Anxiety WHOA anxiety over choosing yarn for afghan

#1

so i went to a real yarn store today, not a michaels or a joann’s and i spent 70 bucks on a few skeins. i was so high from all the lucious yarns and colors that i walked out of there with my stash and by the time i hit the car i was flipping out. i was on a yarn crack high!

i dont know about you guys, but its simply plainly NOT affordable for me to knit an afghan (really a king sized blanket is what im doing) in lambs pride or cascade superwash or something that i really want. those colors in lambs pride are like nothing id seen before though. truly remarkable. i bought two skeins of that, in blue and green and a couple of cascade pima cotton blend (smooth and silky looking) and then 3 balls of this hand spun hand dyed stuff from japan that i couldnt pass up. i know exactly what knit im going to use with it

ANYways, this yarn store was heaven until i got the bill for my few balls and skeins of yarn

so i went and picked up some red heart and some TLC

way too plasticy for a blanket. what is a girl to do? i know you guys used encore for the amy project, but even that is like 6 bucks for 200 yards and im doubling up on the yarn so it can be a thicker blanket (did you guys do that? because the blanket looked so thick in pictures) which means literally hundreds of dollars. im the sole supporter of my family it seems like a crazy indulgence. am i just too poor to knit?

#2

The Encore in the afghan wasn’t doubled.

There is Encore worsted on sale here.

Maybe you could knit squares and do a few at a time as you can afford it or find yarn on sale.

#3

Noooo you’re not too poor to knit! You just need a little help! Caron Simply Soft is super soft, not plasticky, and very easy on the wallet. :thumbsup:

#4

i think if you double up Encore you are going to have a way heavier blanket than you are anticipating. I think mixing colors like we did and maybe starting with just getting color A until your done, and then color B …etc…will make it less painful. those square we did were 12 inches each so you can kind of estimate by that how much you would need. Not sure how much yarn everybody went through for their squares though.

#5

I love Encore but not sure I could do it as an afghan either… unless I put some back then went and got it… I really like Caron Simply Soft and its not expensive… and I have not made an afghan from red heart but I would (prolly will for Christmas gifts)… this is all my grandmother uses and after a wash its soft and they are durable… I know once you get a feel for lys yarn its hard to go back but my budget says I must lol… have you tried knitpicks.com for yarn? I really enjoy knitting so what ever I can get my hands on at the time works for me… you won’t be alone belive me if you use red heart or other brands :thumbsup:

#6

i agree…i don’t really like using red heart but that was what my grandmother used too and i LOVE LOVE LOVE my afghans from her (yeah it might have something to do with it being a gramma afghan i suppose! :wink: ) i have been cuddling up under her afghans all my life and have never felt like they were unpleasant.

#7

even though the sale colors arent what im looking for, with not having to double up and buying in bulk (it says that its $45 pr 10 skeins) i think i can afford to do it in encore if i buy one bag at a time. thanks!

silver im glad to know that i dont have to double up to get the desired thickness. good to know!

dustin i thought of caron anmd knitted some ofc it up but its just not sturdy enough for a big blanket i think.

my son is fussing at me gotta go

#8

this makes me feel squooshy and warm. grandmas are almost universally wonderful.

#9

I soo agree with that. It’s so soft, and smooth feeling. Keeps you very warm too!

#10

I soo agree with that. It’s so soft, and smooth feeling. Keeps you very warm too![/quote]

ill knit up a square and see how it goes. if two of you say it would work, ill go for it and see what it does

gracias

#11

I think simply soft would make a great afghan…or have you tried knitpicks? they have lots of great yarns at really great prices! :thumbsup:

#12

hehehe I love the way you people enable others :roflhard:

#13

Id go encore. Its machine washable and washes up REALLY soft. They have a bulky if you dont want to single-strand the worsted… It comes in the same colors, too!

#14

I got a bunch of RH Soft on clearance a few years back, and I made 3 VERY WELL LOVED afghans out of it. It didn’t feel plasticky at all, and it has washed up beautifully {dozens of washes now}. I’m not sure if it’s available in the US, but I’m nearly positive that the TLC Soft is basically the same stuff.

#15

Based on my not-so-vast experience:

Doubling up can be a mistake - I attempted to do that hot damn afghan thing, and it ended up being way chunky and ugly. You completely could not see any stitch definition. Perhaps this is the reason why you never see actual pictures of a completed hot damn afghan out there. Yeppers.

I have several crocheted afghans and I can guarantee that they were made out of the cheapest yarn available at the time. (as the lady who made them had extremely limited resources). They wash up and do lose their plasticity and they wear like iron. They are fabulous.

For your first attempt at an afghan, I wouldn’t invest too much - what if you burn out or get tired? You don’t want that bag of $100 worth or more of yarn staring you in the face giving you the guilts.

I am voting for simply soft for you. I have skeins to do ripple quilt with homespun, and haven’t started because I think it will be a PITA to work with. (also because I am trying to finish the slowest ever sweater) Whereas the simply soft is supposed to be delightful. Once #1 son picks a college, I plan on making him an afghan in school colors (I also plan on making him a quilt so the little pissant better pick a school quick). Here is a place with inexpensive simply soft:

#16

I purchased some red hear varigated becaused I loved the colors for an afghan. It was also very inexpensive. I didn’t like the plastic/hard feel of the afghan so I frogged it. (Was supposed to be knit with two strands.) I still like the colors so I started it again with one strand of the red heart and one strand of wool-ease (which I thought would be too scratchy alone). Much to my surprise, the combo of the two yarns is much softer and nicer than the original red heart only. I got the wool-ease on ebay and it was pretty cheap too.

#17

I agree with the “little at a time” idea. I can’t afford to spend $150 at a time on yarn. But I can afford to spend like $20-30 every month or so. Get enough to get you started, and then take it from there.

And don’t be completely turned off by acrylic. Even though it feels like crap when you knit it up, it does soften over time.

#18

I’m using Caron Super Soft for a block-pieced afghan/blanket … I got it at Wal*Mart of all places, but it’s super soft and cuddly.

Edit: I’m using Dark Country Blue, Dark Sage, Autumn Red and Off White. They’re all beautiful colors!