Ugly Yarn Series, No. 1

Day 56: Let's call this the Ugly Yarn Series. This is No. 1, and you'll be seeing several more as I progress through the deep recesses of my stash. So that you'll better understand what's going on here, a little explanation is in order. You see, some time ago, a friend decided to clear out her own yarn stash and asked me if I'd be interested in taking possession of some (or all!) of it. I am not one to pass up free yarn, but I was not expecting her to offload enough to fill three three big storage bins. I could have taken even more, but honestly, I'd reached capacity. There were full kits as well as skeined yarns, most still with the yardage specified on the wrappers, and if there were partial skeins, I made sure that there was at least one unused skein to go along with. Much of it was worsted weight, good for hats, and although it was heavier than my usual preference, it was free. Free is good. You can't go wrong with free. Or can you? Aye, and there's the rub: ugly yarns.

Now by "ugly," I don't mean that these yarns were in any way unusable. I mean that they fell short when it came to quality. Perhaps the finish was harsh, the twist too loose or too tight, or that they were lumpy when they should have been smooth. Maybe the designated yarn weight was off, too heavy to classify as "#3" or #4" despite what the manufacturer claimed. Maybe the colours weren't the most appealing in the line. One way or another, once I'd used up the better skeins, I was stuck with almost a full bin of "seconds," skeins which were going to require some project planning to render into a functional and attractive item.

No. 1 in the Ugly Yarn series is one of those in the category of "harsh finishes." Even on #6 needles, it makes a board-stiff fabric. I needed to find a needlecraft which would permit it the space it seemed to demand. I did not want to move up to larger needles. We start getting into the territory I describe as "knitting ship's hawser with two telephone poles" if I have to pick up #7 needles. Likewise, crocheting with a hook larger than 3 mm makes me feel like I'm using a gaff. Having recently discovered nalbinding, I made a pair of wristlets using a few yards of the one-pound skein, but even that wasn't satisfactory. No, there had to be some other method.

Enter the knitting board, aka peg loom or knitting rake. By its very nature, the stitches created on a peg loom tend to be loose. This seemed to be the perfect solution. There was only one problem: I had only ever done spool knitting (the same principle). I had not used a peg loom. After multiple assaults on YouTube, I finally discovered a video which made every step of the process clear. At this point, I have almost two feet done on a soft, thick scarf which no one will ever call "ugly."