05 Saturday Apr 2014
This is a facebook contest & you can earn an extra entry by tweeting it.
Fun In the Sun is my current favorite of the Lily Doll patterns. (There’s just something about blue hair that says cool & confident.) It’s free.
Now, for the rest of the day I have movies to watch & baby shoes to finally finish.
31 Thursday May 2012
Posted in Reviews
Tags
cotton, crochet, fibers, fibranatura, needs more sausage, product review, review, sea cell, sea kelp, slouchie beanie, Universal Yarn, yarn
fibranatura Sea Song Yarn in thrush
A friend of mine requested several months ago I make him a slouchie beanie. I told him I would later. I just made him a hat four years ago, jeez. So anyhoo, my birthday was in February, & what did he get me? A book of slouchie beanie patterns. Subtle. His birthday is next month, & he’s going to be forty, so I figured I better get on that hat soon while Peepaw is still with us.
We discussed yarn options, & I decided it needed to be cotton or it wouldn’t be fit to wear in summer. He wanted it brown to match his eyes. He didn’t want it to be variegated & mocked me for my love of variegated yarns, which he greatly exaggerated. I know, he’s hateful!
Since the only cotton in the only store within an hour of here that sells yarn only had one brown & that was the variegated, I was forced to order yarn online. Yikes. Always a tricky prospect, especially when your ordering a brand you aren’t familiar with.
I ended up at Herrschners where I found fibranatura’s Sea Song on clearance. The price, the beautiful shade of brown (thrush), & the fact it’s a sea kelp & cotton blend won me over.
Fibranatura (a Universal Yarns brand) Sea Song yarn is an 80% cotton/20% sea cell worsted weight blend. Sea cell is a kelp fiber. Univeral Yarn has a large selection of eco friendly yarns, including organic cotton & bamboo.
Sea Song is wonderfully soft & smooth. I love the feel of it. It comes in some beautiful colorways, & has a slight sheen to it that reminds me of embroidery floss (possibly because I was crocheting with embroidery floss before I started on the hat).
Speaking of embroidery floss, another way it reminds me of that is the twist. It is very loose, just like floss, so it splits easily. I’m a slow crocheter anyway, so any yarn that slows me down because I have to take extra care with my stitches & keep having to rework them because I missed a thread gets a dark mark in my book.
Also, in less than half a ball, probably less than a third, I have found two breaks. For a gift I can make this work, but by the looks of things so far (little catches & the broken threads here & there) I would not make anything to sell out of it.
I was really excited about this yarn, the color, the softness, the fact that it was made with kelp, but have been very disappointed with it, mostly because of the splits. I could have overlooked the breaks, I’ve seen worse in yarn, but the splits are a problem.
Overall I would not use Sea Song again, & I’m not sure about trying other fibranatura yarns, but I don’t rule out trying other Universal yarns.
Anyhoo, just feeling a little frustrated & wanted to vent a bit in a quick review. Hope this shines a little light for someone!
Oh, the hat is this really easy slouchy beanie at Jenn Likes Yarn. The hat he wanted in the book was knit, & this was a pretty close approximation in crochet. I could have just winged it, but I’ve been trying to work more patterns to learn new ways of doing things. I’ve been winging it almost since I learned to crochet, & I feel a little stunted because of it. I’m hoping to finish it tonight, if not then for sure tomorrow. I’ll update you on the finished product.
I would love to hear about your experiences online yarn shopping, & any problem yarns you’ve run across, as well as some favorites you’d like to share.
02 Wednesday May 2012
Yarn of the Month | Red Heart.
It’s a new month & time for a new yarn giveaway at Red Heart. This month’s yarn is Boutique Magical.
I have never tried the yarn, but here is what Red Heart has to say about it:
Red Heart Boutique Magical is four yarns in one! The shiny, brushed, metallic and multicolored fibers come together to make one gorgeous yarn. Beautiful striped patterns form as you knit and crochet. Magical is a size-4 medium weight acrylic yarn. Machine wash with cold, gentle cycle and machine dry on low.
You can enter here, but the yarn is still mine.
Here is a free crochet pattern from Red Heart that utilizes Boutique Mystical: Renaissance Capelet Crochet Pattern
