I’ll just admit it right here at the beginning, I’m grumpy.

But who wouldn’t be when they have splity yarn on the needles?

I’m making a Pepita (as I mentioned yesterday) for a soon to be mom. I like the pattern. I’m making progress.

But I would have made more progress if I didn’t have to stop and deal with all these split stitches.

Its made with Mimosa by Yarn Bee. Yarn Bee is the house brand for Hobby Lobby* and I’ve used other yarns from them and I like them. But I don’t like this stuff. I needed a fingering or light sport weight yarn and I wanted that yarn to be cotton instead of wool. The choices for finer weight cotton are limited. I picked this Mimosa because I liked the colors and because it was right there on the shelf.

I should have gone to my LYS and bought Cascade Ultra Pima Fine. Or I should have used the Cotton Fine by Brown Sheep that I already had in my stash.

I’m using size 2 (2.25 mm) metal needles with very sharp tips and its still splitting. One in every ten stitches comes apart on me and makes that irritating little “scritch” sound.  Argh. I can’t imagine how much trouble I would have with this yarn on wooden needles. The idea of trying to crochet with it makes me grind my teeth. No, I’m not even going to try and see how bad it is on a hook.

Here is why the yarn does not hold up (and as a spinner I should have known this yarn wasn’t made right): It’s four strands of (tiny) already-finished-and-plied cotton yarns that have been plied with a two strands of shiny acrylic ribbon.

I’m not sure if you can tell from this picture but that acrylic has no twist in it at all. When you take twisted strands and and ply them with untwisted strands, the yarn is unbalanced. Of course its going to fray and split.

No, I’m not giving up. No, I’m not starting over with something else. I have a baby shower looming. And the yarn looks fine once its been worked up.

But I’m grumpy and I’m not having much fun knitting this. I’m not buying this yarn again.

However, if you’ve had a totally different experience, please feel free to jump in and defend this yarn’s honor. You won’t change my mind but you won’t hurt my feeling either.

* I’m aware of the lingering controversy regarding Hobby Lobby and its owners and its fight over funding abortions for its employees. I have made it a rule that there will be no politics on this blog. I shop at Hobby lobby, obviously. They get plenty of my money. That tells you how I feel about it. This post is a yarn review and nothing else.