Yarn Equivalent

Charlie, You can use any bulky yarn or any yarn for that matter just as long as your gauge matches the one given in the pattern, and you have the right yardage. Rowanspun Chunky or Yorkshire Tweed Chunky will do. Cleckheaton and Patons also make several bulky weight yarns. If you are near Bradford, there are a couple of mill stores there that have a wonderful selection of yarns and the prices are excellent. Knight and Lee have a good selection of yarns and the clerks are extremely helpful. DA

That particular yarn knits up at about 4 stitches to the inch, for me, on 6mm needles. You could probably carry three strands of your DK together to hit that gauge but the look will be completely different.

If all you're after is striped hats those are easy with any yarn, but faster to knit with some than others. A typical adult cap is about

21" around at the ribbing, so just make a swatch with yarn you have, do the math and cast on!

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:34:22 -0000, "Charlie" spewed forth :

+++++++++++++

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

Great, I was hoping the answer would be Rowan Chunky, that's a sexy yarn! I'm making a hat in graduated flame colours for a male friend, and then if I get time a pink and blue hat for my bestest female friend! Thought I might make the guy matching arm warmers for his birthday! (Well, he did ask...)

Charlie.

NEvermind, I gave my Visa a workout online and bought the brown sheep stuff! worked out just as cheap even with the shipping added on!

Charlie.

Charlie,

Where did you order the Brown Sheep online? I haven't done any research yet but every LYS I ask in says they can't get the stuff. I have two different WIPs which are threatening to become UFOs since I am one skein short of the Brown Sheep yarn used in each. I ordered it back in March when I first started on the projects and it still hasn't come in!!

LauraJ

Laura,

I can get it locally. If you want me to check for you, please let me know.

Janise

was a really good price too!

Charlie.

Thank you! I have heard great things about that shop. Unfortunately, they do not have the colors I'm looking for. I hope that Brown Sheep hasn't stopped making them!!

LauraJ

Thank you so much, Janise! I still have a couple of shops around here to call but if those don't turn anything up I will get in touch with you. I'll probably put a post out to everyone at that point since I am starting to get desperate!

LauraJ

I couldn't get one of the colours I was looking for either, but substituted it with an equally sexy red only a shade darker!

Charlie.

We tried to carry Brown Sheep about a year and a half ago, and the manufacturer said they were supplying all the yarn they could make, and could not take on new retailers, but they were increasing their production facilities, and should be increasing their production some time this year. Good news really for knitting in general, and North American production in particular.

Roger.

Laura, my LYS carries a lot of Brown Sheep. If you can tell me which colors you are one skein short on, I will be happy to see if they have it. Matching the dye lot might be tough, but if you can work around that, I can look for the color. Email me off list, since I don't always get a chance to get on group.

n n a m r e h (reverse that) a t i p h o u s e d o t c o m

Hi Karen,

Thank you for the offer - that is so sweet of you! Your offer finally got me motivated to call around and, as suspected, no one had it in my area (13 yarn stores and not one skein - can you imagine!). But I did find it at

and they say they have it in stock. I put my order in but I won't believe it until I see it. So thank you for now but if anything should happen with the order I will definitely take you up on your offer!

LauraJ

(PS I hope I got your email right. I sent it to the list too, just in case).

Hi Janise,

Thank you very much! I think I found a place that carries it online,

and claims to have it in stock. I put an order in last night so here's hoping that it actually shows up! But thank you so much for offering to join in on the hunt - I will let you know if I happen to need it after all. I really hope Brown Sheep can get their act together. It's good yarn at a decent price but so many of the shops I talked to have dropped the line because it's constantly back-ordered.

LauraJ

Laura, I have 3 LYS's where I buy Brown Sheep. Each of them has something different from the other 2, so just let me know anytime if you need something. I'd be happy to check for you.

Janise

PS. I never told you that my DD#1 who lives near you is now doing a little knitting! LOL Stay safe in today's snow.

Thank you, Janise! That is wonderful that your DD is now knitting! If she is interested in meeting some others who knit, let her know about Circles Salon in Jamaica Plain,

It is my favorite LYS and they host "knitting circles" Thursday through Saturday nights. I try to go on Thursday and it is just a nice relaxing place to knit and ask questions if you need any help.That snow was pretty bad on Friday. I am afraid we aren't going to see the grass until March now! LauraJ