Stitchboard Admin message #212
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 3, 2014 at 11:10:30 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #1)
 
Sherry,

Wow, that's so cool that Herrschnerr's has the best price on Simply Soft!  As you know, our Walmart still carries some of it, but their prices on SS in particular have gone through the roof.    It costs more for a smaller skein than a larger skein of RH!

Is Simply Soft Light a sport or sock weight?  Can't say that I've heard of or seen it, and especially now that we're getting into the worst of our weather, there won't be many trips to craft stores. 

It's hard to determine projects for a yarn when you haven't been able to touch it first. 

Your hubby is just plain wrong.  I think we need classes specifically for men, called "Stash 101."  My husband doesn't understand stash in the slightest.  "You have enough yarn," he says.  See, no non-crocheting male can understand stash.  "Enough?"  That is not a word that can be applied to stash! 

Ugh, whatever is in the "scented" yarns is nasty.  Working with the essential oils, you're used to the real scents, the natural scents, where the "scents" in those yarns are anything but real or natural! 

LOL, we would be like the Pied Piper! 

---

Stitchboard Admin message #214
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 4, 2014 at 6:43:30 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #3)
 
Sherry,

Actually, that's our Walmart, sigh...not sure about JoAnn, but I'm betting it's exactly the same here as with yours, that the SS is much more expensive now. 

Oh, yeah, exactly...a 3...big help, not!  Despite the name, it could be like the SS or as thin as a sock or sport weight, as you noted above.    Well, I'll be anxious to hear!

I definitely think it sounds right for that idea!    Unless it's super thick, closer to a worsted...but I'm doubting it, even though it is rated a 3. 

LOL, that we definitely need...more yarn!  

---

Stitchboard Admin message #216
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 5, 2014 at 10:03:23 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #5)
 
Sherry,

"Light" sport, huh?  That sounds quite useful, so I hope that's what it is! 

I'm sure the cabled towel topper is going to be delightful!  You really can't go wrong on gauge with an item like a towel topper.  If there had been a gauge, who would know what size it really is supposed to be, anyway?  LOL, my kind of project...the "no gauge necessary" project!

LOL, are you wiping sweat from your brow, too, that the Tunisian Crochet Police won't be knocking at your door?    I was sure scared for a minute there! 

Oh, yes, I hadn't thought about the "backwards" rows.    What a pain, but you're right, it's entirely different to go from knit to crochet with Tunisian.  I'd probably have to write it down, or every other row would be done the wrong way! 

Would it help if you wrote it down first?

I did that with a beading pattern done up as a word pattern . I discovered a good part of the way into the project that I apparently bead "backward" in the round, so I had to read the instructions backward to get the beadwork facing the "right" way!  It drove me so crazy (which is hard to do because I'm crazy already!), I gave up and wrote it out backward to bead it forward.    Or backward.  Or something. 

Anyway, that's my suggestion, because it can really make it difficult to work when you have to remember which rows go which way. 

Another option is that on the rows that go backwards, take a highlighter to your pattern and mark the ones that go backwards. 

So, good news...I have pics of the four sets of dishcloths...and the crowd goes wild! 





As you can see, I haven't blocked any of them...and don't plan to!  I haven't washed them yet, but will before giving them away. 

---

Stitchboard Admin message #218
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 6, 2014 at 9:21:42 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #7)
 
Sherry,

Be careful of that Tunisian Gestapo!    I thought I heard them knocking on the door the other day...I hid all of my Tunisian hooks and Tunisian works...nah, it was just the Fuller brush man.    (Is there such a person anymore?)

Glad you like the highlighter idea!    Ugh, it can be really crazy-making to figure out which rows go forward and which go backwards.    The advantage to the beading problem I mentioned was that I had the same problem with the entire piece, so it wasn't like remembering which ones.  Instead, what I had to do was rewrite everything.  Oh, well, it worked!  

Love that you're making that cable pattern your own!    It's wonderful to be able to turn what you see in your mind's eye into reality. 

Thanks!    That last set...it's not really a popcorn or a bobble.    The "puffs" (not a puff stitch, either!) are formed by working dcs and scs in such a way that the dcs sort of "pop" or "puff."  So it has a nice bumpy texture, but not so much to it that it uses a tremendous amount of yarn or is too bulky.    LOL, nice and confusing, huh?! 

LOL, I bet nobody has or will notice the things are unblocked...most people who don't do any crochet or knitting wouldn't even know what blocking is!    So how would they notice the difference?  And after all...these are made to be used, to get messy!

I'm so glad nobody has noticed a size difference with the dishcloths, either.    It really shouldn't make any difference!

That's a very generous size for a towel, which might work for some, but I'm guessing most people are more likely used to a smaller towel.  Doesn't it make you wonder who "standardized" the sizes?  What makes a hand towel a hand towel...what makes a fingertip towel a fingertip towel?  Some washcloths are huge...when I was growing up, washcloths were pretty small!  LOL, it's all so weird!

I agree...maybe for gifts you'd want to go more conventional with towel sizes, or perhaps only slightly larger...like with the dishcloths, sometimes too much can be too much, and you'll get more out of your yarn if you're making more conventional sizes. 

---

Stitchboard Admin message #220
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 7, 2014 at 8:40:12 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #9)
 
Sherry,

Ugh, that's so true about the "standard" dish towel.    They don't absorb for anything, and they're definitely too small. 

That's why I want to make crocheted towels...I wouldn't go as far as bath towels, though, as I'm figuring (hoping) the store-bought ones are absorbent enough, and I don't want to spend my time making them.  But dish towels...those would be very handy.  I probably have already mentioned that we use bath towels (hand towels) in the kitchen as opposed to kitchen towels, as they're about the same size, maybe bigger, and they're much more absorbent.  Those stupid kitchen towels are sooo thin!    I'll never figure out how those are supposed to be useful.

Oh, I see...yes, the stripes in that stitch really would add a lot to the size of the project.  And working rectangular, you have to be very careful of where to stop crocheting when you get to a certain width! 

Thank you so much for the warning about the Caron Harvest!    I would never know it pills badly.    That's definitely not desirable in a dishcloth or dish towel.  I wouldn't want to give things like that as a gift, knowing the yarn does that!

Yes, I agree...that's where all of my "discards" come in.  They're things that turned out okay...but for some reason or another, they're not fit to be given as gifts! 

---

Stitchboard Admin message #222
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 8, 2014 at 3:34:58 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #11)
 
Sherry,

I agree...bath towels would be so pointless!  I had never thought of the cost of the yarn and time, as well, but you're right about that.  With so many better things to do, why take time to do something that would tie up weeks and weeks?!  LOL, that WIPs list doesn't get shorter all by itself! 

That's a great idea for those flimsy "kitchen" towels!  Not that I bake bread, but if I did, that would be the only decent "kitchen" use for them, as they're worthless for drying dishes.  Or they can be used for show if they're really pretty.  I knew someone whose relative would embroider those thin kitchen towels as gifts - and they were gorgeous - but I felt that if I were the recipient, I'd hang them up to show, not to use.  Too pretty to mess up and too thin to be useful! 

I understand.  It doesn't make sense to use anything that pills for anything "useful."  It would definitely be good practice yarn!  Can you pair the periwinkle with another Sugar 'n Creme color?  Or perhaps use the periwinkle for dishcloths and start another color entirely for towels? 

---

Stitchboard Admin message #224
Re: Tunisian gauge
January 9, 2014 at 3:06:25 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #13)
 
Sherry,

Oh, well, that's different!  If you were making them just to "show," then it's understood they're only for display!    I don't mind that.  It's buying them at the store that I find very misleading.  The label says "kitchen towel," but not only are they not pretty...they're also not useful!

And for all I know, that friend's relative who made the towels didn't expect them to be used...but I think the friend used them anyway.    How she got much use out of them, I don't know, because she did not bake bread!  LOL, she wasn't much of a cook, to be honest.

That's all I can think about, too...more dishcloths.    The never-ending monotony of more dishcloths.  Sigh.

LOL, our WIPs lists have apparently found ways of reproducing all by themselves.    Mine has more than doubled.  And it's still growing. 

---