Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Scarves, hats and bags, oh my!

Life continues with knitting needles in hand. I'm back to using just one yarn in a piece after a bout of using up to six or seven yarns. Life is good. I'm using all wool to make hats, scarves and shawls. Now I signed up for a craft show at my local food coop on December 18-29 weekend. The needles'll be a-flying!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

What to do with yukky yarn?

So far in my yarn buying experience I've turned up very little yukky yarn. The little I have was ordered through the web, so I couldn't touch or see it. Instead of returning it, what I've done is use it with other yarns.

For instance I got a green worsted yarn that had no life. I tried knitting, I tried crochet, and it just wasn't happening. Then I tried a strand of brown with flecks of orange in it along with the green, and it was very appealing.

Another yarn was just screaming loud, yellow orange with greens and reds in it. I've put together a scarf with long rows, alternating the screamer with a compatible red, and it's handsome after all.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Knitting explorations

The knitted linen cloths that I'm making for gifts are coming along nicely. I'm using very old plastic circular needles in size 4. They were in the collection I inherited from mom this past summer. The linen is not bleached, so I am washing it until the rinse water runs clear,, which seems to me to be quite a lot of washing.

I recently ordered one of the grab bags from Webs, one of my most favorite yarn stores, located in Northampton, Massachusettes. I go to the store when possible, and also have been very satisfied with my orders until now. The order form instructs us to put our grab bag color preferences in a special instructions section, which I did, then I got colors not even closely related to what I requested. They were willing to take it back, but frankly, I'm too lazy to mail it back to them. It's a royal pain in the neck for me. I should have called in the order and asked a lot more questions.

But now that I'm really looking at the yarn, after I got over the initial disappointment, it's interesting. *sigh* So I'm putting things together with it and "making do" with what I got. It's a lesson learned, and it won't by any means cause me to stop shopping at Webs , because it's such a fabulous collections of yarns, plus an excellent source for true bargains.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Highland wool

I need to tie my hands in order not to shop on the internet. So, without those ties, I've been doing some wonderful shopping! Today my highland wool arrived from Elann yarns, and I'm delighted with it. I splurged and bought over thirty of the colors. Now I am blending four of them happily with a Noro yarn that changes from color to color while adding texture. I'm putting a shawl together. Yippee!

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Shopping for yarn

This fall I've enjoyed shopping for yarn in places other than chi chi shops. A spinster has been spinning at my local farmer's market for years and I finally bought some of her worsted weight yarn. Wow. It's good stuff. I'm making a triangle shawl using four of her colors plus some chi chi novelty yarn. Yummy.

I also tried the New York State Sheep and Wool Fesitval which was a trip and a half. Sheep, goats, lamas, alpacas and of course the kids were fabulous. It seems like the gamut of products from our woolly, hairy and furry friends when on forever. The angora bunnies were my favorites. But the knitted and woven things people were wearing was at least half the fun.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Knitting in progress

This is the current favorite out of about seven ongoing projects. Life is too hectic to take photos of all of them. This work is being done in woven knit stitch

I've also tried it to make linen face cloths and it's a marvelous stitch if you can get the pattern down to the point of not having to think about it.

Knitting in progress, Fall 2004 Posted by Hello