Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Buyer beware

Maybe you will remember my post about my mailbox overflowing with woolly goodness. Well, some of it, it now seems, was not so good after all.

I got some cotton from Trademe (which is like a NZ equivalent of Ebay...an online auction site) and I was pretty pleased with myself for nabbing a fab bargain. Less than $1 a ball! W00T!

I'm not sure exactly why I *just had to have* 6 balls of red cotton. I guess in a moment of living so far away from anything resembling a LYS desperation I just got caught up in the thrill of the bargain hunt. I'm not even sure what the hang I thought I would make with red cotton. Perhaps I thought it would be a nice wearable red and I could make some more summery somethings for the DDs.I don't know what....

Well unfortunately it's not a nice wearable red. It's not nice. At all!! It's doesn't even look like normal cotton!!! ICkkkkkk!
It's sort of lumpy and boucle looking,there is probably a proper knitting term for it but I don't know what it is ,

Here it is. The world's most ugliest cotton
P2200129

This is not the 1st time I have had wool related disasters on TM. Sigh. Obviously I have not learnt my lesson about asking lots of Q and making sure it is what I think it is. Never mind..not an expensive disaster - I will just have to find a use for it.


So I figure if its no good for knitting anything wearable I will make some dishcloths with it. Perfect!

I made this cloth

P2200130

It's the ballband dishcloth pattern. For some reason it's one of the most popular dishcloth patterns on Ravelry. I have no idea why this is. If someone knows please do share with me! Maybe it's because it was a free pattern that used to be printed on the back of cotton ballbands (hence the name) and so everyone who bought that cotton made them? Anyway, I thought I would give it a go.

It's come out pretty interesting, sort of a Strawberry Shortcake thing going on with the pink and red. M5 says I knitted a very nice brick wall :) It's also quite big, I think 9inches square so should be good for mopping up N2 related messes.

So great, I have found a use for ugly cotton

Problem is, the cloth only used about 25g!! So I have 275g of the awful stuff still. There is only so many red dishcloths one's kitchen can handle.

So if anyone has a brilliant idea for using it up LMK! I was thinking I might make lots of dishcloths and give them away but now I've blogged about how awful it is I am guessing friends and family aren't going to be that impressed with gifts made from cotton I've named U.G.L.Y , lol.

7 comments:

Kimber said...

See I like it ;) I like the bobbleyness of it, and the dishcloth you made - love the pink and red together! I bet its great for scrubbing and grabbing.

Pretty sure it's called boucle :)

Happily Knit said...

"most ugliest" hehehe

I like that dishcloth because it's a neat pattern with more than one shade of yarn. It's not boring like some dishcloths I've seen either. Maybe that's why it's so popular? Or maybe it's because everyone wants to be on the bandwagon! We'll never know...

mcm said...

Haha! Sorry I have to laugh cos I have the same cotton but in blue (well it looks similar). I bought it off ebay really cheap too. I wanted to make some cotton singlets. I made one but the gauge was not quite right so will give it another go soon with bigger needles. I actually like this type of cotton but you're right its not the nicest cotton. Its not as soft as I would like.

Anonymous said...

I think the Mason-Dixon Knitting book really popularized the ball band dishcloths...I just finished one myself!
As for the red yarn, what about a stuffed animal, kids sweater or soaker pants, or a really long scarf for someone who loves red?

sweetp said...

Kym, is yours stretchy? This stuff has a lot of stretch so not sure how it would go for clothes.Oh well....if I don't use it I'll koha it to Kimber ;)

Anonymous said...

That is weird cotton :S :S Look cool as a dishcloth though Gabes :D

Nikki Elisabeth said...

Oh gosh you make me laugh Gabes.

No helpful suggestions sorry!!