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denmark
Gabber Extraordinaire
377 Posts |
 Posted - 09/22/2005 : 5:17:37 PM
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I saw a scarf made with a single skein of this yarn...pretty! And since I was looking for an easy project that had an elegant look, I plunked down the $30.00. It is a two-ply yarn made of one ply rayon, one ply mohair. What a pain to knit with, as the rayon stretched, and the mohair remained taut. I actually had to maintain tension threading the different plies through different fingers. Not impossible, but certainly not the relaxing, mindless project I had hoped for! Still, it IS pretty and I know I'll enjoy wearing it!
Beth |
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knitterlady
Chatty Knitter
USA
129 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2005 : 05:02:25 AM
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| I had the same experience with La Boheme. It's gorgeous yarn, but nearly impossible to keep the two strands at the same place in the colorway. And if you ever have to frog or tink, good luck with that. There are other yarns on the market that give you the same effect without all the hassle. |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2005 : 4:57:46 PM
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Yes, La Boheme can be a royal pain but it is so pretty when worked up. I told myself when I did a shawl/stole out of it that I wouldn't work with it again. However, I would. I was fortunate enough to get a great deal of Fiesta yarn at their outlet so didn't pay the full retail price, that might have made the experience more distressing!
However, I would use it again if I could get my hands on it at a decent price, glutton for punishment that I am!
M L
Others may ask, "What's in your wallet?" But I ask, "What's on your needles?" |
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Dehbi
New Pal
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - 10/01/2005 : 8:09:13 PM
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I've made several shawls with La Boheme. I think the key is to relax and not worry about the colorways of the two different yarns lining up perfectly. My shawls turned out beautifully. Since the dyers are colorists, I trust their color combinations and it really did not matter to me that things would shift in that way.
I think that you probably have to have two different colored yarns of the same fiber to avoid that shifting... or you can relax and just allow that shifting of the colors to be a design feature. |
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denmark
Gabber Extraordinaire
377 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 03:30:39 AM
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Actually, it wasn't the shifting colorways that gave me trouble; I never even tried (or thought about!) keeping that even. It was the stretching of the rayon ply versus the stable mohair ply that made this yarn difficult to work with...how do you prevent this?
Beth |
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KL
Permanent Resident
6041 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 06:16:31 AM
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| Did you hand wind it or on a ball winder? We adjust the yarns by hand when winding and it seems to help- big pain in the a-- but ultimately woth it. |
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Trina
Permanent Resident
USA
1871 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 07:22:06 AM
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I made a shawl with La Boheme & had no problems with it. I was told when I bought it, not to use my swift, but to wind it by hand into a ball. I did & it worked fine. I would use it again- the colors are absolutely gorgeous.
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
-Langston Hughes |
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denmark
Gabber Extraordinaire
377 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 07:42:27 AM
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Interesting! Never thought about the hand vs. swift/winder variation. My LYS owner offered to wind it for me in the store (w/the swift/winder), because it could be troublesome, so that's the way I went. Now I know!
Thanks!
Beth |
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CPAknit
Seriously Hooked
USA
737 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2005 : 06:24:03 AM
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I made the Waterfall scarf in Knitters with LaBoheme and a silk yarn. I had wound it on my swift (I had a little problem with the first skein until I figured out what was going on with the yarn)- but didn't really worry about the colors matching throughout. I just kept the yarn loose as I knit it, so as not to pull the LaBoheme tight. The colors and texture turned out great.
Cindy |
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Lorli
New Pal
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 10:53:45 AM
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| I had the same experience when I used La Boheme to make the short kimono jacket in a Vogue Knitting last year. I got so tired of having long loops of one of the stands - and of running out of one strand when there was quite a bit left of the other. The stripes of Kokopelli were a relief, and I was so glad to finish it. Pretty, but never again. |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 11:54:50 AM
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The best advice for successfully (read: not wanting to kill yourself) working with this yarn is to separate the plies and wind TWO balls - one of each fiber - and knit them stranded. That way, everybody gets to stretch however they wish without leaving big loops in the other yarn.
Lissa
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a
revolutionary act. -- George Orwell
Oh, and I now have a blog:http://knittnlissa.typepad.com/knittnlissa/ |
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anderknit
Permanent Resident
USA
2557 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 2:07:16 PM
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Interesting discussion and advice. I just started a scarf with this stuff, and here's what the inside of the yarn band says - always use a swift when winding - keep the yarn taut. Do NOT try to separate the two strands - it will cause tangling and hours (in bold) of frustration. So I gamely went ahead and began the scarf. Ball 1 worked fine. I just tried to attach Ball 2, and everything everyone has said is happening to me. The strands are "off" so the colors don't match up - the rayon boucle is loopy everywhere. If I continue, it will be ridiculous - half the scarf will look one way, half the scarf another. So I will frog back to where I attached the second ball, and try to rewind it - slowly and with a better match. NEVER AGAIN!!!!
(By the way, someone posted that there are other yarns which yield the same effect but are much easier to use. PLEASE TELL US - WHAT OTHER YARNS???)
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' " |
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anderknit
Permanent Resident
USA
2557 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 2:08:33 PM
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PS - Mohair up my nose, mohair in my contacts, mohair in my mouth. Blach!
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' " |
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TaraGel
Chatty Knitter
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2005 : 5:20:15 PM
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| I have to admit, I expected but had no problems with La Boheme. Could be because I used a loose stitch pattern--the wave stitch. It really looked lovely when finished and perhaps the yarn behaved because of the drop stitches? |
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