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The 45 Day Scarf

Back in early May I began making a scarf from the Hobbii Azalea yarn I ordered to give their fingering weight cotton/acrylic blend a try. I also used this free Aurora Scarf pattern from their website for a scarf made from one cake of Azalea. I figure it would take me two, maybe three weeks.

It took almost seven weeks to finish. I didn't work on it every night, and I set it aside a few times to work on some single-skein projects. I'd say I put in several hours on maybe 40 nights making it.

Thoughts: the gradient from green to blue is quite pretty and consistent. The pattern (definitely an easy beginner variety with rows of double crochet and chain spaces) worked up for me with no issues. I liked very much how sturdy the cake was, and how it stayed in cake form almost to the very last row.

Reservations: as I first observed this is not a yarn for novice crocheters. It is four strands of very thin thread that are not twisted together, which are quite challenging to keep in proper tension. The individual strands popped, snagged and otherwise bedeviled me in countless ways, so I'm glad I didn't choose a challenging pattern. Despite the acrylic content it has no stretch. There were tiny knots whenever the color changed; the yarn is not gradient dyed but tied.

This is all the yarn I had left once I finished the last row. I enjoyed the experience but not the slog; I have never made a wearable that took me this long (except maybe the sweater I cloned from a store display last winter.) At the same time I'm glad I tried Azalea. I will not, alas, be revisiting the experience. While I can still manage working with fingering weight yarn, I don't want to spend a month and a half doing so. Next time I think I'll skip the ambitious projects and make a hat or a pair of socks from a yarn that doesn't want to drive me crazy.

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