Praise for Berocco

Two summers ago, I bought 6 skeins of Berocco Comfort Chunky in a lovely scarlet red, and 4 skeins of the same in white.

I was going to make a cardigan out of it.

During the construction process, I noticed that the red tended to get everywhere... on the white yarn, on white shirts, and all that. I shrugged it off and kept going, finishing the cardigan and wearing it a bit.

Fast forward to earlier this year, and I realized I wasn't wearing the cardigan, so I decided to rip it up and make a different one using a different stitch and a different pattern. But the colour bleed still concerned me, so I asked around, going so far as to email Berocco to ask what to do about the bleeding.

They suggested vinegar, but also said that the bleeding was likely only to get worse after I washed it. And they then replaced my yarn with Vintage Chunky.

Through the entire process, which took a week at most, they were nice and pleasant about it, as was I. I like the yarn, and still like the sweater, BUT... the bleeding is going to likely annoy me.

However, directly dealing with the yarn company has definitely made me feel better about using their product, at least.

Eve's Rib Tunic - Current Primary WIP

Eve's Rib Tunic by Doris Chan in Manos Silk Blend.

As of present posting, the yoke is done, and I'm working on the body of the sweater. The body itself only covers down to about the top half of my breasts. NOT a look I was going for so I am definitely going to keep going.

I'm using an I hook and changed the ch2 to ch1 in the shell pattern so that the spaces are smaller.

I started this project with 7 skeins of Manos Silk Blend... I have just started skein 3, and am setting aside 1 skein each for each sleeve, and 1 skein for the cowl neck.

Update on WIPs - 15 May 2011

Currently In Progress:

Eve's Rib Tunic - I'm now working on the body rounds after getting through the yoke relatively painlessly. I need to decide relatively soon, I think, how long I want the sleeves to be, and how much of a cowl neck I want in the sweater too.

Stella in Laceweight - This project got taken out because it was 90F outside for most of this week... which I can't stand. That warm is going to mean I don't REALLY want to work on heavy wool projects...

Amigurumi - This seems to be the project I go to when I don't really want to work on anything else...

On Hiatus -

Three Way Wrap - it's still taking me too long, and with the weather warming up, I think I'll put this one aside for a bit.

Effort in the heat

The Wisconsin Colour Cardigan is finished.

I decided not to add a hood to it, but just made a short collar instead.

Given that it is done in a bulky yarn, and it was 95F yesterday... this officially is TOO HOT to wear the sweater.

So...

Instead, I'm bringing out my lace-weight project... (technically 2 strands of cobweb weight)

The sweater that has taken over my life.

I have the sleeves to finish (yes, I'm technically working on both of them at the same time), a hood to add because I want one, and then the edging before it's all done.

Or, should I say RE-done?

The sweater fits better now than it did and I'm thinking I will likely wear this when the weather goes back to not being gawdawful (read: spring and summer)...

The yarn bleeds, though... I wrote Berocco about it and they're sending me replacement yarn that is partially wool... for free. At least, I THINK it's free.

Well, I'll see what I make out of it, I guess.

I need to finish this because otherwise nothing else will get done.

WIP update - 06 May 2011

WIP:

All my energy seems to be going into the re-make of the jersey-sweater... Everything else has gone by the wayside.

On the bright side, though... I'm on the sleeves now and likely won't have that much more.