Happy Hollydaze

Not much crafty goodness to report over the holidays, but enough to warrant a wee post 🙂  I got two new rubber stamp inkpads on sale, in royal purple and peacock blue (two fave colours) on Boxing Day.  On the 27th we hit the sales, and in that we went to Fenwick (didn’t like anything and didn’t notice anything on sale), John Lewis (where I bought 16 skeins, all half price) and the yarn stalls in Grainger Market (there are two, but they’re the same company, all very cheap but mostly acrylic).  From a cheap skein from John Lewis I made a basic loomed hat that evening, but it was for my hostess so I didn’t get a photo of it as I gave it to her within minutes of it being done 🙂  It was very basic anyway, you’re not missing anything…

 I’ve also finished the first of my experimental armwarmers, using the horrid yarn that came with the Reader’s Digest loom kit.  It’s working out for my purposes, but I will alter the design for t’s armwarmers.  Still, it is good to know that I can do them on the Knifty Knitter round blue loom rather than having to do them as flat panels.  I will finish the other one of mine in the next few days, then move on to his.  Then I will post patterns for both.  I’m just making things up as I go along but since I hadn’t found any for that loom before I thought other people might be interested in seeing how I did it.

 Other than that, not much crafting happened, but I need to seriously get cracking as I have a medieval tunic to make in the next week! 

Holiday Lull

Just a quick note to keep myself in the habit of posting.  We’re in Newcastle now for the holidays but knitting isn’t going as quickly as planned. I made another magic scarf, this time out of the Sirdar Frenzy, started a rib stitch sampler/wrist warmer on the train up and am about 6 inches into the first (of two) panels of my children’s afghan.  So not much accomplished yet I’m afraid 🙁  My hands have really been hurting which has made me slow down.  However, our hosts do have micro USB cables so if I remember I can take some pix of my works in progress and actually get them uploaded. I’ll do my best to remember!

Newcastle: Thanks to PurlPower!

On my quest to read more blogs of chronically ill women who craft, I found the delightful PurlPower blog by a woman who lives in the North of England (but luckily going to spend several months in Spain this year). She’s recently had to stop working, at least for now, due to fibromyalgia. I know how much that sucks :/ (For the record it’s been six years since I was able to work even part time…)

Since I’m going to be in Newcastle over the holidays, and was wanting to go to yarn shops while there, I asked if she could recommend a few. She kindly posted a huge list! I’m not sure how much time we will have to go out, but I am really looking forward to checking some of these places out 🙂 Thanks again!!

On an amusing note, my husband is originally from Newcastle, Australia and his mother thinks it’s great that we will be in Newcastle for Christmas while the rest of his family is in the other Newcastle.

Camnesia

[Term stolen from Hankering for Yarn blog. It means forgetting to take a picture before it’s too late.]

Now is about time to start tallying up all of the things I have knit since I started on 8 November. Unfortunately, several of the gifts I forgot to photograph and as for the rest I left my microUSB cable at my parents’ house, so unless t (my husband) can borrow one from work, it will be a while before I can get any images off my camera. Sorry!

I’m usually not so good about finishing projects and my mother and t are both blown away by how much I have done with looming. What can I say, I just love yarn! So far I have made one plain brimmed hat from the basic Knifty Knitter instructions (in Red Heart Light & Lofty), 6 children’s hats (in Berocco Foliage) that were gifts to kids in my family, got 1/3 of the way through a scarf in Red Heart Grande then decided I hated that yarn so threw it away (it was splitting and frizzing horribly!!), made myself an 8 inch by 8 foot double knit scarf (in Moda Dea Metro) and a matching hat similar to this pattern from Knitchat.com, a 12 inch by 6 foot scarf double knit in the alternating rib stitch for my mother (out of Trendsetter Yarns Blossom), a magic scarf for myself (out of Lion Brand Fun Fur), three dishcloths doubleknit on the loom for my mother (in Lily Sugar ‘n Cream), an 8 inch by 8 foot double knit scarf for t (in Bernat Soft Boucle) and a plain knitted hat (in same) — working on matching fingerless gloves and legwarmers — and what I call a ragdoll hat (a Fraggle hat that looks rather more like Raggedy Ann) from a yarn I LOVE: Colinette Marshmallow. Plus a couple of coffee cozies that I didn’t like so I frogged.

I’m pretty pleased with that for 6 weeks’ work!

Things I have learned so far: I hate regular Red Heart yarn as it’s horrid to work with and makes my hands itch. I love using knitting boards and definitely want an afghan loom. I want to make socks if for no other reason than to indulge in sock yarn. I like working with cotton. I really want to start felting (I do felty stuff that’s not knitted already.) I’m entirely smitten with Colinette yarns at the moment and want more right now!

Anyway I shall try to get pictures of the things I still have on hand (not the kids hats or the dishcloths) soon, as I am aware that this blog is woefully boring without pics!

Inspiration Point

Part One of Blogs I Love:

Saying that you admire the Yarn Harlot is like saying that Macs are the prettiest computers: pretty much everyone will say the same, even if they might not want to admit it. Indeed, I stayed away from her blog from a while because I thought it was *too* trendy. But you have to admire Stephanie Pearl-McGee as a philosopher and quintessential blogger. She writes not only about knitting (which she does very well), but about life in general with three teenagers and too many things to knit before Christmas! This is a general blog about the crafting life and I think a lot of people also read to see how she has managed to turn her craft writing into a full time business.

What blows my mind is the TECHKnitting blog. This blog goes deep into the knitty-gritty of knitting problems, exposing all of the little tips and tricks that make a knitted piece look better and/or more professional. I don’t know much about needle knitting, but I know enough to understand just how entirely over my head this blog is and yet I read it because I’m sure it will be very useful someday. So much about the physics of knitting doesn’t change whether you loom or use needles. Plus I am astounded at how thorough and well-written the posts are, and illustrated too! TECHKnitter inspires me to keep learning!

Finally for today, someone who inspires me on a more personal level. Lene Andersen of The Seated View is a long time knitter *and* lifetime survivor of chronic pain and chronic illness. She’s the sort of person who I hope to be if I ever grow up 🙂 She’s warm and funny while also being introspective and, like her friend the Yarn Harlot, very insightful into issues of daily life. I can’t say what it is about her blog that pushes me the most, it is probably just knowing that she deals with a lot of the same things I deal with and still manages to create such wonderful stuff (both in terms of craft and writing and her photography).

I suspect that writing about all of the blogs that I really enjoy will take weeks, and I feel that I am being a little bit skimpy on the descriptions of these, but my hands are hurting a lot today so I can’t really manage any more at this time.

Charity begins at home

Well, I generally think that charity begins with MEEEEE. OK, that sounds pretty bad, but as the recipient of grants and money raised to pay for my wheelchair, assistance from my parents for chair maintenance and other mobility aids, and the outrageously high cost of living as a disabled person, I do get somewhat fed up with people who come asking me to donate money to this charity or that. Not that I don’t want to give, but well, what spare money I have generally goes to charities involved in finding treatments or cures for my plethora of diseases. (OK and for history & preservation things too, but that’s much farther down the priority list, financially.)

That said, I do WANT to help out others, it’s just that I have a lot more time than money. So now that I am finally able to knit basic things on my looms, I am ready to start knitting for those who — well, may or may not be not less fortunate than me, but still need nice things to make them feel special and to know that people care. I *KNOW* how it feels to think that the world has abandoned you, and how even a small gift from a random stranger can totally brighten your week. So I want to give back. Of course, I can’t say that this is entirely unselfish — crafting makes me happy and is good for my mental health, so I am getting a lot out of it, too. I’m just going to have to watch my pennies so that I can make sure that I always have enough yarn to match my semi-endless amount of time.

So, the first charity project is to make a child’s afghan for the Tricot du Coeur (Knitters of the Heart) project which this winter is making afghans and quilts to support a camp for disabled children in North Carolina. The kids get to take their blankets home with them, so they need a LOT of blankies to go around! I don’t yet know what pattern or anything I will use, but someone pointed me to a good deal on a washable wool/acrylic blend yarn in eye-bleedingly bright colours (hey, they said bright!) so I have some yarn on the way (I’m nearly out, it’s a travesty!!!) for that project and also some discounted novelty yarn to make some magic scarves for any ladies I may choose to gift 🙂

I’m always on the lookout for good causes to knit for (I prefer disability/illness over shelters but will probably get around to everyone eventually) and also good prices on yarn that I can use for these projects. It has to be affordable, but not scratchy or nasty. (NO Red Heart! That stuff makes my skin itch so I can’t cope with using it, let alone give it to anyone…except their Light n Lofty which is OK)

My skills are still pretty meager, but as my mom puts it, it’s the love that counts, not the fanciness of the pattern. Anyway, I don’t know if my yarn will get here before I leave for the holidays, so it may be 2008 before I wield my looms for good, but I plan to keep charity projects as high on my priority list as all of the friends I plan to inundate with gifts in the coming year (as a way to say thank you for standing by me through last year’s spell of worse-than-ever health).

Note to self: Ask Ricky if the Adults Need Smiles Too programme is still running, as that would be an ideal place to go next.

As it turns out, I *do* like Lion Brand Yarns!

I don’t exactly know why I got onto the Lion Brand Yarns mailing list, but several months ago I joined and have been pleased with their weekly e-list even before I knew how to knit. Then their podcast, Yarncraft, came out and I enjoy it even more as it has a beginner knitter and I love the yarn designer (whose name escapes me but she sounds just like my friend Genny!). Creating yarns and colourways sounds like a dream job!! Still though, I had no yarn skills and had never encountered Lion Brand. I need to see if it is easily available in the UK. However, on my trip to the US I found it in several big box craft stores and I am very pleased to report that I actually enjoy their yarns, at least the ones I have acquired or have seen in use. Homespun is especially a favourite for gifting as the machine washability is a big plus but the softness is something I’ve generally seen only in yarns that cost twice the price. I’ve also tried Fancy Fur and have several skeins of Suede that will eventually make it over here. I want to try their Cotton Ease and also feltable wools. What I have used has been very easy to work with and comes in so many fabulous colours that one is rather spoilt for choice

(This is not to say that I don’t like other yarns, or that I haven’t bought things that are much more expensive…but when dealing with people with very sensitive skin or various fiber allergies, Lion Brand has many products that fit the bill perfectly and at a price I can afford.)

Anyway, it would have been awful to find out that despite their lovely list and podcast that I didn’t like their stuff…so I’m very pleased that I like their products as much as their marketing 🙂

Now, to find what sorts of yarn shows one has to get into to get the mythical bag of free Lion Brand Yarn! I have soooo much charity knitting to do this winter, plus half my friends are disabled and have special fiber needs (but I’m not counting that as charity knitting) — I need all the Lion Brand yarn I can get my hands on! 🙂 Maybe I can convince them that I should be a tester to see how well their products work for people with extremely sensitive skin? 🙂 Well, a girl can dream, anyway…*sigh* Now, how do I get my hands on a sample card…. off to search their website now!

There’s no place like home

 …especially if your husband has been sick and hasn’t cleaned anything in the five weeks you were gone.  *Sigh*  I know better than to expect the place to be nice when I get home but some part of me still is disappointed when I walk into a dump 🙁

I survived the trip to DC, which included a visit to the Springwater Fiber Workshop (which was cleaned out due to their almost-went-out-of-business sale so nothing really to see) and the very lovely Knit Happens shop in Alexandria where I bought three skeins of Pima cotton from Peru. Not organic, alas, and I *know* that it is very important to buy organic cotton as 50% of the world’s pesticide use is in the cotton industry, but it was beautifully handpainted from a small company so I couldn’t resist.

So I’m home, but my yarn stash is in transit as I didn’t have enough luggage space. All I could cram in was two skeins for the scarf for my husband and the yarn that has now become the finished scarf for my mom. I need to try to take pictures but I need to be awake in daylight for that to happen. Right now I am sleeping 15 hrs a day 🙁

I do get to gloat a little as both husband and friend made noises about wanting the very first hat that I made of out Red Heart Light & Lofty. I think I have enough yarn left to make a second hat so both shall be appeased. It’s nice to make things that other people like, I was worried about stuff being really boring or screaming newbie but I find with the looms it’s a lot harder to screw up than with needles! Dropped stitches are more noticeable and easier to fix.

So much to write about, I got five looming books from Amazon for a total of six (out of I think 8 that exist), so I shall be writing up about them soon. Unfortunately my hands hurt too much for me to type any more today, but I really plan to blog more frequently now that I am home. If having my computer in the shop doesn’t turn into too much of a nightmare, that is! But hopefully that will all get fixed while I am away for the holidays and thus will be as painless as it can be. In the meantime though, the hands say it it time to stop and I must obey…