Wednesday 9 May 2012

WIP - the failure

I just knew that this yarn is jinxed and I wish I had never set eyes on it in the first place.

Of course I am talking about my Rowan Handknit and you can see its journey here, here and here and its final appearance here.

I was so happy with the poncho until I started on the last couple of rows, because I was presented with a big ole shock when I realised that the last two balls were such a difference in colour to the previous lots that I could not use them at all. See for yourself:
The last part is so extreme (and even more prominent in real life) that I could not leave it and had to frog the last bit. This also meant that the poncho was not long at the back, as it should be and looked distinctively out of balance. Oh how I cussed and wailed and threw a number of fits.

Mr P tried to calm me down as best he knew how to by saying "but it looks funky", which made matters worse as I did not find this look funky at all but kinda shitty...
I know that there is already a slight difference in colour in the top half but luckily it was the same for front and back, so it looked like it was intended but the last bit is just awful!

Now I know why people are so determined to get the same dye lot - I never really paid much attention to it as I thought "how different can the same colour way be"... HA! I learned my lesson the hard way.
So, how come I did not realise the difference in colour before? Mainly because I worked on the poncho in the evening when everything looked the same colour. 

I am in no mood to frog again and what I have done for now is that I banned the poncho and the left over yarn from seeing daylight. I packed it away and hid it in a chest of drawers. If I have not looked at the yarn again within a year I will just give it to charity  - as usual.

Now go and check out some people's WIPs which actually amount to something over at Tami's blog

9 comments:

  1. Awwww Kim. So sorry it turned out this way. For what it's worth, your stitching looks great though ... even with the funky dyelot.

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  2. Oh I'm so sorry. Your poncho is so pretty. Could you dye it so it all matches?

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  3. Oh wow, so painful! It looks so perfect in every other way too! I'm so, so sorry. I think that you are definitely doing the right thing by putting it away for the time being. You should cast on a vanilla project right now!

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  4. oh oh I'm sorry !the pattern is so pretty tho.

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  5. The poncho is lovely, despite the different dye lots. I would try nothingbutknit2's suggestion and overdye it. Would be a shame to waste all that time and effort.

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  6. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I'm definitely a believer in time-outs for awkward projects. I find that after a couple of months I'm willing to deal with them again - even if it's just to frog them and reclaim the yarn. :)

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  7. Good lord, that yarn is cursed! I had to look for a bit to see the color difference you were talking about......but then I did see it. Urgg, how incredibly frustrating! Such a bummer because that poncho looks adorable. :(

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  8. Oh no! I know how upset you were, though I only had a dye lot problem on a smallish scarf, not a bigger poncho and with lace, no less. So sorry! BTW, I do the same thing when a project's made me mad, just hide it away somewhere. I hope you have another project you can work on to calm your nerves.

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  9. I totally understand your frustration. That happened to me once and I was also shocked at the difference in color. But your poncho is just lovely in spite of the variations in shades. Putting it away for a while sounds like a good idea ... you might feel differently about it after time goes by.

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