Homespun

[earthwhisper]

Any tips on how to crochet with this? I feel like I am crocheting blind. I can't see the stitches and feel lost every so often.

[Julie]

For starters don't give up. You will get the feel of it very soon. Make sure you are crocheting under a bright light, to help see better, and use your fingers to feel your way along as you go. Make sure, most importantly, that you are using a big enough hook to work with it. I stick to the K - P range for Homespun. Anything else, for me, is too small and takes too much work to enjoy using it.

[earthwhisper]

I think I am figuring it out. I worked by feel and I think the first chain got twisted a little, but with this yarn, who would know? The stitch is a ch1 sc, etc so when you get to the next row you are sc in the ch1 sp and then ch1. It is easy for me to feel for the "big hole." Yes, I am using a K hook. Thanks for the reply. I am pretty stubborn and stayed up last night trying to figure it out before I went to bed.

[Ambersafghans]

I normally do a larger stitch as well. I tried the sc, but didn't like it very well. What are you making?

Amber

[miki421]

For me the key to using homespun is the hook size, the bigger the hook the easier it is to see and feel your stitches. I just finished making a small throw and I used a P hook It came out really well and I could see my stitches. Don't give up. you will get the hang of it.

[goldi316]

Yes, this yarn can be a little daunting to work with until you get the "feel" of it. When I first tried to work with it, it scared the crap out of me, and I put it away for several years! But I just LOVE this yarn! It works up best in the larger hooks, much easier as others have mentioned, and the "feel" method of finding where to put your hook is essential. I made several scarves for the holidays just past, and a lovely shawl for my mom, am now working on another shawl for myself. You can see a pic of that work in process on my blog (link for that in my sigline), it's the top entry (so far). I've found it easiest to work with an M or N hook, which will give a fabric that's not too open but not as difficult to find where to place your hook for the next stitch.

 

I also made a mother and daughter capelet set from the Lion Brand pattern, to make the child-size one, I went down to a K hook. That one was a real pain to do! But it got the capelet to the size I needed. Here's a link to a picture of the capelets I made.

 

I could go on and on about this yarn, I love it so! Don't give up on it, you'll be really happy with the projects you complete with it!

[earthwhisper]

I thought I was getting it. One end was turing out straight. The other had this slant that just got worse and worse. So, I pulled it all out and am now going to try and just work in dc. I am attempting to make a poncho for my dd with it. I figure two rectangles in dc and then attach them should work. Thanks for all of the advice. I am using a K hook.

[NancyCA]

When I use this, I know that the beginning chain of whatever I'm working on is the hardest. I also make sure to count my stitches to make sure they are right.

 

Truly once I get the beginning chain going, it's pretty easy from there.

[Harvestar]

I also found Homespun hard to work with. It kept coming apart and pieces would get caught in the hook. I've gotten better with it, it's not the easiest thing to use. Thankfully, it's so soft and pretty!

 

My fiance had a hard time making a scarf for me out of it - he frogged it several times and started over - he was dropping stitches. Then again, he's a pretty tight crocheter.

 

I most often use Homespun in afghans I make on my Yarn-A-Round knitting wheel.

 

The strange color blocks of this yarn kind of put me off at first, but I like it now. I did find a few skeins of Pacifica that were rainbow pastels and bought them for a baby blanket. However, not all the skeins were like that (even though they were the same dye lot!), so the blanket looked funny colored in the middle... ugh.

[faithpa76]

I'm going to parrot the recommendation to use a big hook and do dc. Once you get past that initial chain (I honestly thing that is the worst part) it's much easier to keep track of what you're doing. IMO sc are just hard to see - longer stitches are easier to see and feel.

[noricum]

I've got a tip on how to work with LB Homespun here: http://noricum.blogspot.com/2005/02/early-wow.html

 

Although LB Homespun is pretty, for some reason it really makes my carpal tunnel act up. I think because I have to fight the yarn so much.

[Harvestar]

Also has anyone else gotten "blobs" in their Homespun - parts in the middle of the skein that have become a bit unraveled so they are much larger than the other parts and really stick out. I've only had this with 2 skeins, but it's quite annoying.

[natalie058]

Grrr about the blobs. Seems like almost every skein of homespun I have gets has at least one yuk spot. I cut em out and rejoin.

[Karen C.]

It does take some getting used to, but I'm sure with some practice it'll become easier. The chain is the hardest to get through, but once you've moved beyond that, it should be relatively easy. Good luck.

 

Karen

[CrochetinClara]

Also has anyone else gotten "blobs" in their Homespun - parts in the middle of the skein that have become a bit unraveled so they are much larger than the other parts and really stick out. I've only had this with 2 skeins, but it's quite annoying.

 

YES! Do you know what other yarn does that too....Baby Clouds from Red Heart! I love the yarn, just really upsets me when I'm moving right along and then BAM! I was making a baby afghan, and 4 of the 6 skeins had 'blobs', and it wan't just a little one either.

I was really thinking about writting a letter to someone about it .

But I just complained a few minutes and kept going .

[megan]

I crochet pretty tightly, and I've found that Homespun is great only if I make a conscious effort to crochet as loosely as I possibly can. Haven't been able to force myself to make much more than scarves with it, although I did to an iPod cozy without going crazy.

[cmr3877]

Try some of Lion Brand's own patterns for that yarn:

 

http://www.lionbrand.com/yarns/homespun.htm

 

Scroll past the beautiful swatches (if you can) to find a list of DOZENS of free patterns for just Homespun. I've made many scarves and two ponchos (on K hooks).

 

Go for it!

[sprtsbear]

This is probably my most favorite yarn to work. I agree getting the first row in on the chains is very difficult. I have made 5 ripple afghans from the LB pattern. Also made ponchos and scarves. When I pick up this yarn to crochet, I just can't see to put it down.

[Chatty]

One thing I've found to make working with it easier, other than the larger hooks is to try the Crystalite hook, when I use this hook it almost never snags the yarn when I'm stitching and my aluminum hooks grabbed the yarn every time, even the K.

 

It's a joy to work with now, I'm almost finished with my second pineapple shawl in color Candy Apple and it's so gorgeous.

 

[Sissy]

Oh My Gosh! I got some Homespun at a yard sale (25 cents a skein!), but I never tried it before. I just didn't have the fortitude to fight it, so I put it away for another time.

[crochetfun]

I have some beautiful blue and some white (6 skeins in all), just can't make up my mind what to do with them. The two colours would be lovely together.

 

Any ideas?

[snbunch]

Oh My Gosh! I got some Homespun at a yard sale (25 cents a skein!), but I never tried it before. I just didn't have the fortitude to fight it, so I put it away for another time.

 

Homespun.. drool. If you decide to get rid of it, lemme know. I'll be happy to buy it from ya.

 

Like everyone else has said, though, it's not too bad to work with once you get past the chain and get used to it. I'm making an afghan with it right now, and made a beautiful scarf with it (alternating windowpanes scarf) and another yarn a few months ago.

 

Too bad it's so darn expensive. If hubby knew how much I spent on those 8 skeins for afghan...

[Sissy]

Stephanie, if I don't do any better next try, I will be glad to pass it along. It is sooo pretty and soooo soft. But if it is going to raise my blood pressure, I can live without it, lol!

[EugeneClarence]

Making the foundation row with Homespun is much easier if you use the base chain technique.

http://www.weirdmirror.org/instruction/dblbsch.htm

 

http://www.weirdmirror.org/instruction/trbsch.htm

 

 

EugeneClarence

[noricum]

Here's another suggestion for starting out:

http://noricum.blogspot.com/2005/02/early-wow.html