KNITSTER

after belonging to several different knitting groups, i have decided to pout a list of simple, and i do mean simple, truths about knitting.

1) stockinette curls. sometimes even if you put an edging on it. no amount of blocking will fix it.

2) only animal fibers felt. they have scales that get closer and smaller durring agitation. no other fiber does that. so loving a color in acrylis and really wanting it to felt is not going to make it happen.

3) dpns are not the tool of satan. they are mere sticks of wood with pointy ends. and, gasp, they are really handy for making round things.

4) no matter how hard you try, you cannot when twisting a join in the round, undo it any other way than frogging the thing. unless you like the moebius look.

5) i have to wonder how many muppets were killed to make fun fur.

6) saying i found a pattern and i love the yarn, it’s exactly what i want, but it costs $xxxxxx. does anyoe know of another yarn with the sane fibers and colors for a bit less? this is where i want to answer if you love it buy it. eat mac dinners for a week or so- you’ll have an amazing knitted object. or be like me, not tell your husband/partner/inner tightwad what you spent.

7) please, oh please, remember that there are millions of patterns out there. so asking if anyone can think of that pattern that had this thing on it and i didn’t book mark it and i want it. when i worked at book stores people would come in and say- you know that book about some people, and there might have been a bridge? and my goth self would reply- oh the bridges of madison county? of course, that is waht they meant. finding patterns is NOT that easy.

8)acrylic is not a yarn to block. i actually think that all of the acryllics in the world should be set free. especially the neon acryllics. some where happy in acryllic land.

9) the best thing you can do as a knitter is invest in several good knitting books. or magazines. i am partial to the stitch and bitch books, and the vogue bible. they are in hand’s reach right now. i even have some important things on my computer. books are wonderful things. see, they are educational. they teach you how to do things. and that way you don’t have to ask a group of 5768930 what to do.

10) my last rant is a simple one. learn the names of different kinds of yarns. fingering, lace, sport, dk, worsted or aran, bulky, super bulky and steel tension cable. and of course there are hand painted, natural dyed, wet spun, and on and on. the iggest thing is to tread the lable. or better yet- the pattern. it works. there is all sorts of nifty info there.

i am not doing this to snark, i am hoping that maybe commonsense will become used more often when asking questions. yeah- cotton is a plant. wool is an animal fiber. there is a big difference. really. i promise. and don’t get me started on being afraid of circular knitting. many- it makes it go fast. and you can knit straights from circs- you just do it.

can you tell i have a really bad day? and that i am really tired of answering the same questions over and over. i view what i do as art. i am an artist- sure i learned painting and metal work first, but really. it is a crative process, one which i hold to a really high reguard. and i get clothes out of it.

on to other things. and the main reason of my grumpiness-

our upstairs toilet overflowed. and this life being mine and i have an attraction to disaster- the over flowing toilet water with big old chunks of- ok, you get it- got all over the place i store some of my handspun. i had to toss about 5 oz of yarn. i sat on the steps to the basement and sobbed for about an hour. mr pickleboot came home and upon seeing that he understood why i was in tears. and then he told me i can replace it. he knows not what he says. so all of our clothes are moist with gross toilet water, and for awhile there, so was i.

i was planning on having a nice quiet knitting night while watching the olympics- i wanted my hot lava done when my mom got here., or at least almost done. oh well, that’s how it goes.

Posted on February 23rd, 2006 by Pickleboot
Filed under: General, Projects, Spinning