I've done a half-dozen hats with this yarn and it's time to give a review. Hometown USA is a super bulky yarn found at craft stores.
It's 100% acrylic... which is ideal for me and mine - due to wool allergies and being easy care.
I LOVE the colors. I LOVE the price. And I LOVE the softness of the yarn. I do. It's a reasonably priced yarn and it's a joy to work with albeit with the typical non-stretchy nature of all 100% acrylic yarns.
I'm only slightly disappointed that the skeins are a little small - only 81 yards per skein which isn't quite enough for two of my Brioche hats.
BUT, there's a caveat. I've twice come across a skein where there had been an issue. The first one simply had a single ply out of several that had broken. I just made sure that I lined up that strand and knit it with it's partners and trimmed the ever so slight little ends that poked out. No big deal. Then the second skein that had an issue had fluff plied in with the plies, broken plies, pieces of fluff just 'stuck' to the plied yarn... I thought about cutting out the three to four yards of bad yarn... but with super bulky it's a pain dealing with working in ends... instead I pulled out the loose fluff, did the best I could with broken plies within that section and just kept going. It's in a crocheted hat, with lots of double-crochet, so the issue is really not that noticeable. But if it had been in a knit stockinette section? I wouldn't have had a choice but to cut it out as it would have looked horrible. Both of these issues were not visible from the outside of the skein... and if it had just been a broken ply? I wouldn't have cared. But the second skein was pretty messed up. If I continue to use this yarn and continue to find these issues? I would probably stop buying this yarn.
In the meantime, it's the only super-bulky, 100% acrylic yarn with a smooth ply that is affordable for a lot of my charity knitting, so I'm still planning on continuing to buy it and use it for those purposes.
The sad thing was that I was looking for something just like this to make an afghan... and my son was asking for a super-soft super bulky wear-around-the-house sweater for next winter... due to the issues and the small skeins? I don't want to buy a couple of dozen skeins for a big project and risk it. So, I'm still on the search for a replacement for the Wool-ease that I can no longer use.
FYI - no one is offering me anything for this review. I have not received anything free nor been paid for offering my opinion.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Custom-made Knitting Notions bags are in
AND they are BEYOND aweome....!!!!
These were made by the AMAZING Kara who has a shop on Etsy - Darn it! Sew What!
She made them to my request and I think they turned out beyond cool.
First, some Gryffindor pride!
And we can't forget the awesomeness that is a stealthy craft ninja!
The material & zippers are of high quality. The embroidery is amazing. They are lined with contrasting fabric and the perfect size to hold about any notions in a knitting bag that one would want.
Add that she found the most-perfect images to use? And I couldn't be more pleased.
They run $14 regularly, although she did give a 10% discount to folks at the Knitting Retreat last month if they wanted to place a custom order. I've bragged about them on Ravelry and Facebook already... and figured I'd better pop in here and share the awesomeness on my blog as well.
These were made by the AMAZING Kara who has a shop on Etsy - Darn it! Sew What!
She made them to my request and I think they turned out beyond cool.
First, some Gryffindor pride!
And we can't forget the awesomeness that is a stealthy craft ninja!
The material & zippers are of high quality. The embroidery is amazing. They are lined with contrasting fabric and the perfect size to hold about any notions in a knitting bag that one would want.
Add that she found the most-perfect images to use? And I couldn't be more pleased.
They run $14 regularly, although she did give a 10% discount to folks at the Knitting Retreat last month if they wanted to place a custom order. I've bragged about them on Ravelry and Facebook already... and figured I'd better pop in here and share the awesomeness on my blog as well.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
More Hats!
These are hats # 4 & 5 - Adult-sized in my typical Brioche hat pattern. I needed some samples for the class I'm teaching at the end of the month, and these really are super-quick.
I was struggling to find super-bulky yarn... so the hat on the left is made with a couple of handfuls of left-over bits (blues and greys) of worsted, held triple. If I ran out with one ball, I just grabbed another. Super-bulky is faster and easier than dealing with three strands of yarn, but, it sure does feel good to use up some of the odds and ends basket yarn instead of always adding to it.
The hat on the left was made with Lion Brand's Jiffy-Thick & Quick - a nice, soft, super-bulky yarn. The cost is right for charity hats. The content is 100% acrylic (which is right for my allergies). The weight is nice, the yarn is great for showing stitch definition. BUT. It only comes in highly variegated colors. No solids. And really? Only about a half-dozen variegated color options at that.
Review? Highly sold on the yarn. Not high on the color options and this is not going to be a yarn I purchase much of in the future as a result.
My favorite for these WAS Lion Brand's Wool-ease Thick & Quick . But now that my allergies have worsened, I break out in hives if I work with that yarn. But, a shopping trip last night got me on the trail for another alternative. I'll do a review after I've used it, which might not be until March... but I'll let you know.
I was struggling to find super-bulky yarn... so the hat on the left is made with a couple of handfuls of left-over bits (blues and greys) of worsted, held triple. If I ran out with one ball, I just grabbed another. Super-bulky is faster and easier than dealing with three strands of yarn, but, it sure does feel good to use up some of the odds and ends basket yarn instead of always adding to it.
The hat on the left was made with Lion Brand's Jiffy-Thick & Quick - a nice, soft, super-bulky yarn. The cost is right for charity hats. The content is 100% acrylic (which is right for my allergies). The weight is nice, the yarn is great for showing stitch definition. BUT. It only comes in highly variegated colors. No solids. And really? Only about a half-dozen variegated color options at that.
Review? Highly sold on the yarn. Not high on the color options and this is not going to be a yarn I purchase much of in the future as a result.
My favorite for these WAS Lion Brand's Wool-ease Thick & Quick . But now that my allergies have worsened, I break out in hives if I work with that yarn. But, a shopping trip last night got me on the trail for another alternative. I'll do a review after I've used it, which might not be until March... but I'll let you know.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Red Heart, with Love
So, my latest FO, a scarf that is a Christmas gift.... was made with Red Heart with Love yarn. It was presented to me as an alternative to the yarn-that-is-not-to-be-named.
The other yarn runs around $3.65 for about 350 yards.
The Red Heart yarn is around $5.00 for about 370 yards.
The other yarn comes in almost a hundred colors.
The Red Heart yarn comes in about a dozen colors.
The other yarn is softer, and has a better all-over-evenness to the yarn that isn't BAD in Red Heart, but isn't quite as good quality-wise. If I ranked the first yarn as an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in quality; this one is closer to a 7.
But, it is a good 'almost' alternative. And it would be better if they came out with more colors. When it boils down to all else? The limited color options is probably the biggest detriment to me.
I absolutely LOVE that it's made in the US and for the price difference, I'm ok with the barely higher price if it's going towards American workers.
Now, most Red Heart yarns soften with the wash. So, I'm hoping a trip through the washer and dryer will help take this scarf to the next level of softness.
All-in-all? I will use it again... but it probably will be when I need something I can go and pick up quickly (as opposed to ordering on-line or special ordering through an LYS) and when the color matters very little.
The other yarn runs around $3.65 for about 350 yards.
The Red Heart yarn is around $5.00 for about 370 yards.
The other yarn comes in almost a hundred colors.
The Red Heart yarn comes in about a dozen colors.
The other yarn is softer, and has a better all-over-evenness to the yarn that isn't BAD in Red Heart, but isn't quite as good quality-wise. If I ranked the first yarn as an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in quality; this one is closer to a 7.
But, it is a good 'almost' alternative. And it would be better if they came out with more colors. When it boils down to all else? The limited color options is probably the biggest detriment to me.
I absolutely LOVE that it's made in the US and for the price difference, I'm ok with the barely higher price if it's going towards American workers.
Now, most Red Heart yarns soften with the wash. So, I'm hoping a trip through the washer and dryer will help take this scarf to the next level of softness.
All-in-all? I will use it again... but it probably will be when I need something I can go and pick up quickly (as opposed to ordering on-line or special ordering through an LYS) and when the color matters very little.
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