YOTD: Robin Chunky

Hello All!! Hope you are all having a great day!! Happy Wednesday!! Work with me dear readers whilst I get this blog all sorted. My work computer is not happy at the moment so posts are a bit thin on the ground, but I promise to get them sorted this weekend. I have a few ideas for the blog, as I started originally writing it for me to share what is going on in my life too, where this journey is taking me, and now I want to work on that part too, not just the YOTD and POTD. I promise to have everything up and running by the weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this yummy yarn and ladybird (yep keep scrolling!!!)

Today's YOTD is Robin Chunky. This is a great basic budget chunky yarn that can be used for pretty much everything. The yarn comes in 100g balls and you get 140 metres on the ball, which is great for chunky yarn. Its tension is over 10cm on 6.5mm needles and is 14sts over 20 rows. A ball from Deramores will cost £1.99 and I paid this too in my LYS, Pats in Lordswood. It is 100% Acrylic yarn.

Now this isnt the best picture of the yarn, but that is because this is probably one of the most used things I have ever made. This is the close up shot of the big ladybird footrest I made. Actually it looks fantastic now even though it has been used for over a year. The Blattman has his head on it as I type actually. I am so pleased with the final result with this yarn. I normally knit in DK as you can probably tell, but this ladybird has to be in the top ten of all the things I have made, and the yarn does help that. It was so easy to work with, gave a great result and has really worn well.

Here he is from above, and below is the front of him, looking at you. The black and the red are Robin Chunky, and the white on this is actually DK, and my mother's fantastic crochet skills, and she made this up as she went along, and I think he looks fantastic.She made the eyes on this ladybird. She was just as happy with the yarn as I was. The pattern came from Knit Today magazine from the UK and I believe it was issue 46 but I will check on that.

This took me about 10 hours to finish this guy, and the yarn was so easy to work with and didn't split at all. A great acrylic budget yarn for this project, and I would most certainly use this yarn again. Love it. It is also wonderfully machine washable!!

At Deramores, they have 20 colours in stock. You are looking at Cherry Red (042) and Raven (044). There are also 3 varigated colours as well as the 17 solid colours.

Have a great day all!!

YOTD: Robin Picasso DK

Happy Sunday everyone!! This is not so much a happy Sunday as a dark, damp, windy Sunday- Yuck!! I hope you are all warm and dry. I am too, and knitting. Lots. But finally I have finished that blanket so I can share with you this amazing soft fluffy yarn with a lovely colourway.

This yarn is Robin Picasso DK. It is a DK yarn knit on 4mm needles (I didn't- I'll get to that in a minute) and it has a tension of 22 sts over 31 rows over 10cm. The yarn is 100% acrylic and you get a great big 100g for about £2.50 from Wool4less. Bargain. On that ball, you are going to get about 270 metres, so this really is good quality yarn but on a budget. There are some really cute colours too!!!

For this particular colourway, I chose to do a feather and fan blanket. You already know this because I have been moaning about said blanket for days. The swatch above is in that pattern and on 4.5mm needles. It is a thick DK, so knitting it using 4.5mm needles is perfect tension for all those light worsted/aran patterns, and looks brilliant. I would use it as a light aran/worsted weight and on 4.5mm needles for clothes and blankets because the effect is much softer than on 4mm needles.

These pictures are not the best, I know. But because it is miserable outside, my colours are just not right. This particular colourway has a very gentle stripe through purple, orange, yellow and green, but is very light and looks almost white in sunlight. I have also knit this up as a shawl too because I love this colourway so much. But it really does not photograph well!! Here is the shawl below, and you can just about see the gentle stripe in this.

There is only one issue with this yarn. It is great value, it is warm and so so soft and cuddly, and it is all round lovely to knit with. Except the slubs. As you get to the middle of the ball you get slubby bits that really really show up. They aren't small and you can get away with them, they are big and fluffy. I really had to cut them out and reattach the yarn for the lace. There are a few when I was purling, and they have knitted in, but that is my only issue. I have used three of these balls now and each one had the same slubs in the yarn. I do have this in another colour that I haven't used yet so I will update again when I know if there are slubs in this too. I hope not.

Granted, its a bit slubby but I would most definitely buy it again. It is the softest thing, has blocked great, and is of course machine washable so perfect for any knit, and it is a great price for a great yarn. Perfect if you are starting out too, its cheap to play with, but you get a great knitted fabric.

The one above is Marshmallow (I think, although on my ball band I have 2848- and in all the shops the same colour seems to be 2849). I also own Sky (2846) is a mix of white and blues and I presume all of these will stripe like the one above. I have yet to find the perfect pattern for this, but I will recap later once I have knitted it up. There are lots of other colours available and all different stripes, including a very bright orange/purple/yellow number called Refresher and a variety of soft colours too.

I love this, I love the blanket I have knit with it, and I just love the way it has finished. Apart from the slubs. But I can get over them. Knit with this yarn, its yummy, and its a bargain- why not?!
Have a great day all, and stay warm and snuggly, and keep knitting!!!!
(oh and for an exclusive- I've got a great giveaway coming, watch out on Tuesday!)