accessories: November 2007 Archives

One of the great things about my latest revelation is that I get to go shopping in my stash. It's a great way to get my creativity going.

I've had this yarn since MDSW 2005. It's so old it's not even in the fest stash sidebar! I think when I bought it the Clapotis craze was at a high and I envisioned this as a second Clapotis. But I've learned by now that there are *very* few patterns I will choose to knit more than once. Still, this yarn is *gorgeous* and I'm shocked it's stayed in my stash for two and a half years.

I still wanted the bias look and the single strand of yarn showing through, like it does with the dropped stitches of Clapotis. I must have tried six different stitch patterns before settling on the one you see here. It's patterned every row so the yarnovers show as single strands, and the offset k2togs give it a bias look too.

I do like the way the back looks, although I think the RS is the star with its strong knit stitches forming a diagonal. Still, I'm happy that the back looks acceptable, since a scarf will inevitably show its WS when you least expect.

Christy have no fear, there is something I do want to change (I don't like to disappoint you!). The edge is all wrong. It's not deep enough and it may also be too dense. I do like how it flares out a bit though, as well as the knitted cast on and the few rows of garter at the edge.

Once I'm done knitting the center portion I'll snip off the edge and figure out something else. Which, if everything goes as planned, should be later this week. I want to get past the 30 mark in number of skeins decreased in the stash during November.

I wasn't kidding the other day when I said I was trying to be more focused with the number of projects I had going at once. While there's no chance I'll become a one-project knitter, I am going to try to be more deliberate and committed about what I knit. I like the process, but I definitely enjoy the product too. Since this one is a gift, there wasn't anything to think about changing. I just knit, and that was very freeing.

specs

pattern dragon scarf kit by morehouse merino in Huff (red)
yarn morehouse merino 3-strand in cardinal -- 1.5 hanks
needles knitpicks options 4 mm / US# 6 (not the best choice -- read below)
mods slipped the first stitch of each row to make a neater edge.

thoughts
I love the finished object. The yarn is super-drapey and soft.

But, I didn't like knitting this yarn. 3-strand yarn is basically three unspun plies of yarn just placed next to each other. If they're plied together at all it's very minimally. It's like knitting with three thin strands of roving.

While I think the yarn would be splitty regardless of needle choice, the very pointy knitpicks options that I used just exasperated it. But, I couldn't locate another 4 mm needle (yeah, I need to organize the needle storage a bit) so I knit on with the knitpicks options.

Add to that the fact that I had to pull VM out of practically every row of knitting, and it made for a not so fun knitting experience.

The other issue I had with this kit is that they don't list a row gauge -- just a finished scarf measurement. The instructions are explicit (no "knit until scarf measures X") so there's no obvious place to adjust for length. After I bound off, the scarf measured 52", but the finished length was supposed to be 62". I soaked it and wet blocked it and wouldn't you know, it came out to be exactly 62". It worked out in the end, but it would have been nice to know what I was aiming for while I was knitting.

I mentioned that I thought there was an error in the pattern. After reading it several times I've determined that there isn't an error, but the directions are written very strangely. Or, at minimum, the didn't make sense to me initially. While I ended up doing the same thing they instructed, at first I thought I was doing something different. I just did what seemed to make sense given that I knew I was trying to make one of the spikes going up the dragon's back.

I have a second kit in green to make a miniature version for my nephew, so I'll be knitting with this yarn one more time. After that, if anyone wants a dragon scarf, I'll use the pattern but sub the yarn. No more morehouse 3-strand for me.

durability

Given the unspun quality of the yarn, I'm concerned about durability. Will it pill? Will it hold up to a good amount of use? It feels sturdy but I'm not convinced. I'll have to check in with my sister-in-law to see how it holds up over time, and look for a follow-up post at the end of the season.

I haven't read much (any?) negative posts about morehouse, and I'm left wondering if my experience is unusual. It's not often that I complain about a project this much, but I really wasn't impressed. If any of you have had a contrary experience feel free to share -- I'd love to hear that I'm wrong. Did I miss something? Do you think I have unfair expectations?