inconsistent nature of the yarn very annoying. Sometimes, the yarn was very thin, other times very think and fuzzy. I often felt as if I was knitting with twigs or weeds. Maybe that had something to do with the color I chose, I'm not sure. I bought the yarn initially to use for clapotis, but I didn't get very far. I didn't feel as if I'd enjoy wearing it once I finished it.

I've also realized I don't enjoy the other craze that's going through blog land. Kid silk haze. It is so frustrating. I don't enjoy not being able to figure out exactly where I am in a row. I don't enjoy moving the stitches which have become stuck to the needles over. I don't like the difficulty with tinking back and I don't enjoy the feel of the floss in my hands. If I get motivated and finish River, I cannot see myself every knitting with it again. Of course, I have 6 skeins of it sitting in my stash.
Part of the enjoyment I get from knitting, I get from the feel and texture of the yarn. Not to mention the texture of the finished project. Worsted or DK weight yarn provides that feel for me, that comfort, which says relax. Laceweight and floss is not for me.

3 comments:

Saun said...

I haven't gotten on the Kidsilk bandwagon yet. I've heard it's a killer to frog. Maybe you can use it for a non-lacy pattern.

WandaWoman said...

Hmm, this is difficult for me to comment on. I love all Noro yarns, I think they're pretty cool. However, when you knit with Silk Garden or Kureyon, you will find twigs, or just "stuff" in it as you knit. It's, uh, a part of the "joy" of knitting with it. If that sort of thing bothers you, then you definitely won't want to knit with it in the future. Silk Garden and Kureyon both are a bit thick and thin in nature, so that could be problematic for you. I tend to actually like it and feel that it's a part of the experience with knitting that particular yarn. So you don't like that yarn, that's fine, b/c there are plenty other yarns out there for you to knit with that you will have better experiences with.

KSH-I like the mohair, but find I'm allergic to it. There's something about lace that's highly addictive. Seeing as you're a newer knitter, what doesn't appeal to you now or that doesn't say relax now may change in later years, or you may forever hate it. Initially I was repulsed by laceweight yarns and while I'm not knitting Orenburg lace (at all),the small amount of lace I did knit in a scarf, I found I really enjoyed. However, the frogging aspect of it is not enjoyable at all.

Shar said...

You may be right Wanda, the longer I knit, my preferences may change with skill level. At this point, I do rip back often, and it's irritating to do so with yarn which doesn't cooperate.
I do have a pattern that calls for KSH and it's not a lace pattern. I may give it one more try before I totally condemn it.