Today, April 22, 2009, is Earth Day. In honor of the day, I used my Scrap Yarn tote (see my previous entry) to carry my yarns and hooks and books and magazines. And I liked using it so much, that I vowed I would use it, and all the other bags that I've crocheted and knit, more and more. I will use them to tote yarn (of course), books, and groceries, and whatever else I can think of. Where ever I go! Tonight, I even used it to hold some yarn that I was working with. The yarn wanted to roll around on the floor, and I put it into the tote, set the tote on a chair. It stayed put, the yarn stayed put, and I discovered a new use for my totes. I also decided that this tote was a "go-to" tote - I'll make it again and again and again, trying different yarns in my stash and in my future stash. It's a great stash buster because you can use just about any cotton yarn. (But it's also a great stash enhancer - because you can use one strand of some new yarn that you just MUST try out, and the rest of the yarn can be from your stash.) I used two strands of Fantasy Naturale, just scraps that I had in my stash. But I want to make one with other cottons, and one with other colors of Fantasy Naturale (yes - that I have in my stash!). You can even make one with one strand of cotton, and one strand of another fiber. The cotton will give it strength, and won't let it stretch. As I was thinking about all the possibilities, and what yarn I'm going to use, I thought that this project would be a great Crochet Along (CAL). So - if you're interested in making one along with me, it's easy to get started. Download the pattern from the website (in the previous post), find some yarn that you want to use - either in your stash or from a store, and we can start working. And, if you work along with me, and have some difficulty with the pattern (I don't think you will - but, you know, it might happen) then, you can ask me about it, and I'll be there right with you! What could be better than that?
Let me know if you want to be in on the CAL. I thought we could get started on May 1, 2009. With just a few hours of crocheting, we can have a new tote in time for beach season! So that gives you 9 days to download the booklet (and there are 6 other great totes and bags in the booklet, all designed by independent designers) and 9 days to gather your yarns. Believe me when I tell you that once you make one of these, you'll want to make more!

5 Cottons, How Do They Fare?

I'm intrigued with all the new cotton yarns that are appearing in the stores. I love working with cotton to make garments and accessories (purses and totes, especially), and I use a lot of cotton yarns when I make swatches of techniques and stitches for my crochet classes. Cotton usually has great stitch definition, so it's easy to see what I did, and my students can learn how to "read" the stitches. Many of the yarn companies are developing "organic" cotton yarns, and I hope to do some swatching and comparisons with those, soon.

One of the "staples" in the cotton yarns is what I call the "kitchen cottons", and the "big three" - Sugar 'n Cream, Peaches & Creme, and Bernat Handicrafter Cotton have been strong in that field. Lately, they have been joined by two contenders - CoolSpun Cotton, and Creme de la Creme Cotton by Coats.
"Kitchen cottons" are what I think of when I want to make dishcloths and towel, baskets, and strong tote bags. I usually don't think of these cottons when I want to make a baby afghan or sweater. They always felt a little rough to me - too rough for a garment. But - one of my crocheting buddies made a lacy sweater that I designed with another, finer cotton, and used Sugar 'n Cream to make it. And I saw a picture on-line, posted by another crocheter who made the same sweater design in Sugar 'n Cream. Both sweaters looked great! I would have never even thought to try that yarn with this design. And recently, one of my students brought in a sweater that she's crocheting for her grandson, out of - you guessed it - Sugar 'n Cream. And it looks wonderful!

In the past, when people would ask me if they could use these yarns in garments, I would say "No. The yarn is rough, and it shrinks when washed. So it's not the best yarn to use for garments or afghans that need to be washed often. Also, some of the colors fade and may bleed in the wash." (The fading part I knew from some old dishcloths I made, and anyway, I heard EVERYONE say the yarn faded. Same with the shrinking.)

Recently, though, the companies that make these yarns have come out with some great colors. I especially like the stripes, but all the colors are wonderful! And the yarn is inexpensive. And lots of times, on sale. And crocheters love a bargain. More and more people were asking me about the yarns. So...... I decided to see for myself whether the yarns would shrink. And how they would "feel" after being washed.

I happen to have a little (okay, not so little - and growing all the time) stash of these yarns. I had a skein of each of them in white, and that's what I used. (I didn't want to do this experiment using different colors of the yarns. I wanted all variables, that I could control, to be the same.) I crocheted the swatches using the same hook (some hooks, even if they have the same size marked on them, are sometimes different.) I used the same pattern, and the same number of stitches and rows. I washed the swatches together, in a washing machine filled with cold water. I dried them together, also. So most of the variables were controlled. The one thing I couldn't control was my "mood" - whether I was relaxed or tense, or thinking about something else. And mood does tend to influence gauge. So even though the swatches were worked in the same pattern, and had the same number of rows and stitches in each row, the stitch gauges and swatch measurements were different.
This is a picture of the 5 swatches before I washed them. You can see how different their sizes are.
From left to right, top row first:
Row 1: CoolSpun Cotton, Bernat Handicrafter Cotton
Row 2: Sugar 'n Cream, Creme de la Creme
Row 3: Peaches & Creme



A couple of things that I thought were interesting about these yarns: Sugar 'n Cream, Peaches 'n Cream, and Bernat Handicrafter all felt like they were the same worsted weight yarn. CoolSpun felt softer, and Creme de la Creme felt as if it were a little less than worsted weight. You can see from the picture, though, the CoolSpun swatch was smaller, even though it felt like worsted weight yarn. The Creme de la Creme yarn was the largest swatch, even though it felt like dk or light worsted weight yarn.



Then, I washed the swatches. All together, in my washing machine, in cold water. First, though, I knotted the tails with 1 - 5 knots, so I could tell the swatches apart! The picture shows that the relative sizes stayed the same, but the measurements did change.
1. CoolSpun Cotton went from 6.5" x 6" to 6.25" x 5.75"
2.Bernat Handicrafter went from 6.75" x 6.25" to 6.5" x 5.75"
3. Sugar'n Cream went from 7" x 6.5" to 6.75" x 6"
4. Creme de la Creme went from 7.5" x 6.5" to 7" x 6"
5. Peaches & Creme went from 7" x 6.5" to 7" x 5.75"

You can see from the above measurements, that the Creme de la Creme swatch was the largest, and shrunk the most - 1/2" in both directions. Peaches & Creme only shrunk in length, not width. CoolSpun Cotton shrunk .25" in each direction, and the other two - Sugar'n Cream and Bernat Handicrafter shrunk .25" in width and .5" in length.



Next, I put the swatches in the dryer. On a regular cycle - one I would use for cotton. But whenI took them out I could feel that they were not completely dry - so I pulled on their edges a little, and measured them.
1. CoolSpun - dried - 6.25" x 5.75" - same measurements as before drying.
2. Bernat Handicrafter - dried - 6.25" x 6.25" - small in width, larger in length than when wet, (it went back to it's original length.) This yarn was very easy to stretch and block.
3. Sugar'n Cream - dried - 6.75" x 6.25". I was able to get another 1/4" in length when I pulled on the edges. It was also easy to stretch and block.
4. Creme de la Creme - dried - 7" x 6" - same measurements as before drying, and still 1/2" smaller in width and length.
5. Peaches & Creme - dried - 6.75" x 5.75" - same measurement in length, but shrunk a 1/4" in length when dried.

Conclusions:
All these yarns will shrink a little when washed. CoolSpun Cotton, and Sugar'n Cream shrunk the least.
All of these yarns got noticeably softer when they were washed and dried, and I think would be soft enough for a baby blanket or a garment.
These yarns are interchangeable when the gauge is not really important to the design. However, each swatch was a different size, and even 1/4" difference in a 5" swatch, multiplied by 8 (for a 40" finished chest measurement) creates a 2" difference - which could make the garment too big or too small. So, be aware when switching yarns that not all "kitchen cottons" are alike!

Three Cotton Yarns

I am a big fan of Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn, and have used it in many, many projects. When I need something sturdy, for a tote or bag, when I need something for a kitchen project - such as a dishcloth, hot pad, oven mitt, or kitchen rug, I reach for my stash of Sugar'n Cream. I have also used it for hats and kids' scarves. So, when I went to a lys and discovered some Kertzer yarn, Coolspun Cotton, that looked a lot like Sugar'n Cream, I had to buy a couple of skeins to try. And then, Coats announced that they had a cotton yarn, Creme de la Creme, and I went on a search for that. I found some on-line, and ordered some. (I do like having this blog - it gives me a great excuse for buying new yarns to blog about!) I got the Creme de la Creme a couple of days ago, and put it aside until I decided what to do with it. I had enough of one color to make a small project, and looked in some books that I had ordered and received the same day as the yarn. I'll blog more about these books, because I am going to work on an idea that I got from one of them, and I don't want to spoil the surprise! But - I decided to make a circle shape from the Creme de la Creme. I bought the color Old Bluejeans Ombre, and I wanted to see if the color "pooled". As I was crocheting the circle, I decided to work circles in the other two yarns, to compare them. When I found the CoolSpun Cotton, I discovered that I bought the same color - only it's called Faded Denim. And then I remembered that Sugar'n Cream has a Faded Denim color too, and I was sure I had a ball of that. And I did! So I crocheted circles last night, with all three yarns.


These are the circles I crocheted. From left to right - Sugar'n Cream, CoolSpun Cotton, Creme de la Creme. I used a Susan Bates H8/5.00mm Silvalume hook for all three swatches. And I worked 10 rounds in all three yarns. Same pattern. As you can see, the Sugar'n Cream and the CoolSpun Cotton worked up to the same size. The Creme de la Creme was slightly smaller. The "pooling" of the colors was similar for all three yarns. Now - for the particulars about the yarns:
Sugar'n Cream - Faded Denim, 100% cotton, 2 oz., 95 yards, machine or hand wash, dry flat. Hook: 4.5mm, US 7.
CoolSpun Cotton - Faded Denim, Soft 100% cotton, 1.5oz., 73 yds, machine wash, tumble dry. Hook: 4 - 5mm, G/6 to H/8.
Creme de la Creme - Old Bluejeans Ombre,100% Combed Cotton, 2oz., 99 yds, machine wash, tumble dry. Hook US H8/5mm.

I don't know the difference between 100% cotton, Soft cotton, and Combed cotton, but I could definitely feel a difference between the first two and the last swatch. The Creme de la Creme felt softer. But - I'm sure a lot of that was because the yarn itself is thinner, and so the stitches have more space around them.



Look at this picture of a strand of each of the yarns. From left to right: Sugar'n Cream, CoolSpun Cotton, Creme de la Creme. You can see that Creme de la Creme is slightly thinner. What I find interesting, is that Coats recommends an H8/5.00mm hook for this thinner yarn. Lily recommends a US 7, 4.5mm hook for Sugar'n Cream, and Kertzer recommends between a G/6 to and H/8, which is 4.00mm to 5.00mm. What you should know, if you don't already (and I'm sure you do), is that the smaller the hook, the more firm (rigid, stiff - whatever you want to call it) the fabric is. So with a G6, or a G7 hook, with the first two yarns, you would get a very stiff fabric. Which is okay - if that's what you want!

One other interesting fact - all three yarns say "worsted weight" on their labels. Obviously, some worsted is not like other worsteds, and if you substituted one for another in a pattern, your gauge might not be the same. If gauge were critical, this could pose a problem!

My conclusions: I like all three yarns! Sugar'n Cream has many choices, and is readily available on-line and in stores. And you know I really like the Sugar'n Cream Stripes! CoolSpun has a good start! Nice colors, but not as many choices as SnC. Creme de la Creme looks like a winner, also. Soft drape, good colors. I can't wait until it's readily available in the stores! All three are not expensive, so when you just have to have a yarn fix, or need some yarn for swatching and trying out new stitch patterns, all three are perfect!

Found: a "crochet friendly" yarn shop!

Last Saturday, my husband and I were driving home from the coast, and he wanted to stop at a couple of stores in Jacksonville. Because it was Saturday, I knew a local yarn shop that I wanted to visit would be open, so we stopped there, also. I know the owner from CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America), and thought that it would be fun to surprise her, and see what she has in her shop. Well, I was the one surprised! The shop, Phootsy's Yarn Cottage, is in a small house, and yarn has completely taken it over. Even in the bathroom, where the toilet seat cover is crocheted! And of course, there is a cute little crocheted toilet paper cover, and a felted basket with washcloths in it.

What I liked about Freddie's shop was that it had lots and lots of yarn, a really good selection for each brand and type she carried. She also had models that were both crocheted and knitted! So I would definitely call it a "crochet friendly" place. And I knew that I wouldn't encounter that age-old question that out-of-touch yarn shop owners ask designers: "Can you crochet with that yarn?" (A friend of mine, and I, have been making it our mission to check out the yarn shops in NC. At least the ones that are within a couple of hours drive from us. It's been a very eye-opening project - one that I'll write about at another time.)

She had some hand-dyed yarn (she has someone do it for her to her specifications), and I found a hand-dyed cotton - 100% Supina Cotton (I have to find out what "Supina" means. I forgot to ask her.) in just the colorway I love - faded denims. You can see the 4 skeins I bought. It isn't self-striping, it is just variegated, but as you can see from the circle I was swatching, it doesn't pool too much. I don't know what I'll make with the yarn - each skein has 155 yards, so I have plenty to work with. I think I'll just wait until it tells me what it wants to be.

Oh - by the way, the yarn is soft, and doesn't split. It's worsted weight, but there is no gauge or recommended hook size on the ball band. I used a Susan Bates US H-8/5 mm Silvalume hook, and liked the way it worked up. The yarn is called Phootsy's Phyber.

Check out her web site: http://www.phootsy.com

Crochet Hot Spot!

What, you may ask, is this bunch of yarn doing, just lying on my couch? I just unpacked it, and thought I'd show you what you missed by not going to the Orlando Needlework Show this past weekend! It was a fun, relaxing weekend. I didn't teach any classes - I TOOK classes. I took two of Darla Fanton's classes on Tunisian Crochet. One was basic Tunisian, and I finally learned how to do a Tunisian Purl Stitch so it will stick with me. The other class was Tunisian Entrelac, and I made a small basket which I'm going to felt. It was a fun technique, and I have a couple of projects planned for it. Then, there was the Market floor, with a lot of scrapbook, beads, and quilting vendors. There were just a few yarn vendors, (2 stores and one yarn company), and the CGOA/TKGA booth. I saw a lot of luscious yarn, but I tried to restrain myself. The past few weeks, a friend and I have been checking out yarn shops in North Carolina that are within a couple hours of us, and I have added a great deal to my stash. (And I wasn't sure I could fit everything in my suitcase!) I did buy a lot, but I think Vashti won this time! One thing I found interesting - I was sure I would be able to find a lot of cotton yarn. This was Florida, after all, and it was HOT! About 80 degrees on Friday. But, there wasn't as much cotton as I thought. Most of the yarn was wool. Gorgeous wool, but wool. And I was in the market for cotton.

The blue blob on the right of the picture is my experiment, crocheting with blue fabric. I found a quilting booth that had fabric already cut into thin strips. Since the cutting or tearing of the material is what I like the least about crocheting with fabric, I thought I would try some of these strips. I got to use my new Susan Bates Silvalume M hook with a bamboo handle that I picked up on one of my yarn shop expeditions, and I really liked the combination.

On Saturday afternoon, I sat at the CGOA/TKGA booth, and talked about crochet and CGOA with the many people who stopped by. In the two days of the show, CGOA and TKGA both got lots of new members. That was great! Florida, we decided, was a hot spot for crochet!