I’ve been thinking about blankets. It’s quite fascinating that something so seemingly insignificant – a really big swatch of knitted or woven fabric – has a truly, well, significant place in our lives. Think about it – to a person, we are swaddled in one at birth. We snuggle under them on a cold day,… Read More Blankety
Ah, gauge…the bane of many a knitters’ existence. We diligently swatch, block, and measure, and just when we think we’ve got it – it’s snatched away for seemingly no reason at all and we’re sent slinking back to the proverbial drawing board with our heads hung low as we fling that lying liar of a… Read More En-gauge-ment
For an entire year it’s been starting me in the face…every…day. I can’t miss it. It’s right there on my swatch board. A beautiful failure. A deeply flawed elephant. No, really…totally an elephant, honest. See it there – mocking me? Yeah, yeah, it looks kinda cool…from a distance. But lean in and discover the horrors… Read More The Elephant in the Room
Last year I finished 28 projects: 9 sweaters (7 from start to finish), 6 cowls, 5 hats, 3 pairs of socks, 2 shawls, 1 baby blanket, 1 toy, and 1 pair of mitts. Now it begs to be asked: what can get done in 2021? Is 21 projects a reasonable goal? The number is right… Read More 21 FOR 21?
This whackadoodle year is almost done. It was a weird one – of this there is no doubt. There is also no doubt that knitting saved my sanity this year. A few times. Out of the madness came many a satisfying finished object (and many more WIPS, natch). Shall we stroll though the gallery of… Read More Knitcomplishments 2020
I love my Christmas stocking. I love it hard. So really, very hard that I have rules about my Christmas stocking management. Rule #1: There must be many many items in my stocking – at least 6 or 7 in my small stocking, leftovers in my (much larger) backup stocking. Rule #2: Each and every… Read More Stuff This, Santa
Stop stressing…no one is ingesting any wool around here. Yarn tasting is a real thing, but it’s not, like, a literal thing. It’s a fun and useful marketing tool used by yarn stores and consumer events to allow customers to try out or “taste” a yarn before buying it. Think of being in Costco and… Read More Yarn Tasting
Knitters love yarn. That’s a given. But let’s face it…some yarns are just a snore. Even when well bred, spun, plied and knit into a perfectly respectable fabric, they can still remain lackluster and uninspired. Hang on to your shorts, because I have discovered the cure for those snoozville yarns languishing in your stash: Marling.… Read More Marvelous Marls
I’ve been wading…swimming…drowning…in new knitted-thing ideas recently. And when I have an idea…I SWATCH…and swatch and swatch and swatch. Then, unable to chose between one of the brand new shiny things or one of the already-in-progress-but-I-really-want-it things, I am paralyzed. Staring at the television. My knitting things staring right back at me. A couple nights… Read More All Things Considered
I apologize in advance, but there’s no way around bragging for a minute here. People often tell me that they’ve never seen handknitting as…well…for lack of a better word…professional, as mine (blush). It’s a lovely compliment, of course, but I totally get where they are coming from. I’ve seen a lot of what I would… Read More Put that in Your Pipe, Sherlock