When in Doubt, Follow the Crowd
I really didn't mean to go so long without a new post, but progress on a sock and restarting a huge stockinette tube hardly make for a thrilling read. So why not jump on the "10 knitterly things" meme? Perhaps I can have the distinction of being the very last person to do it.
10 Knitterly Things You Don't Know About Me (or Maybe Knew at One Time, But Have Likely Forgotten)
1. My Pottery Yarn post notwithstanding, I in fact possess a shockingly large stash of Wool-Ease. Before I started blogging and before Knit Picks started selling their own yarn, I fell prey to the marketing siren song and bought boatloads thinking I was getting a great deal. I am trying to use it up as I can. Soon, I may throw in the towel and pack the rest of it off to the charity shop.
2. I am allergic to knitting with ribbon or tape yarns. I like the way some of them look, but I don't like knitting with them. And chenille? That is the fiber of the devil.
3. You all know I have issues with tension. (Knitting tension, I mean.) When I first started knitting, I was a very tight knitter. To get gauge on a project, I often would have to go up one or two needle sizes. Now I am apparently a very loose knitter. I invariably have to go down in needle size. For example, I am knitting Intolerable Cruelty on size 1 needles. Ironically, the amount of tension in my knitting has been inversely proportional to the amount of tension in my life.
4. I am currently harboring a dark fear about knitalongs. The last few I have joined (not counting the Petals Collection Knitalong) have been less than rousing successes for me. The Sunrise Circle Jacket, the Knitting Nature knitalong, my complete slackitude when it comes to Knit the Classics...I am convinced that nothing will curse a project, for me, more effectively than joining the knitalong. This is why I did not join the SKB knitalong. Or the Intolerable Cruelty knitalong. And you can see how well that's worked out.
5. I would rather eat glass than knit with wire. But, as I've gotten older, I've learned to never say never.
6. About three years ago, I went through a garter stitch (even in novelty yarn!) scarf stage. It was around the time that my older son was first diagnosed with autism and we moved from the D.C. area up to Ohio. At the time, I had no mental energy for anything else. Fortunately, I've been able to move on.
7. Until very recently, knitting has been a solitary activity for me. This summer I started attending the east-side Cleveland SnB meetings and have made some wonderful, wonderful friends. If you happen to be in Cleveland, we gather on Saturday afternoons at Phoenix Coffee between 2 and 5 pm. We also hang out there on Wednesday afternoons between say 1:30 and 3:30 pm. Come join us!
8. I own 39 knitting pattern books and stitch dictionaries. This does not include my collection of Rowan magazines. I have four binders filled with patterns that I have saved from magazines, printed from the internet, or bought singly. I have every issue of Interweave Knits going back to Spring 2003, plus many back issues of Vogue Knitting and Knitter's. If I live to be 100, I will never knit even a tenth of these projects. Yet, I cannot stop buying pattern books and collecting patterns from the Web. Clearly, I am a pattern ho.
9. When I first started knitting again, I could not believe that people would pay over twenty dollars for yarn to make a pair of socks. Heh.
10. I'm pretty proud of the new knitting skills I've acquired in the last year or so. Lace knitting, dyeing, and felting were all new to me. Next year, I may attempt knitting with beads and steeking.
10 Knitterly Things You Don't Know About Me (or Maybe Knew at One Time, But Have Likely Forgotten)
1. My Pottery Yarn post notwithstanding, I in fact possess a shockingly large stash of Wool-Ease. Before I started blogging and before Knit Picks started selling their own yarn, I fell prey to the marketing siren song and bought boatloads thinking I was getting a great deal. I am trying to use it up as I can. Soon, I may throw in the towel and pack the rest of it off to the charity shop.
2. I am allergic to knitting with ribbon or tape yarns. I like the way some of them look, but I don't like knitting with them. And chenille? That is the fiber of the devil.
3. You all know I have issues with tension. (Knitting tension, I mean.) When I first started knitting, I was a very tight knitter. To get gauge on a project, I often would have to go up one or two needle sizes. Now I am apparently a very loose knitter. I invariably have to go down in needle size. For example, I am knitting Intolerable Cruelty on size 1 needles. Ironically, the amount of tension in my knitting has been inversely proportional to the amount of tension in my life.
4. I am currently harboring a dark fear about knitalongs. The last few I have joined (not counting the Petals Collection Knitalong) have been less than rousing successes for me. The Sunrise Circle Jacket, the Knitting Nature knitalong, my complete slackitude when it comes to Knit the Classics...I am convinced that nothing will curse a project, for me, more effectively than joining the knitalong. This is why I did not join the SKB knitalong. Or the Intolerable Cruelty knitalong. And you can see how well that's worked out.
5. I would rather eat glass than knit with wire. But, as I've gotten older, I've learned to never say never.
6. About three years ago, I went through a garter stitch (even in novelty yarn!) scarf stage. It was around the time that my older son was first diagnosed with autism and we moved from the D.C. area up to Ohio. At the time, I had no mental energy for anything else. Fortunately, I've been able to move on.
7. Until very recently, knitting has been a solitary activity for me. This summer I started attending the east-side Cleveland SnB meetings and have made some wonderful, wonderful friends. If you happen to be in Cleveland, we gather on Saturday afternoons at Phoenix Coffee between 2 and 5 pm. We also hang out there on Wednesday afternoons between say 1:30 and 3:30 pm. Come join us!
8. I own 39 knitting pattern books and stitch dictionaries. This does not include my collection of Rowan magazines. I have four binders filled with patterns that I have saved from magazines, printed from the internet, or bought singly. I have every issue of Interweave Knits going back to Spring 2003, plus many back issues of Vogue Knitting and Knitter's. If I live to be 100, I will never knit even a tenth of these projects. Yet, I cannot stop buying pattern books and collecting patterns from the Web. Clearly, I am a pattern ho.
9. When I first started knitting again, I could not believe that people would pay over twenty dollars for yarn to make a pair of socks. Heh.
10. I'm pretty proud of the new knitting skills I've acquired in the last year or so. Lace knitting, dyeing, and felting were all new to me. Next year, I may attempt knitting with beads and steeking.
posted by Laura at 5:51 PM
15 Comments:
I'm a closet gauge snob, so I have to say that I just love hearing that you are doing Intolerable Cruelty on size 1s. I think it's a certain sign of strong moral fiber and personal integrity.
And I love your comment about sock yarn costs. Yeah, well, those prices did used to seem outrageous, didn't they? Until the sock obsession took hold...
Hope you are having a good week!
Thanks for the small insight into your life - I enjoyed reading your answers.
BTW: no parcel yet?
I laughed out loud at your sock yarn price comment, because I thought the exact same thing. My congenital cheapness has taken a beating since I started knitting. And it doesn't help that I, too, am a pattern whore.
i used to think the same thing about sock yarn years ago- why would someone pay so much for a pair of SOCKS?! silly me... :0)
thanks for the great read. x
I thought most about your garter-stitch stage. After my dad died, I knitted swatches for about a month. Then a baby blanket.
Sometimes the simple is best, especially if it keeps the needles in your hand and the subconscious processing when the conscious mind needs a break
I have the same problem with gauge ever since I switched to Continental and it really drives me nuts. I automatically swatch with one size lower than what is called and often go down 3 or more needles sizes. Very annoying.
I used to have a ton of Wool-ease too. Now I've got enough for a few kids projects and no more. Charities love that stuff, it may be time.
Oh, and I hear you on the ribbon yarn.
Well, miss, I have to take issue with your item number one. This is something that I *do* know about you, ha ha! Do you still have that Wool-Ease countdown on your sidebar?
steeking?! you are a brave, brave woman.
I, too have a cheap yarn stash made entirely of things that I thought were really nice before I discovered something called a local yarn store...
What a great list! :) And I like the "slackitude" term--I've been feelin' it on my KALs, too. . . .
Interesting! I think we all go through stages--when you finish a big or more complicated project, a little scarf is just the ticket!
Have a great weekend and don't get blown away today!
PS One of these days, we'll join you all for SNB!
When I think about the mountains of beautiful patterns sitting on my shelves just waiting to be knit, the vast, vast majority of which I will never get to before I die, I actually feel quite sad.
Thanks for sharing your 10 knitterly things!
Pattern whores unite!
I used to just feel guilty about the books I haven't read. Now it's those, and the patterns I won't ever have time to knit, and the yarn I know I won't use (I don't feel guilty about the other yarn). Sigh.
I, too, have a serious - SERIOUS - problem with patterns. The upside? They are usually cheaper than yarn!
I'm with you on most of these, esp. twenty-dollar sock wool and tension. My gauge loosens with the more stress in my life, too -- how can that be?!
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