I somehow found myself volunteering to knit an afghan square for a friend of a stranger. This happens a lot on Ravelry, but usually not to me. But whatever, I found myself saying yes, I'd participate, and happily, the stranger whose friend would be the recipient said the recipient wanted easy care, so off to Joann's I went. A skein of Caron's Simply Soft was found in the appropriate color, and I cast on for a simple double moss stitch square. I even hit gauge right off the bat. Easy. I'll whip this sucker out in an evening or two!
And then, about a third of the way through the square, I tugged on the center-pull skein, and an enormous tangled clot of yarn gushed out.
No problem, I think. I'm good at untangling these things! And I started gently teasing out the tangles. And there were more tangles, and more tangles, and an entire gory episode of Game of Thrones passed while I fought with this yarn. Not a stitch was knit for an hour. I just untangled. And untangled. And oh, that GoT ending was awful. And still, I untangled.
I untangled most of the clot, and found that somehow, some way, the knot at the center was sort of fused on itself - it's like the yarn was actually melded together. I know my gentle, patient untangling didn't cause that, so I had to think it happened at the center of the skein in manufacture, and caused the barfing of the entire innards of the skein (very appropriate while watching this GoT, I must say).
So I cut the yarn, tied a nice neat granny knot at the edge of the square (double moss stitch hid it perfectly) and proceeded. For five minutes. Until the skein collapsed from the OUTSIDE, and a fistful of loops dissolved over the working strand and proceeded to strangle it.
And I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to undo this, before I realized that I'd wasted my evening on it already, and I have better things to do with my time. Sometimes you just have to declare that it's time to fuck this shit.
The yarn is in the trash. FUCK THAT SHIT. Caron's Simply Shit shall never darken this door again.
If the spur of the moment afghan plan ever comes to fruition, it'll have to do it without me. The Knitting Gods say no, and I have too many other things to do.
Grrr. That yarn did NOT want to be a double moss stitch square! I've got a sweater that only lacks sleeves that has been in 'timeout' for several months.
ReplyDeleteI work in my LYS and I swear that there are skeins/balls of yarn that just really want to tangle, and no matter how you handle them, that is what they are destined to do. I'm glad Murphy is doing better---my Hannah had a little "digestive upset" on Friday, and she seems to be back to normal, too. She is twelve, and even though she has been in good health up to now, I was dreading what the vet might have to say if I took her in. She is extremely pitiful when she is sick---she expects to be wrapped in a towel and held like a baby while she naps. Rocking is optional.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this skein was just cursed. It looked sweet and innocent, but there was something "off" about it that made it turn on itself and tangle for no apparent reason.
ReplyDeleteMurphy's digestive upsets are epic, and all he'll tolerate is a tummy rub. Sophie is the one who loves to be carried like a baby.