Homespun bulky pattern help!!

[DogCatMom]

Oh, very sorry about the wool allergy! Maybe this idea will help...

A couple of months ago, I purchased one skein each of the Lion Brand organic/recycled cotton yarns not available at Joann's. I also lifted up and "checked" (tee hee) the Lion Brand cottons that were available at Joann's.

One of the yarns that I ordered, "Recycled Cotton," has some "grab" to it. 74% recycled cotton, 24% acrylic, 2% other fiber (not wool!). It's a "medium" (Class 4 weight), recommended for size 8 (5 mm) needles (dbl strand: prob. #11).

They have three or four others, but of the ones I've held in my own hands, this one might be the most helpful, if you can find a color that will work for you.

DCM

[knitcindy]

A lot of people do not like the LB Homespun for "exactly" the reasons you've mentioned -- splitting, hard to knit with, etc.....

What I've found to work better with that yarn is using it double with MUCH bigger needles. Maybe you could try using both the black and grey together with size 15 or 17 needles?!?!? I used 2 strands of Homespun together on a poncho for my daughter and it came out nice and thick!! AND it wouldn't take you very long at all to knit up!!!

I think the grey and black would look nice together, and you could do the entire thing in Garter Stitch or use garter stitch for the borders with Stockinette in the middle

knitcindy

[brolie]

DCM- I may look into that if I end up ordering any yarns.. I hate having to wait for yarn when I want to do a project so I usually don't. And I'm not very happy with LBY right now. I think I'm going to go to a couple places around town and find something else.

BUT! knitcindy-- I think I'm going to do that too! That way I will have two things for him to choose from and the doubling up sounds good

[knitcindy]

Glad I could help. For some reason, that LB Homespun works better with bigger needles!!

Be sure to post a picture when you've finished your mat!!!!!

knitcindy

[fatoldladyinpjs]

I hate Homespun. I heard they're discontinuing it. I hope so. If you can see the pattern with this yarn, here's one I like. It's called a twin rib. It looks like a rib stitch, looks the same on both sides, and lies flat with no curling or stretch. This is especially good for potholders, wash cloths, blankets, and scarves. It makes a nice pattern for men's scarves. Men don't like things that are girly.
Cast on a multiple of 3.
Row 1: (RS) k3, p3 across.
Row 2: (WS) k1, p1 across.
Repeat these two rows for pattern.

[suzeeq]

I don't think they're discontinuing Homespun, it's a really big seller for Lion. I have heard they're clearing out some colors of it though, at Michaels and other stores.

It's not so bad to work with if you use a bigger needle and don't tension it tight through your fingers.

[brolie]

The homespun just seems such poor quality! I would completely understand if they did discontinue it, but I don't think they are either. When I went to Michaels yesterday to get new different yarn, there were four or five full rows of colors for Homespun alone.

I ended up getting the medium weight Vanna's choice. But now I'm back to figuring out what to do for it. He really wants a black border for it but keeping it all in garter stitch looks better than the border being garter and the gray being stockinette. But I still don't like it.

Might use fatoldladyinpjs recommendation with it and work out the add in of color. I'm this close (---) to doing it in the round so that I can do it all in stockinette but that would just create more problems with trying to add in the border and all that.

[suzeeq]

Doing it in the round would have a lot of problems as you say, and t would be too thick.

[brolie]

sadness.

I guess I'm going to end up just doing it all in garter then.. it's an easier yarn to use though, so I might throw in a moss stitch or something

[suzeeq]

Double moss looks good - k2 p2 for 2 rows, then p2 k2 for 2 rows.

Here's a blanket pattern, it may be okay for what you're doing. I did a throw in similar yarn.