Tons of Excess Yarn from this Pattern

[CascadeConsumer]

Well folks, I'm almost done with the squares for my first afghan. It's the Earth Block Afghan from Lion Brand.

 

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70508AD.html

 

I have to say I feel a little bit ripped off here. Since it was my very first project going from start to finish, I bought all of the yarn I was instructed to buy in the pattern, which amounted to one skein for each block, and there were twelve blocks, which amounted to a little under $100 figuring in tax.

 

I'm a little angry because each block used, I am guessing, only a little more than half of the skein... so I could easily have bought less yarn, and now I have a ton of excess that I don't know what to do with.

 

Am I misunderstanding something or are these patterns written this way in order to scam you into buying as much as possible?

 

Thanks folks!

 

[CLLinda]

I would make a matching pillow or something with the leftovers. And I would definately like to have too much than not enough when it comes to yarn.

[eurolyons]

I've had a few patterns over the years that called for more yarn than really needed, but I didn't feel cheated. I just figured that the designer may have made a mistake or our gauges were different, or whatever. It NEVER occurred to me that the yarn company was trying to scam me...and honestly I still don't think they are. I think the designer would still be the one to question. I mean sure, write a letter to Lion Brand, but in my mind, it's the designer who made the recommendation.

 

I have also had a few patterns that the recommended yarns and amount were not enough...now that is frustrating, especially if the yarn is expensive or not easy to come by. Again though, I usually figured that first I made an error in math (because I substitute yarns a lot...)

 

I recently used a pattern that had several different colors, which required a skein each...and when I finished that pattern, I had a lot of yarn left over...why, because the different colors only required like a row or two and not much more than that...the project would have been better suited to using up old stash, but it was a Christmas present and I wanted it to be as close to what the pattern was calling for. Did I feel scammed, no...not at all.

 

Regardless of economic times, I will still crochet because I want to, I will still buy yarn if I can realistically afford it, if I have yarn left over, gravy for me...because it will get used for something else.

[Afghaniac]

One of the reasons for my huge yarn stash is having to buy a full skein of a color for a pattern where only part of one is needed, and this has happend to me countless times over the years. I just figured that's the way things are.

 

For this very reason, I'm on a mission to completely destash in 2011 with scrap afghan projects, and if you saw my "leftovers" you would say it's mission impossible!

 

If you have full skeins, stores will take them back. Maybe you could make a child's afghan with some of your partially used skeins.

[Beaglelady]

(AMY - I looked at the pattern. All done in half-dbl, 12 sqs. 14". )

So, to CascadeConsumer, 1) you could either return any unused yarn, 2) buy enough yarn to make a second one; 3) make some hats or scarfs.

Better to have more than yarn than run out and not have enough which is a lot worse.

[PBLKNP]

This happened to me a few years ago with an afghan kit I got from Herrschners. I had a TON more yarn than needed to finish the afghan. It was a side-to-side design, so I just kept going with the basic stripe pattern until I had enough width to cover my Queensize bed! Worked out just great...

[sunnywolfgar]

I would rather have extra yarn left over then being short...When you do go back to the stores and get more yarn there is a 85% chance you won't find that dye lot again. Always safer to have the extra yarn. Like others said make a border,,,you can always use the extra yarn for some other projects.

[LI Roe]

I'm in agreement with the other posters also. I always buy more than I need (and never return, I am so bad when it comes to that, just can't part with it).

 

At times, I tend to crochet a bit looser (depending on the pattern, stitch, my mood) so I would rather have extra, which then goes for another project, unless I use it in the project I am working on.

 

I have to admit, when it comes to afghans, I try to stay in gauge, doesn't always work for me so I just go with the flow and use it up.

 

LI Roe

[DoubleTreble]

My initial question was, "Have you put the ghan together and added the border yet?" Those take quite a bit of yarn as well. Just wondering.....

[curlysue]

I just finished an afghan from a Red Heart pattern. I had been forewarned here at the 'Ville, that it used more yarn than called for. I also had to frog a medallion (my fault) and the yarn wasn't re-usable. I'm glad I went back for more.

[Elle]

I would make a matching pillow or something with the leftovers. And I would definately like to have too much than not enough when it comes to yarn.

 

I just keep thinking of my poor Cathedral Rose Window afghan that I started three years ago that will forever remain a UFO because I bought the amount of yarn it called for in the pattern and ran out of the variegated stuff just A LITTLE LESS THAN HALFWAY THROUGH!

 

When I tried to order more, that dye lot was nowhere to be found, and with the variegated yarn it's difficult enough to get separate pieces to have colors pooling in the same basic pattern, when the dye lots aren't the same, it's dang near IMPOSSIBLE!! I decided to just frog pieces of it as I needed RHSS Bananaberry for other projects, and some day when I get the chance, I will re-choose colors and start it again. This time, however, I am going to order THREE TIMES what the pattern calls for!

[readstar]

You don't even need to make them separate blocks, just join in the new color at the end of the sixteenth row. I can definitely understand your frustration with the amount of yarn purchased. I just checked the reviews on the site, and I think that three of the four people who posted had issues, too.

[happily hooked]

That pattern does not have a finished edge. I would definitely use the leftover yarn to make a border.

[bailey]

CascadeConsumer - with feeling so upset over the excess yarn, I would email Lion Brand and tell them how you feel. I've found them to be very accommodating to their customers.

[Elvee]

I always buy more than is called for. I like having a stash! Now you have the basis for a Bobbles and Lace afghan ...

 

[losingmymind2]

It is far better to have more yarn than you need then to have the "oh help" feeling at the very end trying to frog and redo and frog and redo again to get to the end of the row. If you have full skeins you can return them. If they're not full skeins, you can make a pillow or two to go with the afghan, or save for another project.

[darah]

I'm with the others that I'd much rather have a lot of leftover yarn than not.

 

Is it possible that it's just an error on Lion Brand's part in stating how many skeins you'd need? I know their site defaults to 4 of each color when you're ordering, but maybe that's a mistake and should read 3? Just another thought.

 

And hey - you can just make it bigger (and maybe even edge it) with all the leftovers. Or make a matching throw pillow to go with it!

[ReniC]

My suggestion would be to write to Lion Brand and also write a review on the pattern site for this particular pattern. Of the yarn companies I have dealt with over the years, they have worked with me and I always came out satisfied- especially Lion Brand.

[Amy]

Amy, your questions actually get right to the heart of why I am so frustrated. My gauge was actually right about where it needed to be according to the pattern. Yet the way the pattern is presented, it called for one skein per square and that was just far and away too much yarn. I could probably crochet two more squares of each color with what I have left over!

 

Without really looking at the pattern, I don't know if perhaps some squares use more yarn than others squares, which would make it harder to get useful data out of what I'm about to suggest.

 

I would probably take one of the colors I had left over and make more squares with it, just to see how many more squares I was really able to make.

 

I guess you probably have one full and one partial skein of each color left over? I'd start with the partial skein and see just how much of a new square I was able to complete with it. If you could get a full extra square from the partial skein, then I'd sort of think they could have gotten away with recommending only 3 skeins per color. But if you get less than half another square, I can see why they'd recommend getting 4 skeins: much better to have too much than not enough, in most people's minds. If you get somewhere between half and a full square, I'd still be happier to have too much yarn recommended than not enough.

 

If you don't want to bother making more squares, you could always weight what you have left over, and make calculations from that perspective.

[Elle]

Patterns may add a bit of extra yarn beyond what was used to make the actual sample, to help account for changes in gauge, etc. If the sample used close to a full three skeins of yarn of each color, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the pattern to state four skeins. Most customers would probably rather have an extra skein than to be a little off on gauge, need to go back another skein, and not be able to find the same dye lot.

 

Exactly!

[Elle]

I don't know how many others feel the way I do, but I would much rather have a sizeable amount of yarn left over than run short, which has happened to me all too many times when the amount of yarn needed for a pattern was badly understated. If there's yarn left over, you can always sock it away to use in scrap projects, but if there's not enough, you'll be very lucky, depending on where you purchsed the yarn, to be able to get the same dye lot. If you can't get the same dye lot it can totally ruin the project. More often than not I will deliberately purchase at least one more skein than the number called for of each color needed to ensure having enough yarn in the same dye lots to complete the project.

[catlyn]

I like that pattern, too, but I would like to do it where the next color would be joined and just continue crocheting.

I am not good at making blocks and putting them together.

That's one thing I really dislike about making afghans.....blocks to put together.

[CascadeConsumer]

Thank you both.

 

Mary, I'm in WA also, but over here on the rainy side.

 

Amy, your questions actually get right to the heart of why I am so frustrated. My gauge was actually right about where it needed to be according to the pattern. Yet the way the pattern is presented, it called for one skein per square and that was just far and away too much yarn. I could probably crochet two more squares of each color with what I have left over!

 

And that may actually not be such a bad thing because I like this pattern so much that I may well enlarge it by another column and row.

 

But regardless, I still think I got played for a rube and suckered into forking over more than I needed to. I try to be a responsible and alert consumer, so it's a real peeve of mine to get scammed like this, particularly during these hard economic times.

 

I'm just terribly disappointed with Lion Brand as a result of this.

[Amy]

Patterns may add a bit of extra yarn beyond what was used to make the actual sample, to help account for changes in gauge, etc. If the sample used close to a full three skeins of yarn of each color, I don't think it would be unreasonable for the pattern to state four skeins. Most customers would probably rather have an extra skein than to be a little off on gauge, need to go back another skein, and not be able to find the same dye lot.

 

The next question is: did your squares turn out the size of the gauge recommended on your pattern, or where they smaller? If your gauge was different, you'd have used a different amount of yarn.

[FrLopLady]

keep the receipt for yarn... bring back unused skeins..problem solved...even though that is very frustrating..