hey guys, i just bought 2 skeins of the pound of love and it felt so soft. but when i tried to knit with it, it feels so rough? will this change the farther i go along? i want to make a baby cardigan and matching blanket with it but i’m not sure if it would be good. what do you guys think?
what about washing it? will it make it softer?
I used one skein and made a huge blanket for my little girl, and it is soft.
I prefer it to some of her other yarn blankets. One tip…it will shed a little in the wash, so you may want to wash 'en seperate the first few times.
It MAY help to start from the other end of the yarn. Sometimes there is a definite “right direction”, and the yarn may be wound in the “wrong” direction. Good luck.
Now THAT I’ve never heard before. Does anyone else have experience with this? :??
I knitted a baby blanket out of this (the knitted “Hooded Baby Blanket” pattern), and one thing I have to say is that I am GLAD I did is to wind the skein into a ball. I went to Joann’s website and looked at reviews of this yarn and many said that although the yarn was soft and the value was great, that they had problems with getting huge knots in their skein, so I was “forewarned”. Sure enough, my skein knotted too, but I wasn’t in the middle of a knitting project at least; I was just winding my yarn into a ball at that point. If you don’t mind my 2 cents, 
I would recommend winding your skein into a ball before you start. And the yarn does get softer after you wash it–I was nervous about the roughness of the yarn when I started knitting with it because it didn’t feel too soft to me, but it got softer in the wash.
I got a lot of these a long time ago, and had no problem wiv them. But the last few skeins I’ve gotten have been riddled wiv knots! Yes it does get even softer after wash. [I use downy too tho] The knot problem must be a new thing, I got 10 of them last year- and not one single knot in them, but these last few have had knots all thru out the skein :wall: I’m AM anxious for a ball winder [in other words, its my answer when I get asked wot I want for Christmas] One problem I had wiv the first few skeins as well as the ones I have now is the yarn has a habit of splitting quite a bit - I think thats the right ‘term’? Where I have to be a bit slower workin wiv it so the hook or needles grabs all the ply’s.
Anyroads wotever probs I have wiv yarn etc doesnt matter, its still a great tension reliever! helps me keep wot bit of sanity I have left LOL
Suzi
thanks for your opinions. i just made a swatch of it so i’m gonna wash it and see how it turns out. but i will start working on a sweater and matching blanket. i will make it into a ball first i guess.
thanks alot
One of my books by either Elizabeth Zimmerman or maggie Righetti talks about winding the yarn from the “right” end versus the “wrong” end. i’ll try to find it and send a new post.
Funny some should mention the knots. I haven’t found any yet but I wind these into balls because they do get tangled quite easily. I also agree that the yarn seems to be not as tightly wound. I mean that I have to be careful too because it’s easy to poke your needle through the ply’s compared to other yarns. Here is a pic. of my recent project with it.
Wow, I’m so glad I found this topic… I am right now knitting a baby blanket with it (yes, the hooded blanket, I was too anxious to start a new project to look for a different pattern LOL) and I was a little disturbed by how rough it feels, even though it’s been my experience with most acrylics that they feel awful when knitting, but usually wash up okay.
I made my sons each hats and mittens last year, and they washed up nice and soft… same with the blanket I made for my DH. I know my MIL used super-cheap Wal-Mart acrylic to make the blanket she gave me and DH last Christmas, but it’s comfy enough to snuggle under…although I second the fabric softener suggestion.
ow wow thats a beautiful afghan. can you share the pattern??? i would love to make that. i’m still not feeling very good about how it feels. i dont know. i just made a blanket using caron one pound and it wasn’t soft at all when it finished but after i washed it, without using softener it came out awesome!!!i absolutely love it. but i do have 2 skeins of the pound of love so i gotta make something 
I second the motion for that blanket pattern. Its lovely. Where’d you find it?
I have knit and crocheted several items with that yarn and have given them away as gifts. I used the leftover yarn to make preemie hats for charity. I have gotten huge compliments on them about how soft they were. And they seem to get softer with time/washings.
I finally found the reference to the right and wrong nap of the yarn. It is on page 19 of Righetti’s Knitting in Plain English. It has to do with the way the individual fibers are lain atop each other, making a nap. According to righetti it is very noticeable on some yarns and barely noticeable, if at all, on others. I’ve only had a problem once a few years ago, but I can’t remember what the yarn was. Unfortunately, I’m not organized enough to keep stash samples with swatches, etc. Maybe nex year. LOL
:doh: I told my husband that I don’t care how cheap it is, don’t buy me this stuff again… I have been running into knots and tangles and yarn barf galore… plus it seems to be attracting all the dog and cat hair in the house…
My tip? Take the two skeins (GINORMOUS, MOUNTAINOUS SKEINS) that you have, double-strand them together, make a blanket, and get the stuff out of the house as quickly as possible!!! :roflhard: :roflhard: