I am a new knitter that is self taught, which can’t be good to start with. I’m trying to knit a prayer shawl with Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick. So far my projects have been cotton (baby bib, dish cloths) or acrylic (cell phone case). This is way more difficult than I expected in terms of getting the yarn to like me. Should I be pulling the yarn to firm it up? So far I can’t even get a gauge swatch done! Or am I trying to make chenille act like cotton? :??
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Fighting chenille
Hey there Andi- being a self taught knitter isn’t a bad thing. If anything I would say it’s good because you’re free to make your own discoveries about what works for you, instead of picking up another knitter’s preferences, you make your own! And about chenille, it was the yarn I chose to use for my second project. It’s problem is that it doesn’t have a lot of stretch, and it becomes hard to count your stitches very easily. I would suggest that you cast your stitches a bit more loosely than usual, and try to be very careful about your knitting- you can really only unravel chenille so many times before it starts to bald. It’s doesn’t have a lot of stretch to it either, so make sure your stitches are where you want them (Keep them close together without letting that thread show up between needles when you first start. It also tends to worm, meaning that it can be a bit uppity to knit with. Just be patient and stick with it! The results can be beautiful!
Hi Andi-mame :waving:
Chenille can be a real [U]bear[/U] to work with. It doesn’t give at all, and sometimes causes pain to your hands if you knit with it for a long time. Also, after the knitted item sits for a while, the stitches will sometimes “worm” loose and hang funny. But, it makes a nice, lush fabric, so it can be worth the trouble if it’s what you really want.
And you’ve learned one thing about knitting. Different yarns require different techniques, or different needles. Just part of learning the craft. 
That’s one of my problems - I could fish for trout with the amount of yarn between stitches… why is that? I haven’t done that with my other projects - is it because the needles are big and I’m not adjusting? I even switched to a different yarn to try and make the swatch to see if I could at least knit what I was supposed to … and … that isn’t working either!
OMG my few knitting skills went away! WAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!
Lion chenille is nearly impossible to work with, the thick and quick is not quite as bad. Try going down a needle size and see if that helps.
I made scarf for my daughter out of the lion chenille and I thought I was going to throw it away before I finished. I only kept at it because she loves chenille. It was hard to knit with and not very forgiving. The scarf turned out okay but I swore never again…