Posts Tagged ‘2KCBWDAY3’
So apparently, it is Knitting and Crocheting Blogger Week. I had no idea until I read the Bearded Knitter’s Post, and now I’m a few days behind – so let’s get to it, shall we?! Catch-up Time!
Day One: 28th March. A Tale of Two Yarns.
Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.
Okay, so this should be an easy one. Everyone knows I LOVES me some Malabrigo. (or they should know… and if they didn’t know until now, they should buy some for me to make up for it! :-D) Whether it is the super chunky, size-15-needles-and-done-in-a-few-hours yarn, or the super-soft super-wash wool to give to my little sister and niece; I love Malabrigo.
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| From Cowl and Hat Set for KK |
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| From 2011 FOs |
The issue with Malabrigo, though… as it gets smaller, it decides to choose its own destiny as a cat toy. Seriously. I bought some great Malabrigo ‘sock’ yarn (sock is in quotes because that was laceweight if I’ve ever seen it!) and as soon as we got it onto the swift, it saw the yarn-ball-winder coming… and that thing tangled itself up worse than gum-that-you-fell-asleep-with-it-in-your-mouth-so-it-fell-into-your-hair… In the end, it took two dedicated professionals (yarn-store employees) and myself to somehow come up with three separate balls of yarn after about two hours.
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| From Misc Pics |
However, even after all that, I still loves me some Malabrigo more than any other yarn I’ve tried.
Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?
I started knitting a little over a year ago, so I’m trying to keep it in terms of as close to ‘exactly’ a year ago as I can, because the easy answer is I learned everything in the last year…
Let’s see… this time last year, I was knitting baby booties and hats for kids, a blackberry case, and a Mother’s Day Sweater for my (now) Mother-in-Law. (thank you, Ravelry and the list of FOs from 2010…)
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| From Finished Stuff |
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| From Finished Stuff |
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| From Finished Stuff |
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| From Finished Stuff |
The thing I can say about the difference between then and now is the yarn size. Alex (the one who taught me how to knit) used to comment about how I loved TINY yarn… and I do! However, I have seriously learned to love Worsted And Bigger yarn. Don’t get me wrong, DK and smaller have their place, but I’ve accepted the fact that I am a ‘small thing with big yarn knitter’. I do it for the FOs (finished objects) not the hand cramps! (of course, I say that and look at my WIP of socks with laceweight-pretending-to-be-sock-yarn…)
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| From Socks |
Part of being the Knitiot Savant is that I don’t turn away from a challenge… but I accept the kind of knitter that I am. I don’t pretend like I’m going to knit a sweater, because that would take too long. However, I have recently started dabbling in the sock arena. Honestly, while I was making the first pair, I had decided that I didn’t ever need to knit a pair again. But then I gave them to my husband, and he won’t shut up about them. I like making stuff that is loved and appreciated… so socks are probably going to stick around for a while – most likely in Worsted weight yarn.
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| From Socks |
Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.
How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.
I recently posted about the ‘ottoman rule’ for my yarn, and I have been trying to keep to that. I also have my ‘knitting corner’ that has all of my knitting needles, books, and scrap yarn. I keep each WIP in its own bag with all of the yarn as well as the pattern, presumably so that I can grab them on my way out the door. the only problem is that my knitting accessories (stitch markers, crochet hooks for fixing dropped stitches, tapestry needles, etc) get forgotten if I don’t bring the same ‘travel project’ all the time.
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| From Misc Pics |
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| From Misc Pics |
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| From Misc Pics |
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| From Misc Pics |
For the most part, Ravelry is my Stash/WIP management tool. I can look at my ‘stash’ and see how much, what weight, what colors, etc. I can also see what my ‘sleeping’ projects are, and try to re-dedicate myself to stuff that I’ve chosen to ‘forget’ so that I can be motivated to work on it by the time I get home… – and I can do it from anywhere!
Okay, all caught up now! phew!
