(keep feeling) fascination

my book, The Crafter's Companion arrived in the mail yesterday, and i spent most of yesterday evening reading it! the introduction provided absolute sense to this entire craft world which a lot of us seem to be immersed in by choice, by habit, by compulsion, and by fun:

"As the back of this book wonders, why do we bothers to make things by hand when we live in a world where our every material desire can be fulfilled by ready-made, shop-bought items? On the large scale, I like to think the the 'craft wave' is a reaction to this world; we create because the mass produced just isn't special enough." (Torborg, 2006)

(I'm such a librarian)

Also, the book has great patterns, which I intend to start on ASAP!

Anyway, I couldn't agree with that any more. I've often wondered why I can never sit in front of the television without having something in my hands. My grandmother was the same way. As I've mentioned before, I come from a long line of crafty ladies, and my dad is quite talented in all sorts of woodworking pursuits. I love that the need to connect with what we create may be hereditary.




Works cited:

Torborg, Anna, ed. (2006). The Crafter's Companion. London: Snowbooks.

hubris, take 2

here's the dried handspun! it's a lovely shade of green! also note the amazing doily crocheted by my friend and coworker ramona. (don't mind the white bits - that's just the white cotton yarn i tied the skein together with)

the hubris of a man!

after last night's violent storms, i stayed home from work today, because i had a hard time falling asleep with the weather radio going off every fifteen minutes and the fact that 3 fronts moved in during one evening. it was a bad time for the tennessee, arkansas, kentucky and mississippi. mr. wheezy-to-be and i saw a wall cloud outside our front door about a mile away as the tornado (luckily) lifted over nashville. unfortunately, when it landed, it did some serious damage.

i'm from the snowbelt. i'm not used to this. i'll take 6ft of snow over this any day.

on a happier and non-dishcloth related note (GASP!), i plied up some singles today that i had spun up pre-genius-idea-of-knitting-44-dish-cloths. i picked up 8 oz. of some awesome romney/mohair mix at a local fiber fest back in october. mind you, i could have kept plugging away with the goold ol'cotton, but i didn't want to push it for fear of massive burnout and backlash, which could involve me staying away from natural fibers altogether and knitting with acrylics for 2 years. *faints*

no one wants to see that.

it must be noted that i really want to spin sock yarn. i tried to make some nice 3 ply earlier, but only came up with 265 yards. that, dear reader, will not cover my large size 11 lady feet. so, i split up my 8ozs as best i could, and spun away on the highest ratio, having a grand ol'time.

so, today i two-plied. i was happy as a pig in mud as i was counting how many go-rounds i had on my niddy-noddy. "111! that'll totally make a pair of socks!" (i must also mention here i'm terrible at math). so, i came up stairs, plugged in the numbers in the magical inches to yards converter, and then started crying. ok, i didn't cry, but i lifted my fist in utter sadness and yelled "THE HUBRIS OF A MAN!" it's on't 216 yards, folks. i know i could knit little booties, but i like knitting proper socks. le sigh.

so, i've washed it, and it's currently drying in my shower as i type this. photos to follow. i think the mohair will spice up the romney nicely.

anyone who can suggest how many oz of wool i should get to make around 400 yds of 2 or 3 plied sock yarn would be my new best friend. ok, maybe not, but i'd send you a dish cloth.

the harder they come

stats:

• 12 dishcloths completed
• 1 callous developping
• 1 hole in finger
• need to stretch hand on a regular basis
• overwhelming sense of pride that i may actually be ahead of schedule

bummers:

• still have to weave in ends (blerg)
• still have 32 to go

i wish i could say my callous was some rockstar related injury, but alas, it is not. no, it is not from shredding my axe. it's from my US size 8 susan bates needles.

now dear readers, i need some advice. i am planning to finish these dishcloths in the near future, not only to be an industrious knitter, but to also save my sanity. as i've mentioned before, i come from a crafty family, and hand knit thank-you presents would be the perfect gift for the 3 ladies throwing the wedding shower for me. 2 of them are terribly talented quilters, and the other is a jack (jane?) of all crafts. also, if anyone suggests i give them dish cloths, i may just shut this whole operation down (ok, not really).

shawls? i don't have enough time for log cabin blankets, do i? i'm dreamin' big! we can blame that on on glen campbell. he once made me (well, his song did) drive to bowling green, ky just because i was enamoured with that song. ok, so i got lost and ended up in a not so great part of town, but whatever.

PS - don't forget to vote!

epic knitting project, cont'd.

so, i skivved off a work a bit early today to head off to buy an insane amount of cotton yarn. "how much is an insane amount?" you ask. well, dear reader, 29 skeins of Peaches'n'Creme and 2 1 1b. cones is an insane amount of cotton yarn. the cashier clearly thought i was a bit batty. now, nothing can get in my way of providing delight to all those who attend the wedding shower.





oh, and my mother sent me a text asking if 44 invites was okay. so, officially have 6 dishcloths done (soon to be 7), and only 38 more to go.

even though i have this massive task ahead of me, my mind is already wandering on to what i can create next. no, not to the socks that i've abandoned or the hybrid seamless sweater that i've haplessly thrown aside, but to sewing projects, and learning how to crochet. my coworker and lovely friend ramona made me this absolutely stunning pineapple doily, which makes me want to crochet doilies. en masse. and then i want to frame them. but more on that later.

i also want to dust off the old sewing machine, who, aside from providing me with some lovely marimekko-esque curtains, hasn't done much as of late. clothing, people! i'm talking tops! skirts! even dresses!

le sigh.

back to my dishcloths.

40 days and 40 dishcloths

So, it's been a good while, hasn't it? Well, let's just say I have a wedding shower coming up (for yours truly), and I volunteered to knit 40 dishcloths for favors. My mother is sewing some really cute and functional drink coasters. When she mentioned this, my crafty DNA kicked in, and I volunteered to help out. Who doesn't love handknit items? Anyway, I did the math and this means I pretty much have to crank out one of these suckers every night.

Here's the thing: it's the easy peasy dishcloth pattern my grandmother taught me.

Thus far I have 4 done.

36 to go.

Wish me luck.

someone stop me, please

oh, etsy.

so, the sock making is coming along, along with many precious lessons that one needs to experience. or, if i had remembered what people told me, maybe i wouldn't be in the predicament of having one and a half socks done, before i ran out of yarn, and then realized it had then been discontinued.

the socks i'm working on now are some lovely lorna's laces in tuscany. those were originally going to be for me, but now i think i shall send them to my friend in san francisco, as she sent me the most beautiful entrelac scarf.

yay, etsy! you shall ruin me!

my bucket's got a hole in it

So, the first sock: kind of a disaster!

Did I take time to check my gauge? No.
Was I too excited to knit Continental on tiny dpns? Yes.

Ach well. It's a learning experience, right?

I tried the sock on last night, bursting with pride, until I saw all the dropped stitches, my botched attempt at the Kitchener stitch, etc. Did I cry? Surprisingly, no! B and I decided it was a learning experience, and now I shall practice on the class sock from Sensational Knitted Socks.

sock it to me

This sock is taking me AGES to finish. Mind you, it's my first sock ever, and kind folks have told me this is normal. Tonight, I plan on focusing on my heel, with no distractions. Starting the heel 4 times would be embarrassing. I think it's inevitable, however. I tried knitting it during the library staff picnic today, but had to keep putting it on the picnic table whenever someone won a prize (which happened once every 30 seconds, really).

I happily mastered the Continental stitch, thanks to a video on the modern internets. I learned a slightly different way from my aunt, which wasn't conducive to purling.

woe is me

I feel like the way I originally learned how to knit has put me at quite a disservice when trying to knit on circulars or dbpns. I originally learned the "Jam it under your armpit method!" which was great for me to knit dishcloths, scarves, mittens, etc. But now I dream of knitting SOCKS, and after this past weekend's debacle involving US 2 needles ("OMG THESE NEEDLES ARE TINY!"), I feel I must relearn my method.

About 2 years ago, my aunt taught me the Continental Method, which was favored by my grandmother. It worked really well for the ZoSo scarf I was knitting on circulars, for a friend. Ahem.



Am I have such a hard time with practicing due to the fact that I have the long needles? Oh me, I'm so forlorn.

Hopefully, though, the books I'm picking up from the public library will bring me joy and motivation, especially the one on ESTONIAN KNITTING!