Skinning the Cat
I'm surprised that so many of you jumped at the chance to win some Dugly-Uck yarn. Most of you picked up on the point that I missed as I was planning my sock -- when I changed over the foot to stockinette, the yarn usage per round changed sufficiently that the colour patterning changed.
Thanks to the good old Random Number Generator, Caren in N.H. gets herself a hank of ugly yarn to play with. I picked out this one:
It's from the Posh Yarn sock club and didn't come with a label, but it's supposed to be a cashmere blend of some sort. I hope the colours suit Caren more than they do me. Congratulations, Caren!
It seems that the desire for ugly yarn is so strong that some of you missed my asking that entries be emailed rather than commented. In your honours, I have decided to award another prize - a very special one - to another winner specifically from you. I went through the sock stash and picked out The Ugliest Yarn I could find. But then, because I'm a nice guy, I decided to lessen the blow by giving the winner a choice. Erica, pick one of the two pictured below, and it's yours! To protect the guilty, I'm not going to tell you what these yarns are - it'll be a surprise.
Amazingly enough, that was kind of hard to do. As I was photographing them, I couldn't help but wonder how they'd knit up. It's a sickness, and I got it bad.
So, skinning the cat, more than one way, etc. One way to get rid of Dugly-Uck yarn is to give it away, and another is to keep slogging at the one on the needles. I ripped back to the heel flap and knit the foot with slip stitches but no twists or ribs. (Thanks for the suggestion, Helen and Maaike!) Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to even out the pooling, and it changed the fit enough that it felt a bit tight. It looked basically the same as last time, only more annoying. RIP!
Enter Plan B. (Or is that C or D ... I've forgotten already.)
I was able to get this ....
... which I actually kind of like. Hmm. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit either. I'd have to go down about eight stitches, and then I'd lose the marbling. But I've thought of something else, so RIP! again and on to Plan C (or D or E or whatever it is.)
I must say that I'm having fun with this, and considering that this yarn has been knit and ripped several times, the STR is holding up quite well. I'm impressed so far. Well, except for the dog poop on the waterslide aspect of it. (Lovely analogy, Kristen -- thank you!)
42 people had something to say:
HAAA! Dog poop on the waterslide - HA!
Erm, I quite like those two yarns at the bottom... :S
Hmmmmmm...I don't think the yarn you are giving away is Dugly-uck!
It looks pretty nice on my monitor. On the other hand ...that poop on a waterslide comment is pretty right on.
Maybe it will look better when it is finished.
That's the first STR Rockin' Sock Club yarn from last year, right? I swapped someone for it and it is in the drawer. Still not sure which pattern to use...
I gotta tell you - I agree on that top Dugly-uck, but I think Erica is very lucky... those 2 mystery skeins are beautiful to me!
Oh, this SO reminds me of my Lornas Laces days...
I think that it resembles a beautiful giraffe on an african plain, bending to dip into a calm watering hole.
I actually love the way that these colors look together - in this version. I can't say that I like the other yarns, though. Glad that you didn't keep them around. You might be too tempted, as I can so relate to! Do you want some ugly yarn from my house? I've got plenty! ;)
Oh Dave....I shoulda emailed AND posted a comment;-)
That bottom Duck Ugly is DropDeadGorgeous. Nothing less.
Next time you have Duck Ugly to give away, you just email me immediately OK!!!! I'll even pay the postage to New Zealand!
ACK looks like my comment disappeared into cyberspace...if it turns up again we'll be able to compare how close my second try gets to the original...
I should have posted a comment as well as an email eh! But for some reason I slipped into my elementary school days goody-two-shoes do-as-I'm-told mode. Who knows why, I've never done it since and certainly not when it comes to following knitting patterns!
Anyway, my humble opinion is that the bottom DuckUgly is nothing of the sort. It's DropDeadGorgeous. Nothing less.
So in future, if you have any such DuckUglies, dispense with the competition and just email me directly. I'll even pay postage to New Zealand.
That's what I love about STR. It takes a lickin' and keeps on knittin'. Or something like that...
Oh my! Not ugly at all! Those are my kinda' colors! 'Wanna trade? lol I have some green blends that must've spawned from a specimen basin!
I like the second one. A LOT! Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder, obviously.
lol @ dpontw! that posh yarn is pretty bad. ouch!
I don't mind pooling or flashing, and I may be sick, but I liked all of the choices you selected as Ugly. I did like the dog poop on a waterslide, I didn't care for that colorway when I knit it up either.
Dog poop on a waterslide... *snicker*
I like the Dugly Uck yarn choices. Hmmm, what does that say about my taste...
That Posh yarn and your current "dog poop on the waterslide" yarn are retina damaging dugly-ucks but I like both of the two you're giving away now.
How about trying a slip stich rib with the current sock, that might break up the color enough to be attractive and still fit your foot.
That must have been one sick puppy dog! ;o)
LOL! I am glad that everyone does not have the same taste. ;) Personally I like the yarn with the green in it, but that is my taste :-)
Yay me! Thanks Dave. I don't think that yarn is tooooo duck ugly, although it is rather muted isn't it? Can't wait to see it in person. Any chance it's superwash cashmere? Heh heh -- I like to throw my socks in my front loader on the superdelicate handwash cycle whenever possible. Love love love that bottom mystery skein. Not dugly at all!!
Dog poo on the waterslide ~snort~
This should be plan T for tenacious! I'm thinking of investing in more of this yarn since it holds up so well to ripping. I do that out of the sheer habit of making mistakes, not experiments. :)
Dog poop on waterslide - that's going to be nice new favorite saying! hahahahaha!
I really like all of these yarns! What's wrong with me?
Congrats to the winners! I was too brain dead to think about it the other day. That kinda crossed my mind, but I thought you had the same number of stitches on the foot as the cuff. It was too hot, that's my excuse. :)
Yay, I didn't win! Being right was reward enough.
Dog poop on a waterslide? Ewww.
I've been meaning to drop by for a while and thank you for your advice re the cable scarf I did for ISE4. You were totally right - it needed to be knit on small needles to get the cables to pop. Thanks : )
one man's udgly is another man's ummm..not so ugly? Although the poop on a waterslide analogy is pretty much right on. *snork*
thanks for stopping by and visiting me, Dave... one of these days I'm going to figure out how to put one of those blogs I watch things on mine, then I'll remember to check in on you more often.
I'm sorry I missed your ugly yarn contest, because I think I would have enjoyed winning the booby prize, I can see myself buying both of those colorways at some point.. maybe not so much the first one. :)
it's interesting to see your adventures with that STR yarn.. this spring I had my first chance to ever knit this much talked about yarn, and I've got to say that if I was knitting and wearing it blind, it may well be my favorite yarn ever but I don't know.. I'm not too crazy about how it behaves. if you poke around my blog a ways back and see the crazyness that came out of my pair of monkey socks in the harlotty colorway.. maybe that's what you like.. crazy pooling! but me.. eh.. not so much.. I like it OK enough in these socks for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that for some reason it makes me think of owls.. and owls are cool.. but generally speaking, I wouldn't buy yarn that acted like that on purpose.
more recently i did a pair in the henpecked colorwayw which striped instead of pooled and I was happier with that but honestly, I don't think I ever would have put this batch of colors together in this way. still.. if I ever decide to buy some of this stuff for myself.. I think I'm going to have to spend a good chunk of time wandering flickr and ravelry to see what the different colors have knit up to look like before I pick one.
although.. I was looking last night and saw christmas colored! my husband keeps saying I need to knit him a new pair of christmas socks so I always have half an eye watchin' for the right yarn to do that.. so for a minute I thought hey! maybe this one! but.. sanity crept back.. he probably isn't going to go for that yellow mixed in.. and who knows how many attempts it'd take to get the yarn to stripe...
I really enjoyed seeing your lizard ridge dishrag too! My mom always is more excited to get a couple new dishrags than she is pretty much anything else I buy for her (she's pretty puffed with the socks she got last year too though.. she'll get more this year :) ) and last year she got a couple ball band ones.. which look nice but I didn't really enjoy knitting them all that much.. I think maybe this year she'll get at least one lizard ridge one. thanks for the idea. :)
I think the one on the bottom is pretty. Hmm... maybe you should send me some 'ugly' yarn and I'll send you some of mine. ;)
So glad I did not enter the contest. OOOIIIWWW
you're a better knitter than i! after several attempts this past spring i decided it wasn't worth it and sold off all my STR stash.
the coloring does such weird things (the few i've tried all did the spiral stripe thing you showed in one of your pics).
and i saw in an earlier post that you too questioned why 2 weights of yarn would be listed with the same gauge. i really think the mediumweight is an error. i knit it at that gauge for a few inches and it was stiff as a board.
i've sworn off STR for good. i have one gift hank in my stash that i'm planning to use for a scarf and that's it!
good luck figuring out how to make yours work. i'll enjoy reading about it from a far ;)
Ok if this is what you consider Dugly Uck, send me some of yours and I'll send you the bright orange and the green I got from a swap...
If you make a hat out of the STR with about 100 stitches you get really wild vertical stripes. (Discovered that one with another yarn.) That particular STR is now on my husband's feet and he loves it.
And yes, I have ripped and ripped their yarn and it really holds up well. Of course I am not sure what that says about how I feel about some of their colors... but I love knitting with the yarn anyway!
Dog poop, thanks, now I'll be thinking of that when I see him wear those socks!
Hey, thanks for visiting my blog! I think it's funny what each of us perceives as being ugly yarn. LOL! I love the turquois and brown together!
De-lurking to mention that wool is easy and fun to dye at home. Why not have a go?
Hi Dave. Thanks for checking out my blog. I didn't know you had me bookmarked.
Thanks for your supportive comments. Dating is tough. It's a rough world out there.
Hugs.
I *love* the yarn you're knitting with! Yum!
It's interesting what's ugly to us is georgeous to someone else. I don't mind that colour combo at all...anytime you have ugly yarn, I'll be glad to take it off your hands. :D
Ugh, I'll never look at a water slide the same way again!
I have some STR I have not knit with yet. I can't believe I have to 'play' around with the stitch count to get it to look right! So, it's not what it's cracked up to be? Looks better in the skein?
"Dog poop on the waterslide", I love it too!!!!
You're a better man than I :)! I would *never* have the patience to reknit that often, even for a beautiful yarn. I must confess that once or twice in a fit of knit designer pique, I've chucked whole skeins of yarn in the trash! I think this yarn would be more attractive if called "Turquoise & Tiger Eye", but it's not nearly as funny!
It reminds me of the saying "one's man's trash is another man's treasure". And, help! why are you skinning cats (save the kitties!)?
Aren't some sayings really odd when you think about them? I think from a previous post that you love cats?
I will have to try the ball band heel. I spend most of my time with the weirder yarns picking up contrasting (or complementary) solids and knitting afterthought heels. They make it very convenient to keep up a striping pattern.
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