Friday, August 20, 2010

Knitting while busy

It is very, very hard to knit for people's birthdays, or knit at all for that matter, when almost everybody you love got born in the same three-week stretch of the year (I'm looking at you, latter half of August.)

This is why Bob will not be getting his own pair of Man Socks this year even though I really, really wanted to make him some. (On the upside, I do have another idea to mark this milestone year, which might still arrive at his house in time if I order it immediately after publishing this post.)

This is also, along with continuing but milder eyestrain, why I haven't done much other knitting either. Shopping and event planning have been in the way, plus a lot of day trips and other social engagements in which it's not really practical to knit - and you know I'd find a way if there was one.

I worked on my variegated socks yesterday, but you don't want to see yet another picture of those.

I worked on a hat today, and you might want to see a picture of that:


Longtime readers might recognize these colours and stitches and the rest of you will have to wait a month or so for more details because they aren't likely to be ready before that. But I can tell you I'm knitting it in insanely squashy soft fast-knitting yarn that is about as opposite as you can get to variegated non-wear-y-outie sock yarn, which makes a nice change. Mmmmm.

Tonight I am going to wind the recycled yarn from that man-sized vest back into balls. Think good thoughts for me.

(no, I did not find any good sweaters at the thrift stores I visited yesterday. yes, it is killing me and I am beginning to obsess again. yay, I did find another blanket to add to my stack of thrifted wool blankets, for which I have suddenly decided on a use, and if you are wondering with a pleasant curiosity what I'm talking about you should be reading my Procrastination Diary where I write about all the non-knitting crafty stuff.)

Speaking of blankets and not-knitting crafts,

N E W S F L A S H

I don't know how to crochet. My mother keeps trying to teach me and I did finally manage to do a few stitches under her close supervision but not enough to be able to make so much as a granny square. That doesn't really bother me because I can still make yarny things with needles, and I can still enjoy Attic24, where Lucy writes about the colourful things she's made with her hook.

Her photographs are probably why I couldn't resist this non-wool blanket in a Salvation Army store yesterday:


I love these colours together, don't you? It's so well made - it's just terrible that it didn't have a home with somebody to love it. Isn't it convenient that I have a room in my house it matches perfectly? And I didn't have to learn to crochet to have it.

The store was having a half price sale at the time I went in so it cost me all of $2. Also costing me $2:


My favourites are the pinky red buttons at the top, and the shiny blue ones near the bottom right.

And you know what would have cost me $2.50 if I had been able to get over the fact that I don't have carding paddle thingies?

Yes. That's right. I turned down a bag of curly locks from a sheep. They'd been washed, but not dyed, and they needed a good brushing before they could be spun. It's the first time I ever saw something like that in a thrift store and I dearly hope it's not the last. As long as I get myself a pair of carding thingies in the meantime.

5 comments:

NessaKnits said...

I am loving those buttons. $2.50? Bargain.

heklica said...

I love that hat, the stitches, the squishiness, the colours, the whole thing! I'll wait a month, no problem :)

Attic 24 is one fantastic blog, I read it regularly and can't get enough of her beautiful colourwork!

Kathleen Taylor said...

carding paddle thingies are nice (I have several sets, as well as a drum carder, which is nicer still), but you can get by without hand cards in a pinch- ordinary dog brushes will work: grab one end of the lock firmly in your hand, and then just brush the ends. When they're untangled, flip the lock around and brush the other end. It's not fast, but it does work. And if the locks aren't too badly matted or dirty, sometimes you can just tease them open with your hands and spin them that way.

However, when you buy a sealed bag of mystery fiber from a non-fiber source (ie: the shepherd), it's always a very good idea to inspect the bag closely before opening, just to make sure there are no beasties inside. You don't want to import moths.

NessaKnits said...

If you lived in Australia .. which I am not sure if you do, there is a new How to Crochet DVD out this week for $2.95 for first one, from the newsagent. I have a post on my blog for more details.

Mary Keenan said...

Nessa, I'm in Canada - a bit far unfortunately! But there's always YouTube. Must get on this problem if only to figure out how to do a crochet cast on ;^)