Another on the Side

I'm in the midst of another arthritis flare, so I decided to get in a little more crochet with a side project using some of the yarn from my Herrschner's mystery bag. The very light gray yarn is super soft, but what weight is it? Bulky? Super Bulky? Since there is no information on the bag other than the weight and care instructions, we'll have to do a test.

This is called the wraps per inch test -- you wrap your yarn around something like a pencil or other object with a consistent width) and count how many times you can wrap your yarn around an inch of it. I just use my quilting ruler since it has the inches already marked. My gray yarn wrapped six times.

According to the Craft Yarn Council, that means the yarn is either bulky or super bulky, so I have to choose. Based on my experience with yarns I'd say it's a light super bulky.

Although I like to use an 8mm hook with super bulky yarn, everyone has their own preference, abnd there's usually a range. If you're following a pattern you should use the hook that works with the gauge in the instructions.

Working with the mystery yarn really helped loosen up my fingers, and unlike most super bulky yarns it's quite soft and has a delightful hand. I'm making up a smaller version of the big beautiful basket, and if I have enough yarn I might make two.

By the way, I lined one of the baskets I thrifted with a vintage pillow sham, and it makes a perfect project bin now.

Image credit: the screenshot of the wraps per inch chart came from that page on the Craft Yarn Council's web site.

Comments

On the Beach

Last week my guy and I went to walk Daytona Beach, which was mostly (and eerily) deserted. This is what our beaches used to look like when I was a kid. It was a beautiful day, cold and breezy but calm. It feels like 2026 is getting off to the right start.

Eight Plus Numbers

When I was looking up the retail on the small lot of yarn plus a tapestry kit I got a lot of surprises. This Red Heart Roll with It Sparkle skein in "Diamonds" was actually a cake that sells $10.99 on Yarnspirations. The lot included two Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo skeins, which retail for $8.99 each, and stuck in the center of the buff color I found a 5.5 mm crochet hook. This is a skein of 100% Icelandic wool, which can be really expensive. It's marked with a price tag of $7.00, and I found it selling for $8.00 online. The needlepoint kit is the biggest surprise of all. It makes a pillow, and hails from the UK, where it sells for £45.00 ($60.76 US). Since it's flamingos I definitely have to finish it if I can. Altogether my eight plus lot retails for $125.04; I paid $21.30 total for the lot with the buy-it-now option and one penny shipping. I indeed got a very nice bargain.

Halfway Month Blues

Last week I realized on the 14th that two weeks of 2026 flew right by me, and right now I'm writing during the third week. I wanted to be finished with more projects by now, but life and work have to come first. I think this might be when most crocheters start a new shiny project to boost their spirits. Not me. I kept working away at my first project for the year, and here's why: I don't like being surrounded by unfinished things. I also tend to get fatigued and abandon projects more easily if I've left them by the wayside to do something else. Finally, the payoff of the finished project gives me a much better spirit boost than messing around with several projects at the same time. I have a couple of strategies for sticking to working on one project at a time, which I can use to keep myself focused on reaching the finish line. Planning my next project is probably what I do most often by pulling the yarn from my stash, getting out the printed pattern for the...

Thrifty Crochet

Search This Blog