One of the first projects I decided to do was a Homespun afghan from Lion Brand’s website. I bought 15 skeins of it. After knitting six squares, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was supposed to be a father’s day present but I had to put it away for four months because I just couldn’t stand to work with it anymore.
I ended up cramming it in the week before xmas, finishing it xmas eve.
It’s now referred to as “Devil Yarn” at my house.
It really is too bad because like everyone else has said, the colors are great.
Homespun was one of the first yarns I learned to knit with, and it was a CHALLENGE! What I learned after having the yarn “worm” on me and not being able to put my needles in position to make the knit stitch because I knitted the boucle yarn too tightly, was to use larger needles (I typically use a size 13 needles with Homespun), but I also adjust my knitting tension to be looser than knitting with something like say worsted weight merino wool. I still occasionally use Homespun because I love the colors, but I’m finding after knitting with other yarns, I’m liking it less and less. It loses its loft after a few washes which is disappointing, although I haven’t had a problem with it disintegrating in the wash or anything, and my stuff gets washed A LOT. One shawl I made out of it my toddler just adores because it’s soft and cuddly, she’s always wrapping herself up in it, calling it "my ‘blanket’ ", so I have to make her her very own Homespun blanket! :teehee: I’ve found it to be very warm and comfortable to wear next to the skin, and I can’t say that about some acrylics out there (some feel downright scratchy to me). Here’s a drop-stitch shawl with a crocheted edging that I finished using Homespun yarn–neither of which are very good pix considering I don’t have any “models” to take pictures wearing it. The other picture is a detail of the yarn which isn’t really an accurate depiction of the yarn (it looks almost fluorescent in the picture [I don’t know why], but it isn’t in real life).
I think what I like about the boucle yarns like Homespun is that their texture allows me to simply do knit stitches, which is not incredibly creative, but it’s good for when you want to get a project done quickly (like maybe for a short-notice gift) without having to fuss over rows and rows of detailed patterns. I was able to knit many shawls using Homespun; some prayer shawls, and the induldgence of being able to simply do a knit stitch and concentrate on the prayer shawl aspect was really nice.
I’m working on a shawl now using Bernat’s “Soft Boucle”, and I have to say, the yarn is less lofty than Homespun, but I think it’s just as much of a pain to use. But it is incredibly soft. I’ll have to see how it washes up.
Oh, man–I did a whole hoodie sweater out of it, and didn’t notice the difference in COLOR between skeins!! Either it said there wasn’t a dye lot, or I had all the same lot–can’t remember which, but there was a huge color shift on the back of my sweater and on one of my sleeves. :grrr: NOT cool!!
Jen, it’s very possible you did purchase the same dye lot–I had this happen to me, too, and I’m fanatical about checking dye lots! I “eyeballed” two skeins in the store that were the same dye lot, but clearly were very different from each other with regards of tones of colors. I also had a skein that wasn’t dyed thoroughly in the middle, and halfway through rolling it into a ball from the skein, I had to take it back to the store. :!!!: That stunk! But at least I wasn’t mid-way through a project.
In October, Shandeh gave me some Homespun (as well as some good stuff.) Mom was with us when she did so, and commented, “Good. You can make me my Martha Stewart poncho.”
I made it for her for Christmas, and vowed never to use it again. It creeps and gathers, no matter the tension. One side looks like a different dye lot in natural light but not in fluorescent light. I didn’t even take a picture of it when I was finished, just shipped it out to Mom. I don’t think she likes it, but I made her promise to wear it if I made it. 
Homespun is the devil.
on anther board Im a member of we have a “throwing tomatoes” smiley… Im guessing it would come in handy on this board also, lol… maybe you should just post your name and addy and we’ll all send our un used homespun to you… along with rotten tomatoes…JK 
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If it says anything about my feelings for Homespun, when I mentioned the title of this thread out loud, my DH said, “Because it’s crap!” I guess he’s heard that a time or two. 
Walmart does seel Bernat Softee Chunky… but is a chunky yarn that should be use with a size 10 or larger needles… maybe thats why you have been having difficuly.
also As stated earlier… Homespun is a chunky yarn and you are using too small a needles that is adding to your frustration… :wall:
Nooooo… homespun can be used for yarn you spin at home as well. Or at least I’ve heard that before. We are talking specifically about Lion Brand Homespun…which is NOT made at home.
The only thing I"ve used Homespun for is Lion Brand’s 6 hour afghan. You knit 4 strands at the same time on size 50 needles. For that project, I didn’t find it bad to work with at all…but then, with ginormous needles there’s a heck of a difference.
I did find out from the afghan that I don’t think I’d like it for a shawl or sweater because of the different “thicknesses” in the boucle. It’s fine for a blanket (especially 'cause this one was one to be used as a lapghan just to snuggle under and keep warm on winter evenings), but I don’t know about anything fancier. :shrug:
Zip–may I ask what pattern you used for the poncho? Did you like it?
Zip–may I ask what pattern you used for the poncho? Did you like it?[/quote]
Bernat. That page takes a long time to load, so be patient. The link to the pattern didn’t work for me this morning; I can round up a direct link here somewhere if you like.
It was simple until it was time to attach the edging, which is wider than the bottom of the body. The neckline seems huge, but I didn’t stitch it up any further because I’m smaller than Mom. I sent it to her along with some of the yarn and promised that Shandeh would stitch up the neckline a bit should she desire it. I haven’t heard anything since then, so she may be letting the puppy sleep on it.
The pattern may work better with a Homespun other than Lion Brand. I’ll never make it again [size=2]because I think it’s an ugly poncho[/size].
Homespun is Lion’s name for this yarn. There are similar yarns, like RH Light and Lofty, that are fluffy, but none are called Homespun.
sue
Found it! I knew it was a Herschnerr’s url. Page 2 is the knit version. Page 3 is a matching hat in both crochet and knit.
It states Bernat Galaxy yarn. I suppose it’s comparable to Lion Brand Homespun. :shrug:
Galaxy isn’t quite comparable to Homespun. It’s much thicker, though it does have a thick and thin strand wrapped around a loose heavy strand, but it’s not as hard to work with. It’s here - http://www.bernat.com/product.php?LGC=galaxy&PHPSESSID=2cfd98e058276b06d48bee135cc44ad7
I crocheted a hat out of it, didn’t have a lot of trouble with it.
sue
Poor Zip! You were much braver than I could ever be. Mom kept asking for me to make that poncho, and I just told her, “I’m sorry, Mom. I HATE that pattern!”
I was SO relieved when you took the yarn and said you’d make the poncho. :woohoo:
Mom has called me already, asking me to fix the neckline. I was busy all last week, but I’ll try to go by and get it this week. 
I was just thinking I was a weirdo. I purchased some Lagoon colored homespun the other day (I friend requested this because the color was so beautiful) and began making simple k2p2 hat on my size 10 circular needles. I have started over 4 times because the ribbing looked bad, came loose, frayed, knotted up or some other tragedy. I immediately thought it was user error…I even went stitch by stitch for 3 rounds making sure I was knitting all of the yarn and that I was doing everything as I always would. And it still looks horrid! I can only imagine how dreadful it will look when washed.
I do both crochet and knit. And I LOVE lion brand! Nothing has beat wool ease in bulky, thick and quick and worsted weight for my dollar. I can see my stitches, it’s super warm and not itchy. They knit and wash beautifully. And I love the Vannas choice yarn for fall and spring projects. But I do not love homespun. Nope nope nope. Loops and threads makes a knock off that is actually ok. It’s called country loom. If you have a Michaels, try that one.
And THANK all of you for posting. I really had thought I’d gone crazy!
I love, love, love Softee Chunky. I made my grandma a hat with it and then proceeded to make myself a hat, my SIL a hat and my niece a poncho. I also have a few skeins to make my niece a sweater for her birthday.
On the other side, I’m not a fan of Homespun. Before I learned my lesson, I made my SIL’s gram and my niece hats with it. They both love them but I cringe every time I see them in use because the yarn just hasn’t held up.
I chose homespun for my first project. A prayer shawl for a friend going through chemo. I prayed all right, mainly for patience. It turned out nice and now I am glad I picked a difficult yarn for my first project. I have since found “real yarn” which is heavenly and so nice to work with. I wouldn’t ever recommend this yarn for anything that you wanted for a keepsake or special project.
Hi! :waving:
When a first got back into knitting a few years ago I worked with Lion Brand Homespun to make a knited scarf. I knit with two strands (one from the center pull and one from the outside) and did all knit stitches across 12 stitches. I used size 15 plastic needles. One skein using the double thread made the perfect size scarf.
At first it felt awkward but once I got the hang of knitting very loosely with those honkin’ big needles things went along very smoothly and I made a total of 17 scarves that year, for the whole family as well as friends and some folks in the community who needed some soft warmth! Everyone loved them and I’ve had requests for more each year.
Prior to that, I’d made two crochet afghans out of Homespun and they are both very warm and cozy, even after many washings. For those I used mostly single crochet with a single thread and a largish crochet needle. I did color blocks and the finished pieces were visually very appealing since Homespun has such gorgeous colors.
The trick of it is to do a tight crochet weave, nothing lacy, with a fairly large needle, and to work loosely.
I think if you get the right size needles and work the right denseness of texture, and work it loosely enough, you might find that Homespun is a pretty great yarn!
Or not…
Anyway, this peanut gallery member really likes homespun!
Happy knitting,
Ruthie :clink: