Corn

Corn, you know, the kind you eat:
I am told the Native Americans shared the secret of corn with the Pilgrims.  How long was the corn growing in the new world before the Mayflower?  Who knows.  Ok.  An archaeologist or historian somewhere knows, but I am neither and so I claim "who knows".  Let's get real here for a moment; you eat corn, I eat corn, I think we're all aware of what corn is and how it's grown.  Yes?  Yes.  Moving right along...

Corn, you know, the kind you knit:
Corn yarn is a relatively new product.  Our little kerneled friends were just waiting in the wings for a chemist to come along and help them reach their full potential.  That's right my friends, put out of your mind the image of a gentle, grandma-type lady at her spinning wheel diligently twisting and pulling corn silk.  This bad boy begins in a laboratory.  *maniacal laughter*  Ok.  That's not entirely true.  It begins on a farm and then migrates to the laboratory. *more maniacal laughter*

Corn is full of starch. These starches are broken down into sugars, then fermented and broken down even further on the molecular chain.  Think of it as a gooey, sugary, play-doh.  This play-doh is shoved through an extruder to create thin, delicate strands.  The strands are cut, carded, combed and spun into yarn.

Cool Corn Yarn Facts:

• It's compostable.
• It's hypoallergenic.
• It's UV & wrinkle resistant.
• It has low flammability.

My Corn:
For my first foray into knitting with corn, I chose Kollage Corntastic Yarn.  If a hank of cotton yarn and a ball of bamboo yarn had a little yarn baby, it would be corn yarn. 

Texture: 4 Yarngasms.  omgthisyarnissoridiculouslysoftanddelicious! *puddle*

Durability: 2.5 Yarngasms. While corn yarn has similar properties to bamboo and cotton, it is definitely the most delicate of the three.

Frogability: 1 Yarngasm.  Don't do it.  Don't even think about it.  This yarn it very splitty to begin with, frogging only makes it worse.

Drape: 1 Yarngasm.  Yeah.  There's none. 

My Project:
Prepare yourselves for a saga of epic proportions.  I bought this yarn with the express purpose of using it for the Corset-Bodice Nightgown from Knitting Lingerie Style: More Than 30 Basic and Lingerie-Inspired Designs. Silky, delicious yarn for a sexy nightgown, what could possible go wrong?  I'll tell you what went wrong.  I finished the project, blocked it and then realized that  it didn't look anything like I wanted it to.  Or anything like the picture.  The yarn may be soft and smooth and totally yummy, but it's so lightweight it can't drape to save its life.  And so, the Corset-Bodice Nightgown was frogged and the Kollage Corntastic sat unused and unloved.  Until one day, I decided it was time to move past my disappointment and turn this knitting frown upside down.  Armed with the knowledge that I couldn't use any pattern that included openwork, I went with a pattern I'd been itching to knit; the Button-Up Sweater from Doggy Knits: Over 20 Coat Designs for Handsome Hounds And Perfect Pooches.  And so, this* was born:

*the sweater, not the dog

And there was much rejoicing.

This may sound like I don't like this yarn.  That is SO not the case.  In fact, this yarn is the perfect example of why I started this Quest in the first place.  Every fiber has positives and negatives, the key is to pick projects that accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives (as they say...) of the fiber you're working with.  The fiber is the basis of this craft and each project should work for the fiber content in your yarn and not the other way around.  It just so happened that the first pattern I picked didn't work with the fiber.  The second pattern I looked at had all the right elements to showcase the corn yarn.  The lesson here: Know Thy Yarn.