(no subject)

[the_rck]

I do need to find somebody who can educate me about yarns. I suspect that, for some of the things I'd like to do, a wool yarn would be wonderful, but I'm allergic to animal fibers. They make me itch horribly after a very short exposure (and it keeps getting worse and worse). It's bad enough that, after a few childhood experiences with Icelandic sweaters, I refused to wear any sweaters for about fifteen years (My mother was rather annoyed since she'd spent quite a bit of money on those sweaters. I was always cold, and she thought she'd found a reasonable solution. I don't know if she believes me about the allergies even now).

Basically, I want to figure out texture, weight, durability, color and washability so that I know how much to consider each in deciding what to work with. If I simply go with what my fingers like, I'll never come up with anything that can stand up to heavy use. That's okay for the scarves but not so good for rugs. On the other hand, I need to find something that won't destroy my hands while I'm working with it.

The color part of it will be a challenge because of how we've painted the basement. That lemon green will be hard to match or compliment. (And I have to admit right here that I don't much like the color. It was a compromise pick. We wanted something light because the walls have a tendency to close in down there, but we couldn't agree on a color. To be fair, however, I suspect that I'd hate any color that I spent that much time putting on the walls.) Maybe I can use this as a bonding issue with my mother-in-law and/or sister-in-law. I'll have to blame the basement color on Scott since they won't hold it against him (they don't expect him to have any color sense at all), but I think they might enjoy the challenge of figuring out a reasonable match.

Comments

[chrisruser.livejournal.com]

What are you going to use the yarn for? There is such a thing as cotton rug yarn, but I never liked the texture of it myself. You can get acryllic yarns that are almost as nice as wool to touch, and they wear better & you won't have to worry about insect damage. The kind you can get at WalMart is not very good, though, you need to find a specialty shop or order by mail or on-line.

[the_rck]

What I'm thinking about at the moment is trying to create rugs to cover the floor in the finished portion of our basement. There's tile on most of the floor there at the moment, but it's just concrete for about a foot around the edges. It's ugly and hard and cold to sit on. We're trying (very long term) to set up that space as an area where I can work comfortably on reading and writing so that I don't have to either work on our bed or deal with my husband wanting the tv on all the time (I like playing music while I work, and the two really don't go together).

I've seen patterns for crocheting rugs. I didn't look too closely at what's called for since I can't even chain stitch yet. I plan to do the normal potholders first then work my way up to such a big project.

I want something I'll be comfortable sitting on that can stand up to being walked on and having furniture resting on pieces of it. I have long hair, so I'll have to be able to vacuum whatever I make.

I've been shopping at JoAnn's for my yarn so far, but there's supposed to be a yarn specialty store coming in near the grocery store where we shop.

[chrisruser.livejournal.com]

um, if you are going to crochet rugs, you might think of substituting "make small enough to throw in washing machine" for "vacuum".
Just to add another thing to think about, have you considered latch hook rugs instead? Do a google search on latch hook rug and check out some of the stuff that is available. This technique is *much* easier to learn than crochet, and makes a more luxurious rug, with more pattern options.