half-assed knit blog
half-assed knit blog
half-assed knit blog

Attack of the Scarves, Part II

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When I decided to venture into beaded knitting, I turned to the intarwebs, as usual. I already knew how to do it but the devil’s in the details and I didn’t know what size crochet hook and what size beads would be exactly just right for my scrumptious skein of succulent Smooshy.

I quickly learned that a 1mm crochet hook was exactly the right size, and also too big and possibly too small. That I wanted to use 8/0 seed beads which were totally big enough for sock yarn except that they were definitely too small and that I should actually use 6/0 beads except that they were all wrong and also completely correct. And that it was probably a good idea to use silver-lined beads, unless it wasn’t. Okay then. What could possibly go wrong?

So I ordered one baggie each of 6/0 and 8/0 silver-lined teal beads to experiment (and props to Artbeads.com for cheerfully filling my order totalling a whopping $2.66. Okay, there was probably very little cheer, but they filled it). And I hit up the three local stores that carry a smallish selection of knitting and crochet goodies – no LYS ’round here unfortunately – and bought the smallest hooks I could find. The first hook I purchased looked very small. The second one, I could swear that it was even smaller, though of course I’d left the first one at home so I couldn’t compare. The third one was so small that clearly it had to be smaller than the first two. I lined them all up, and that was when I knew.

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The cake hook is a lie!

These things lie worse than gauge swatches. They claim to all be the same size and quite clearly are not. I knew the arbitrary size numbers would probably lie – and indeed, the three hooks are marked size 10, 11/12, and 12 – but you’d think that if it says 1mm, it would be 1mm. Is this an unreasonable expectation? Are millimetres different sizes in, say, different parts of the world, or on Tuesdays?

hooks

Uh huh. All the same size. Suuuure they are.

But no worries, surely one of them would work for my beadwhore needs, and in fact two of the three played nicely with both the 6/0 and 8/0 beads. I quickly figured out that the 8/0s were getting devoured by the yarn and that I liked the Red Heart (!) crochet hook the best, and abandoned my initial pattern plans and instead decided on the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty, with a small modification for adding beads. I grabbed my yarn and my hook and ordered me some more 6/0s and got started with my one little baggie and all was well. Right?

Ha ha ha ha HA.

So here’s the thing.

I love the yarn.
I love the pattern.
I love the beads.
I love the yarn with the pattern.
I love the beads with the pattern.

I… um… do not love the yarn with the beads.

Okay, this is an obsessive colour nerd sort of thing. Brown and teal go together beautifully, in general. But this is shiny happy Dream in Color yarn which means that it’s not really brown, but is a SPARKLY MAGIC RAINBOW OF COLOUR pretending to be brown. There was some darker bits in the magic rainbow that I thought looked kind of tealy, but were in fact olive green. You can see what I mean in this inaccurate-but-point-illustrating pic:

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(Note the crochet hook lurking there with evil in its cold metal heart.)

You can see the undertones of the brown, which are a rose pink sort of thing, purple (the hell?!), and an olivey gold with occasional darker bits. All of which clash horribly with the teal beads. Teal seems to play nicely with warm-toned reds (blue-green’s opposite on the colour wheel is red-orange), and of course, teal itself, and there was none of that in this yarn. The more I stared at the scarf, the more the colours looked wrong wrong wrong.

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Which was very frustrating, because in all other aspects the scarf looked right right right. The pattern really is perfect for beads, and very easy, but not so easy that my brain was tempted to turn into a fine goo and drip out of my ears in protest of being under-used. Argh! Arrrrgh! But what to do? I had more teal beads on their way, and besides, I loved the beads and didn’t want to change them.

I experimented with my still-neglected skein of Mini Maiden, but…

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It looked like a cat ate a clown made entirely of yarn, and that it didn’t go down so well and the cat then vomited up the yarn clown and the result was what you see in that pic. And clowns are scary, even if they’re made of yarn, and cat vomit is also scary, so clearly this was not the way to go.

There was only one thing left to do.

It was time to… *gulp*… break my yarn diet.

So on its way to me now is another skein of Smooshy, but in the colour Black Parade. According to an extensive (seriously!) search on Ravelry, it is a blacky browny tealy charcoaly sort of thing and should be perfect. But I won’t know until it arrives. Such are the perils of hand-dyed yarn.

THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.

Hurry up, yarn.

I’m stalking the mailbox because this is the only thing I’m knitting right now. Well, that’s not entirely true. There is a disobedient scarf that has been sent to the yarn bin to do penance. And there is something else. It’s made of orange acrylic. And since I don’t make things in orange acrylic, ever, that means that it’s an experiment of sorts. A shameful, guilty experiment. You’ll see.

13 Comments

  1. Meghan says:

    You really had me laughing with this one. Thanks for the good times, and I look forward to seeing you the next time scarves attack.




  2. Cass says:

    “But this is shiny happy Dream in Color yarn which means that it’s not really brown, but is a SPARKLY MAGIC RAINBOW OF COLOUR pretending to be brown. ”

    That was PERFECT LOL
    (Why is the Giant Scarf of Doom being punished? Does it want mine to come over and play with it? Maybe it would learn to behave ;) )




  3. Julie says:

    I totally understand! I think you’re definitely on to something with the beads on the ribbon lace scarf, it’s going to look fantastic. But… you’re right, those beads and that yarn are not a match made in heaven. that is some very delish yarn, though! Can’t wait to see the new yarn- I hope it gets there soon for you!




  4. KnittingGnome says:

    I totally agree that the beads and yarn are not playing well together. We won’t talk about the second yarn…too scary. Can’t wait to see the new yarn! Thanks for making my morning!




  5. Sarah R says:

    Hmm…you’re right about those colors not playing well together. I bet those beads look smashing on the new yarn, though.

    Your posts always give me a laugh, so thanks!




  6. becca says:

    It looked like a cat ate a clown made entirely of yarn, and that it didn’t go down so well and the cat then vomited up the yarn clown and the result was what you see in that pic. And clowns are scary, even if they’re made of yarn, and cat vomit is also scary, so clearly this was not the way to go.
    I love you so hard.




  7. michelle says:

    Sounds like an unnecessarily complicated rationalization to buy new yarn to me. Maybe I suck, but both choices looked fantastic in my eyes. ;)




  8. amanda says:

    very nice. hahaha,I have ordered even smaller orders from them. I think $1 worth of individual swarovski crystals once. i’ve made up for it since with bigger orders!




  9. Aunt Kathy says:

    Oh I can’t wait to see the new yarn with the beads too. I have never added beads but wow I would love to learn I even liked your “bad” samples.




  10. Melissa says:

    Let’s be fair – this comment has nothing to do with your scarf attack (although, I agree that the colors don’t work together, may your new yarn match spectacularly!)

    Just wanted you to know that I FINALLY finished my head eating monster hat after it sat for several months with no eyes because I wasn’t willing to go to Walmart to buy buttons. You can see a pic on my blog; that is, if you care.

    Keep up the excellent blogging. Your posts always delight me.




  11. Cathy-Cate says:

    I love Black Parade and I think it will be most excellent with those teal beads; it looks kind of like very subtle oil iridescence.

    And crochet hooks are possessed, or their manufacturers are, or both. I love Addi crochet hooks for small, bead-y sizes (I get them through elann.com), they run true to size and come with a cap too.




  12. Cass says:

    I can’t wait to see what you come up with, I think the pattern looked great!




  13. BlenderLaw » more reflections on knitting and the financial markets says:

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