Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Vintage Americana Yarn is Transformed

Hello, everyone - I've been gone from blogging for a few days over the long weekend (and I hope you spent yours well).

As some of you may remember, I blogged about receiving some rather fugly vintage Americana yarn. As promised, I've swatched - both for knitting and crochet - and the results are rather intriguing:

As you can see from the knitted swatch, the pooling pattern almost looks like a backgammon board. I rather liked this stripish effect.

Now, the crocheted swatch is all about camo. Bright, fall camo.

So, with that in mind, as well as a pattern picked up from my recent LYS tour in hand, I created my Fall Leaves Scarf.

Since the pattern called for 10 "leaves" and I only had enough yarn for 8, I used up some very old Lion Brand Homespun yarn I had from a blanket I made several years ago. I also added some green trim (again, from stash!) to attempt a little more color unity, and a tassel at each end for fun.

The best thing? I wet-blocked this scarf, and the bath of Method soap and cool water did wonders for the Carrousel yarn. It's actually far brighter now than when I received it (if that were possible!) and it's a lot softer to the touch.

While I definitely consider this a novelty FO ... I just might wear it once or twice in the fall, for fun and frolic.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I used my skein of Americana - definitely leave me a comment below. And thanks Underground Crafter, for organizing this fun stash swap!

17 comments:

  1. What a great way to use these yarns!

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  2. Hmm. Well, I can't think of anything better you could have done with it. How's that? ;) But I'm biased because these really aren't my colors. If you like the autumn color palette, this is probably a very attractive scarf. Yeah, not too bad really just not something I could get away with wearing. Good job!

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  3. Method soap? Is this a natural soap, or some sort of magical, vintage-yarn-transforming yarn soak? Because I have a ton of vintage yarn that could use some love.

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  4. You are a genius! I think you successfully found that skein's inner beauty.

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  5. I think it looks great! You could always use it as a table runner or some kind of fall decoration instead?

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  6. @Kepanie: thanks so much!

    @Melisa: I do completely hear you. Color is oh so important.

    @SimpleSavvy: Method has a line of environmentally friendly cleaning products. You can get them most places - grocery, drug stores. I've been using their hand soap to block my FOs (when I wet block via soaking) for at least a year now with great results. Try it with some vintage yarn you don't care too much about, just to get a feel for how it comes out.

    @Marushka C: Thanks. The swatching actually helped - boy, do I hate writing that. :)

    @myhookandyarnadventure: Great minds ... I actually had that very thought when it was completed. If I do so in the fall, I'll be certain to post a pic. :)

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  7. That's actually really cool. I wouldn't have guessed it came from such a fugly skein.

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  8. I love it! I especially like that you did some experimentation and turned a yarn you initially disliked into a thing of beauty. Very inspiring!

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  9. That's pretty - the yarn actually looks like a conscious choice!

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  10. The yarn suits the pattern very well, and it looks so much better as a finished object!

    Have fun if you do ever wear it as a fun accessory, and if you have any children in your social circle it would make an awesome dressing up accessory!

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  11. A very unique pattern and the yarns are perfect for it. Yes, you should wear it a couple of times during the fall. Who knows...you may inspire more people to make one.

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  12. I think you found the right pattern for the yarn - it was definitely a yarn I couldn't see myself using, BUT when put into context with an actual design that 'fits' - it looks great :)

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  13. Wow! What a transformation. It looks fantastic!

    And the swatching... well, it sure does show the character of the yarn.

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  14. I love this!! You did such a great job turning it into something unique! I usually stray from yarns with so many colors in it, but this goes to show that you can still create beautiful things with it.

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  15. Thanks for the comments, everyone. This yarn was definitely a challenge for me, one that I'm proud to have met head on.

    @happymousefairy: You know, I absolutely agree - this is a great kid's fun accessory. I'll keep it in mind. :)

    @Wonderwhygal: I expect wearing it will generate interest in the pattern (which isn't yet in the Ravelry database). I've pm'd the designer to rectify that - we'll see if/when I get a response.

    @Kathryn Ray: The swatching was the key to this project. Drat, yet another check in the pro-swatching column. :)

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  16. I really like that yarn - but it looks far better crocheted than knitted; interesting - thanks :-)

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  17. Good idea swatching it up. I did prefer the knit swatch but how you came up with the leaves and such... way better route going crochet! Great job!

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