Phoenix Knitting Forums

I found a random ball of 4ply and decided to knit an Abby cowl. The pattern didn't contain any nasty tricks I hadn't seen before but for some reason it was a disaster! I had to frog and restart three times before deciding not to bother.

As it was supposed to be a gift for a swap on another forum I re-cast the yarn for a pair of Breeze socks. I knit a pair of these for Joannecliffe last year and really enjoyed it but this time it felt like such a chore, and I hate the finished sock. It makes me feel trypophobic Needless to say, there is no second sock and I'm ready to chuck the hateful yarn (which is perfectly fine to knit with) away!

Grrrrrr.

Not sure if its a curse exactly Minxy, but I have several yarns that come into the same category. I've concluded that you can't force yarn to be something it doesn't want to be. Let it lie a while, and it will let you know. Failing which you may have to conclude that it wants to go travelling

I had exactly the same with my Tupa; beautiful yarn, lovely to knit with, great stitch definition, but just didn't look right with any pattern I tried ... then I made the Odessa hat and all was well ...!

Yes, it can be cursed. I have a lovely ball of red Zauberball that has been used for at least three sock patterns, all frogged. It now lives in my stash until it has decided what it wants to be.

I have some Wendy Happy which is anything but
It has failed at 3 different patterns now and not only is it cursed, it is extremely UN-happy and tangles even if you look at it

Phew, I was worried it was just me! I have sent it to the stash bag with no supper to think long and hard about what it wants to be

I have some nasty pound-shop acrylics that I bought before I knew any better; they are sulking in my stash, and don't seem to want to be anything; whatever I start with them doesn't look right, and gets abandoned.

Yes Minxy - I think there's a bit of truth in that - and also you can't make a yarn into something it doesn't want to be, as has been said.



I think I have some with a similar mood to yours Alison - it's a colour that my mother absolutely loves and I've tried 3 shawl type patterns, and each time I've gone wrong and it's just getting tedious to even look at the yarn anymore it's a shame because my mother really does like it, and she shudders at the price of more expensive yarns.
There's no love between I and this yarn, and I think it knows it and is rebelling!

I think I shall have to look myself for a similar colour in a nicer yarn and then just surprise her later, and just not tell her the price!?

I think you should

I've got a similar issue with some 4-ply silk. I got about two-thirds of the way through an Ishbel with it (and each row was a slog) before I decided enough was enough and pulled it off the needles and wound it back onto the ball. I've since tried crocheting with it (ugh!) and it's now giving me mutinous looks from my WIP basket, where I put it after the latest frogging. I have no idea what, if anything, I'm going to make with this yarn.

Definitely - I bought some gorgeous Rowan Polar from Ebay for a pattern which I loved ..... until I started knitting it. The pattern just didn't work out, no matter how hard I tried so I frogged it and have tried a fair few different patterns which didn't look right either. I'm currently trying to re-knit it again and it's kind of working out ... it's a cable patterned cardi/jacket thing where the cables don't actually cross over each other but go off in diagonals from the centre. Sounds odd but I really like it, only problem is that the cables make it fairly narrow until you stretch it out so i might be stuck with only wearing it done up as it looks like wearing it undone will mean the opening will ping somewhere round my back.