Day 14: What’s the worst yarn/fiber that you’ve worked with and why?
I would usually say COTTON here, because although I love things made from cotton- I do not like knitting with it. It’s not at all nice to your hands.
However- the very worst fiber I’ve EVER worked with has been silk. Specifically recycled sari silk.
Now this stuff is lovely to look at, and sooo very soft. (And sooo NOT CHEAP.) BUT- it has absolutely NO GIVE (stretch) at all, and being that it’s recycled- you have to handle it with kid gloves, or it will break. It breaks sooo easily, and I’m not normally hard on yarn. I bought two skeins from The Stitchin’ Post (they used to have yarn- they’ve been phasing it out, though), and took them home to admire and love. Then I tried to make a scarf out of them. I made it about 30 rows in, and had about 8 yarn breaks, and then I gave up. I will pet them. They will be pretty little paperweights on my desk, but I will not try to knit with them again. EVER.
Duck And Cover 
It is a bear to work with, isn’t it? I made a bag by holding it with a strand of wool, and that did okay, but it definitely requires a lot of patience. I have three skeins that my husband brought home from India, and they’ve been sitting for a couple of years while I try to figure out the best pattern. That may never happen.
Good luck with that one- I have given up. I think perhaps it would be good to weave with, since a tight weave would not even bat an eye at a yarn break, but knitting is dependent on continuity, so I can’t even think of a project that would work.
Cheers for the heads up, as I recently looked at something very similar and was debating with myself if it was worth getting, but now you have saved me the time and money, and I can happily get something else instead 🙂
Glad I could help. Now there are lots of completed projects using the sari silk, but those people must have had waaay more patience than I did.
I have some skeins of that in my stash, too. It’s gorgeous but I’ve never actually tried to knit with it. One of these days…!