Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns

Hi all!  I'm back from Austin and had a wonderful trip!  I think we timed it perfectly because apparently there were some snow showers in DC while we were gone.  Meanwhile, we were enjoying 80 degree summer-like weather.  I have so much to share about Austin (there were some seriously GREAT design shops and even better restaurants) but I wanted to try to keep up a promise to myself about participating in the Knitting and Crochet Blog week that I mentioned here.

Basically, the deal is that there are a series of questions throughout the course of the week that anyone participating in this series answers on the same day.  I know that most of my readers, while they appreciate that I am learning to knit, do not knit themselves, nor do they have any intention of it.  That said, I cannot tell you how much I have really grown to love this hobby.  There are so many things you can make and while it seems intimidating at first, as my friend and knitting mentor Amanda says, "Don't be afraid of it...it is only sticks and string!"

So, if I can inspire even one person to start knitting then I feel happy about that.  And even if you don't knit, maybe you'll learn something new from these few posts. 

One last caveat before I answer today's question...I have been knitting about a year now but have SOOO much to learn and still consider myself a very beginner knitter.  So, for anyone reading, take anything I say on this subject with a grain of salt.

Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

So this question is timely for me because I'm smack in the middle of two projects using yarn that I am currently loving and loathing at the same time.  And the reason for this is the alternating width of the yarn (is that even what you call it??...see, I've got a lot to learn!).  Let me demonstrate what I'm talking about with a couple of pictures of the yarn:

See how some pieces are fat and some are skinny?  That's what I mean by different widths.

I love the colors of these yarns.  I love the texture that I anticipate these yarns are going to give to the final projects.  But knitting with these yarns?  A pain in the a**.  I think part of the problem is that I am somewhat of a perfectionist so the changing girth means that the tension on my piece changes from row to row and stitch to stitch.  I am making a baby hat for my friend Michaela with the top one and a scarf with the bottom one.  The jury is still out on how these are going to turn out.  Stay tuned...