I Hate Myself for Loving Ewe

Like most things in my life I have a love/hate relationship with my yarn stash.


There are some yarns that I love which have totally returned the love by making both great end products and a satisfying knitting experience:

Brown Sheep has fantastic stuff. Their Lanaloft collection is phenomenal and was the 1st yarn I ever fell in love with; it comes in the most ridiculously fantastic colorways, knits up beautifully and frogs like a dream (you’d never know you just knit with it). It’s also a lot of bang for the buck, no matter where you buy it. I’ve used it on fingerless gloves, a sweater for the puppy and even a couple of needle rolls for my ever increasing collection of DPNS. Their Lamb’s Pride collection is also really great and I was able to make the infamous Wallaby and CawfeeMate’s favorite hat out of it. I’m also in the middle of a baby blanket using their Superwash Worsted and have been just as impressed with how well that’s working out.

Then there’s Peace Fleece Worsted. This is my absolute favorite yarn in the universe. Love the colors, love the feel, love the price*. I seriously cannot use enough of this stuff because everything I make with it, I love. Another puppy sweater, a laptop cover for my niece, a hat for both my dad and my father-in-law all worked up gorgeously because of this fantastic yarn. If they would make a sock yarn, in the same awesome colorways, I could die a happy knitter.

On the flip side, there are also 2 yarns which I hate to love**…

Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter is simply beautiful yarn; the (slightly muted) tweedy colors give everything a rustic and comfy look. I skim through their Look Books and wish my stuff could turn out as great as they do there, using the same product. I love the way their yarn looks. I just can’t pick it up without it breaking on me. no matter how hard I try to relax my grip, the damn yarn breaks at least 4 times in every project; every color, every batch, every time. Add to that the fact that it’s more expensive, per yard, than almost any other yarn I’ve used and that certain colors feel like I’m knitting with sisal twine, and it makes me both hate myself and question my sanity, for wanting to use it so much.

The same can be said for Noro who makes the most varied and visually striking yarns, in the most amazing self-striping colorways, I’ve ever seen. Their materials are gorgeous but the way the yarn changes in thickness from dental floss to cotton balls over the space of 2’and that it shreds at the least bit of tension makes me wish I’d never seen it sitting in my local yarn shop. I’m currently working on a pair of socks using the most beautiful color combo of silk blend ever and it’s already broken 3 times on me. I want to put my head through a wall.

it's all subjective, though. i mean, there are millions of other knitters and crocheters out there using all of these same brands and getting fantastic results from them. i mean there are a ton of books out there highlighting the wonder of Noro in shawls, handbags and scarfs and a ton of people use Shelter to make everything in BT's Look Books; clearly it's just my experience with them.
mind you, with all my hemming and hawing, i'd cut a bitch if she suggested i return the 4 skeins of Shelter CawfeeMate gave me for Christmas or cancel the order i just placed for 3 more skeins of the exact same Noro yarn i'm using to make the above referenced socks.

when it the package arrives, in a couple of days, damn myself for getting all excited as i open the box and think to myself (just like i did on Christmas morning when i opened CawfeeMate's gift) "i wish i knew how to quit ewe"...

*I’ve never bought it anywhere but at kpixie.com, but they are such a fantastic shop that I’d, truly, never buy it anywhere else!
** neither of which i'm linking to Ravelry projects, simply out of petulance