I am halfway through the Lion Brand Triangle shawl with Homespun and I have to say (other than the fact that it is taking me FOREVER) that I totally agree with you all…this is NOT my favorite yarn. But it is really soft and it’s a gift for my granny who is always cold so I think it will keep her nice and cozy. Once I finish this project, no more Homespun for me!
Homespun yarn substitution?
im making a bag for all my knitting stuff with it…first time ive used it and i HATE it!!! but the colors are SOOO pretty, i NEED to finish!!! it takes FOREVER to knit with, and it bunches up like crazy!!!
grrrr…never had a yarn anger me so!! :wall:
:roflhard:
So we haven’t found a substitute for this apparently horrible yarn?? I’ve never tried it and after reading all the posts here, I’m quite leary of even buying one skein.
I stumbled upon Martha’s Poncho and I really like it and thought I’d give it a go, but how do I go about finding another yarn to use?
[size=2]help meeeee[/size] :waah:
I don’t know why, but the first time I used Homespun, I was knitting English and the yarn, I believe the term is wormed. Every few rows I had to stop and pull that bunched up stuff back to normal.
The second time I tried using it (my dd gave me 2 skeins of the most beautiful color–covered bridge–and I made the triangle shawl. I am now knitting continental, and I had no problem with the worming, bunching, whatever you call it. It really wasn’t too bad to work with, but I wouldn’t want to use a more intricate pattern with it. Simple knit/purl worked well.
I’ve yet to wash the shawl, and I’m concerned that it may stretch into something like a tarp to cover the neighbor’s boat.
I don’t know why there was a difference between English and Continental. But it worked; the shawl knit up beautifully.
And of course, THE COLORS ARE GORGEOUS!!!
Too bad Lion can’t come up with another yarn in the same colorways that they’ve developed for Homespun. I’d buy everything!
Okay, I did some searching on google and came up with this page from Lionbrand…
I hope it helps someone (and me :teehee: )
How different is Red Heart’s “Light and Lofty” from “Homespun”? I knit an afghan with “Light and Lofty”, and really like the way it feels for a blanket - nice and cuddly.
I’ve found red heart to be very similar, and I guess I’m odd since I’ve never had a problem with either…
I saw the Light and Lofty and thought it might be another one to try instead of Homespun. It looked very similar, I just wish it came in more color varieties!
Okay, I have a confession to make though - I really don’t mind the Homespun as much anymore. :oops: I have knit about 40 inches of my afghan, and knitting loosely really has helped. I agree about only doing simple stitches with it: for my afghan I repeat a 4 row sequence that includes 2 knit rows and one purl row, and the other row is a combination of k2tog and increases. That decrease/increase row is a bit of a pain, but I kept telling myself it’s only for 1/4 of the afghan, so I can do it! :teehee: I absolutely 
the way this afghan is turning out, and I so think it is worth it. A week and a half after throwing this yarn down in despair I NEVER believed I would even be considering knitting another one of my afghan gifts with this yarn - how funny is that! 
I noticed that “bunching” a lot when I first tried to knit this afghan a few months ago, but for some reason it’s not doing it as much now, and I do knit English. I still have to straighten it some, but nowhere near as much as when I first started knitting - so the WS of my afghan looks a lot better, thank goodness.
Oh, and I completely agree about merino wool - that is by far my favorite yarn to knit with! I made a booga bag with some black Patons wool, and it was SO nice and soft, after I finished knitting it I just kept it sitting around for a nearly 3 weeks because I liked it so much I didn’t want to felt it! :roflhard: Fortunately I did end up felting it and I was just as happy with it felted. :cheering:
I just like squeezing it…it’s just so darned bouncy, warm, and “friendly”, you know? I look like some kind of “yarn pervert” over by the merinos at the LYS, petting and squishing yarn (a la Mr. Whipple from the old Charmin toilet paper t.v. commercials!) :oops:
So Shavon, that afghan only has one complicated row of increases/decreases to it? I didn’t look at the pattern too closely (I have it already); it looked kind of hard. I have a short attention span, so it’s good for me if my things don’t have really long repeats or that they’re not too complicated as I get sidetracked and lose my place.
Cookworm, the pattern really isn’t that bad! I did place the stitch markers in the places they suggested (separating the border and between each 18 stitch sequence) because without those markers I would never be able to keep up with what I was doing. The increase was something I hadn’t heard of, but once you figure out what they mean, it’s really easy. I really just hate the k2tog part, because it is NOT easy to do with this yarn. :teehee: But I think I’m going to try this same pattern with some worsted yarn - either 1 strand on 10 1/2 needles or double stranded on size 15 needles - and see how it turns out.
I really think you should give it a try - we could both end up with some pretty cool afghans! xxx
You enabler! Hmmm…the pattern doesn’t sound too hard, and it looks so pretty. Maybe I can go with using up some of my leftover Homespun in my stash in a related colorway (like maybe all cool colors for example) to do this? I just cringe when I read something like, “Cast on a gazillion stitches”! I’ve got a lot of projects in the works now, but this is definitely a tempting thought to help me use up my partial skeins of yarn.