Monthly Archives: August 2011

New Obsession

Posted on August 30, 2011 by deb | Comments Off

Spinning may be my favorite fiber-related pursuit yet.

I put in a KnitPicks order a couple of weeks ago to get more Wool of the Andes bare for the kids to dye, and finally caved to temptation and got one of their spindles, some WotA roving, and a copy of Respect the Spindle. Since then I’ve made some gloriously awkward looking yarn and some progress in controlling what exactly I’m making.

And I’m finding that it’s a growing obsession in a way that I didn’t expect it to be. I spin before work, I spin after work. I turn off the computer and spin. (!) (Really!)

I’m making yarn!

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Posted in Spinning

Why I don’t knit lace.

Posted on August 21, 2011 by deb | Comments Off

I have a deep and inexplicable need for my knitting to be insanely simple. I wouldn’t find this at all remarkable if it weren’t for the fact that I don’t feel the same way about crochet. Or at least not to the same extent.

I’ve tried knitting cables, and I’ve tried knitting lace. I’ve even succeeded a time or two. Hell, if the pattern is rhythmic enough, I’ve even enjoyed it.

Building that rhythm seems to be the key for me. I suspect this is why I took to spinning like the proverbial duck to water. (Nevermind that I’ve worked with it for all of an hour or so…I know love at first sight when I see it.)

I look at projects on Ravelry sometimes and wish for a few minutes that I were the kind of knitter that could and would make those things. But really? I’m happy over here in the corner with my dishcloths. Knitting for me is sort of like my old Birkenstocks…simple, useful, and dead comfortable.

Which would be why I love it.

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Posted in Crochet, Knitting, Life

I made yarn!

Posted on August 18, 2011 by deb | Comments Off

Squee!

With my last KnitPicks order I treated myself and got a spindle and some Wool of the Andes Bare roving, along with a copy of Respect the Spindle. After an hour or so playing around with it, I’m just a little bit in love.

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Posted in Yarn

Mobius Much?

Posted on August 14, 2011 by deb | Comments Off

This is an incredibly neat technique for getting started. It’s based on foundation double crochet and makes a lovely join.

Doris Chan is just awesome.

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Posted in Crochet

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid…dye with it!

Posted on August 6, 2011 by deb | Comments Off

So a while ago the internets told me that you can dye wool with Kool-Aid and my reactions were:

1. Cool!
2. I’ll never let the kids drink this shit again.
3. Omg I have to try this!

So then a couple of years went by, lol. But this last week I got the Kool-Aid and a skein of KnitPicks bare bulky weight and three eager children all together at once, and this is what happened: