So I thought I’d be writing about pesky yarn pills…(yawn).  Started out with this color I can only describe as Magenta, this hue, deep and warm, like a royal velvet robe. The loosely knit sweater was incredibly soft to touch.  I pushed back the others to discover disappointment, challenge, and hope…at the same time.
I looked at the label and read some of my favorite yarn words….”silk” and “angora”. These words overcame the disappointment with the overall appearance….MAGENTA PURPLE YARN PILLS.

Could it be resurrected? Why not?  I checked the seaming, yes! Chain stitched. Checked the price $1.99, yes! Ok no holes or staining. It’s coming home.
A shame this garment was in this state. What caused the pilling?  It shouldn’t pill on the front or back where there is no friction.  My guess, loose knit, loose spun, washing machine-felting was the culprit.
Poor quality materials(?)…hmmm ok, let’s consider this article from WSJ. $395 for a high quality sweater might be reasonable in my head, if the Queen knit it.   Otherwise, from what I read here, the consumer has to gamble that their purchased product will hold up.
I couldn’t wait to see what I could do for this Yarn, as by its appearance, would NEVER again live as a sweater.
On home, hand washed in Woolite, laid flat to dry. There was some bloom from the Angora, and shimmer from the silk. Still beautiful to touch, awful to look at. I grabbed the trusty stitch ripper and unlocked the collar seam. The Large Cowl collar seemed to leap off towards a new beginning.  The yarn was 5 strands of 2-ply accompanied by a nuisance strand of Lycra. The 6 had barely a twist to them.  As I wound the yarn from the cowl neck, I removed the pills that didn’t fall off as part of the unraveling. I set aside the newly reeled yarn, estimated about 100 (or so) yards.
I hoped giving the yarn a tighter spin, and a tighter knit stitch, it could become a supple neck warmer.
Out came the spinning wheel and …ugghh,  what should I ply it with? Oh- I have a spool of multicolored Sulky somewhere….there it is. I plied up a small amount to swatch. Really liked the outcome.

The swatch, (below stitch pattern) gave 4″ square with 26 sts and 42 rows on US size 5 needles.

2 row repeat, 3 times
Row A (wrong side) k1 *knit 3 purl 1*
Repeat between * and * to end of row.
Row B (right side) knit to end of row.
2 row repeat, 3 times
Row C (wrong side) k2 *knit 3 purl 1*
Repeat between * and * to end of row.
Row D (right side) knit to end of row.

So much for those magenta purple yarn pills!! On to the neck warmer…stay tuned!!