I’m ok with my failure. After I finished the Soap Bubble wrap, I looked for something else to start, and realized I was in serious need of at least a small stash of yarn for upcoming projects. I found the yarn for blithe, so it was all good, but it makes me nervous not to know what’s up next for some reason! Also, I wanted to try out some of Elann’s summer yarns. I had previously tried Sonata (stringy but great for home projects,) Lara (great yarn, a little splitty,) Pegasus (too dry) and Callista (too stiff, smelled like hay.) Since that time (about 2 years ago) they have added about a million new yarns. Previously I had found their summer offerings to be on the stringy, stiff side of warm weather yarns, and while those yarns have their uses I prefer to use yarns that are at least a wee bit soft. I don’t want too soft, because then it stretches and won’t hold its shape, and often sheds all over everything I own. So I went through my queue on Ravelry and paired up three projects with Elann yarns. They arived today – 2 days from a Canadian company! I also ordered from WEBs at the same time (Classic Silk on the anniversary sale and some red Classic Elite Sundance on closeout) and will probably get those in about 2 weeks… they are so slow in comparison! Anyway, here are the yarns!
Elann Nilo in Blueberry, to make Buttercup. This pattern is adorable, and it’s available free! I queued it up the second it appeared in my Ravelry friends activity page (the creator of most of my queue!) The color on this yarn is way off in the photo. It’s actually a medium dark blue-violet, more purple and darker than it looks here. My camera would not take a proper photo. Nilo is a blend of cotton, viscose and linen. It feels soft and is pretty and shiny in the skein. It only has the slightest smell of raw linen (which I now recognize is the smell I thought of as “Hay” in Elann Callista.) I think it’s perfect for this cute top!
Elann Luna in midnight for the Empire Waist Cardigan by Pam Allen. This is a style of cardigan I’m seeing everywhere in stores, and I wanted to make my own. First of all, I would like to applaud Pam Allen for expanding the size range on Classic Elite patterns. In the past, they all started way too big for me, but now they have a nice wide range. I bought Classic Silk to make another sweater from the same book. The pattern calls for Provence, a mercerized cotton which I’m sure is very nice, but even on sale at WEBs (for the anniversary sale) I think it’s too expensive for cotton. I also prefer a blend, so I ordered luna, a blend of cotton and rayon. It’s just what I wanted! The yarn itself is marled – a black strand is wrapped around a navy strand, which I think will look great knit up. It feels soft and drapey, but not too soft. It may have a little fuzz potential, but I will have to knit it up to see. This wasn’t even half the cost of the Provence, so I’m pleased!
Bamboo Fusion in Porcelain Teal. I bought this to make Primrose Path from the Spring Twist Collective. The pattern calls for a bamboo, but I used the exact same yarn for my Millefiore cardigan (same color even) and it sheds like crazy. Bamboo fusion is a blend of cotton, bamboo, and acrylic. It feels soft but not fuzzy and limp. I love the color, which is more of a green/gray than it looks here. Again it is slightly marled, but not enough to interfere with the lace pattern I hope. It’s listed as a worsted weight, but my experience with Elann is that their yarns run thin. The gauge for primrose path is 21 st/4 in, and I should be able to get that.
This worked out to about $30 a sweater, including shipping, a figure that I am more than happy with. I am really impressed with how Elann has stepped it up with their yarn offerings lately – the two sweaters I made with their bulky yarns last winter have held up wonderfully as well, and their color selection is pretty good. I do compare them to knitpicks, and to be honest I love Elann so much more. Unlike Knitpicks they don’t throw alpaca in every yarn either (my allergy has made me bitter) and I like that they have more dk weight choices (knitpicks has a lot of sport, but I don’t care for shine or for comfy all that much.)
Progress on Blithe… I’m inching my way up the front!
I need to find my last ball of yarn though – it must be in the house somewhere, right?
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
I love elann.com and I love bamboo. Beautiful work.
Never tried elann. Nice projects!
Drool x3! I just discovered Buttercup too, and am sorely tempted to do a big yarn order, or just make do with the one yarn I have that’s sort of suitable. I’m interested to see how Bamboo Fusion holds up. Let us know!
My husband has taken on ‘fail’ as part of his regular vocabulary thanks to the Fail Blog. I have to say that when I saw your blog title, I started to laugh because of it! My own attempts at preventing stash growth have failed recently also….but a good deal is a good deal!
You are so fast! At least someone is knitting–I haven’t been able to one bit lately because I need to study all the time (e.g. must find way to create decent income eventually). Even now it’s after 10 p.m. and I only just finished for the day!
I used Luna for a honeymoon cami and I love it – wonderful drape and depth of color. Nice and slinky makes me feel so dressy when I wear it. Can’t wait to see your yarn reviews.
The buttercup top is so cute! I hadn’t seen it before but now I think I’ll have to make that next with some classic silk I have stashed.
Great projects you have going on! I added Buttercup to my queue – it is just too cute!
Ooh, I love your new yarns! I can’t wait to hear how they knit up. That’s one thing I love about your blog – the yarn reviews. I really like the cardigan, and the marled yarn is going to look great! I may have to find a project to try Luna on myself. 🙂
It’s not as if you don’t knit, right?
I love that yellow sweater and just love the color of the blue one. Seeing all these gorgeous creations makes me want to start knitting right away!