Ribbon yarn — that’s quite a change

Hi everyone

As you may know, if you’ve read my posts about crocheting:
I found my way here a few months ago as a beginner, and over the past few months I’ve learned a whole lot from the patterns here, the forum, the users here, and occasionally from YouTube videos.

The other day while shopping, I stumbled upon ribbon yarn more by chance than because I was specifically looking for it. It was at Müller Drogerie; they’ve recently set up a little corner there with yarn, crochet hooks, and all that stuff. Apparently, there are now also “MyBoshiSets” that come with a pattern and yarn, etc., all included. I think that’s pretty nice, but I wanted to make something myself.
 
So I looked around for a while, but at first, of course, there was only that acrylic yarn again, and I really don’t like that at all. I’ve already mentioned that several times here in the forum. Just when I was about to give up, I found this extremely fluffy 100% cotton ribbon yarn. 4.99 per skein, each with a length of 29 meters and weighing 50 grams. I thought to myself, that’s a bit pricey. But I really wanted to try it out. I picked up a size 8 crochet hook to go with it, since I didn’t have one yet.
 
And once I got home, I tried out the ribbon yarn. It really wasn’t easy at first. When I removed the label, the ribbon yarn was a bit, well, inflexible. That’s just my personal impression, though. It could also be because I haven’t had years of crocheting practice yet. I couldn’t get much done with double crochet at first, so I started with single crochet and experimented a bit. Usually, there’s a small gauge printed on the yarn labels, but this time there was nothing like that on it, so I had to experiment because I’d never used the combination of ribbon yarn and a size 8 hook before. After trying a few things and diligently crocheting and unraveling over and over, the ribbon yarn became more flexible and easier to work with. Then double crochet and such worked too. I had trouble with the outermost stitches of each row for quite a while; they didn’t turn out very even, despite the turning chains.
 
I think I’ll make something fancy out of the four skeins of ribbon yarn I have. Ribbon yarn is really lovely. But I do think I wouldn’t want to crochet with ribbon yarn every day. It feels good, you get used to it, and it looks nice once the stitches become more even and all that, but it’s really more for very special projects, not so much for something in between.
 
 
What do you all think? Could it be that ribbon yarn is always a bit more expensive than regular cotton yarn? What have your experiences with ribbon yarn been? Do you like using/working with it?
Is it more for crocheting, or can you knit with it too?

It’s great that you’re now venturing into ribbon yarn as well.
It’s not for complete beginners, but you’ve already noticed that.
Many years ago, I crocheted a summer sweater from a lightweight ribbon yarn—that is, a lightweight yarn blend.
I haven’t used ribbon yarn since then.

Maybe I’ll buy a few meters the next time I go to the yarn shop.
Again, for a sweater—light green would be nice. It’s a very delicate, subtle green, not too bright.
The sweater should be a bit bigger than the last one. I’ve gone up 1–2 dress sizes in recent years. But that’s definitely doable—I’ll just need a little more yarn.

And I’ll make sure to keep the new sweater away from my daughter. She “ran off” with the last one, and it’s been hers ever since.
Since I didn’t fit into it anymore anyway, it wasn’t a big loss. It was fitted and simply looks better on her.
I really appreciate that my daughter likes wearing the handmade items I make.

Crazypatterns has had a pattern for crocheted socks for a few weeks now. Since I’m always freezing in the winter, I’ll probably give them a try.

It’s nice that your daughter appreciates your handiwork.
Lime green is definitely a great choice for summer. I find it surprising that you’re thinking about summer sweaters while it’s so unpleasant outside. But if you carry the sun in your heart, winter can’t really get to you.
Or so I think :)

Crochet socks among the patterns? I’ll have to go check that out.

As for ribbon yarn, I’m not sure if I’ll buy it again anytime soon or not. It’s just a bit different, and it’s also pretty expensive—relatively speaking.

I also have ribbon yarn in my yarn basket :)

_The_ biggest advantage of ribbon yarn is
that it doesn’t tangle as easily when you’re “crocheting and unraveling” (= for a long time my favorite crochet method as a beginner) or when you’re winding it up.
I think that’s really great.
If I’d
known that earlier, I would have tried ribbon yarn sooner.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that too.
I’d also like to make a sweater with ribbon yarn. But not in lime green—sorry about that, Clara.
It’s just not my color ;)
Light blue maybe—that would be nice.
Or maybe a colorful shawl to drape around my shoulders. But without fringes—personally, I find fringes on shawls really embarrassing.
I saw a crochet pattern for a shawl that says you can just leave out the fringe and crochet a few extra rows instead so the size still works out.

Unfortunately, the pattern I saw looks like a rug. I’d think it was very nice as a rug, but not as something to drape over my shoulders.
I’ll have to check if there’s anything like that in the shop. Another good option might be some kind of shrug—so a warm piece you can wear like a jacket, but that only goes up to the shoulders. I saw one with half-sleeves, and it would definitely look quite nice with a top or even evening wear. You could maybe use fancy yarn for that—bouclé or fringed yarn. Something that gives it a somewhat furry texture. I’m not a fan of real fur coats, but wool with a nice textured surface is definitely fine.

But I definitely won’t be carrying a crocheted bag with it. That would be too much of a good thing for my sense of style.

I do like ribbon yarn, but there are differences there too: lighter ones for summer or thicker ones for winter. I prefer the lighter ones for summer; I once had some shiny yarn, and I’ll never do that again.
I have pictures in my album—I’d love to add the link once I figure out how to do it.
http:muschele.magix.net

You can click on your link and have a look at it
I think the decoupage projects are really beautiful
How does that actually work? Is it hard?
Would you mind starting a separate thread about it and explaining it a bit?

I actually never wanted to start this, but that’s just how it goes.
There was a magazine with napkins as a beginner’s project, so I gave it a try.
It’s simple, you just have to be careful because the damp napkin tears easily.
Craft stores often have simple leaflets where it’s explained well.
Unfortunately, there’s only one yarn shop in Überlingen; the craft store has closed down.