Thank you Barbara for sharing your views on novelty yarn. I love novelty yarns for novelties! I was needing a simple heart with fluffy novelty yarn when I watch this! Lol. Bunnies, bears, toys are great uses for novelty, yarn! I do also like using them as texture in shhawls!
Nice video! I have this discussion a lot with beginning knitters. I feel like the real purpose of novelty yarn is to give the beginning knitter a lot of variety and bang for their buck (and effort). A basic beginner garter stitch scarf or cowl can look and drape and feel completely different based on the yarn alone. Novelty yarn often hides a multitude of beginning knitter "sins" or oopsies - twisted stitches, uneven tension, an extra wrap or the odd accidental K2tog, or even those accidental short rows where you put down your knitting mid-row and pick up and knit in the wrong direction without realizing it. Every single beginning knitter, without exception, that I have ever taught has these problems, it is part of learning to knit. The problem with that, is that novelty yarn obscures these skill based problems and someone learning to knit can't see what or where the problems are and so also cannot learn to correct them or to grow in skill as a knitter. Even as a skilled knitter I have gone back to some fun, but ancient novelty yarn in my stash to try and use it up and have been really unhappy with both the knitting process and the end results. In part because the crazy novelty yarn itself caused problems with uneven tension, messy stitches, and was sometimes just plain hard to knit - even in the most basic large needle size garter stitch scarf. However, occasionally, I have seen a knitted item made with novelty yarn where the yarn and project seemed made for each other. Where the very specific characteristics of the novelty yarn had been well matched to the very specific design of the item and the two together made something truly unique and wonderful. However, in my experience, that is pretty rare. But if I am honest...novelty yarns might be why I have been drawn to weaving. Yes, weaving!! I have some very lovely yarns in my stash that I have tried innumerable times to knit and been unhappy with the results. But when I started playing with weaving these fun textures and fibers together, the playground just exploded. New frontiers opened up and a whole new world of texture and thinking about and playing with textiles has opened up for me. Those novelty yarns are finding new life in a new medium - weaving. But I'm also a beginning weaver and probably (most definitely) am committing a multitude of sins and oopsies and may not be building up traditional weaving skills, but I am having A LOT of fun playing, experimenting, and making artful objects. And having great satisfaction using my deep stash of un-knittable yarns. And isn't that really the point of all creative endeavors? 😊
Thanks for your insights! I have used Lion Brand Homespun for various projects for many years. I have learned it makes great garter stitch blankets. In my experience stitch patterns can’t really be seen in Homespun. That’s fine, but designing with it would be a challenge, I’m sure!
Hi Barbara: I bought some novelty yarn when I initially becoming an avid knitter. I had a free pattern for the ladder yarn which I held on for a coupon years. I asked knitters and store owners how to knit with it. No one had a clue. I kept on tangling up every few stitches holding it double. So, one day I decluttered and gave away a whole bunch of yarn away! I still have the fake fur ones like your scarf and a few thick and thin stubby ones left. Is very pretty but I don’t use it. Thanks for sharing!❤
IMO novelty yarns are best when used in tandem with normal yarns. Chris Bylsma has designed a mitered square modular jacket calling specifically for ribbon and other novelty yarns for some of the rows in addition to conventional yarns, and the effect is stunning. Unfortunately the Ravelry pattern page does not show a pic of Chris's actual jacket, but the original hard-copy pattern does. Her jacket is inspirational for demonstrating how the colors and textures of the 2 types of yarns play off each other to best effect.
I appreciate your patterns so much. I've made four versions of “Impulse Buy” in different types of yarn. They have all left me. I need to make one and keep it. ❤
Thanks for this response! First and foremost, you don't have to agree with me on this, but I do think you're fearless. I agree with every one of your reasons, and especially love and respect that you want people who pay you for a pattern to get the most possible satisfaction from it. As much as I love these yarns, they can be fiddly to work, hard to gauge properly or achieve a desired drape with, and the yarns can seem faddish - even though the finished projects may be timeless.
Thank you so much for helping create this dialogue and being a part of this community. When I have to figure out how to actually put my thoughts into words it helps me better understand what I'm doing. And as I said in the original response ... it was just too much to type LOL.
Last month, my mother-in-law gave me "fun fur". Remember that yarn? It was rage in the day! She gave me four skeins...oh, the colors ...so lovely. The question is what do I make with that so it doesn't look like something from 2003? No patterns to be found and it made all the more sense after listening to this. And I agree with everything you said...a beautiful lace shawl seems to never become dated...
Yeah, all of the patterns for something out of fun fur are going to look waaaay out of date LOL. Depending on how much yardage you have you might want to consider a simple capelet/cowl big enough to go around your shoulders. I could see that working in fun fur.
Not a knit designer, but use novelty yarns for basic or smaller projects, maybe use as an edging. Novelty yarns can be expensive per yard, smaller projects easier..
I knit a tee using a combination of a smooth yarn and a slub yarn for stripes and I love the texture! I have tried using some of the faux fur yarns and eyelash yarns and I feel like they are difficult to knit with.
lol Knew reason one before clicking on the video. Same reason the ribbon yarn that I was given is sitting in the bottom of the tote. It needs simplicity and I like texture and fun challenges in my knitting. For looking up patterns I think I would look up the yarns on Ravelry and look at finished projects. Also company’s like herrschners often show patterns under the yarn that were designed with that yarn in mind. If it’s from one of the bigger company’s typing the yarn name into their search bar will bring up ball band patterns. Hope this helps.
The newer boucles are much, much better than the ones of yore. Honestly, the quality and consistence of boucle has improved so much I think that they're moving out of the novelty category.
Early in my knitting journey, i purchased a lion brand mystery box after watching others open theirs. Mine was almost all novelty yarns. Never found a use for them. 😢
I crochet but I've come to the conclusion, for my own projects at least, that novelty yarns are mostly for embellishment purposes. That has the advantages of using very different kinds for a variety of effects in basically similar projects and getting more mileage out of expensive or hard-to-restock yarns.
I almost got into the resurgence of boucle but decided it was too much of a side quest LOL. New spinning technologies have improved the usability of boucle and the yarns you are referring to are far superior than older boucles.
You can find my email address in the About section of my channel. I do want to mention that I very, very rarely do any sort of partnership and will only consider it if it is directly knitting or fiber art related. I do not do any general craft content.
Quite honestly, I find most "novelty" yarns to be very tacky and trendy with extremely limited uses.They end up in the clearance sale bins pretty fast and looks dated just as fast.
Years ago, novelty yarn was one of the first yarns I ever used for a project. I almost didn't pick up knitting needles ever again. Hard to work with and definitely not worth the effort.
