Heads are going to roll for this one......
Farrow Ribbed Scarf
with the supposed "Orchid" Yarn
I'll start by saying that I
drank the koolaid and bought into the whole Stitch n' Bitch Empire. My first book was
Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitters Handbook, which got me excited to learn how to knit. After I learned how to knit, at a decent level, I decided to add crochet into the mix and ended up purchasing
The Happy Hooker and started chaining away.... For some reason I took to knitting much faster than Crochet. In fact, I'm still learning how to make things that aren't granny squarish.... So when I found out
Debbie Stoller would have her own brand of Yarn, of course I was going to buy it.
Strike One: The Color was All Wrong!
Exhibit A
Alpaca Love in Orchid
After not being able to find it locally, I found myself 5 skeins deep in
Alpaca Love from
Red Heart's Site. All the colors were Uh-Mazing and when it arrived I was uber excited to work with it.... That was, until I opened the box expecting Bright Purple Yarn (Exhibit A) and instead was confronted with this:
Now granted, these things happen; what with screen resolution and what not... but this yarn was seriously not the Orchid I was expecting. (Not even in natural light!)
Strike Two: Then I noticed these long prickly fiber ends sticking out.
Exhibit B
Long prickly fiber ends
(which are not very visible in the Orchid
pictured on their site)
Not too crazy about that, but considering the yarn's price point I decided to over look it and soldiered on.
Strike Three: You get what you pay for!
Seriously, I was excited to be getting an alpaca/wool yarn at a great price.... 4.99 a skein @ 5 skeins came out to 25$ plus S&H. It didn't break the bank, but I could have easily upgraded gotten myself a few skeins less of a better product elsewhere. That being said, buy this yarn for all of your Mindless Knits or if you're a beginner. When I first started to knit I used a ton of lion brand and super saver, which was a money saver big time. This line would be good to learn on, for those that actually want to wear their items. ( I knit my first scarf on
Red Heart Super Saver and it was not very warm and seriously itchy ) Alpaca love is hand wash only, but there is a superwash available called
Washable Ewe. I may try that out next time. Maybe....
Hindsight is 20/20 my friends:
-I don't think I'll be buying yarn online for quite sometime, this whole color thing has soured my Internet experience. I guess I'm just a touchy feely kinda girl..... in store is best for those who absolutely need to know what they are buying and yarn is no exception!
-Use this particular yarn on the the random gift for a coworker or a scarf for your not so best friend..... but for a true heirloom knit, a good yarn it does not make. ((Again, it was 4.99 sooo, yeah.))
One Alpaca Love scarf will be made... but who will wear it? That is the question.
