Box of Love

I have a fiber shopping problem: my desires frequently exceed my monetary means, especially at fiber events like Maryland, Rhinebeck and SOAR. Adding insult to bank account injury, I often buy the same or very similar fiber/colorway when I’m on a fiber jaunt as I already have in my stash. Discovering that we all have the same problem, my fiber sisters and I came up with a plan. We call it Box of Love. When faced with a fiber show we bring along a box or bag of our “right now fiber obsessions”, what we love the most currently in our spinning lives. The Box of Love helps keep shopping within our ...

Outdoor Knitting Kit

If you’re planning to participate in WWKIP day this coming weekend – and especially if you’re going to be part of the Toronto-based attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for most knitters in one place – you need to be prepared. You want to have your tools with you, but you also want to pack light so you’re mobile. Here are the tools I recommend you carry if you’re going to leave the house with your knitting: a handful of safety pins or removable stitch markers – these are great for catching dropped stitches or using as extra markers, or to keep track of your progress ...

The happiest day of the week?

It’s Obsession Thursday again! Here’s what I’ve been coveting lately: Bathing in Luxury No alcohol, no plasticy smells. These perfume oils are luxurious smelling and last all day. Plus they come in glass roller-ball bottles – no spilling. My favorites, so far, are Daydream – a bright smell with citrus and vanilla, and Stroke Me (hey, it’s really the name) – deep and warm sandalwood, musk and vanilla. Roxanne earrings Huge (2″ x 2 1/2″) and light. I want to wear these every day. The swirliness of them is so over the top girly that it makes me laugh. Amy’s ...

It’s Wednesday!

Have you been wondering if an iPad is worth buying? Read what knitter/designer Amy Swenson has to say on the subject. [Neither of us have any financial stake in Apple or iPads, by the way. We’re just geeks who like toys.] O-Wool has new owners — the Tunney Wool Company. Glad to see this brand continue! What is this TNNA everyone’s talking about? It’s The National Needlework Association, and people in the industry use the abbreviation as shorthand to refer to the semi-annual tradeshow. The biggest one of the year happens next weekend in Columbus, Ohio, and yarn companies, manufacturers of bags ...

Spinning Lessons

I have a bunch of Abby Batts in my stash and I won’t spin them because then they’ll be gone. What if I want to use them for something better later? What if I totally suck spinning them? Abby herself would laugh her ass off knowing her batts had hit Most Precious Status in my stash. “Just [expletive] spin them” she’d say, and she’d hand me a beer. So I did. And it was good. Lesson: There are no precious batts.

Travel Knitting; WIPs on a Plane!

In the northern hemisphere, the summer travel season is upon us.  My friends and rellies in the southern hemisphere are planning their winter ski vacations. And every traveling knitter, no matter where you are in the world, has one key question in mind: can I take my knitting on a plane?  The answer is an enthusiastic but qualified yes. Within North America, the TSA clearly states that “Items needed to pursue a Needlepoint project are permitted in your carry-on baggage”.  Read their post for a bit more detail.  The Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority agrees. Within most of western Europe ...

Introducing Obsession Thursdays!

Around the KnittyBlog, Thursdays are for obsessing. There are four of us here, and each of us have our own obsessions. And they change, so this could be the most interesting-weird day of the week. Only time will tell. Today, I’m obsessing about online beauty shopping. I saw a link on a post by one of my favorite bloggers and it sent me off to investigate. Jane Brocket has excellent color sense.  So when she recommends a list of colors, I look. In this case, it’s nail polish made by a company [from California?] called butter LONDON. I know, silliness. But their colors are awesome and the names even moreso. ...

What’s What Wednesdays returns!

Did you miss us? WWKIP day, which seems to frustratingly coincide with the big knitting convention [TNNA] every year*– well, this year is going to be a big one! Let’s look at what you can do on June 12th to share the knitting love! Toronto, Canada: Another attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record for most knitters in one place [currently held by the knitters at Sock Summit 2009] will take place at Junction Square (2945 Dundas at Pacific) between 1 and 4 pm. Enjoy entertainment, refreshments and prizes. The count for the world record will take place at 3 pm, so please come early to register. Dublin, ...

What Happens In My Backyard When It’s Warm

As the weather gets warmer spinners head to my back yard like wild birds. Check out this photo from this Spring. This was the inaugural spinning in the backyard day. Carla (she of the orange pants) came over to spin. Then neighbor Katherine (she of the green, dyed by her own hand fluff) looked out her window, ceased whatever she was doing in her house and came to spin. Then Amy (she being the Knitty Goddess) after driving five hours from her house to mine came to spin (she stayed longer than the afternoon). The warmer it gets the longer the spinners stay and the more spinners come. There is always fiber trading, ...

when last there was knitting content on this blog…

which wasn’t that long ago, I was working on my Shalom cardigan. Well, I finished it and I like it! I spent a day or two knitting and ripping the same 4 rows until I got the armholes to open at the right spots for my body. As written, the armholes go way into the back, which I didn’t find flattering. I’d love to show you how this looks on me, but there’s no one around to take a nice FO pic, so that’ll have to wait. I have to find permanent buttons, too. The ones there now are an amalgamation of a few things that function, but don’t suit the sweater. By the way, I am grateful to ...
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