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Wrap Up

Once I finished a project with the Lpalats Long Distance Cake Ball yarn my friend B sent me to try and review I thought I'd post the results, mention any pluses or problems, and generally talk about how I liked working with the yarn.

This is the wrap I made with the yarn, which came from this free shawl pattern from Yarnspirations. Disclaimer: I did not add the final row of edging because I didn't care for how the picot stitching looked on the scallops.

The wrap took eleven days to crochet, and I really didn't have a problem with the Lpalats while making it. As I mentioned before, it's a roving style yarn, but it actually doesn't split all that easily (I assumed it would the first day I started the project.) It's soft, lightweight, and it's pretty easy to frog. The stitch definition is more decent than it should be, considering it has a fair amount of halo.

Overall I enjoyed working with it, although there were two sizeable problems with the yarn that would make me hesitate to purchase more.

The problems are factory knots, and abrupt color changes after the knots. I encountered four knots in three skeins of the yarn, and the color changed so quickly and inconsistently that it created smaller stripes in the gradient, like the green here. Now, I could have fussy cut the yarn to make the transitions more uniform, but I don't do that. I don't mind the smaller stripes on something I'm going to use, but if I were making this as a gift or for sale it would be an issue.

Also, the color changes with the knots do not follow the gradient schematic of the yarn, so you get somewhat jarring repeats like the cream here.

Because it was too long for my handwashing basin I laundered the wrap in my washing machine in a lingerie bag with cold water. It came out fine and without any shrinkage, likely due to the acrylic content. It did look like it was ready to pill with the halo starting to clump. Because of the cotton content I hung it to dry. Because I own a million wraps already I will likely give it to my friend or donate it.

I'm not sure if I agree with the length of the skeins, either. This is all the yarn I have left after making the wrap (and the labels say each skein has 240.5 yards of yarn). The pattern notes claim the wrap requires 945 yards of yarn -- that's also why I chose this pattern, so I could use up all the yarn -- so I should have had only 17 yards of yarn left. Instead I have at least 300 yards. Either the pattern is wrong, or the Lapalats yarn has more yardage in the skein than what's on the label.

I'm glad I got the chance to try this yarn. It's soft and the colors are pretty. I think it has some merits, especially given the type of fiber it is. Yet after making this project, and encountering two big problems with the yarn, I'm not going to recommend it. Your mileage may vary, of course, especially if you don't mind factory knots and color shifts that disrupt the gradient.

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