Category Archives: Yarn

Blanket interrupted

My 17 year old daughter decided to make a crocheted blanket for Project Linus and it inspired me to join in. We’ve both been working at our respective projects for a week or two now and are making fantastic progress. I’d upload pictures if the blog weren’t mildly broken at the moment (so much to tend to getting things running again!).

In any case, I finished my first skein and went to start the second…only to realize that the colors were off. It’s not so bad that I wouldn’t use it for myself but definitely bad enough that I wouldn’t gift or donate it. Apparently the dye lot wasn’t as consistent as I needed it to be. Going through the rest of the yarn netted three skeins that looked identical to each other and two more that were different to those. The one I had already worked up matched nothing.

So I guess it’s back to the drawing board. The yarn is a lovely mix of colors so it can be repurposed elsewhere. Hell of a way too grow your stash though!

Today seems like a good time for a reprint.

Especially since my 2nd project back is another granny square afghan.

Dear cheap acrylic yarn from Wal-Mart,

RHSS

I know it’s practically heretical, but I’ve talked here before about my love affair with RHSS (that would be Red Heart Super Saver, for any of you who have never had the pleasure of encountering an OMG-teh-ebil-squeaky-babby-melting-acrylic thread). There are…new colors. New colors that I must have. New colors that need to find their way into the giant-granny-square-blanket-that-may-never-be-finished. And scarves that won’t get ruined when thrown into the wash. And the sweaters I really want to make for the kids. And that big-ass blanket I cut up.

And we’re not even going to talk about Red Heart’s new With Love

Love this book so much!

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I found this at a little bookshop in Maine this week and had to have it. It’s s story about a little girl who finds a magic box of yarn. The kids love it, but I got it for me because I was tickled by the concept and crazy about the illustrations.

Amazon link.

I made yarn!

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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.

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid…dye with it!

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:

Pop Quiz

Here we have the old Peaches & Creme, the new Peaches & Creme, and Sugar ‘n’ Cream:

Which one is which?

New Peaches & Creme

Totally new yarn that has been released under the Peaches & Creme name. The mill was closed and the name was bought and now I’m seeing the new version at my local Walmart and decided to give it a try. Any excuse for more dishcloths!

Boston

It’s been a very, very long time since I had a wander around Boston. IIRC, the last one was in 1994, when I spent a solid week roaming freely. I was visiting a friend, and he was working during the day, which left me free to discover the city.

I moved out to this area almost 7 years ago and I can count the number of times I’ve been properly in the city on one hand. Sad, but I’m old and settled now. 🙂 I’m lacking the time to just take off for a day and play.

Yesterday I had to go there for a medical appointment, so I brought Michael along with me for moral support, and we made it a day in the city that happened to include an appointment, instead of just popping in and out for the thing. And it turned out to be an incredible day, instead of one that could easily have been difficult and depressing.

I don’t have the pictures; he was the expedition photographer, lol. We got there just as the sun was coming out for the afternoon, between rain showers, and just walked around semi-aimlessly, doing the tourist thing. We wandered through the Common and the Public Gardens and generally just hung around until it was time for the appointment. Once we were done with the medical thing, it was lunch and a trip to Windsor Button. That was my birthday present, lol…I told him he didn’t have to buy me anything, just endure the stop with me. 🙂 I wound up buying this, which I’ve wanted for a while, because I couldn’t decide on yarn. I was really impressed with the wide range of yarns they carry…there were acrylics and blends all snuggled up with alpaca and wool and silk. There’s something about that that makes me unreasoningly happy.

Anyway, the appointment was inconclusive. They had trouble finding the records that my doctor’s office sent, so he wanted to look over them before giving me a conclusion. His impression, however, was definitely not MS, which leaves us with, “I don’t know.” So probably back to waiting to see what happens next. Which is ok. These things sometimes stay mysterious. What can you do?

Also, this is the first time I’ve taken the commuter rail into the city and it was awesome. It was amazingly stress free and worth every penny. And it’s funny to realize how close together everything here really is…if you’re a train. 🙂 Not to mention how compact the city is.

In any case, it was a thoroughly awesome day. I really ought to go wander around Boston more than once a decade.

What I did on my summer vacation.

Or at least this segment of it, anyway…

Worked on Traveling woman:

Took pictures of yarn (this is a BRS from Knitivity):

Wandered through a Walmart that just *expanded* their yarn selection. As far as I can tell, this has to do with the switch from Peaches and Cream to Sugar ‘n’ Creme, since the expansion was entirely Bernat yarns. But still…*more* yarn. In a Walmart. Amazing.

Watched as my partner hunted squirrels *inside* the cabin. Destructive little beasts. Hopefully I’m done having to clean up after them…for now…

Ate more of the best Southern food I’ve had outside the South…who would have guessed that I’d be going to Maine for the perfect pulled pork sandwich?

Took a walk in the woods.

Came home too soon.

Sighed.