Saturday, August 2, 2008

Yarn Bee's "I Love this Cotton!" "I Love this Yarn!"

To answer a couple of questions and to correct some information, I want to talk a little bit about the newest yarn in my life. (and a wee bit of a rant..you've been warned) and then I'll show the new things.


I feel it's respectful to give the manufacturers the courtesy of posting correct information if you are adding their information into a data base. I know I like to have my information correctly given. (Just like children like to have their names pronounced and spelled correctly.) Reason? I've spent the past few days trying to get this yarn (and the "I Love this Yarn! Sport weight") posted into Ravelry. The first posting I made, I realized quickly had incorrect information. So I went back to correct the information. Now, today, I find that they changed it back to even more incorrect information.

Now, to most people, it might not seem like such a big deal. However, knowing how yarns come and go, and maybe some day it won't be around, I have been trying to post as accurate information as I can so you as the knitter can make your own decisions when you knit up one of my patterns. To the point, that I've been weighting out my finished projects to help figure out how much yarn in grams and possible lengths that I've used. I want to be as helpful as possible so you can decide if what you have on hand will be enough for the project. For example, the Americana yarn I had a couple of weeks ago was a multi and only 4oz skein. I wanted to make my Simply Striped Dishcloth to go with the towel. I KNEW I didn't have enough for the original pattern(5oz for towel, dishcloth and Tribble), but was hoping I'd have enough to get close to the amounts I'd need. By weighing out what I had left over after the towel, I could modify the dishcloth pattern and get it almost the same size and be happy with it. Make sense?

I think affordable yarn is great. Not every project/need should use really expensive yarns. I like all kinds of yarns in all kinds of price ranges. I also believe there is a place for lots of flavors/prices/fibers to fit in with each other. As much as I loved the silk/merino wool that I used to knit scarves for Mom and her sisters, I wouldn't use that for washing dishes, or baby blankets. I remember the days with four little ones and 22 loads of laundry a week. There's no way I would have wanted to hand wash blankets every time my son needed a diaper change. That kid had the skinniest legs in town which meant it wasn't just his diapers that got changed. Whatever I was wearing got a lot of washing as well. oy!


So, the correct information, and to answer the questions I've received since posting the other day is this:



Name of yarn: I Love this Cotton!
Brand of yarn: Yarn Bee
Retail Store that sells it: Hobby Lobby (
http://www.hobbylobby.com/)
online store for Hobby Lobby: Crafts, Etc! (
http://www.craftsetc.com/ ) and no it's not available at this point there, but I'm hoping it will be soon.

Label Information of the solid colors: 3.5 oz/100 g, 100% cotton, 180yards/165 meters, (US)8/5mm/ (UK) 6 knitting needles, 18 sts/23 rows=10cm/4".
(US)I-9/5.5 mm/(UK)size 5 crochet hook/13 sc/14 row=10cm/4" in crochet.
Labeled a '4' medium weight yarn. Machine washable.
copyright 2008 Hobby Lobby Stores, www.hobbylobby.com
Made in Turkey.


I paid $2.99 for each skein.



Name of yarn: I Love this Yarn! Sport weight
Name of Brand: Yarn Bee
Retail store that sells it: Hobby Lobby (
http://www.hobbylobby.com/)
online store for Hobby Lobby: Crafts, Etc! (
http://www.craftsetc.com/) and no, the sport weight isn't available online, yet. But I'm hoping it will be soon!

They also sell this in multi colored skeins, but since I didn't pick any up I can't give you that information, other than to say it comes in 54 g skeins, I think.

Label information of the solid colors: 100% acrylic, 2.5 oz/70 grams, 230 yards/210 meters, 22s/24 rows = 4"/10cm in knitting, (US) 6/4mm/(UK) 8 needles.
(US) H-8/5mm/(UK)6 crochet hook, 15 sc/19 r = 4"/10 cm in crochet.
Labeled a "3" sport weight yarn. Machine washable.
copyright 2008 Hobby Lobby Stores, http://www.hobbylobby.com/
Made in Turkey.
I paid $1.99 for each skein.

OK, now onto the good stuff.

I really like this yarn! I mean..I Love this Cotton! (ha ha)


I used the Buttercup color which shows accurately in the second picture, for 'Hail to the ... Dishcloth' and added an extra ridge to the top and bottom borders. I made this for my Auntie who just had her hip replaced. She's the one that I made the giraffe with the prayer shawl and U of M scarf and hat for a couple of weeks back. She's healing quite well. Now, in the second picture is another view of Mom's Butterfly cloth. The colors there are much better than when I take the pictures on their own. Go. figure. Again, the Butterfly pattern is in the washcloth for baby's book by Leisure Arts.



Cousin #2 bsj is coming along nicely. Just remember that I've got a good dose of SOS (shinny object syndrome) going on here. Plus, at the end of the week, I'm hitting the road (ROAD TRIP!) with the oldest as we drive her car off into the wild blue yonder towards Grad School. And I'm really trying not to think about the whole 'empty nest' deal.

Thank goodness I have yarn, and a to-do list that will keep me occupied until the next millennium.

And we'll be stopping off at Mom and Dad's to cook up a bunch and stock their freezer. At least that's the plan. With a stop off in Austin. We have some sights to see, and need to pause for a bit to remember my cousin who lived there and we miss her terribly. We'll be throwing her a kiss from a whole lot of us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also love "I Love This Yarn!" Have made several afghans and baby/child items from the worsted weight "stripe" yarn. It turns out great -- is soft, but has lots of body. Will try the sport weight with an upcoming project, and will keep an eye out for the cotton. With fans like us, they will hopefully keep this line in the HL Stores and add to their color selection!
another Cathy (from Wisconsin)

MaryB said...

Thank you for posting this. Does Yarn Bee not realize that some of its customer base will not be able to READ the teeny tiny white print on a colored background that is the gauge information on every single ball! Good gravy! Even with a magnifying class, I still wasn't sure whether that 18 was an 18, a 13, or a 16. THANKS.