September 29, 2007

Crocheting with Fun Fur Eyelash




Crocheting with Fun Fur Eyelash Yarns or Frogging Without Tangles


This month I have several new patterns that use eyelash type specialty yarns.
Mrs. Frank N. Stein, don't you think her hair looks much scarier done in eyelash instead of 4 ply?
And her friend Neepos! (Who is just plain weird looking-helped by the eyelash yarn.
I worked with the eyelash yarns when they first came out and frankly I hated them. They tangled easily and were so thin many skeins of it was needed for what I considered a small project. I don’t know about you, but my yarn budget is limited and 3-4.99 per skein adds up very quickly for a multiple skein project often pricing it out of contention.

But...(you knew there was a but didn’t you) I like the look and feel of the eyelash yarns for certain projects. Like some of the patterns this month and yes next month too.

So here are a few tips:

-always roll the skein into a ball before trying to work with it. I don’t know why, but when it gets close to the end it falls apart and tangles.

-keep a pair of scissors close by. Not for cutting, but for frogging or unraveling stitches. It’s the only way I’ve found to get the stitches to come apart. What you do is carefully pull at the little bits that make the yarn eyelash with the point of your scissors this gets them out of the way so the stitchcan release and not knot, thus ruining an expensive yarn.

I wish I had known that one when I first used eyelash yarn. I probably lost close to a skein by unsuccessfully frogging a project, tangling the yarn beyond rescue.

Last but not least, I’ve found that eyelash goes further when you pair it with a thicker yarn like regular 4 ply yarn or a specialty yarn like Lion Suede and you often achieve close to the same look and you’re not tempted to give it a "hair-cut"!

I’ll keep using eyelash type yarns, but sparingly. With this, sometimes too much can ruin a good thing!
I hope this little article helps someone out there.


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