Dear Friends, I have done that which I promised never to do.
I have knit something truly ugly.
This is not really the first time I’ve ever knitted something hideous, but the last time was really more because I didn’t know what I was doing. That time I was knitting a little hat with berries on it, and I used a variegated yarn thinking that each berry would be a separate color and oh how cute that would be and really, it was a splotchy mess. That hat was undone and became some washcloths.
That hat is one of the reasons I’m leery of variegated yarns anyway. I’ve done some other projects with them but have learned only to use variegated yarns that are tonal variations so it’s a subtle color shift, otherwise you end up with a piece that looks like clown vomit.
So for this piece, the intent was there, I used a tonal variegated yarn with a solid yarn to knit with it for strength and thinking that it would add consistency of color. Instead what I ended up with was this:
What is that thing, you might ask. Well, it is meant to be a fetching little shoulder capelet thing to wear over tanks or sundresses, or flipped around as a scarf.
See how cute it is on the pattern page?
by Hillary Smith Callis
Yarns used: Habu A-60 Linen Paper Shoseni, 1 skein
Habu A-1 Tsumugi Silk
Maybe, I thought, maybe it will look better ON. You never know.
I’m too embarrassed to even spend time with it on to take better pictures. It doesn’t help.
Here it is worn as a “scarf”
I was especially excited since it’s with my beloved Habu yarns, a linen paper yarn and a silk held together, which I thought, hey, linen and silk! perfect for summer. But the linen is a paper linen and I thought it would soften with washing and it’s like wearing raffia.
Eric says I look like I’m wearing a bib. And he’s right.
I’ve shown a few people this and said, testing, “This is so ugly!” Hoping that they would disagree with me and say something like “No! It’s beautiful!”
That hasn’t happened yet. Usually I just get a face and a sucking through the teeth and a slow, knowing, nod.
So it’ll be unraveled and made into something else. Maybe. Or I might just have some knitters PTSD with it and it will languish in my stash, forever.
fretzes on the loose 
I definitely sympathize. Once in a while the same thing happens to me with sewing clothing (e.g. a print that looked lovely on the bolt is dreadful once cut, the color-blocked dress that winds up looking like a Star Trek uniform*). I suppose it is an occupational hazard of both hobbies. At least you can rework yours into useful things like wash cloths.
*actual opinion offered (after it was requested) by someone who shall remain nameless. He wasn’t wrong.
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Ha! I’d love to see that! You’re right-once fabric is cut not much you can do. Bean bags or little Warmers perhaps?
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Oh, the variegated yarn trap! The hank always looks so tempting and suddenly you have bought it even though you know when knitted up the end result will be much less attractive. I don´t know how many times I have made this mistake…..why is it so difficult to learn?
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It’s almost like you should just buy the yarn for display and not for knitting. When I look at this skein again really it’s long areas of color and goes from pale lavender to almost black, so not nearly as tonal as i thought.
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