#rhss

[journeyman-tier-fibercraft]

Machine washed all my recent swatches. I should've taken a before photo for all of them but I forgor. Most of these have noticeable wrinkling which if I were more patient I would've controlled against. But at the end of the day if I'm going to make either a blanket or a sweater out of an machine dry-able yarn, I'm going to throw it in the dryer and live with whatever comes out.

Since I intend for this to be a master post for these swatches for me to refer back to, I'll update in a couple days with any that noticeably change gauge/get less wrinkled with relaxation. (Which I do expect, the "washed gauge" listed below should be taken with a grain of salt)

Willow Yarns Daily DK in Coffee (left), Willow Yarns Daily Worsted in Pomegranate (right)

Daily Dk swatch; 36 Stitches wide, US 6 (4.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 24 stitches by 33 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 24 stitches by 36 rows (per 4 inches)

Daily Worsted swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 7 (4.5mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 22 stitches by 29 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 22 stitches by 31 rows (per 4 inches)

Notes: These two value wools held up as expected to the washer/dryer. That is, not as well as Wool of the Andes Superwash (WotAS), but not Terribly. Putting WotAS through a cleaning cycle resulted in very little change in how the final product looked, there's a little pilling but the actual stitches are very clearly defined. With the Willow line, it's like the actual yarn is superwash (I'm able to unply the tails on these swatches fairly easily) but there's a halo around the yarn that is non superwash and thus felting. It doesn't seem to effect the actual fabric much, but it does make these swatches look more "aged" in comparison to the socks I knit out of WotAS even tho these swatches have only had one washer cycle and the socks have had multiple + wear. It's very possible that with a wool cycle washer/dryer, the surface felting would be less pronounced.

Premier Basix in Mahogany, Herrschners Supreme Worsted in Carmine

Premier Basix swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 8 (5.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 18 stitches by 26 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 18 stitches by 27 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; The name does not lie, basic as hell value acrylic. Didn't get incredibly softer in the wash and feels very "sturdy" for value acrylic. Good stitch definition tho.

Herrschners Supreme Worsted swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 8 (5.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 20 stitches by 26 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 20 stitches by 26 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; Possibly the most accurate Caron Simply Soft dupe I've ever seen. If I didn't hate that yarn I would be more impressed. Good drape for a worsted acrylic and impressive stitch definition.

Herrschners 2-ply Classic Afghan in Almond, Herrschners Baby Wonder in Sandbox

Herrschners 2-ply Classic Afghan swatch; 40 Stitches wide, US 4 (3.5mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 26 stitches by 33 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 26 stitches by 36 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; This yarn is worse than the Herrschners Afghan yarn in practically every way. It was less pleasant to knit (had a plastic feel), less soft overall, and the scarring from wrinkles is far more pronounced. I would be less negative about this yarn if I didn't buy the superior version in the same lot but it is what it is.

Herrschners Baby Wonder swatch; 36 Stitches wide, US 6 (4.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 23 stitches by 30 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 23 stitches by 31 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; The tension change from stockinette to garter really fucked this swatch up, it's rolling up noticeably more than the other swatches. Other than that, this yarn is pretty uneventful? It's not particularly soft nor particularly not soft. It's not something I want to rub my face on but I could wear a garment made from it without issue. The wool blend plays well with the acrylic in this yarn and the stitch definition is nice at this gauge.

Lion Brand Pound of Love in Straw, Herrschners Worsted 8 in Espresso

Lion Brand Pound of Love swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 8 (5.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 20 stitches by 26 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 20 stitches by 29 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; I do not like this yarn but I got it for extremely cheap so I decided to throw it into this swatch mix and it's still the same. Has a rough plasticy texture in comparison to the other value acrylics I tested here. My biggest problem with it continues to be how inconsistent the texture is within the same ball of yarn, in this single ball I've used it's gone from relatively soft to relatively rough and back.

Herrschners Worsted 8 swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 7 (4.5mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 20 stitches by 26 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 20 stitches by 28 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; I expected to utterly hate this yarn but I'm pleasantly surprised by it. The texture is Odd? I've not used a yarn that felt like this one for a very long time, it feels rather unenjoyable in the ball but knits up wayyy softer. I should've bought a lighter colour for this swatch since it's hard to tell the stitches from each other. I'll definitely consider using this yarn over my beloved Big Twist Value for blankets in the future.

Herrschners Afghan in Bing Cherry, Held Single (left) and Held Double (right)

Held Single swatch; 40 Stitches wide, US 4 (3.5mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 27 stitches by 35 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 27 stitches by 36 rows (per 4 inches)

Held Double swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 8 (5.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 20 stitches by 28 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 20 stitches by 29 rows (per 4 inches)

Notes: The real winner of this whole swatching is Herrschners Afghan held single. There's nothing wrong with it held double really (other than the terrible wrinkle but alas that's my fault) but held single, this yarn has incredible drape, softness, and stitch definition. For a really long time I've really wanted to knit a thin v neck sweater to replace one I had a good decade ago, but I've not found a yarn that would be worth the cost (both currency and labor) to justify knitting a sweater in my size at such small gauge. But This yarn absolutely hits that mark. A few negatives; Mild sheen (personal dislike, tho it's not terrible in this yarn). Had the most knots of any of the yarns I tested (I believe there was 3 total, 2 in one ball, 1 in the other). Center pulling this yarn was NOT fun, had major yarn barf that really wanted to tangle in on itself for one of the balls and the yarn is so light and airy it was hard to untangle.

Herrschners Aran in Heather, Premier Anti Pilling Everyday in Walnut

Herrschners Aran swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 7 (4.5mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 20 stitches by 28 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; 20 stitches by 28 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; Terrible. yarn. The nicest thing I can say about it is that I like the colour and that it holds it's shape well. It feels like the world's scratchiest wool but clearly made out of plastic and broken dreams. I've never had an acrylic yarn make my hands itch before. The only thing I could realistically see using this yarn for is something like baskets/yarn bowls.

Premier Anti Pilling Everyday swatch; 30 Stitches wide, US 8 (5.0mm) needles Unwashed Gauge; 19 stitches by 25 rows (per 4 inches) Washed Gauge; stitches by 27 rows (per 4 inches) Notes; The other yarn that reminded me of Caron Simply Soft but not nearly as impressive as the Herrschners Supreme Worsted. It does feel more sturdy than the Supreme Worsted but is maybe half as soft with a much worse drape. The only way I would buy this yarn again is if it was dirt cheap, otherwise it doesn't bring anything to the table that other yarns don't but better (other than maybe being anti pilling, tho I've never had a real issue with pilling from my value acrylics).

[thisbibliomaniac]

"oh yeah that yarn softens up in the wash :)" okay but it's leaving blisters on my hands right now :)

[quillyfied]

Today on adventures in crochet: found a super cool skull granny square pattern! Also found a super simple bag pattern and thought, I can make a bag from this super cool skull granny square! Spent two and a half hours doing math and color piecing before realizing this granny square is probably not a good thing to use to make a bag with!!! I’m fine!!!! :’)

[toytulini]

miniature crochet clown cloak experiment 1

pattern i more or less followed is here:

i made some alterations, mainly, the scale

[anadiasmount]

HEYY fellow Latina here (Mexico) can you do something with like helping jude with his Spanish

HAII! 🤍 i’m from colombia 😋!! and ofc ofc! i did a fic sorta based with the idea of slightly teaching him spanish here!

“jude you have roll your r’s,” you say then show him again with your tongue. “rhss…” he attempted that made you grimace then laugh. “stop making fun of me! i’ll never get this!” he groaned and got up from his seated position headed to the kitchen. “yes you will! just watch how i do it, it’s simple just be kind sassy with it.”

“rrrrr,” he tried again slowly, taking a sip from his water bottle. “they’re you go! okay now slowly say this, ‘la rosa es roja’,” you motioned with your hand for him to say it slowly and to feel the r in his tongue. “la rosuh ez rrrojuha,” he moved his head while saying but getting wrong, making you smack your forehead.

“rosa has one r not a sassy r,” you reminded him hearing a ‘blah blah’ drop from his lips.

“try that again. and then we will say ‘me puedes ayudar a encontrar este restaurante’, okay?”

while your move to spain was a easy and smooth transition for the two of you. jude insisted and found it hard to communicate in spanish, already knowing and learning the basics like “hola. cómo estás? muy bien. gol. buenos dias, tardes, noches.” he just wanted to jump in and already know the language.

jude had not known you had latin/hispanic decent till you told him your full name and background. if he wasn’t in love then, he fell for you more. wanting to know about your traditions, beliefs, culture, food and dance. he would ask you later on to teach you spanish. but the spanish you spoke was slightly different to the one in spain. he didn’t care, he just wanted to communicate with the media, but most importantly one day with your family.

jude did not anticipate for the lessons yet to come. you taking it completely serious and printing papers of the alphabet and numbers, and some sentences to repeat over and over again. your afternoons that are once filled with cuddles and movies, now we’re sitting in the kitchen and going over the material.

you found his accent absolutely adorable, the cheeky grin he would have, how his íntense gaze stared into yours, his index finger guiding him as he pronounced the sentence and going over the words. “let’s make a deal. for every sentence you say right, i’ll give you a kiss. but if you don’t, then we’re going to repeat it in another way. so focus.”

this was way better than duolingo jude thought, paying attention to how you said every sentence and keeping in mind which words you said with power and aggression. out of the five sentences you wrote down for him he got three right. but you couldn’t stand the small pout so you just gave him a kiss to feel better.

over the next few months he could understand you, either asked you to slow down or repeat it, and you would try your best to make him understand. “okay jude, para la cena quieres carne o pollo? también puedo hacer una ensalada?” you said in spanish hearing jude’s footsteps follow you to the kitchen.

jude thought about his answer before slowly responding back to you, “yo quie-e-ro pollo con ensalada. per-r-ro no lechugaaa, mejor espinaca.” you gave him a shocked looked before peppering kisses all over his face.

“LO HICISTE AMOR! ESTOY ORGULLOSA DE TI!”

jude’s heart warmed when you called him “love” and told him you were proud of him. “gracias a ti,” he thanked you before going over and retrieving the chicken and spinich to make dinner.

if you thought his spanish was better then, it was even better now. seated at your parents anniversary, jude’s leg bounced up and down. “relájate, todo saldrá bien,” you reassured him, jude giving you soft eyes and placing a kiss to your temple. “segura? mi español todavía no bueno.”

“eso no importa. ya te aman, y vas aprendiendo.”

when you started dating he couldn’t understand anything you or your parents said. he felt left out and often wondered what exactly you were talking about but now? here he was talking in complete sentences in front of your whole family. your cousins staring at him in a daze, your mother smiling at him, your dad talking to him about football.

“if it wasn’t for you, i wouldn’t be able to do this. this was all i wanted. to communicate with your mom and dad. so thank you so much princesa, te amo de aquí hasta la luna si no mas,” jude whispered along your lips, making you bite your lip as you teared up.

“te amo a ti, mi bello.”

[inkstars1138]

The blanket for my hubs @radwolf76 ‘s birthday that took me a year (mostly procrastinating) to get finished. Garter stitch squares in RHSS Polo Stripe and Grape Fizz, Moon squares in the same with I Love This Yarn Menthe moons and stars, connected with zigzag slipstich in RHSS Black Metallic and arcade stitch edging in RHSS Black Gold Metallic. Whew! Jinxy approved.

Sun and Moon Squares: https://ko-fi.com/s/9eef1b3a37 I learned the arcade stitch from Winding Road Crochet.

[kiefbowl]

If you soak Red Heart Super Saver yarn-made projects in conditioner (like soooo much conditioner, like a whole bottle. You want the project to be the colour of the yarn) and soak it for maybe a couple hours, rinse and wash in washing machine/dry in dryer it will be beyond soft (like unbelievably soft). I made some wedding gift blankets using RHSS using the above (there are more detailed instructions online if you look) and was blown away by the results.

thanks for the tip :)

[pinkboyfriend]

she's a little wonky but i love her anyways 😵‍💫 pattern here. yarn is RHSS Stripes (Candy Stripe) & Solids (off-black).

[six-demon-crafting]

seasonal! fun little pumpkins

these are just a rectangle of blo and then cinched together.

🧶 might have been this pattern? all in RHSS except maybe the orange which might have been chaos-stash

[0xo]

not the greatest pic but i made a blanket for my grandma <3 she made me an afghan when i was a kid - i wanted to return the favor. i found a vintage patternbook published the year that she was my age, loved the one featured on the cover, and decided to make it for her! it's filet crochet, about 4.5 jumbo skeins of rhss. she loves it and said nobody had ever made her an afghan before 🥹 it's my first time working filet from a chart, and my first twin size afghan, i think it came out great! took maybe two weeks with a few hours a day.

[naritaren]

I've talked about this before, but I want to back up my bitching about pattern prices in the crochet world. Patterns, once you finish all of the testing and tech writing, are basically passive income. The most work you have to do is clarify any mistakes that got through or maybe provide assistance to someone who is stuck. If your pattern is well written, you rarely have to do that. Once the pattern is posted, you can really just let it do it's thing. I don't like when patterns are super expensive because it puts a financial barrier to the hobby. I price my paid patterns at, what I feel, is a reasonable price. All of my patterns except my cardigan pattern, are 2.50. I have the mindset that a person on a limited income (like SSI/SSDI) should be able to go to Walmart and buy a skein of yarn, a cheap hook, and a pattern, all for under 10 dollars. If they already know how to crochet, they likely already have the hooks. So they can pay 4 dollars for a ball of RHSS and 2.50 dollars for a pattern and be able to make a hat or something for under 10 dollars. The only reason my cardigan pattern is 5 dollars is because it is written for sizes XS-5XL with instructions on how to make it bigger to accommodate more sizes. It also has a full video and picture tutorials for the stitches and full assembly pictures. It took considerably more work to make this pattern than my others and I felt with the size inclusivity, it made sense to raise the price on it. I also had no real choice because of how the pattern came about and I was locked into a contract with a yarn company on what I could price it. I negotiated for it to be 5 dollars. But to counter that, I also release a ton of free patterns all the time. I want this to be an accessible hobby and seeing people price shit at 10 dollars for a pdf really pisses me off. I'm just one person trying to make the hobby accessible financially, but it means a lot to me so I'm going to keep trying.

[eva-knits12]

My Current WIP's.

On the bottom in the first photo and in the second photo, the knitting project with the navy blue yarn, is the Easy Fingerless Mitts by Calypso Knits. I'm using size 6 (4 mm) double pointed needles using Loops and Threads Impeccable yarn in navy. Loops and Threads is available at Michaels.

On the to, and in the third photo, is A Simple Headband by Demi Knits.Im using size 9 (5.5 mm) 16" circular needles and the yarn is Red Heart Super Saver in black. RHSS is available at Jo-Ann's, Michaels, and Walmart.

[existentialcrafting]

Finally finished the crochet granny square “quilt” I’ve been working on!! Took me about 6 months but I really like how it turned out given I’ve never made a blanket this big before (It fits a twin bed)

The base squares are the “sunburst” granny square pattern, they’re linked together with a slip stitch through the back loops only, and the border was made with the star stitch. This took 9 skeins of RHSS Aran yarn o_o I ran it through the wash with some fabric softener, then put it in the dryer. It came out pretty soft actually!

[dollsonmain]

Even though I’m not even halfway through this blanket I’m working on for Scott I’m wanting to make another in colors that I like in a worsted (I’m using lace weight right now) afterward and I’m looking at yarns online looking for legitimate gradient/ombre yarns and finding mostly yarns that abruptly end between each color.

But I came across Red Heart Super Saver that changes color properly and one of the reviews was “I’m disappointed.” and I was like ....

You think?

RHSS is awful. It’s less awful these days than it used to be, but it’s still awful.

I’m also still trying to move away from acrylic yarn because of microplastics in the water (II say while using microfiber cloths though I’m wanting to go cotton or something instead). The yarn I’m using now is cotton acrylic blend.

But like.... RHSS is basically the only affordable yarn.

[timewasjustadream]

This is why I largely only go to Ravelry for patterns and yarn information. All these controversies really push me away from this community. I've been harassed myself and have had to block several people from seeing my patterns.

My takes, as a crocheter and knitter and pattern designer (in both):

I like the old version of the website better. The initial change did give me migraines and eye strain. I couldn't use it for several weeks until they made the other color modes. Even now, I can only use the website in dark mode.

Crochet socks.... I understand where everyone is coming from on this thread so far. I wonder what they would be like with a linen stitch. Crocheted linen stitch has much more give to it and it tends to be thinner. But it would give a lot of holes.

I only make baby blankets in acrylic. I know several people with wool allergies. And acrylic just makes sense for baby things. Babies are messy so their things will need to be cleaned, likely frequently. Acrylic is the easiest yarn to clean with minimal effort and that won't get destroyed if you aren't careful.

I have no problem with RHSS. It used to not be that good (itchy and scratchy), but now it is a lot better. I use it for afghans when I need a lot of yarn for not a lot of money. And yes, it is THE yarn that typically gets people into knitting and crochet because it is so accessible. And there's nothing bad in that.

I've encountered yarn snobs, the kind that if you knit with anything other than indie dyed yarn, you're looked down on. And the kind that will look down on you for crocheting with anything. I really don't understand this mindset. But I guess some people have to be angry at something all the time and do anything they can to feel superior. Btw, this person kept me from returning to a knitting group. I didn't want to be around them. I still don't have a knitting group.

To continue this a bit, I've also encountered this from yarn shops. Some look down on crocheters. I went to one years ago (they are closed now) that as soon as a brought out a crochet pattern that I was getting yarn for, they walked away from me and didn't talk to me for the rest of the time I was in their shop. I don't want to say that some of those negative feelings toward crocheters aren't at least somewhat justified. I've known some crocheters through the Rav community (the ones I've blocked) who create this sentiment even in me. But it's another thing to extend this sentiment to all crocheters who walk through your doors. I've seen more and more crocheted samples at stores and festivals and I like that. But our community still needs work. I visited a yarn shop in Estes Park, CO several years ago. They had a sign in their window that said, "Crochet Friendly Yarn Shop." They shouldn't have to do that. (They were a nice shop, for the record.)

I know the vast majority of people in the Rav community and yarn shops are not like this. But I just wish that everyone was more supportive and made the community more welcoming than I've experienced.

Today I found out that yarners think crocheting socks is subversive and controversial and I just…on one hand, why the fuck not, I guess yarners are allowed to have their controversies, but on the other, how much time do you have in your FUCKIN DAY??

[gardenvarietycrafts]

NaKniCroMo Day 8: Favorite (Type of) Yarn

So far my favorite yarn to knit with has actually been the Lion Brand Wool Ease, which I used to knit my sweater back in October. What I use the most is actually Joann's brand of acrylic worsted yarn or RHSS, because they're fairly inexpensive, or merino wool yarns, because I've been gifted several balls through the years, but I haven't really knit or crocheted with one yarn consistently enough to have a favorite brand.