I know, I know. There has been two free patterns in one week. I bet you miss the pointless sass and rambling snark of my usual posts. So do I. They are easier and quicker to write! But the timing on this could not be helped. Valentines Day is coming up quick and I love Mom. Mom loves pretty, purely decorative washcloths. So…
I was chatting online with some spinner-ly people the other day. We were swapping tales of the stuff non-spinners ask us. I had my list. But I had forgotten one very important question that comes up a lot.
“Do you spin your pet’s hair?”
I’m reserving my answer. I wouldn’t want to influence anyone in the highly scientific polling we got going on here. So, where do my Roving Crafters come down on the pet-hair-into-yarn issue? Let’s find out!
(BTW, I don’t get what’s going on with the polls. They get lots of views. Some weeks, poll day is my best day! But… but… very few readers seem to click ’em. I don’t understand that at all. Me? I love to tell people what I think, lol.)
You know those fascinators the British royals have made amazingly popular these days? This is not one of those. This is it yarn-y cousin. The knitted (and crocheted) fascinators may not be as well known or as fashionable but I promise you, they are much warmer.
I’ve finished knitting up the Dorset Down yarn and I’m so very happy with it. It came out even better than I had hoped. Back in November I went poking around the internet to learn more about this Dorset Down roving I had to spin. It seemed to be a universally accepted truth that Dorset was for making socks.
My knitting students voted that idea down. I’m glad they did. Dorset may make a great sock but as it turns out, it makes great lace too.
I went shopping over the weekend and that is usually quite a chore for me. To say that I generally do not enjoy shopping is a bit of an understatement. It would be like saying Feline Overlord is a little spoiled. When I was a teen my mom dropped me off at the mall with $300 and told me to buy some new clothes for the new school year. (I was a teen 25 years ago. Three hundred dollars would have actually bought me several outfits instead of a t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants like it would today.) Several hours later, when mom picked me up, I showed her my three new pairs of earrings and gave her back $285.
But this weekend I actually enjoyed myself and I actually found what I was looking for and I actually spent the money and I actually bought stuff. It was a special set of circumstances though. I was shopping for books and yarn.
I like knitting. Scratch that, I love knitting. I do. Knitting is fun. But not all knit patterns are the same kind of fun. Feather and Fan lace is the kind of fun that’s keeps me entertained and makes me feel clever. Two by two ribbing is the kind of fun that makes me want to jab a knitting needle into my thigh so I don’t pass out from sheer boredom.
I get bored easily. So when a patterns calls for something like:
“cast on 100 2480 stitches and work in 2 x 2 rib for 3 54 inches”
I might throw in some right twists and left twists just to break up the drudgery. It works out well. I don’t go insane from endless knit 2, purl 2 and the twist-y stitches look very nice. They are great for adding a little something-something to the ribbing on hats and sleeves and such.
Just a quick post today. I blew off writing something for this morning for, ummm, knitting. I’m enjoying this project and its hard to put it down and do anything else.
Oh and it seems like Jess is leaning towards making a Girasole which hadn’t made my list at all. But she’s considering doing it in worsted weight yarn because she did like the idea of enormous round blankets. So I helped a little. Sorta.
A few crafters I know have been making disturbing statements lately. They are talking about cleaning out their yarn stashes.
Huh.
I can see where someone would feel the need to get rid of stuff this time of year. Its after Christmas so chances are you have new stuff to fit into your home. The weather is cruddy so chances are you’ve been stuck in your home way too much. Your stuff seems like too much stuff and its bugging you. Something has to go.
But does it have to be the yarn? Do crafters really throw out their yarn?
After a few blissful days of sun and warm temperatures, the wet and the cold are rolling back in. S’ok. I have a plan.
That’s my Dorset Down handspun on its way to becoming a head scarf. I was, you know, cheating on it a bit with that baby accessories set. But now that baby stuff is done, I’m back to being faithful to my Dorset. No more cheating. Probably.
I’ve been asked, more than once, where is Jess. This blog is a team effort. I’m on the team. Jess is on the team. Feline Overlord is on the team. Cowardly Boy Cat is on the team.
If you’re a regular reader, than you know where Feline Overlord is. She’s over there trying to figure out a way into my project bag so she can muck up all my knitting. Cowardly Boy Cat is hiding under the bed (the safest place in the world). But where is Jess?
Roving Crafters 