Yes, it’s me! I am back after travelling into the abyss that is know as the “High School Graduation Open House.” Is this common in all of the U.S. or is this a Minnesota/Midwest phenomenon?? Egads. But my open house is done and doner so I am feeling pretty footloose at the moment!
Okay, A Tale of Two Shawls. As you may remember, I recently finished an Aranami Shawl in Brooklyn Tweed’s LOFT yarn. My daughter loved it but preferred something lighter, so I decided to make her one — but in Cascade 220 Fingering (a misnomer if ever there was one: Cascade 220 is so named because it is the yardage of their worsted weight yarn 220 yds/100 grams; so what does that have to do with fingering weight yarn??!!??).
Anyway, I finally finished my second Aranami. So boring. And the second one to boot. Quadruple boring (boring increases at a geometric rate). I took both shawls to my knitting group and did a “blind taste test” – actually, I asked them to vote for their favorite: “If you had to choose one of these two shawls to keep as your very own, which one would it be?”
100% chose the $25 Cascade 220 Fingering version over the $72.50 LOFT version for both the look and the feel.
Here they are side by side (LOFT on the left, Cascade Fingering on the right):
The LOFT version has a browner tint. The Cascade colors have sharper contrast: the bottom tiers are whiter, the top tier much darker. There are also gauge differences, and I had to add a tier to the LOFT version for size. Though I did not add a tier to the Cascade version, I did add a small amount of knitting to the top two tiers…described in detail on my Ravelry project page.
The Cascade yarn, thin as it is, has amazing strength. I loved working with it and would highly recommend this yarn.
My current project is a copy of Sally’s Gradient Cowl – mine is in golds and browns. Yowza, it is pretty yarn!!
PS – She loved it!! (and preferred the Cascade, given the choice – much drapier and lighter weight).
Although I can’t feel it, I have to put my vote on the shawl on the right on looks alone. It just looks sharper, cleaner. That’s the fingering weight, I think. Beautiful shawl!
Comment by technikat — June 14, 2013 @ 12:26 pm
The graduation open house thing is a Minnesota phenomenon that I’m still amazed at after living her 18 years. I never even HEARD of an open house for graduation in California, Illinois, or Maryland.
I like the LOFT version better — the fuzzier lines (as opposed to sharp lines, not halo) add something homey; the Cascade seems a bit starker. They’re both lovely, though.
Comment by Carolyn — June 14, 2013 @ 5:24 pm
I am with the cascade 220 group. I like the sharp contrast. I wish I could knit as fast as you two do!
Comment by Janet — June 14, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
That is really interesting! That they all preferred the less exotic and hence less expensive yarn, I mean. Poor you, making something boring twice. What a mother won’t do!!!
Comment by Joanna — June 14, 2013 @ 6:20 pm
cascade 220 one is way nicer!
Comment by Kimberly Delacruz — June 14, 2013 @ 6:27 pm
Have hosted four graduation open houses in Iowa. Lots of work. Never went to one growing up in Chicagoland. Didn’t know it was also a Minnesota phenomenon. Unfortunately, I bought the Loft, but I like the Cascade much better.
Comment by suzan — June 14, 2013 @ 7:07 pm
I love Olga’s designs. She is so original. I have to agree, the Cascade version looks much better in the photos, so if it also feels better, it is a real winner. Now I am tempted to try Aranami. (I loved doing Hypotenuse.)
Comment by Astrid — June 14, 2013 @ 7:28 pm
I vote for whichever one you’d be willing to knit for me. Hee.
Comment by surly — June 14, 2013 @ 11:51 pm
I knitted mine out of some Knit-Picks Pallette that I had on hand. It was a quick, easy knit and I loved that the ends could be knit in as I went along. Both of yours are lovely,and how nice that your daughter admired yours so much that she wanted one! I haven’t tried the Loft yarn and if it is “splitty”, then I’m probably not going to try it in the future. As always, I enjoy your posts.
Comment by Mary Lou — June 15, 2013 @ 7:26 am
Graduation Open Houses galore when we lived in Iowa. I think it’s a midwest thing, but it’s spreading as midwesterners move away.
I like the definition of the garter rows in the Cascade, but the soft blurring of the colors in the Loft. Loft is made by Harrisville. I’ve used Harrisville’s shetland weight and it’s not splitty, lovely stuff to work with really. It’s manufactured for weavers, and designed for fulling, so you have to take shrinkage/fulling into account when you use it. The big disadvantage is that it comes on 900 yd. cones, ~$19 per cone, so using 5 colors gets really expensive. OTOH, loads of lovely leftovers!
But all that said, I think I’d choose the Cascade – unless I had a weaving project in mind that would use my Harrisville leftovers. Decisive, am I not?
Comment by Suzan — June 15, 2013 @ 9:19 am
From my experience, Loft is different from Harrisville’s shetland weight. It’s not that it is splitty — it literally just breaks unexpectedly. I’ve had it break when I’ve rolled it into a center pull ball and tugged gently to get more yarn. The colors, however, are beautiful. So it is a trade off, especially given the price.
Comment by surly — June 15, 2013 @ 10:46 am
I liked the one on the left better immediately (obviously just from the looks, since I can’t feel it through the internet!). The higher contrast of the one on the right just doesn’t look as good to me.
I haven’t knit with Loft but I have knit with Shelter (the worsted version) and LOVED it. It’s a rougher yarn, so people might not like it as well for something that goes right on their neck. (unfortunately I’m allergic to it)
Comment by melissa — June 15, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
Shelter is great yarn; it doesn’t suffer from the fragility that Loft has.
Comment by surly — June 16, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
I like the subtlety of the Loft version; it seems a little softer (in appearance—I haven’t done the “touch test”).
Also, we have graduation open houses in Michigan, too. Lots of them! We missed one yesterday for a baseball double-header…
Comment by Lori on Little Traverse Bay — June 16, 2013 @ 4:42 pm
Both are just lovely! I always like seeing how different yarns “knit up” in the same pattern, but rarely have the patience to knit something twice myself. I appreciate being able to see your compare-and-contrast projects! I’ve not yet knit with Loft, but I love the color selection — such wonderful, muted colors. (If it feels like Shelter, though, I wouldn’t want a shawl made from it I’m afraid.)
Comment by Kym — June 18, 2013 @ 7:34 am
I love the Cascade 220 Fingering version, but I’m having a hard time finding the yarn in Canada.
Comment by Linda — June 19, 2013 @ 7:54 am
I’m slow with my comment and question as I only recently received my order of Cascade 220. Obviously, I prefer the stark contrast of the Cascade version! In reading the pattern, it appears that each motif is knit semi-independently with a lot of tails to be woven in at the end. Is that the case? If so, why the need for a 36″ circular needle? I feel as if I must be missing something…
Comment by Carolyn — September 13, 2013 @ 6:58 am
Open houses abound in Iowa, but no one had ever heard of such a thing when I lived in Arizona. “What? People come to the garage and eat pulled pork sandwiches?” They’re missing out. 😉
Comment by Shea — July 15, 2014 @ 2:00 pm