Thursday, September 9, 2010

It's all about the yarn

Yesterday I got about half an hour in on my boot socks, waiting for a friend in a peaceful dentist's offices and listening to all the suctioning and drilling I didn't have a date with, and I came to a terrible conclusion:

I don't like making them.

The stitch is okay, but I think it needs something more - maybe some post-knitting embroidery or an extra bit of fancy lacework. The needles are fine, but it is bugging me that the 2x2 ribbing doesn't mesh seamlessly into the leg and worst of all - the fabric I'm getting at this gauge is just not soft. I mean, if I don't like the way it feels in my hands, how will it be on my feet?

I spent the entire half hour reminding myself that when I soak something after knitting, it comes out way softer than when it went in, but by the end of the day I decided to frog them and just put that yarn away, again. It's sad because it's lovely yarn and I know lots of people are crazy for it and go out of their way to buy it, but every time I've tried to use mine in a project I either hate the way the colour muddies the stitch or the degree of give mars the shape or, now, the feel of the fabric.

And the minute I thought 'I've wasted all my scarce knitting time for three days on these socks' I thought , 'why do I keep doing this? I have lots of stashed yarn I know is perfect for things I know I want to make.'

Around about that time I got an e-mail from Twisted Fiber Art to announce the opening of the fall club.

TFA yarn, whoa. The only reason I don't knit with that part of my stash is that it was expensive to get into Canada and I don't want to blow it on anything but the most perfect project - also, just touching it is a joy. I used Playful for my Lazy Day patterns and I have the remains of those skeins plus two big skeins of self-striping that look like this. I went to the stash to look at it again and realized I also have a skein of matching semisolid for heels and toes - yep, people make socks with this stuff. I guess I hadn't started knitting socks at the time I bought it and now that I do knit them - do I dare?

I mean, I do have the right pattern book for that now. But - socks? Would I get to show them off enough of the year to justify that? Shouldn't I hold out for another shawl thingy?

I didn't get anywhere near all of that mulling when I opened that e-mail, though. I just went straight to the sign-up page and bought three months of surprise roving fun. I spent July spinning a lot of Lively, and I loved every minute. Plus, I missed the cutoff date for the fall Biscotte club and I had to fill the hole in my heart somehow, right?

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