hpy: we don't need no steenking self-restraint

last night: came home. wound one skein of the handspun bulky rocha from hpy. wound one skein of the worsted fondo marino from hpy (with a little help from the Ellie-girl).


first assessments: the yarn itself is softer than manos. but the multi colorways don't even come close. the rocha to my dismay doesn't look like it did on the website. it looks like bright orange and dark purple yarn. they really only use two colors. initially i looked at this yarn and thought it was ugly. also, the yarn is spun very VERY thinly in some places--down to a thread. the smell of vinegar is pretty strong. the other worsted yarn is spun more evenly but again the colors are not what i thought they would be. the website shows more marine bright blue and what i thought was white, but my skeins are muddy teal and brown. the blue color combo is still pretty--just not what i expected. i set aside this yarn to probably make a clapotis sometime in the future.

because i lack self-control, i cast on for minisweater #2 using the rocha. my 2nd assessment while actually knitting the yarn: it knits up into a nice fabric. the colors blend together much prettier, less scary halloween-y. i do
kind of hope the colors will mute a bit with washing though. the thin sections worry me. i may go back after i finish and duplicate stitch over those parts b/c i think they will snap in a very short period of time. the yarn feels
cuddly and soft, but i can envision pilling before long. i am modifying the pattern this time to make longer sleeves and a tie front. i was able to do most of the raglan increases with one skein. i should be able to separate the sleeves from the body soon. i am glad i have the experience of a minisweater under my belt b/c it's fairly easy to hold up the hpy version to my cotton angora version and compare for sizing.

in short, i like and don't like this yarn. it feels very soft and looks nice, but i'm worried about durability and i am not that impressed with the multis. i think in the future i will stick to ordering the more evenly spun worsted and only order the solids. you can't beat the pricing and the service, so i will order from them again, but i'm glad i was able to compare one on one with manos and discover that i still really like manos. :-)