Get Dayana Knits blog posts by e-mail:

* indicates required

Yes, I Made A Sweater Out of Novelty Yarn!





We all have our stories about the crazy yarns we bought when we started knitting, right?  Well I bought with the best of them, as you can see.  I remember squealing in glee when finding $1 balls of acrylic, dubious lots of 'unknown fiber' at Walmart, or mystery boxes of scary wool off Ebay.  I bought a lot of weird yarn when I started, and a lot of it was quite... well... furry?







Oh, did you just sneeze?  Have a tissue.  This, my friends, is the aptly named "Showstopper" from Ironstone yarns and it's made of 3 yarns plied together: a bulky mohair, an eyelash yarn, and a... um... "bling" yarn.  It's bulky, oh my god is it bulky.  I mean the gauge is 6 sts over 4 inches.  Yup, by just knitting 3 stitches you've already got 2 inches of knitting done, ha!  This yarn was bought as a gift for me years and years ago, and it was actually quite expensive.  This makes me laugh because compared to what I had been buying, it was the most expensive yarn I owned by far, and it still looked like what Chewbacca would wear to his birthday party!




I was determined to use it, even as my yarn snobbery continued its yearly escalation.  Actually, walking down the streets of Montreal these days I see that fake fur is IN FORCE!  I mean, people are looking mighty hairy, and not just because it was Movember.  It was high time to make a move.  I found a free pattern for really big needles from DROPS that used their own old school fur yarn called Fox.

Actually, now that I look at this she really has the Chewbacca color down pat.  ;)




Also, what was there to lose if the gauge was so big?  Truth be told, I finished the entire body in one devoted day.  To my surprise, I was really intrigued and decided to continue.




I never did a DROPS pattern before, it was a fine experience.  In fact, it has a really neat neckline.  At some point you do a few stitches in the center of the front in garter, and then start decreasing for the neck continuing in garter just for those stitches.  Very sweet.




I must admit, I had the idea that maybe I should shave the whole thing with hair clippers...   I suggested it to my friend and she freaked out "Nooooooo, doooooooooon't!"  In fact, I have been totally astounded at the compliments I have been getting on this hairy-maybe-scary piece.  I mean, people stop me on the street to say how cool it is... I guess the clippers and bikini wax will have to stay in the closet for now!






In other news, it is December 1st and I am quietly freaking out about the move.  This is why you're seeing more of me on Facebook than here, because I only seem to be able to focus on 1-line wonders!  Unfortunately, I didn't get the job I wanted.  Worse, I didn't find out in time to take advantage of another opportunity I had, so I am back to square zero (if that exists!).  There's collateral damage to this, because it seems like they can't give us the house loan until either I have a contract or we immigrate, which we aren't allowed to do until December 26 because of my husband's visa rules.  Drat!  The rather funny part is that they have to move everything out of the house on December 23 because of the holiday, meaning that we will have an interesting Christmas eating off of cardboard coffee tables and sitting on an air mattress!  Maybe I should make a tree out of packing materials, what do you think?

For those of you wondering about whether I am giving away any stash, DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP!  :D  One of the perks of this move is that they are packing us up so I don't have to get rid of any of it!!!!  /evil laugh/

I'll be back very soon with a suggestion for the perfect holiday gift for your favorite knitter.  See you then!

See my Novelty Madness on Ravelry





Would you like to know when I have a new post?
Follow by e-mail
Follow on Bloglovin'
Follow my Facebook Page

Comments

  1. This sweater is awesome, honestly. Hope your plans move along in the best possible way, a move is always a stressful moment, and with the cold it does not help. Bon courage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a scarily hairy sweater but looks tremendous! Hoorah for novelty yarn ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I was a little scared at first :) but I like it! You have to hope that when something doesn't work out....it is because there is something better coming your way :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel like your style is working this sweater, not the other way around. It's definitely "out there," but in a cool, trendy way. I vote yay!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Honestly, woman, you can pull off any look you decide you want. Chewbacca becomes you. Good luck with the move.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love love love your chewie sweater!!! Matter of fact....(rummages in stash, oops its in the other tub, aHA!) I happen to have some mighty freakish "stuck my yarn in an electric outlet" stuff. I am going to have to do something with it...after I unpack the ten boxes of knitting patterns and books and catch up on my Kaffe KAL... So sorry to hear that the move is even crazier...you will get through it. Might have some bald spots from pulling out your hair...but thats what we knit hats for right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. You actually wear it really well. If I tried to wear that, with my body shape it would look like a pastel abominable snowwoman.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's a cool looking sweater. But, does it feel itchy/scratchy?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks fantastic!! I was waiting to see the finished fit. :)

    Hee hee, did it shed while you knit?

    "You have some dog/cat hair on your pants."

    "Oh no, that's just from my awesome chewbacca yarn…" :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sweater is truly awesome! Plus, at this point, fun fur might be considered vintage? Or at least nostalgic :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like the sweater! I think it's fun. Good luck with your move and happy holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Dayana,

    Love your faux fur sweater! What fun! Congratulations on getting your new place. You persevered, in spite of the nightmarish situation with the loan at the last minute and everything. I am so sorry you had to go through all of that! And that is disappointing news on the job front, too. The silver lining is you will have a lot of time to knit in the next month or two.... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am sitting with my latest project close to finished and a stash of faux fur yarn that I think would be nice to use for the next thing. You mentioned that you used a DROPS pattern for this VERY nice sweater, you don't happen to recall the name or number of the pattern...? Kind regards, Ã…sa (Swedish knitter)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is 84-2 Pullover from DROPS 84. Here is the Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/84-2-pullover

      Delete
    2. I couldn't add to my comment, but I wanted to say, yay faux fur, good luck!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment! :)

Click to contact me

Most popular posts in the last 30 days