Big Twist Classic Yarn: Is It The Best or The Worst?

Big Twist Classic Yarn 

Overall ratings: 3.1/5 from 89 votes (Jo-Ann) - 3.8/5 from 93 votes (Ravelry)
Average Cost: $11.99

  I hadn't thought of what colors to get before I got to the store, so I just picked out whatever spoke to me when I got there.  Since I didn't double check the reviews, I picked out a variegated, but I possibly should have picked out a solid.  I could always revisit this yarn later.

I made two intricate projects with this yarn, both of which called for bulky weight #5 yarn. Besides being a splitting, tangled mess, this stuff is really light or worsted weight with a fluffy halo. Both the sweater and the blanket I made with this shrunk down to their real size (#3, #4 if I'm being generous) after the first wash, leaving me with stringy, scratchy messes. Avoid at all costs.

~ Steph (10 months ago) 1/5 stars

Pattern: Lucky Bamboo Hat - Needles: US 8

  I don't know how intricate Steph's project was, but I wanted to make my Lucky Bamboo Hat because it has some cables throughout.  I took measurements from the project before and after I washed it and it relaxed a little and the ribbing got a bit larger, but overall didn't really change.  I didn't have any problems with it splitting, even on the cable stitches.

vv nice yarn, would recommend

got this for a sweater project and the violet is LITERALLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SHADE OF PURPLE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. PICTURES DO NOT DO IT JUSTICE.

~ yarnchild06 (1 year ago) 5/5 stars

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Hook: 5 mm

  I wanted to make both a knit and a crochet project with this yarn.  These sideway crochet hats have been everywhere on my social media feeds, so I had to try it.  I liked this pattern the best because it used short rows and therefore the top isn't as bulky as most.  The pattern is pretty easy and even though I had to undo some, the yarn behaved for the most part when doing it.  If you try and go too quickly the halo can get tangled and cause problems, but if you do it slowly and make sure each stitch is fully out then there shouldn't be any problems.

Definitely NOT a bulky yarn!

I’m disappointed with this yarn. It is not a bulky 5, it’s more of a thin 4. Or 3. It you want bulky yarn don’t buy this.

I love the yarn, it’s the mislabeling of weight that is deceptive. Don’t buy Big Twist unless I’m person so you can see the product.

I’m unable to do so due to health issues and rely solely on internet descriptions. Most unhappy.

I’d rate it a 5 start if .abeled correctly.

~ Goatlady (2 years ago) 1/5 stars

  I agree that this is definitely not a bulky yarn.  I don't know if they included the halo when deciding the weight of this yarn or not.  Some of the sections of yarn are thicker than others, but none reached a bulky thickness, and the variation wasn't too bad.  It's a very soft yarn and once I got used to the halo it was easy to work with, which is really good that I like it since the skeins are so big.

When Shane Birthdayed Too Close To The Sun

  For Shane's birthday we went to Miller's Ale house to celebrate.  On his way to the bathroom he took a tumble but we got him sitting up.  He was starting to head back to the table and I saw his face go blank and he went over again.  Bill saw his head bounce off the floor.  He was having a lot of short term memory issues and the paramedics took him to the ER.  Apparently one of the paramedics knew about Rocky Horror.

  Shane was already acting more normal, for him, when he was checked in.  The doctor ordered some cat scans.  He was flirting with all the nurses and the doctor called him a lightweight.  He got some fluids and we continued to wait while Ryan went and got him some fresh clothing for later.  They had him walk from the bed to the wheelchair and while he was a little wobbly, he made it on his own.

  The CT scan came out fine and his blood work was good, like he hadn't been drinking.  The nurses took him for a little walk around to make sure he was stable enough to go home.  He spent the night and then stayed until he was totally up to going home.  Tank made sure to sit on his lap so he would heal completely.

More Houses, More Hats, Less Cat Teeth

  So many things I liked about the house itself.  The second floor had an overlook to the fireplace on the first floor.  The kitchen was laid out nicely and had really interesting swing out shelves with some shelves behind them.  The sunroom was nice, and I really liked all the crawl space storage.  The layout of the land was not as nice for us, because they kept cattle, so there was a lot of open space for them, which is great if that is what you are looking for.

  This one was closer, so that was kind of nice.  However, that's about it on things I liked about the place.  The interior of the cabin felt cramped and dark, even though there were big windows and the interior wood was fairly light colored.  There is no power unless you are running the generator, which means that if it was cold out you would need to winterize it every time you left.  The driveway was also very long, rocky, and wouldn't be included in our land.  My dad liked how close it was.

Pattern: none - Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA in Oakland Black - Needle: US 11 and US 13 

  I based this hat off of the ones I've seen Rohan make.  Mine is less lush looking, but I like it.  Snow Kitteh Winter Bonnet by Moth and Rust is similar, but uses a different technique for the back.  Charlotte Split Brim Slouch by Diane Serviss is more like what Rohan usually makes.  I worked about 13 rows of 1x1 ribbing over 51 stitches.  On the last row I knitted the first and last stitches together.  I then worked in the round with the larger needles until it was long enough and kitchenered it closed.

  Tank went in because one of his teeth had the gum going down into it and they wanted to check it out.  He's needed teeth cleanings before, but the dental treats have helped.  Turns out instead of possibly needing one tooth pulled, he needed three extracted.  He was knocked out faster than most cats, so that surprised the vet.  He also made a lot of new friends there and everyone commented on how good he was.  They called him Best Boy Tank when I went to get him.

  Since I was stuck at work, they fed him some at the veterinarian's office, but that wasn't enough because he was demanding food the second we got home.  I was told that the pain medication might make him state at walls or meow into dark corners.

House Hunting

   I've been able to get some more needlework done because we have been looking into a shared vacation home.  At the very least it would be Bill and I, along with my mom and dad to use it, but we both know people who might make use of it other times.

  One of the ones we are actually considering have some of the buildings made from wood cut on the property.   No central heat or cooling, but there is baseboard heating and wood stoves.   There was a fun little door that goes between the two main level rooms.  One building was built in 2012 and the other one back in 1742.  My dad was joking that one house would be to live in and the other would be to hold all my stuff.  The wooded area is nice and made me want to go exploring more.

  We didn't get to see the main house, but the second house was interesting.  It felt like you took 4 houses and stuck them together.  There were two rooms with the same decorative feel to them, but didn't match any of the others.  There were a lot of piles of various things around the property.  It was odd seeing old computer towers in the woods.  The ponds were nice though.  I don't totally know how I feel about it, since we didn't get to see the main house.  It isn't really in the running currently because I didn't get to see the main house and there would be a lot of clean up needed.

Pattern: none - Yarn: Red Heart Hometown USA in Chicago Charcoal and Los Angeles Tan - Needle: US 11

  I have a good time looking at houses, so if anyone needs a buddy to go look at houses with, I'm down to go.  One of the properties we almost considered seeing even came with its own tiny church.  I am tempted to go out to just see that part of it, though everything else is to run down for us to actually consider it.

The Hat-a-Thon is back!

Pattern: none - Yarn: Red Heart With Love in White - Hook/Needles: 6 mm and US 8

  I know I have the best/worst project going on, but I don't want that to be the only thing I worked on this year.  I had had so much fun doing the Hat-a-Thon last year that I signed up for it again.  Here is the team I'm on this year:

Boston Marathon (26)

• Meanicequeen (1)

• mere2012 (4)

• MinnieMay9 (7)

• Rsm6 (4)

• Sulwen (4)

• nettietheknitter (6)

  My current plan is to make a hat or two testing out the yarn for the best/worst project and use any leftovers to either test a pattern for the same project or just make any hat patterns that catch my eye.  I also got a few skeins of bulky yarn from K&CC for the Hat-a-Thon.

  For the hat pictured above, I started with a 2x2 ribbing.  Once that was long enough, I started to work a single crochet herringbone stitch.  However, I didn't work it back and forth to actually get the herringbone pattern, I just kept working in the same direction because I was curious as to what that would look like.  I like it and it was pretty quick once I got the hang of it.

Lattice Beret: Is It The Worst?

©The Knit Guru 

Lattice Beret 

Overall rating of 1.3/5 from 3 votes
Cost: Free

  I tried to get as much information as I could about this pattern, since it is very barebones.  I checked the posts on her old blog, Lunchbox of Awesome and her current blog, The Knit Guru, along with comparing it to the Ravelry Project Page.

  She says she used size 5mm and 7mm needles, that is an US size 8 and a bit bigger than a US size 10.5.  Her project page on Ravelry she says she used DK weight yarn, but on her blog post she says she uses a chenille yarn with some sparkle.  I have never seen a chenille yarn that is thin enough to be a DK, most are Aran or thicker.

Hi I just finished this and ended up with a beanie instead of a beret. I read the instructions to say do the repeated rows over the next 12 rows instead of 12 times so I only ended up with 1/2 as many rows as I should have. Its a cute beanie, a quick knit and I’m going to do it again but not tonight. LOL

~ sallyknits101 (over 9 years)

  From looking at the picture, I do believe that the original hat is done with the 12 rows of the lace repeat before the decrease.  I tried to see if she put anything about gauge or the actual yarn she used.  I couldn't find that anywhere, just that "loose gauge is best" for this project.  The hat is worked flat and then seamed up.  She says to sew the two sides, but I think she means to sew the two sides together and not that you will have two seams.

Frogged and restarted on 29/04.

I’m mystified by this, I followed the (admittedly not great) pattern to the letter, and the hat turned out child sized… Either I horrendously misread the pattern, or the pattern is horrendous.

Anyway, I am a disappointed as I really like the yarn, and loved the look of the hat in the picture accompanying the pattern.

As I can’t wear it, and I don’t know any kids, I’ll donate it, with my other items, to KAS.

~ BeaniePad (5 years)

  When I did my test knit, done flat with some DK yarn, my hat was going to be 17" at the brim and only 4" tall.  I then reknit it and when I used a thicker yarn I ended up with it being 23" at the brim and 6.5" tall, which I think matches the picture more closely, but not quite.

Yarn: Red Heart Hometown USA in Chicago Charcoal - Needles: US 10 and US 13

  I am a tight knitter, and The Knit Guru might be a loose knitter.  I really wish she had put any kind of numbers having to do with the dimensions of the finished item so I wouldn't have to keep guessing based on the picture.  I think I went too bulky with the yarn on this one.

Yarn: Red Heart With Love in White held double - Needles: US 10 and US 13

  I stayed with the new needle sizes, but went with a bulky weight instead of a super bulky.  It was a bit closer but I still wasn't able to get the size difference between the ribbing and the body of the beret like she was able to.  My yarn-overs seem to want to pull in on themselves while hers stay very open.  I might have had to go up another size, but that would have then put me way past the 2mm difference in needle size she had.

  Overall, I don't think this is written out very well to be a pattern to used by other people.  It would be great as a reminder to her as to what she did if she wanted to make the hat again.  There aren't too many things she would need to change to make it into something anyone could use.  She just needs to add what yarn she uses so people have an idea of what weight the yarn really is and could possibly get recommendations on Ravelry, also add what gauge we are aiming for on the brim and the body of the hat.  A few finished dimensions of the hat wouldn't hurt either.

New Year, New Challenge

Pattern: Antler Toque by Tin Can Knits - Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Ways in 3372 Petal - Needle: US size 8

  A while ago there was a trend going on around the internet where people were going to the lowest rated place in their area for various themes.  They were getting their nails, hair, or makeup done at the lowest rated salon.   It was then expanded to compare the lowest and highest rated locations.  Then people were buying things from the best and worst locations, so they could be buying cakes from the highest and lowest rated bakeries and comparing the results.  This got me thinking about how I could do this as well.

  I thought it would be really fun to try it with yarn and patterns.  There are some rules I made to go along with this project/challenge.  The yarn or pattern has to have a few bad reviews, not just one, and it has to be something I can get ahold of fairly easily.  While it would be fun to see how I feel about the Tangled Poets Advent Calendar 2019 from Aberdeen's Wool Co, I feel like it would not be easy for me to find.  I also really like the ones with the really scathing reviews, like this one:

Sloppy written pattern:

* No legend for abbreviations (neither written pattern nor chart)
* only a few measures

* inaccurate pattern

After the 5th row of chart and the second bug I found, I frogged my project.

It’s impudently to take money for this!

~ Vorlesetante (10 years ago) 1/5 stars

  I'm going to be posting the reviews I find while making some of my own.  However, I'm not doing this to shame the designers or yarn brands.  I'm curious if these patterns really are as bad as people think they are, or are they just written in a way that isn't compatible with the person trying it.  Any dates I have on here will be accurate to the time of posting.

  On Ravelry you can rate things without giving a review, so something might have a low or high rating, but no reason to go along with that rating.  This means that I have had to expand my search areas.  One of the yarns that fit the requirements only had such a bad rating because it was listed online as a three pack, but people only received one skein when they ordered it.  There was nothing about the quality of the yarn at all in any of those reviews and when I looked into it further, the single skein listings had pretty high reviews.

  Another problem I've run into with the yarn is how wildly varying the reviews will be sometimes.  The following reviews are both for Caron Simply Soft which has an overall 4.6/5 rating from 1604 votes:

This is the absolute worst yarn I have ever used. Not only does the yarn split with great ease, but in every skein I must cut out inches and inches of poor quality yarn half a dozen or more times per skein. There are entire sections that are just fuzz or the yarn is thinned out and appears to be a lighter weight. Unacceptable. Truth is, the gorgeous colors and sheen will draw you in and tempt you, but don’t let it. Buy something else.

~ Logan626 (one month ago) 1/5 stars

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This is among my favorite yarns and has been for several years. It is so very soft. The colors are exquisitely rich. The drape is lovely and washing and drying is perfect. I would recommend this yarn to anyone wishing to make garments or afghans with a bit of sheen.

~ Maple Mountain Magic (3 months ago) 5/5 stars

  I personally would agree more with Maple Mountain Magic, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who agree more with Logan626.  Yarns also have different ratings on different websites.  On Ravelry Caron Simply Soft is rated 4/5 while it is rated 4.6/5 on Joann's and 4.7/5 on Michael's websites.  I'm starting to get really excited for this!  I think I'm going to call each part "Is It The Worst?" or "Is It The Best?"