About yarn

Well, this is new. I usually get really excited to read the Stitch n' Bitch blog post- and, if such a thing is possible, now I'm even more excited to write it! And so...without further ado...

This week at Stitch n' Bitch, the theme seemed to be new projects: Katharine has begun thrumming her second mitten:

Check that out! Progress is being made!

And while she's working on that, she's waiting on a whole bunch of yarn to come from KnitPicks! There will be a new sweater, new socks, and lots of other stuff too! We will be informed of the colors and types of yarn next week when it gets here. I get so excited about new yarn- even when it's not mine! (More on that later. Yarn is very exciting stuff.) Clara was hard at work balling her new eyelash yarn so that it can be added to the tube:

The ball is getting bigger!

That stuff seems to be rather unruly, but she worked hard the whole time! I'm sure its contribution to the tube will be well worth her efforts. Mary is making an accent scarf, that is more or less just something that this yarn wanted to be:

Check out that cable! And such a pretty color.

Mary also gave Clara a lesson on sleeping during class in high school. The key is that you have to be able to get away with it! I'm pretty sure the key to all good things in life is not getting caught.

 While I was admiring the progress that Aric was making on his scarf, Mary commented that the stigma that the world puts on male knitters is so unfortunate. Come on world! It wasn't always that way. During the Renaissance, workers were divided into guilds according to what they did: there was a woodworker's guild, a stone carver's guild, a weaver's guild, and even a knitting guild! Of course, that was back when women weren't allowed to work, so only men were allowed to knit. They mostly knit woolen stockings to combat the cold winters. It didn't take long for women to start knitting too, but that doesn't mean men stopped- If a man wanted a sweater, he could make his own!
I did some research because I was curious, and it looks like it was around the 1940s that knitting became strictly feminine. Girls were taught how to knit in school until the 1980s, and the rest is history :) Speaking of men who knit, here's one right now!

Scarf progress!

His first scarf is coming along nicely- Did he mention he is using the Norwegian purl? It's this clever little twist thing you do so that you can hold the yarn at the back for knitting as well as purling, instead of switching it back and fourth. He says he knows some physics friends who knit, but let's see if we can get them to come to Stitch n' Bitch!

Meanwhile, Jordan has informed us that she will be doing yet another set of golf club cozies (covers? I don't think a golf club necessarily needs to be cozy...) for her very lucky father. That man must collect golf clubs the way I collect yarn! I think Jordan's the one that needs to knit things for herself now!

Look at that smile! Despite knitting the same thing again and again!

At least this set is supposed to be his Christmas present. One less thing to worry about!

I've been hard at work on my rainbow sweater. I'm very worried that I won't have enough yarn, but on the other hand, I've never not been very worried that I won't have enough yarn- and I think it might be too early to tell at this point. I'm also lucky to be able to work on it during at least one class every day. Jordan and I discussed an idea that came to me while I was there- I have a plan for my rainbow sweater. Last week, Madeline posted the picture I took of my sweater progress next to my fabulously decorated hot chocolate from Costa Rican- well, it turned out to be really good hot chocolate, so I'm going to make a weekly thing out of it- to go and get hot chocolate there, and take a hipster picture of it next to my sweater progress. This way, I'll have a week by week account of the growth of my sweater! The very last picture will be when I finish the sweater, and I'll be wearing it while drinking my hot chocolate! It'll be cold enough for that, by the time I finish. I like this plan very much.

I'm having a very hard time not starting other projects right now- I know my sweater will never get done if I do. I have all this yarn and it's just staring at me...waiting to be something warm and toasty.

I did something bad the other day. I was on Ravelry, and I clicked on one of the ads. You should never click on yarn ads unless you have miraculous amounts of money in your yarn budget to spend. But I clicked anyways. here's where I went: http://shop.nerdgirlyarns.com/ And it was magnificent! All the yarn colors she sells are colorways inspired by nerdy TV shows and movies! There are some Monty Python yarn colors- my favorite is the red and white one called 'it's just a harmless little bunny'- and there are some Firefly yarns (yayy!). Mostly and very importantly, there are a whole lot of Doctor Who yarns! Colors for every Doctor, a lot of the companions, a selection of different sonic screwdriver colorways, and....drumroll... A TARDIS color! TARDIS blue. The very best blue of all. I am keeping myself from buying some until I finish the rainbow sweater. The last thing I need right now is more yarn to distract me...

So! How'd I do? I tend to ramble a little when I start having conversations with myself, which is basically exactly what a blog is.  A conversation with yourself that involves pictures.

The Curious Case of the Ugly-Cute Hat

I'm being driven to madness and it's all because of a stupid hat. During my trip to Columbia, I picked up a wonderful skein of K'acha yarn. Spun in Peru, it's a multi-tonal blend of Merino wool, Suri alpaca, and silk. Truly beautiful stuff.

"Remember me?"

I made a rookie mistake and didn't really think about what I wanted to make with it. "A hat," I told myself in the car, "I'll make a hat." When I parked and looked at the tag, I recieved a rude awakening. I only had 98yards. Of course I only had 98 yards. How much did I think there could be in a cute little skein?

For the next few days I searched Ravelry for a pattern that would allow me to combine the beautiful but limited supply of K'acha with some leftover brown tweed from the Sideways Grande hat. To makes things more complex, the friend who requested the hat desired a slouchy one with cables and/or lace. Harrumph.

I finally settled on a pattern and cast-on Monday night. While knitting, I kept reasuring myself that the yarns did indeed match, the pattern was a winner and that the project had all the other necessary properties of a cute hat. Despite my constant reassurance, a gnawing feeling began building in the pit of my stomach. I ignored it. I was still convinced of the hat's cuteness when I bound off Tuesday afternoon (yes that was some fast knitting, especially when you consider that Tuesdays are my busiest days). The second I put it on, however, it dawned on me.

The hat was ugly. Ugly, ugly, UGLY. I tried to convince myself otherwise. The yarn was beautiful, after all. I even went through the trouble of blocking it. That was a mistake. Made it even uglier. Too slouchy. I would only look good on someone with huge dreadlocks.

I discovered it's harder that one might think to capture ugliness on camera when that is the goal. You'll have to take my word for it. U.G.L.Y.

By this point I had already sent a text message off to the recipient and recieved an excited reply. Thankfully I had refrained from including a picture. I quickly performed some damage control. In the knitting world, this means I cast on for a new hat. It's a rather delightful number with texture and subtle slouch. I am a believer in its cuteness 100%.

Risk management hat, also known as Molly

In on last sad attempt to save the ugly hat, I attempted to wear it to the library today. I quickly took it off the second a stranger neared. Thankfully, I had thought to bring a backup hat with me. This one is gray and inoffensive.

The rejected ugly-cute hat just stares at me from the armrest.

"Why don't you love me, Kaylin?"

I'll pull it apart this weekend. I think the K'acha is destined to be a nice headband or something. Some of you will no doubt try to convince me that this hat is not ugly, but I have come to terms with the truth and cannot be convinced otherwise.

Sometimes bad knitting happens to good people.