Big Box of Knitting Fails – Bad Yarn Substitution!

Big Box of Knitting Fails – Bad Yarn Substitution!

Big Box of Knitting FailsFor those of you that have taken classes with me, you know all about “Patty’s Big Box of Knitting Fails”. I seem to have an example of something tragic I’ve done in my knitting for nearly everything I’m teaching. So, I’m launching a new blog series to dig into my knitting boo boos. Today’s episode . . .

Bad Yarn Substitution = to felt or not to felt

About 12 years ago, I thought I’d make a fast, fun, felted scarf. The pattern was all in stockinette, and then felted to make a cozy scarf. It featured stripes of white and black yarn held together with stripes of the solid white. The felting made the black and white flecks appear in a random fashion, and it kind of widened out at the doubled yarn sections and narrowed a bit for the white sections.

No brainer right . . . unless you grab a black 100% wool from your stash and a white 100% acrylic from your stash. That’s right folks, acrylic doesn’t felt. (BTW: forgive the low res pic. This was a long time ago, so it was not taken on a fancy camera, might have even been – gasp – film)

Bad yarn substitution

What resulted was a kind of bizarre little item that rolled at the sides for every acrylic stripe and then kind of morphed into 1/2 felted, 1/2 not stripes.

Sigh.

Don’t make my  mistake. Learn about the Secrets of Yarn Substitution.

YarnSub

Check Out These 4 Best New Knitting Books of 2025 from My Talented Friends (Perfect Gifts!)

Share:

Sales & Specials

[bigcommerce_product per_page="4"]

Get Blog Posts, Offers, and Exclusive News from Patty

Be the first to learn about upcoming events, book updates, special coupons, and other offers only for Patty’s newsletter subscribers!

Related Articles

My Twenty-Year Journey to Patty Lyons’ Knitting ER

From the Introduction: “Many years ago, I managed a small yarn shop in the West Village of New York City. I often found a knitter ...
Read More

Palm Canyon Video Sweater Class – KAL

Join me for the Palm Canyon KAL! It’s a fun knit with an integrated sleeve and tons of options. There are two different yarns, two ...
Read More

AffiKNITy 2026 Recap: Yarn, Laughs, Rocking Chairs, and a Little Toilet Paper Knitting

We’re back from Otesaga just over a month, and I’m still thinking about it. Every year I come home from AffiKNITy feeling refilled. Not just ...
Read More