I’ve seen a lot of comments on here how people hate knitting with Homespun yarn. It’s so pretty though and I decided to buy one skein just to see how I liked it. I love it! I’m making a shawl now with homespun yarn and it’s so soft and pretty. I had to make another trip to my yarn shop to buy more for the pattern. The pattern I’m using is the Lion Brand Lacy Shawl pattern. Can’t wait to see it finished. Using circular needles though for this large shawl is a pain. Just my two cents worth 
Homespun Yarn
Homespun isn’t quite as impossible to knit with, you just have to use larger needles (11 or bigger) and keep a loose tension on the yarn.
You’re right Sue, and the pattern is for size 13 needles.
Yeah…I like to look at it…in the balls it came in…that is where it ends for me…! smiles Glad you are enjoying it though!
It is soft and the colors are gorgeous. For me it isn’t so much knitting with it, it’s the fact that you can’t see the stitches. Knitting stitches are pretty and if I’m going to put that much time and effort into something I want to [I]see[/I] my work. If I had to use that I’d crochet so it didn’t matter.
I got concerned when I saw this thread. I don’t knit with anything except homespun yarn. Ever. I can control the amount of drape, or fluffiness or surface texture, etc. But you are speaking of a commercial yarn CALLED “Homespun”, right? I hope so.
I spin loosely (more softness and more fluff) for items that don’t require resistance to wear. I spin more tightly and sometimes even make a cabled yarn ( Classic Elite is cabled) for more wear resistance. I’ve spun angora (of course) silk, soy silk, Llama, Alpaca, bamboo, cashmere, all at less expense than you’d have if you bought ready-made yarn of those precious fibers. In fact, most of the time I don’t even like commercial yarn, it looks too “ordinary” to me after I’ve gotten used to my own (and other ppl’s hand spun yarns). I even run it on the knitting machines.
Donna
Yes, Lion brand makes a yarn called Homespun which is a sort of boucle yarn. Many people are now calling the yarn you make Handspun to differentiate the tow.
Don’t feel inspired to make any clothing with this yarn but I made three rugs with it and they are very pretty. Two have corded fringes and the other is plain. I wonder how well they will wear after being washed. Presently I have them in a box unused.
The shawl I’m making with the homespun yarn is turning out to be beautiful.
I haven’t knit with this yarn yet. But as a new crocheter, I had the hardest time with this yarn, yet I made several projects with it because I loved the feel of it. I’ve kind of procrastinated putting it on my needles for fear that it would be hard to work with. I think I should give it a go!
HOmespun yarn is a HUGE pain to work with, but it looks really great once it is made.
I cant tell you how releaved I am that its not just me! I am a relatively new knitter. Absolutely loved the feel and color of the Homespun, bought a bunch of skeins to make a a laprobe for my mom and it is driving me crazy! But I do like the look and feel so will continue, but put it down and started a scarf my daughter requested just to get away from it awhile.
to see it finished. Using circular needles though for this large shawl is a pain. Just my two cents worth
One problem with Homespun is that it needs to be knit on large needles and loosely, but then the finished item stretches out, vertically. I made a sweater from it and after a year, it was almost to my knees!
I knit my daughter-in-law a sweater using it. The sweater grew and grew and grew. I knit her husband a sweater using the yarn as well…all about the same time. He ended up giving the pullover to his wife. She used it for a bathrobe, it grew so much.
This yarn (the curls that make it so adorable) eventually loosens up and the garment stretches beyond belief. The body heat and moisture might activate this response…like a muggy day relaxes all of your freshly curled hair!
I knit a lapghan for myself using this yarn. Of course, I thought, a lapghan won’t matter if it stretches. It didn’t matter. But it pilled so much in the wash that it looked like it had a disease. Very disappointing. The fringe? It split apart at the ends so badly that I had to give the fringe a haircut every week.
That’s my only beef with this yarn…it doesn’t hold up over the long haul. Doesn’t hold its shape, doesn’t hold its pretty appearance. :pout:
Other than that…it was a delight to knit…and the colorways are outrageous.
I feel totally [COLOR=Red]embarrassed[/COLOR] that the two gift sweaters ended up as bathrobes. I wish I had never used this yarn. Never again, for anything. It’s not worth the time and effort. :wall: If I ever give them another sweater, I’m sure they’ll be thinking: “Oh no, here she comes again…with another monstrosity…”
Anyway, that’s my experience.
Others may have had wonderful results with their sweaters, scarves and blankies.
Here is a view of the blanket I mentioned, even after I plucked pills for an hour:
Here is the fringe, with normal use, no washing machine:
Thank you for posting the pictures ArtLady. I just finished a Homespun triangle shawl and it turned out beautiful, was not hard to knit at all on the size 13 circulars and I loved it! However, now I’m afraid to give it as a gift after seeing what happens after a wash. Maybe a hand wash and dry flat would work? I don’t know. Anyone else ever wash your homespun yarn?
I definitely think a Gentle Cycle wash would be less likely to torment the yarn, and lay flat to dry. Your shawl will be fine after a Gentle Cycle wash. If it stretches out a bit…it won’t matter as much as for a pullover sweater! A shawl is very forgiving! If it grows in size, so much the better.
My lapghan got the abuse only a serial criminal should! I washed the tar out of it…and dragged it around like Linus in the Peanuts Comics! But I was disappointed with all of the “pills”.
I think a gentle cycle wash, even putting it inside a large “lingerie” bag in the wash, will allow your shawl many years of beauty!
Thank you for the encourgment ArtLady. I’ll give it a go as a gift and see how it works out.
Loved your description of your lapghan and Linus’ blanket. :teehee:
I’ve washed the bejabbers out of my shawls and shrug. The only thing that hurt any of them was the mouse who got into my car and bit holes in my white shawl…my FIRST shawl…which I haven’t fixed yet. (Yes, it’s saveable. I got the grease out of it after it was used to scrub car parts and tossed, still wet, in the driveway in the snow five or six years ago.)
If you want to wash your Homespun with other clothes, try to put it in with the same color. A lingerie bag seems to get rid of 99% of the pilling problem, since your shawl can’t get out and start sticking to the other clothes’ castaways. Also, a good jolt of fabric softener does wonders to cut down on static.
In New Zealand we are now calling our own spun yarn “handspun” instead of homespun.
I think homemade/homespun has the connotation
of perhaps being a bit rough and ready, not proffessional whereas handmade/handspun has the sound of craftspeople/artists putting all sorts of love and effort into a beautiful item!