I took my first trip to the Lion Brand Warehouse in Carlstad, NJ. It was awesome! Aside from the great reduced priced yarn, they had what are called “mill ends”. The end of yarns that are not acceptable for resale. These giant skeins came in packs of three (not all packs had the same color in them), and were $5 each. I couldn’t resist a deal like that. The yarn is very soft. My original Painted Turtle Afghan was made using 100% wool. It is very warm, but a little rough to the touch. It is great to throw on top of another blanket on cold nights. I figured that with these great deals, I will make a second Painted Turtle Afghan with this new softer 98% acrylic yarn.

Because this yarn is coiled and a little bit thicker than the standard yarn called for in the pattern, I am using a bigger hook. The pattern calls for a 5.5mm hook. After doing a test hexagon, the stitches came out too small. You couldn’t appreciate the work with that hook. Instead, I am using a 6.5mm hook. The 1.0mm makes a HUGE difference. You can see the stitches and appreciate the overall pattern very easily. From one skein I can make almost 2 hexagons. The 1.0mm difference also means that the end product is considerably bigger than the original. I will probably end up going to a local craft store to pick up another skein or two of a similar green.

Update 7/1/13:
I used a store bought green and a store bought brown. I found an old store bought gray in my closet. In the end, I need to use all of these to make an extra 5 more hexagons to completel the blanket. Now I am stitching it together with some old Red Heart Super Saver orange yarn I had in my closet. It is turning out SO WELL. The homespun yarn is so soft compared to the 100% wool blend of my original blanket. This will be so cozy to wrap up in.