Dear Michael’s and Joann’s stores

I regularly browse through your yarn sections, and continually end up disappointed. I do appreciate the new trend towards natural fibers, I love that paton’s classic wool comes in fifty billion colors and between the two stores, you have them all. And Wool-ease is great for a lot of things, the warmth of wool, the washablity of acrylic… Beautiful!

But can we please, Please, PLEASE get some decent sock yarns? The quality of the yarns you carry now (with the exception of the Bernat Sock, who wants plastic socks?) is not a problem.. the color selection however leaves much to be desired. I have no desire to knit socks that are mottled with hot pink and baby shit yellow, and honestly, no one I know wants to wear them either. What colors would I like to see? Hmm… Solids. Tonal variations, like kettle dye. Stripes, in none clashing colors, are ok too. White.. Black..

I really want to be able to knit socks for members of my family who are not into the whole world has gone psychedelic thing. My 80 year old grandfather has no desire to wear hand knit socks that look like a hot pink and purple cat puked on them . My husband, who is only 35, has strict limitations… No ‘Foofy’ colors… this means he will wear black, blue and white. solid only, no stripes, no variegated.

Please realize that in some places (like my backwater, wannabe city)  you two mega mart stores are the only walk-in yarn source some of us have.  We are your customers, listen to us.

not 2 hrs…

it only took half the time to wind the yarn I hanked up last week into cakes to be knitted from… I dyed it up last night, and then balled it up today, I think it turned out great…

really dark shades of green, and various lighter shades to a light-med green, with some white, but no pastels. Just exactly what I was looking for! and it took half the time to wind into balls as it did to put it in a hank to be dyed!

Now I just have to wait for the Mystery Shawl Knit-A-Long to start… 5 more weeks… SOB!

yarn is an addiction.

and it is amazing to what lengths we will go to for it.

I recently bought a ball winder for my yarn, which is a great improvement, but only half of the problem, you also have to figure out how to hold the hank, so that the yarn can be wound from it, while keeping it from tangling. The solution to this problem is a Swift. it holds the yarn and spins freely for the string to be fed off of it onto the ball winder. Problem is, swifts run from $60 up, and tightwad that I am, can’t bring myself to pay that. My solution… Build one. So, for $10 in materials, and an hours work. I have this.

I used 2 8′ 1×2’s, a 4′ dowel, a bolt, a wing nut, a couple washers and a couple nails. It took about an hour, and it works well, but I have a couple small modifications to make.

I need to pick up a wood chisel and deepen the grooves that make the top cross pieces nest together and stay in position. all I had was a screwdriver, so they are rough and not deep enough. other than that, it works excellent. And was SO much cheaper. Now I have much more $$ to spend on yarn!! LOL, like I need that!!

yarngasam, table for one!

last week I ordered a ball winder for my yarn. I have wanted one for a long time so balling wool would no longer take hours. but they are expensive. usually running around $60. and all i have been able to think is how much yarn I could get for that much money!! Well, last week I found it on sale at Joann.com for $30 and free shipping for orders over $35… and then there was the reason I was at the site to begin with, I needed to order some charms for making stitch markers. So I got the winder, and the charms and didn’t have to pay the outrageous shipping fees either!

Since it has gotten here this afternoon, I have been winding yarn. Any and all bits and balls that are worth winding have found their way to my winder… It is not great for larger quantitys (over one skein) or a thick yarn, more than worsted weight.  But since my preferences lean towards fingering, and lace weights it is great. Especially since the last skein of lace weight that I wound by hand took me almost 4 hours!! now they take like 5 minutes!

must.escape.

it has been weeks and weeks since i have been able to make it to my knitting group.. like 3 or 4 at least. I must get out of the house and converse with someone who speaks the same language.  No one but a knitter really understands why you had to buy that yarn, or needles or stitch markers, that you found at such a great deal, even though you have more than enough of said item, you don’t have EXACTLY that item (or maybe you do, but you couldn’t pass up the great price, and you can never have too much right??)  And no one but a knitter understands when you start talking about this great pattern you found at — wherever.

I have found that knitters are a generous and helpful group in general. If you find that you have forgotten some important tool, someone else will usually have it, and be more than willing to share..  or if you are having trouble with your work, and can’t figure out where, you can usually find another knitter who is willing to sit down with you, your knitting and the pattern and try to figure out what went wrong, and help you to figure out how to fix it.

Usually, if you show up at a Stitch and Bitch (knitter/crocheter group) with yarn and needles or hook in hand, and ask for someone to help you to learn… there will be someone who is more than willing to help you out. To me, the knitting/crocheting community is a great example of the way community and neighbors used to be, and a great example of how we should treat all of those around us.

Knitting progress

I have finished the body of the bag I am knitting, now I just have to finish about 6 feet of icord before I felt the two and assemble it. I can barely wait to see how this bag is gonna turn out, I have plans for it to become my traveling knitting bag.

My next project is as a test crocheter, it is a summer top, I think it will turn out really cute, and I can’t wait to work it up.

The concept of knitting or crocheting and getting paid for it, I just love it, this is a dream job, second only to reading and getting paid for it! I can’t wait to see if I can do more test knitting and crocheting for people. and companies.