Variegated Yarn

[Gege]

Hey y'all!

 

So, I've been thinking a lot of variegated yarn (just blogged about it here: gegecrochet.blogspot.com) and was wondering how others felt about it.

 

I've had some hits and misses with it (to put it mildly.) I'm always so excited when I see a skein of yarn that has many colors in it that I just love, so I think, "This is going to be FANTASTIC!" but then I end up being disappointed when it instead looks like a giant puke stain.

 

I've learned to use it sparingly, but I know that it's pretty popular, otherwise why would yarn companies still make it?

 

How about you? Any good/bad experiences with it? Love it? Hate it? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

Gege

[happy stitcher]

My favorite thing I've made with variegated yarn is a felted purse. There's a picture in my craft album (# 46 in the link below). I'm never happy with variegated in an afghan.

 

ETA: After I posted I remembered an afghan I want to make....it has variegated yarn, and it looks fantastic!

Here's the link: http://thecrochetdudepatterns.blogspot.com/2005/04/groovy-loops.html

Maybe this one is the exception?

[Gege]

Oooo- your purse is great! I like variegated better felted, too. Well, depends on the project and the amount of variegated yarn...

 

That blanket is an example of variegated done right, IMHO. Used as an accent rather than overwhelming the entire project.

 

My favorite thing I've made with variegated yarn is a felted purse. There's a picture in my craft album (# 46 in the link below). I'm never happy with variegated in an afghan.

 

ETA: After I posted I remembered an afghan I want to make....it has variegated yarn, and it looks fantastic!

Here's the link: http://thecrochetdudepatterns.blogspot.com/2005/04/groovy-loops.html

Maybe this one is the exception?

[katyallen815]

:yesVarigated is a fickle lady, she is happiest when intermingled with her friends, the "Solids"

[FrLopLady]

I like the variegated with short quick variegations that only have one or two stitches in a color before going to the next. I don't always care for the blotchieness of a longer variegation.

[LI Roe]

I like variegated yarns, especially since I learned how to connect each skein so that the pattern is the same for the entire piece when I am doing afghans. I also like to alternate variegated with solids for afghans at times. I use it for hats, usually with a solid color also, like my hats warm since they go to charity, then make a solid scarf picking up one of the colors, then edge it in the variegated.

 

Some variegated or ombres look better on smaller projects. I once did an afghan, alternating rows of white with different color variegated stripes. Definitely different and someone on another board said it was the happiest afghan she had ever seen.

 

They also look great in granny square afghans.

 

LI Roe

[CraftyZone]

I fine that the longer strip of colors in the skein make the best patterns if the yarn colors are very short and close together it does look like mess. I also use solid colors to separate the colors make variegated yarns to really look even better. I also bought some Red Heart yarn called Monet the colors look great but I was disappointed when crochet it look like a real mess to me. I wish they had samples worked with variegated yarn to show you what it would look like.

[passionsgirl22]

i love making blankets with the yarn

[pat54]

Call me strange I guess but I love variegated yarn. I especially love it when making scarves and hats. I think it makes them very interesting and I can't say anything ever looked "like a giant puke stain". I also love using it when making RR afghans, when you do so many rows variegated and so many rows in solid. Just my opinion

[nevam]

pat54, you are not alone---I love varigated yarns too. I like the short bursts of color, the long color changes, it doesn't matter. I've never had the "puke stain" effect either. LOL I generally search out the most simple afghan pattern I can find and it really does look nice in a RR along with solid yarn. The last one I made that way was a Christmas RR and it turned out really nice.

[PBLKNP]

I find variegated yarn is great for round ripples, as you get the excitement of color changes without all the work. Also, I find I like to use it for baby blankets where you have a big expanse of a plain sort of stitch (sc, seed stitch, etc.). I’ve used it for sweaters, but like people have said, you can get that weird blotchiness, especially since you’re varying row sizes in a sweater. One way around this is to use two different skeins of yarn and alternate for each row, so that you don’t end up with blotches of color.

[Sockmad]

I used some Bernat variegated this Christmas for the pillows I made my nieces and nephews,I LOVE the way they came out. I did take pictures of my two youngest nieces pillows and my eldest niece and her brother's pillows,the other two nephews whisked theirs away too fast. Will try to find them so I can post the pixs.

[Gege]

It's that blotchiness of color that I referred to as "color puke" And, of course it really does depend on the colors being combined. I personally fell in love with variegated yarns- they were the first ones I bought when I first learned to crochet and I still think they are ever so pretty in the skein. But, I had used them incorrectly at first so I'm a little gun shy when I'm going to buy them. My lustful eyes deceived me before!

 

I actually like the longer color changes better- or the self striping ones b/c you truly get a great color change without the work. Not so crazy about the shorter change ones. But, I think most people in this thread agreed that mixing the variegated with solids, or using them as accents is the way to really bring out their beauty.

 

I find variegated yarn is great for round ripples, as you get the excitement of color changes without all the work. Also, I find I like to use it for baby blankets where you have a big expanse of a plain sort of stitch (sc, seed stitch, etc.). I’ve used it for sweaters, but like people have said, you can get that weird blotchiness, especially since you’re varying row sizes in a sweater. One way around this is to use two different skeins of yarn and alternate for each row, so that you don’t end up with blotches of color.

[curlysue]

I often love the look of variegated yarns in the skein. When I was stash building, I bought quite a few skeins along with the matching solids. I was thinking afghans at the time. Some of my sets got broken up into other projects.....alas....

 

Just this week I was using one in ILTY that I got on sale a while back, on sale. I am making it into charity hats. The first one I made on the round knitting loom and it was hideous! Last night I crocheted the same color and it wasn't so bad. My dd just rolls her eyes when I talk about the surprising ways it turns out as she isn't fond of most variegated colors.

 

I will still buy it as I just love color in general......though it can disappoint at times.

[losingmymind2]

I'm making my grandson a gently rippled afghan with varigated yarns in several different colors broken up by navy blue. I used a whole skein of the first color, and will use partial skeins of others per section, each separated by the navy.

[Afghaniac]

No offense meant to those who love it, because these things are so subjective. But in general, I dislike variegated yarn. I do like using it occasionally, as in a "quilt" afghan, where the variegated pieces look a bit like printed fabric. And, used very sparingly in an edging round on an afghan. Mostly, I avoid it because I think the wonderful complex, textural stitch patterns of crocheting get lost in the splotchiness, and because I like to choose the colors I put together rather than having the manufacturer make the selections for me. The one exception, where I used it a lot was for the centers of small granny motifs; they were done in a lovely RH SS color called Star Bright, which I haven't seen in ages.

P.S. I like your description "giant puke stain."

[losingmymind2]

I also like using varigated as either the skirt or top part of a sweater dress I love to make for babies. And I agree that fancy crochet stitches get lost in the busy-ness of the color changes, but to me, thats' when you use simple stitches and let the yarn rather than the stitches themselves be the focus of the item.

[Sylviaf]

I like variegateds. Right now I'm making a shawl with "Batika" and it is turning out to be beautiful.

[justvicki]

I love variegated yarn. My next afghan project will be Lace and Bobbles pattern using RH Soft Yarn in Icy Pond Print, Seafoam, White, Wheat and Toast. Can't wait!

[Krakovianka]

I think variegated yarn/thread can be very nice, if used in the right way. I've been experimenting with it, and it's a learning process.

 

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=123985

[codymikki]

Is this a good example of 'yarn puke' or just not pretty - learned the hard way:angry

[steelerlady]

I use variegated the most in Baby items. I am currently working on a baby blanket using yellow, green, and light blue, variegated yarn, with every third row being a solid white. The white really makes the variegated yarn pop.

[Sylviaf]

Is this a good example of 'yarn puke' or just not pretty - learned the hard way:angry

 

I think it looks kind of cool.

[CraftyZone]

I really think how varigated is used sometimes you have to break up the many colors with a solid color or colors I have enclosed a picture of three of the thirty six I made last year. I don't think that you lose a pattern because you used a varigated yarn in them. What do you think?

[ddc]

I'm a sucker for variegated yarns because they are so beautiful in the skein, but like most of you, I've had to learn how to use them. My favorite pattern for it is an old mile a minute with a double shell row up the center of each strip that I make with the variegated. The definition of the shells keeps it from being a huge blotch; I do all the other rows of the strip in solids.

 

I prefer the short color stretches - Monet is actually one of my favorites. The long color runs turn out too stripey for my taste, though they work fine for that mile a minute. I made a corner-to-corner afghan using RR Peruvian (or something like that) because I loved it in the skein. It had bars of that separated by black. I thought it was hideous, and hesitated to give it to the hospice program. Those folks are already so sick, they didn't need that in their lives. But that was because of the stripiness of it.

 

I'm learning to choose the ones I do buy now more wisely - I hope.