Bulky Yarn Shortcomings

Since I have a lot of bulky weight yarn in my stash now I thought I'd try to make a few projects with the limited quantities of some of it, which led me to start with one full and a partial skein of Baby Bee Sugar Pom Pom yarn in My Fairytale that I thrifted. This yarn line has been discontinued, and was also sold exclusively by Hobby Lobby (the only craft store at which I never shop for personal reasons.)

I picked a little toiletries basket pattern and hoped I had enough to make it.

It was a slog, frankly. Bulky yarn can be a bit unwieldy for someone with dexterity issues like me, and the tight single crochet produced by the stitches and small hook the pattern required added to that problem. I'm gradually learning that if I want to work with bulky yarn, I need to use patterns with looser stitches and relax my tension more.

About halfway through the project I realized I didn't have enough yarn to complete the entire pattern, so I tweaked it by eliminating seven rows and ended up with this basket for lotions and colognes for my favorite person's bathroom. It's pretty, and used almost all of both skeins, with just this little scrap ball leftover.

Final thoughts: it's not a horrible yarn, but it's not a great one, either. The insipid color and unpleasant texture were definitely not my cup of tea. It works up incredibly stiff for what I assume was meant to be a baby yarn. For those reasons I can see why they probably had to discontinue it. If you want to thrift a small quantity of it, don't pay too much -- not worth it.

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On the Beach

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Thrifty Crochet

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