Fancy Yarn

[aimeebell]

I bought fancy yarn for the first time today. This will be my first attempt working with it and want to make a scarf. It is Moda Dea Aerie. It is so soft, and was on clearance at Joanns for $3. I am thinking I should just use a simple double crochet stitch??? A pattern like the skinny scarf wouldn't work with a semi fuzzy type yarn, would it? It is chenille and microfiber. I don't think the pattern would show, but what do I know LOL

I also bought some cache yarn to do the skinny scarf.

[Wenzee]

Is it skinny like Fun Fur? If it is, I would knit it (very, very simple....just garter stitch the whole thing). I find that knitting with that type of yarn is a lot easier than crocheting with it.

But don't let me discourage you from trying to crochet it!! It's definitely possible to crochet with fancy yarn like that, but not easy (in my experience). Let us know how it goes and post a pic when it's done!!

[aliciasjoy]

If it gets too hard to crochet into the stitches, what I do with novelty yarn (if not knitting) is chain a few (however many you want) skip that many stitches and the sc into the starting chain across. This way only the first row is a pita, and all the next rows you just crochet around the loop made by the chains. It makes a very cute scarf, and you can make it very loopy, or not loopy at all by using more or fewer chains.

[Me&P]

double is probably your best bet. I generally use a hook that is a size or 2 bigger than the suggested for my own sanity.

[Wenzee]

...Just thought of something else....lol!

If you find that it's hard to crochet with your fancy yarn by itself, you could always try adding a strand of standard (4-ply) yarn in a coordinating or matching color along with the fancy stuff!

[Chrome Kitty]

Wow! $3!!! You got quite a deal! I hope you bought lots because that is some luxurious (and expensive) stuff. I used all my 40% off Michael's coupons on that yarn last fall. I made a lot of scarves and a couple of hats. The first scarf I made was crocheted, and all the others were knit. It was easy to crochet with, in fact it was easier to crochet than knit because the yarn is so soft and silky that it was hard to keep it from slipping off the knitting needles. However, as much as I prefer crocheting over knitting, crocheting Aerie just doesn't do it justice. Knitting this yarn looks much prettier and helps maintain its super soft texture. For the scarves, I just did a ribbed K1,P1,K1, etc. and then P1,K1,P1, etc. in the next row (super easy). For the hat I made a rectangle using the same stitch pattern and then sewed up the back seam and gathered the top. I wouldn't recommend adding another yarn to it because that would take away from the softness of the chenille. This is definitely a "stand alone" yarn. One other thing~you might want to make your scarf a little wider than you'd actually like it to be because after wearing it a couple times, it tends to lengthen itself and therefore narrow itself as well.

[aimeebell]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't knitted since I was eight years old, I remember it would get so tight that I couldn't work it. I think I'll put this yarn away for a bit, and decide what to do with it. It is so soft, and silky that I don't want to waste it on something I don't like LOL