More Hats and Why I Don't Like Kureyon!

Three more hats for charity! I finished off the Kureyon and started in on the baby yarn. All the patterns were free downloads found on Ravelry. I'm getting a little bored, so the next ones will probably have cables. The trick is to keep my interest, knit fast enough to get them done by Christmas and still get some other Christmas knitting done. We shall see.

I am not a fan of Noro Kureyon! Fortunately, it’s all gone now, the last of it used in this charity hat. Right now I don't think I'll ever buy more. I finished the decreases at the top of the hat, pulled the yarn through the last six stitches, gently pulled it tight, and it broke! Only a half inch frayed strand remained attached to the hat, not enough left to weave in. I suppose I should have unknit the last few rows, attached a new piece of yarn, and reknit. Instead, I put a dab of Fray Check on the bit of yarn left and pulled it to the inside with a crochet hook. It should hold.

My biggest complaint about Kureyon is that the yarn is poorly spun. It varies significantly in thickness from thin and tightly spun to downright pouffy. Now I know it is also very weak. It kinks more than any yarn I have ever knit with. I was constantly trying to straighten out the kinks in the yarn coming off the skein as I knit.

There is a lot of vegetable matter in the yarn but I can live with that, a small trade off for the beautiful colors.

Yes, Kureyon colors are beautiful. That’s why I bought it! But the colors lost their appeal for me when I knit the yarn into this simple sweater in the round, a very poor choice for this yarn. A more experienced knitter would have known better. The striping in the body is narrow and busy. And because the sleeves are narrower than the body, a color goes around more times and the stripes in the sleeves are wider than the narrow stripes in the body. Not an attractive look.

The narrow modular scarf and hats knit with leftovers were much better suited to the yarn. Entrelac would also be nice.