I started off my new crochet project using a Caron Cake and no pattern. I had to find a pattern that would work well with it. I ended up selecting
Simple Crochet Shawl designed by Teresa Chorzepa. In order to be able to use the pattern with 1 Caron Cake, I had to modify the pattern slightly. 1 Caron Cake has 383 yards and the pattern needed 570 yards. What I ended up doing is eliminating 1 repeat of 4 that contained 6 rows. So, instead of Rep Rows 4-9 for 4 more times, I Rep Rows 4-9 for 3 more times instead. Problem solved!
While I crocheted my new project, I took notes of several things. First, I pulled the yarn from the middle. That ended up being a really good choice. Often when I have used Simply Soft Caron and pulled from the middle, the yarn tends to untwist and become challenging as it unraveled. With the Caron Cake, the yarn did not behave that way and stayed together. Also, I found the yarn grabs onto my hook easier than Caron's Simply Soft yarn and making it easier to manage. I believe this was due to the mixture of wool and acrylic.
I was really curious about the color changes. I had heard that the change was abrupt. I can confirm it was definitely abrupt. The join seemed to be a hit or miss at the color change. I had one join tied as a knot and another join that did not require a knot. I am never happy when I come across a knot in my yarn. Sometimes those knots aren't the greatest and they need to be taken out and rejoined to the project.
 |
| Color switch that was done using a knot!! |
 |
| Color switch that was correctly done. |
 |
| There is a color change with the beige and cream yarn. Can you see it? |
 |
| There is a color change with the green/grey and light grey yarn. Can you see it? |
As the Caron Cake became used, it was wound the same way as any other skein of yarn you buy from the store. It just happened to be in a cake shape instead of the typical tube shape. I had expected it to unwind more like a hand wound skein of yarn.
Overall, I think that the yarn is pretty good, but it has some room for improvement. I would likely use it again for another project. I have yet to decide whether I should block the finished product or leave it be. Because it has wool, it could possibly benefit from blocking.
 |
| Finished Project, Unblocked. |
Viewing the project from a distance, there is a color change that catches my eye between the grey and the cream. Overall, I believe it looks pretty good!
