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musicandneedles
New Pal
16 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2007 : 07:46:39 AM
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I do not like Red Heart at all. It splits, and one of my skeins was tangeled horribly in the center of it. So that's what I've been working on, is untangeling it.
I don't obsess over things, I just think about them intently. :) |
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mertle
Permanent Resident
USA
1726 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 08:01:18 AM
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| What kind of Red Heart? Worsted? Light & Lofty? Bright & Lofty? |
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susan14_23
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
550 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 2:51:07 PM
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You've got a lot of company.
Susan |
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Isis Rising
Chatty Knitter
320 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 6:48:11 PM
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I've got some Trekking that's horribly tangled in the middle. I still like it, though. Red Heart serves a select purpose. Since it's so cheap, if I get a messy skein, I buy a new one.
http://isisrising.typepad.com/ |
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PBELKNAP
Permanent Resident
USA
1127 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 05:57:10 AM
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I always refer to Red Heart as the rot-gut of yarn...crocheting with it is bad enough, but knitting with it is just HORRIBLE. I do like Red Heart Soft Yarn, though.
PAM
WIP = Project Linus Baby Blankets (1), 63 Cable Squares Aghan, Scrap Sweater
Completed this year = Knitted Baby Blanket (Estonian Lullaby), Knitted Charity Squares, Top-Down Sweater, Project Linus Baby Blanket, Summer Top
If I could only do this for a living... |
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musicandneedles
New Pal
16 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 12:33:42 PM
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Yes, well when I bought it, I knew nothing of knitting (the really cool stuff you should know, I only knew basics) and I really wanted to start a scarf. The scarf was never actually made. I don't know what kind it is. I (again totally clueless) did not save my labels!  But now I know to save my labels, and never, not even if I am desperate, to buy Red Heart. It feels nice...but that's about it. One of my skeins was even horridly tangled, and it was so bad I had to throw alot away.....[whatever]
I don't obsess over things, I just think about them intently. :) |
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llinn
honorary angel
USA
1650 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2007 : 1:50:31 PM
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Actually, no pull skein is ever tangled.
They are wound onto a long mandrill, just as if you were winding by hand with a nostepinne. No one stops, wraps the yarn in different directions and over and under to create tangles. Doesn't happen.
What LOOKS like tangles happens because the little bitty hairs that stick out from the spun yarn get overly friendly with the little bitty hairs on a piece of yarn nearby and grab hold or as you are pulling out the middle, one loop grabs onto another piece of the yarn and creates a "situation". No tangles, NEVER
So, honestly, if you remember it isn't tangled and can't be, you can approach the situation better. Because as soon as you start going over and under, you've created the potential for real tangles and knots, and will be doomed to go over and under forever.
First off, pulling from the center of a pull skein is always the best idea (as least as far as I'm concerned since I hate skeins rolling around on the floor). Look at the end of a pull skein. You should be able to see that it is a roll and find the center. Stick your fingers into the center as if you are trying to convince a toddler to give up a teeny piece of Lego. Go in pretty deep and look for the inside end. If you see it--whooo-hoo, pull it out and you're done. If not, just grab the smallest clump possible and pull it out. Now look into the center of that. Find the end and pull and go. If worst comes to worst, unwind from the outside of the center clump until you spot the end and can proceed as usual.
This works on those nasty little round pull balls the fancy yarns ar put up into. They're all "pull skeins" theoretically.
If you're working with big acrylic skeins like 8 oz or one pound put ups, as you get close to the end the skein will collapse and begin again to pull out huge clumpy snots. Your best bet is to give up and wind the last of the yarn into a new ball to keep things under control.
Llinn |
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musicandneedles
New Pal
16 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2007 : 7:54:12 PM
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Well I did pull from the center of the skein and it was still tangeled on the inside. I was rolling it into a ball, and a huge tangle pulled out with the string, and it was a horrible mess.
I don't obsess over things, I just think about them intently. :) |
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azknitter
Honorary Angel
5539 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2007 : 8:39:43 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by musicandneedles
Well I did pull from the center of the skein and it was still tangeled on the inside. I was rolling it into a ball, and a huge tangle pulled out with the string, and it was a horrible mess.
I don't obsess over things, I just think about them intently. :)
Yup, I'd say that was tangled....and you're not alone, I've had plenty of tangled yarn just like that.
Trish |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2007 : 9:01:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by llinn
Actually, no pull skein is ever tangled.
They are wound onto a long mandrill, just as if you were winding by hand with a nostepinne. No one stops, wraps the yarn in different directions and over and under to create tangles. Doesn't happen.
What LOOKS like tangles happens because the little bitty hairs that stick out from the spun yarn get overly friendly with the little bitty hairs on a piece of yarn nearby and grab hold or as you are pulling out the middle, one loop grabs onto another piece of the yarn and creates a "situation". No tangles, NEVER
So, honestly, if you remember it isn't tangled and can't be, you can approach the situation better. Because as soon as you start going over and under, you've created the potential for real tangles and knots, and will be doomed to go over and under forever.
First off, pulling from the center of a pull skein is always the best idea (as least as far as I'm concerned since I hate skeins rolling around on the floor). Look at the end of a pull skein. You should be able to see that it is a roll and find the center. Stick your fingers into the center as if you are trying to convince a toddler to give up a teeny piece of Lego. Go in pretty deep and look for the inside end. If you see it--whooo-hoo, pull it out and you're done. If not, just grab the smallest clump possible and pull it out. Now look into the center of that. Find the end and pull and go. If worst comes to worst, unwind from the outside of the center clump until you spot the end and can proceed as usual.
This works on those nasty little round pull balls the fancy yarns ar put up into. They're all "pull skeins" theoretically.
If you're working with big acrylic skeins like 8 oz or one pound put ups, as you get close to the end the skein will collapse and begin again to pull out huge clumpy snots. Your best bet is to give up and wind the last of the yarn into a new ball to keep things under control.
Llinn
Llinn, I know you have a sense of humor and sometimes we don't always get it, but I have to ask, ARE YOU KIDDING???
No tangles if you pull from the center? Not in the world I live in. I've knitted for over forty years and I've had every kind of yarn from Red Heart to Zara to top flight Italian mohair tangle on me from a center pull. Not always, but enough that I know a tangle when I see it.
It can happen.
M L
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agnesgooch
Gabber Extraordinaire
570 Posts |
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Atavistic
Permanent Resident
6604 Posts |
Posted - 05/26/2007 : 1:54:01 PM
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Maybe things shouldn't be able to tangle, but if it looks like a tangle and tangos like a tangle, it's a tangle.
Amanda Takes Off... and Amanda Knits
Hand and foot when harmonized forms martialism/but Military and literary when harmonized is art and this brings/philosophy. (Lee, Chang Hoo) |
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llinn
honorary angel
USA
1650 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 5:04:14 PM
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I need to explain myself better. It isn't tangled, because (at least to me and we know how anal I am) because the yarn was laid down in a smooth order, never going under or over another strand. A pull skein is made by using a dropper (it looks like the wire on a ball winder with the hole for the yarn to go through). The dropper travels back and forth on a shaft so that if it was just going on the floor, you would be sort of accordian folding the strand of yarn.
The yarn goes onto a mandrill which is just a plain metal shaft. It rotates rather quickly and the yarn is wound from one end to the other in what winds up (bad pun) looking like a figure eight.
For you spinners, it looks exactly like a woolee winder action filling a bobbin. No tangles, but it can create some interesting chaos.
The yarn is fed over several sets of rollers to try and maintain tension, but it's really really hard to be absolutely consistant. So what happens is that outside layers might be tighter than inside layers. Just about any spun yarn has little escapist fibers sticking out of the spun part and those little fibers can grab hold of their neighbors and cling like barnacles on a ducks backside.
But it isn't tangled per se, it's just irritating. Use your fingers and sort of fluff the big blob and then tug on the inside end. Repeat this two or three times until the inside end starts to run. If it snags again, repeat. It isn't tangled it's just plain giving you a hard time.
It's pronounced mandrill, but I haven't checked the spelling in 25 years or so. Heck, I forgot Latin and Spanish in less than 5 years. Spelling is absolutely condition.
Llinn |
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LittleMousling
Permanent Resident
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2007 : 7:15:51 PM
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I'd suggest, if we're arguing about vocabulary: it isn't/can't be knotted, but it can sure as heck be tangled.
-Molly, obsessive but not exclusive socknitter
Stash photos, FOs and a sock recipe |
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Atavistic
Permanent Resident
6604 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2007 : 01:48:24 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by llinn
Spelling is absolutely condition.
I am exhausted and don't know exactly what that means, but m-w.com came to the rescue.
http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandril
It's a variant spelling of mandrel.
And Molly seems to have it right with "tangle."
Main Entry:
1tan·gle Listen to the pronunciation of 1tangle
Verb:
transitive verb 1 : to involve so as to hamper, obstruct, or embarrass 2 : to seize and hold in or as if in a snare : entrap 3 : to unite or knit together in intricate confusion intransitive verb 1 : to interact in a contentious or conflicting way 2 : to become entangled
Noun:
1: a tangled twisted mass : snarl2 a: a complicated or confused state or condition b: a state of perplexity or complete bewilderment3: a serious altercation : dispute4: neurofibrillary tangle
Amanda Takes Off... and Amanda Knits
Hand and foot when harmonized forms martialism/but Military and literary when harmonized is art and this brings/philosophy. (Lee, Chang Hoo) |
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knottyknitter
Permanent Resident
USA
3702 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2007 : 06:38:11 AM
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OK - let's just call it a "big blob" and say it has "blobbed itself" :)
I know what Llin is saying. If you don't get aggressive with thess "blobs" and gently work with them, they will usually unblob themselves. However, if you treat it like a knot and work at it too aggressively you often make things worse because it is not knotted.
http://blog.kittyknitter.com
My blog at Kitty's Knitterbox |
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musicandneedles
New Pal
16 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2007 : 4:14:17 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by knottyknitter
OK - let's just call it a "big blob" and say it has "blobbed itself" :)
I know what Llin is saying. If you don't get aggressive with thess "blobs" and gently work with them, they will usually unblob themselves. However, if you treat it like a knot and work at it too aggressively you often make things worse because it is not knotted.
http://blog.kittyknitter.com
My blog at Kitty's Knitterbox
Yeah. I'm a new knitter, so that kind of common sense isn't drilled into my head......I can get too aggressive sometimes.
I don't obsess over things, I just think about them intently. :) |
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imageforlife
New Pal
34 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2007 : 08:31:06 AM
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Here's my 2 cents on Red Heart. I (being the thrifty shopper I am) purchased the Super Saver in orange and various other colors when I first learned to knit. Wool scared me and was twice the price for half the yardage. My first knitting project was an orange scarf and I gifted it to my dad. Well, either dad really loves me or he doesn't care what he wears (I like to think it's the former:) and he has worn that scarf every time there's a little chill outside. It's so ugly....garter stitch with stockinette stripes so it curls and stretches all along the scarf.....fugly.
But then I broke down after reading the yarn harlot's knitting rules! book and purchased some patons yarn. Although I have moved on to bigger and better yarns (ie. more expensive) I have to say that patons is by far my favorite....although cascade's eco-wool is quite lovely too. |
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Nitaks2
Warming Up
USA
73 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 02:37:43 AM
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Well,I've knitted and crocheted with Red Heart. It's affordable. Major plus in my book...-can't beat $2.25 a skein with five or seven ounces in contrast to the tiny,more expensive skeins of yarns.
I crocheted Mom an afghan with the Red Heart,and, she tells me that it's held up very well...what with Mom using it, I've napped under it, and, my second cousin,Duane, or "Little Man" (Or Little Britches,as I call him) has tested it as extensively as a sixteen month old can!!! So,it must not be THAT bad a product!!
(Then again, the first baby blankie I kntted him is his favorite "Peek a boo" toy..(He walks around Mom's apt. with it over his head expecting us to play Peek a boo with him!)
Nita |
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Cecioboe
Seriously Hooked
USA
824 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 06:22:31 AM
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I also do not like most Red Heart yarns either, but my Mom knits afghans from it and they are indestructable, easy to wash and dry and feel really soft and cozy. It is good for some things.
Ceci
Aw, gee, c'mon and see: http://knittinreed.blogspot.com
Cecioboe on Ravelry |
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Schnitzel
Chatty Knitter
213 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2007 : 08:37:48 AM
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| I have to put in my two cents worth here. About 6 years ago, when I was just getting back into knitting, I made 2 afghans with Red Heart worsted. Almost immediately, it began pilling and little blobs of yarn would be found on the floor. Tried washing it several different ways, nothing helped. Wrote to manufacturers and they said it "never" happens and I should mail the afghans to them and they would give me credit to buy new yarn. Are you kidding? Why would I want to spend the money to mail this to them and then buy their yarn again! No Red Heart for me!! Susan |
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Red Heart
