Trish Knits.com

Category: Yarn

The Fun Part
See what this is?

Closeup of Clapotis, showing beginnings of dropped stitches

This week, I’ve finally begun the “straight rows” section of the Clapotis pattern. This means I get to drop stitches! Yay! On purpose. I’ve actually done this before (follow the link and scroll down for the evidence), and it is terribly fun at the outset. The problem, as I see it, is being able to maintain my mojo all the way to the end. I know this about myself, because this will be the fourth or fifth time I’ve worked on one. How many finished objects do I have to show for my efforts? Embarrassingly, none. That’s just how I roll, I guess. But, I pledge that this time will be different. To wit:
- I am using a most favored yarn, Lisa Souza’s Sock! Merino in the colorway, “Wild Things.”
- I’m having the good fortune of being able to show some newer knitters how this pattern works, and how it is so elegant in its simplicity. (Just don’t discourage the noobs by telling them how boring it is to knit after a while, ok? We don’t want to discourage their enthusiasm.)
- I’m enjoying some really fabulous audiobooks to listen to while knitting. Right now, it’s the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I’m only on the second book, and I’m completely addicted!
So maybe this is the time that my long-suffering fantasies of wearing a Clapotis in public will finally come true. It’s about time that I owe this one to myself, right?

Now, if only I didn’t have the distraction of wanting to cast on for Color Affection… It’s a sickness, for sure. Wish me luck.
May 30, 2012
Homespun Yarn Party, 2012

Today was the annual Homespun Yarn Party, in Savage, MD. I’d never been to this event before, but this year, my friend Lynne from Knit Group decided that I had to attend, and offered to drive my van there. It was a little like the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but in miniature, and it focused on small, local vendors with unique yarns and products. I went there not knowing what to expect, and I loved it!

Of course, I couldn’t have attended an event like that without having some yarn follow me home. I tried to focus only on yarns I had never seen or heard of before, and colors that pleased me, but WITHOUT focusing on purple for once, because that would have made things too easy. And I think I succeeded. Without further ado, here are my purchases:

This yarn is from Feederbook Farm. I like it because it has little bits that look like flowers in it. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet, but I love this.

Feederbrook Farm Yarn

This one is Biggie, by Dancing Leaf Farm. It’s mostly blues and greens, and it reminds me of looking up at a blue, blue sky at billowy clouds while lying on cushy green grass. I was also lucky enough to find a matching felted button in the button bin. I’m sure it was no accident that it was there, but I felt lucky to find it! I’m seeing myself in some kind of wrap with this:

Dancing Leaf Farms Biggie Yarn

This yarn is Chunky Bump by Mid Valley Fibers. I had never heard of this vendor before, and I just read their story when creating the link in this paragraph. You should check it out. I’m going to do something fun with this! (I also got a button pin kit, which I know will one day adorn one of my hats!)

Mid Valley Fibers Chunky Bump

This last one is Taffy, by Folktale Yarn. The vendor told me that the yarn in this one came from one of her own goats. And, looking at the tag on the yarn, there are all sorts of yummy bits mixed in, including sparkly sari silk threads. I just love it!!

Taffy, by Folktale Yarn

I doubt I could have found such interesting and rich things at any other event. Plus, the best part? It was like being around old friends all day. It was crowded, but filled with local artisans and local spinners and knitters, so I was among friends. I saw lots of people in my knitting world who I know mostly online, but only see at these events, and friends that I see all the time at my own knit group. It was SO fun, and I’m glad I went.

Thanks, Lynne! It was great. Love you.

March 25, 2012
On to Another Scarf

Garter stitch scarf underway
This is crazy, but one day after finishing my charity scarf, I’ve started another one. This time it’s a simple color block, garter stitch scarf with my new yarn from Knit Picks. The yarn is called Biggo, which I think is rather silly, as yarn names go, but I like it! It’s soft and works up quickly.

Other than what you see here? Not much else to say about this project. It’s garter stitch. It’s a scarf. ‘Nuff said.

September 25, 2011
Biggo

You don’t have to tell me; I know I have enough yarn in the stash. But then last week, I saw Knit Picks’ new yarn, which is a new bulky yarn with a funny name. It’s called, Biggo, and I had to give it a try.

New "Biggo" yarn from Knit Picks

I’m nearly done with my charity scarf for work. And, there aren’t that many donations coming in, so I feel like I have to make more. Except that I am a slow knitter. So I’ve been looking for a bulky, washable yarn, and then this one just fell in my lap at just the right time.

Biggo is 50% merino and 50% nylon. I don’t know that much about fiber construction but it looks basically unspun and then wrapped in a thread. It’s BIG, hence the name, so it will knit up quickly. And it’s SO squishy and soft. I bought 4 hanks, and I’m actually hoping I’ll get two scarves out of it. Secretly, I want one for me. I think it’s going to be great for what I’m going to use it for but I have to wonder how it will hold up in something like a sweater. It’ll be interesting to see what others think of this yarn.

Hopefully I’ll have an FO report on the other scarf soon. Keep on knitting!

September 19, 2011
Knitting Weekend and Catching Up

Scarf Progress
I never quite know how to show a scarf in progress on my blog. For the most part, they’re long and unwieldy, and since I do most of my photos indoors at night, it’s not like I can take them out and hang them from the fence post to shoot them outdoors. So today, I’m enlisting my pal Hedda, my trusty hat model, so you can see the pattern in my scarf. Problem is, doing it this way doesn’t really show how LONG the scarf is, which is of what I am most pleased at the moment. It’s about 4 feet long at this point, which means, dear people, that I am nearly DONE, or at least about four-fifths done, and yes, I’m thinking of other knitterly things.

At least one person has asked me if this scarf is of my own design. Well, yes, and… no. It’s a simple thing, really, in a basic seed stitch with a plaited cable in the center. So, nothing earth-shatteringly new there. But, someday soon I will write it all down for the curious and post in these pages. Perhaps when the thing is finished.

I’ve been away from the blog for a long while. No good reason, really… but I will say that this summer I have been in a kind of a slump. It was just the scarf and me, all summer long, day in and day out… and I thought certainly it would be too boring to hear of this same project over and over, so, instead I’ve been quiet. While knitting this scarf I have been pondering my next one, which is a commitment I’ve made to do a Special Olympics scarf. In the meantime I’ve developed a strong love-hate relationship with knitting scarves at all, so I’m starting to lose hope a bit that the next project will ever get off the ground. What is it with scarves, anyway, and why does something that seems so simple take forever to do?

A couple of other things to catch up on:

A few weeks back I bought some new yarn that I had never heard of before:

mink and cashmere yarn

This is the Mink and Cashmere Yarn from the Great Northern Yarns company. The fiber content is 70% mink (sheared) and 30% cashmere. It sounded on the surface, like it should feel like the most amazingly luxurious yarn ever made. Well, let’s say that I was somewhat under-impressed for what I was thinking it should feel like. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly soft, but I’ve had my hands on a mink coat or two in my lifetime and well? I guess I was expecting it to feel like that. And it doesn’t. Not really… but it did sort of remind me of this silk that I have, at least in the feel of it. I haven’t knit with it yet so I don’t know what it’s like to knit with. But I’m thinking maybe someday DH will get a scarf out of this to go with his dress coat. He can’t stand the feel of wool (“itchy”) so I think this will fill the bill for him, someday.

I have something else to share:

Jackie's Tam

This is my friend Jackie, from knit group. She is a relatively new knitter, and she made THAT hat, from the book, Colorwork Creations: 30+ Patterns to Knit Gorgeous Hats, Mittens and Gloves. I’m very proud of Jackie. She came to us I think less than a year ago, learning to knit her first scarf, and now, she is fearless. She saw this book somewhere and I liked it and got one and loaned it to her, and off she went. Her very first hat looked as if it would fit a giant. If that had happened to me, I might have thrown the book across the room and stomped away in disgust, but not Jackie. She was undaunted, and tried again. I think, but I’m not certain, that this was her third attempt. And it was a huge success! Not only does the hat look great, but it looks great on her, a wonderful match to her coloring and hair. She says this hat is a gift for someone, but personally? I hope she gifts it to herself. I think Jackie deserves such a lovely thing.

As for me, it’s back to the scarf. I must keep knitting, must keep knitting, must keep knitting… ciao for now.

September 11, 2011
Day Three: Organization? What’s That?

Tonight’s Blog Week question? “How do you keep your yarn organized? I’ve even been dared to flash my stash. Well, I can take a dare as well as anybody! So, here you go:

Le Stash

This is an alcove corner of my dining room, which is mostly used for storage except for the occasional Sunday Family Dinner. I keep my yarn in these semi-opaque bins, and they’re all labeled by general category of what’s in them:

closeup of bin label

That one is obvious what’s in it, and for the most part, they all are. For example, I actually have two bins of Cascade yarns in tons of colors. Are these bins the entirety of the stash? Um, no. Not even I’m crazy enough to show you the whole thing. But, truthfully that is the majority of it. It’s stacked taller than I am!

Then there’s the ottoman in front of the sofa, that holds yarn I’m actually working with.*

Storage ottoman, full of yarn

*This, of course, was the theory when I bought the ottoman in 2009. I filled it with yarn for projects I was working on at the time, and THAT yarn is still in the ottoman, even though for the most part, I am not actively working on any of the projects in it. Except that that’s where the Noro Kureyon ended up, which I love to make hats with, and I’ve been using the leftover bits to make a sort of patchwork blanket with. I figure that blanket is going to be the equivalent of my life’s work, because I only work on it a little bit at a time, when I’m between projects, and that, in itself, is rare.

Next to the ottoman is my wall of knitting books:

Knitting bookshelf

This shelf unit is along a long wall and is overstuffed with knitting books and magazines, and a few tools that I need to reach easily, like the blocking squares and the ball winder. I have them organized by frequency of use; that is, the ones I refer to all the time are easy for me to reach, and the ones I need less often are in kid-climb-after-that-please-and-hand-it-to-mommy range. I have a lot of knitting books. A LOT. I recently reorganized the shelf and was embarrassed to find a couple of titles that I had more than one copy of, and I’ll be sharing them with my knit group. I love having so many books at my disposal. Creativity most often hits me in the middle of the night when the library is closed, and I’m known to take a pile of books down and have them all open and mash together an idea for my knitting. I almost never knit a pattern as is from a book, but I rely on them heavily for inspiration.

The Amazing Worm Binder is great for my interchangeable needles
And, last but not least, is my most favorite organizational tool. My amazing needle case, which is actually a fishing worm binder. It’s a soft-sided case with binder rings on the inside, that hold little ziploc bags that, if used for their intended purpose, would hold live bait. Well, forget the bait! Each bag holds a different size of needle tips and then one bag holds a variety of cables in various lengths. The inside of the bag itself has tons of tiny pockets that are perfect for stitch markers, end buttons and the needle “tightening key.” There’s even one pocket on the inside which is exactly long enough for my needle sizer tool. It’s ugly, and has a big fish on it, but I love, love, love my needle binder.

Does all of this mean that I am organized? I’d be lying if I said that I was. But, I try. And, for the most part, if I want a particular yarn, I pretty much know which bin it’s in. I probably have more stash at this point than I can knit for the rest of my life… and I am hoping it doesn’t get to the point that it completely takes over my house.

Wish me luck on that!

March 30, 2011