My Biggest Challenge So Far

Hello my friends! I hope you are doing well! Today we're diving into one of the biggest challenges I have faced to date on my crochet journey: faux fur yarn.

I have so many thoughts, so let's dive in.

First of all, skein weight matters!! You would think that's a no brainer, yet I found myself here. I went to the yarn shop in high hopes, ecstatic for this new adventure. I ended up grabbing all the colors I could find without thinking about the weight-HUGE mistake! I began working with 10.5oz weight and realized the project would be three times the size I was planning to make! To make one bunny in the size I wanted, I would have needed a basket full of skeins and a bucket full of cash, so the furry bunny will not be seeing the light of day for now. 

In light of this challenge, I began unraveling the yarn into three separate pieces from the one thick piece it came as. If I did not look at the clock or acknowledge the pain my wrists and back were in, this would have been a completely acceptable plan. Alas, I did look at the clock and I did acknowledge the pain. This was not a feasible option for the project I was planning. To get a few feet of yarn took close to an hour. I still haven't completely unraveled 1 skein. It has been weeks!

Issue two hit when I realized the recommended hook size was truly impossible to use with my tension. The way I was yelling at this yarn was something to behold. Naturally, I went up a .5 mm hook size-still no luck. Up another .5 mm hook, which felt huge-we're getting close. Up to 1.5mm larger now and we are in! I finally get my hook in the stitch and breathe a sigh of relief! The celebration did not last long though as the journey stopped abruptly.

Turns out it is nearly impossible to see your stitches when using this type of yarn, I should have known! Why would any step in this process be simple? I love a challenge, but sheesh, give a girl a break!

I do a quick YouTube search and see most artists use a secondary thin yarn to pair with it so you can see your stitches. In that moment, I did not have a matching colored thin yarn. I thought "I know what to do! I will put a stitch marker in every single stitch and it will be so easy to work without the secondary yarn." Tried it-nope. This was also a no-go. The amount of stitch markers that fell out in this process was too many to count. I am still finding them around my house today! Trying to guess where the fallen markers were supposed to go was off the table. I was stuck in my ways of counting each stitch and being as precise as possible. 

I went back to what worked for others: using a secondary yarn. I found the closest color I could find. That paired with the larger hook was great! I began crocheting like normal. It was still a bit hard to see, so I decided to approach this project differently than all previous projects: I began to work by feel of the stitches, instead of by sight. This was incredibly freeing! I was nervous about mistakes showing, but with this type of yarn, you cannot see mistakes. CANNOT SEE MISTAKES?! I did not know this was possible! Turns out, it is and it comes with a load of other challenges. Proceed with caution.

Moral of the story, I tried something new and it brought out a crochet side of me I had not expected. I was okay with making mistakes and trusted my instincts!

I think I will only tap into that energy when I am working with faux fur, but it is nice to know that side of me exists. I think I'll continue to unravel the skein I began working with and make one really awesome project out of it, then I will figure out another use for the rest-maybe a knit project?! Stay tuned.