Lion Brand Homespun

[aylaanne]

Wow. I'd been looking at using some homespun to make myself a [my first] sweater, but with all the reviews on here, I'll probably pass it up and use a different yarn.

[cheesiesmom]

It's really a shame that Lion can't come up with an equally beautiful, soft yarn rather than Homespun. I too have been mesmerized by the colors and when I walk into Joann's or Michael's am immediately drawn to it. My daughter gave me 2 skeins of covered bridge red as part of my xmas gift and I ended up knitting myself a triangular shawl. It's a beast to knit with, too. Always ending up with extra fiber thread even tho' I'd swear I picked up the entire stitch. The join of the two skeins is poking out, but since it' just for around the house when I'm cold, no biggy.

[AidanM]

I can't imagine knitting with the stuff. I've crocheted with it, though, and it works fine for that.

[dustinac]

My mom crocheted me a pretty purple scarf out of it and had no trouble but then when she tried knitting with it she ended up with a mess and went back to crocheting it... I made a prayer shawl out of it but was using big needles and didn't have a problem and was like wonder why noone likes it :thinking: thennnnnnn I decided to make the half sweater out of what I had left over and used smaller needles and then was like ohhh now I see.. I ripped it out and told mom she could have it to crochet with it kept splitting on me such pretty colors... I hope the sewing the ends down worked!!

[Ruby]

Hey, it's working! Sewing in the ends seems to be the ticket. Now I'll have to wear it around a few days to make sure it's tight.

[samm]

Boy am I glad I joined this group! I've been struggling with Homespun, just hating it, switching needles, and grinding my teeth and have decided to rip out the back that I finished and try a crochet pattern I found. The colours are soooo pretty, and the yarn is soooo awful. Glad to be not the only one. I was thinking it was just me! samm

[2girlsmom]

It is so soft and beautiful but the only projects I can handle with success using Homespun are... a 4 1/2 hour crocheted afghan, and the 2 hour knitted scarf on the huge scarf needles. I've tried knitting DD a poncho, then tore it out and tried to crochet it and got annoyed, :( I'm sad that it's not working well for me.

[kellyjo32]

This is all so funny to me...I've crocheted with Homespun before, it was actually the first major project I did. It was the Diagonal Crochet Afghan on the Lion Brand site, and I love that thing! So soft and beautiful, if you look, I did the recommended colors too, Gorgeous!!
But....then I started on the Hooded Sweater pattern on the LB site, and I didn't think I was disliking Homespun until I read this post!!! I wound up with the mysterious stitches and I feel like I'm always ripping my way through each row. But I love Homespun!!! It's weird. I want that finished product so much, so I guess I'll continue to suffer, but I will keep my eyes out for the ever elusive Homespun look-a-like, but doesn't act-a-like yarn!

[jhelanee]

I'm strange: I like LB Homespun. But I definitely agree it has its limitations and aggrevations. I wouldn't use it for something fitted because of the major stretchiness of the finished fabric (especially on large needles), but I love the way it looks and feels in scarves, shawls and simple hats. I find that larger needles are a big plus (I do shawls on 13, scarves on 11 and hats on 8 - which is the smallest I would go). I also think that how you hold the yarn while knitting may be a big factor in how troublesome it is to knit with. I knit with the yarn in my right hand, but hold it loosely between my thumb and forefinger, not wrapped around my fingers. I think the yarn sliding through and around fingers is what (at least partially) causes the "bunching up" many people complain about with Homespun. Usually I don't have too big of a problem with this, but if I hold the yarn too firmly I do.

[Ruby]

Do I have to reply to every new message to receive new ones, or can I simply read the latest post after clicking the e-mail message?