Yarn mystery solved
As noted in my last post, I've been pondering my next big project while growing increasingly bored with the socks I have on the needles right now*. Kumon, the hip-length cover piece from Knit Kimono, is running neck and neck with Oblique, but I was puzzled by trhe recommended yarn, Berroco Glacé. I had a skein of what was sold to me as Glacéin my stash, and it didn't look anything like the fiber used in that kimono. I even hauled it out and made a swatch, and nope, nope, nope - instead of a sleek, shiny fabric, my swatch was shiny, yes, but downright hairy. And far more slippery than I'd have expected rayon to be.
I surfed over to Berroco's Web site to get a closer look at the yarn. Their illustrations kind of suck, but no, other than the color, that really didn't look much like the yarn in my hand. So I dug around in the site a bit until I found Berroco's listing of discontinued yarns and started clicking on pictures. Finally, near the bottom of the list, success: The yarn I have isn't Glace it all, it's Quest, a shiny, hairy nylon novelty yarn. Which explains a lot - except for why my yarn was wearing a Glacé label.
My surmise: ISTR buying the stuff from a deeply discounted sale basket back in my early "ooh, shiny!" phase of yarn discovery. I know the skein appeared to have been rewound. I'm betting it either fell apart in the yarn store, or was returned by a buyer and got mislabeled somewhere in the process of returning it to stock.
At any rate: Whew. Glacé, by contrast, is a nice-looking ribbon yarn, and the Yarnmarket has it for a decent price, so I've ordered what I need for the kimono.
And while I was at it, I surfed over to Elann ordered enough of their new Incense wool/silk/bamboo blend for oblique. I know I want something less toasty (and fuzzy) than the wool/alpaca/mohair blend the pattern calls for; the Incense is a slightly smaller gauge, but given how loosely I knit, I should be able to make it work.
That's a fairly hefty yarn investment, but I'll get good entertainment value from the knitting for weeks and weeks, and should wind up with two garments I'll actually be able to wear, as opposed to the pretty-but-too-damned-warm sweaters I've knit so far. Whichever yarn shows up on my doorstep first is the one I'll knit first.
And you know, if the socks languish in the work basket for a while, that's OK with me.
* Bored, and irritated. I'm knitting the socks with a ball of Paton's Kroy that's been in my stash for a couple of years, and I keep running into breaks in the yarn. If I didn't know better, I'd swear moths had been at it (and perhaps they had before I acquired it, but it's been stored in a lidded plastic bin and I've never had a sign of a single moth in my knitting or my house).
I surfed over to Berroco's Web site to get a closer look at the yarn. Their illustrations kind of suck, but no, other than the color, that really didn't look much like the yarn in my hand. So I dug around in the site a bit until I found Berroco's listing of discontinued yarns and started clicking on pictures. Finally, near the bottom of the list, success: The yarn I have isn't Glace it all, it's Quest, a shiny, hairy nylon novelty yarn. Which explains a lot - except for why my yarn was wearing a Glacé label.
My surmise: ISTR buying the stuff from a deeply discounted sale basket back in my early "ooh, shiny!" phase of yarn discovery. I know the skein appeared to have been rewound. I'm betting it either fell apart in the yarn store, or was returned by a buyer and got mislabeled somewhere in the process of returning it to stock.
At any rate: Whew. Glacé, by contrast, is a nice-looking ribbon yarn, and the Yarnmarket has it for a decent price, so I've ordered what I need for the kimono.
And while I was at it, I surfed over to Elann ordered enough of their new Incense wool/silk/bamboo blend for oblique. I know I want something less toasty (and fuzzy) than the wool/alpaca/mohair blend the pattern calls for; the Incense is a slightly smaller gauge, but given how loosely I knit, I should be able to make it work.
That's a fairly hefty yarn investment, but I'll get good entertainment value from the knitting for weeks and weeks, and should wind up with two garments I'll actually be able to wear, as opposed to the pretty-but-too-damned-warm sweaters I've knit so far. Whichever yarn shows up on my doorstep first is the one I'll knit first.
And you know, if the socks languish in the work basket for a while, that's OK with me.
* Bored, and irritated. I'm knitting the socks with a ball of Paton's Kroy that's been in my stash for a couple of years, and I keep running into breaks in the yarn. If I didn't know better, I'd swear moths had been at it (and perhaps they had before I acquired it, but it's been stored in a lidded plastic bin and I've never had a sign of a single moth in my knitting or my house).