Saturday, March 24, 2007

Hip hip hooray for Halter

Well, the Alpaca Silk was definitely the right choice for the Tea Rose Halter. I know I've raved about this yarn in, I think, all of my previous posts, but...but I just want to fill a bathtub with it and lie in it. So I'm JUST ABOUT DONE with the top and it's looking great. I'm hoping to finish it tonight. The gauge was a little small with this yarn, so I had to do the whole thing on a 13 needle instead of 11 and I also bumped it up a size. So, pictures coming tomorrow when Adam gets home from Mt. Washington with the camera.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Finishing Projects and that Constant...Nagging...Temptation

I have yet to meet a knitter who has less than 5 projects going at the same time, except for maybe extreme beginners. I suppose there are those out there who can pick up and project and go from start to finish without working on something else but HOW?! Usually when I start something new (and what I think is the most fabulous thing I'm going to find at the moment), I SWEAR to myself that I will not start anything else until this one is done. But, inevitably, that never happens. As one of my bosses Cheryl has put it, some projects just "lose their energy" and need to be put down for a little while. So, I've been using that excuse lately when I gleefully start a new project and Adam, my boyfriend, asks "weren't you working on something else?" Ok, so some things lose their energy i.e. I get frustrated or I find something more fun...but will they ever get their energy back? Sitting in my projects-in-progress basket is the Cathode sweater from Knitty, which is startingly close to completion, but I just won't pick it up for some reason. And something went terribly wrong with that Clementine Shawlette and I had to frog a few rows and now I don't even want to look at it. And my mom's bolero, I figure, I have until Mother's Day to finish, so why not start that Tea Rose Halter? It's what I've really wanting to be working on anyway. But now I'm sitting in the yarn shop and finding my hand straying to all of our new books and patterns. "OOHH that would be so great in the Silkience" or "I want to make something with that bamboo". The temptation is incredible. I guess it's worse for me than for some since I actually WORK here. But everyday someone wanders into the shop and "accidentally" buys something that catches their eye.

We all like to joke that knitting and yarn buying is an addiction, but I really think it is. Sure we're not shooting heroin into our arms but it still takes up a considerable portion of my time and money. I'll be sitting in class and literally fidgeting in my seat because I'm anxious to pick up the needles. And if I would try to "quit" I would definitely have withdrawal. I've heard of a few people who gave up buying yarn or knitting for Lent. That just shows you how painful it would be for some people. And non-knitters just don't get it.

Expensive Yarn and other musings

I used to be a Michael's or JoAnn's kind of gal. $5 for one skein? That used to be expensive. Then A Tangled Skein opened down the road...and I got a job there. Suddenly, I was exposed to Berroco, Debbie Bliss, Lamb's Pride...hand dyed yarns from Chile, silks, cottons that feel like butter, alpaca...Suddenly $5 for one skein was a steal and $9 wasn't too bad. I mean, after all, it's not that $22 skein of Noro. When I got this job, I swore to myself that I'd never become a "yarn snob" as I called them. But then I touched the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in that incredible salmon color that just called my name every day at work. So yesterday I took the plunge and bought the most expensive yarn I've ever bought. I got 3 balls of the salmon dream and it wasn't too bad...with my employee discount it was less than $25. And I couldn't be happier. I recommenced the Tea Rose Halter last night and knitting with this stuff is such a joy. I could never go back to that squeaky acrylic that's sitting on my shelf in all of those obnoxious neon colors. So, I think I'll donate them to my mom who is starting to do some charity knitting and (gradually, I HOPE) replenish my stash with beautiful yarn that will be turned into something that feels and looks great. The key now is to limit myself to buying only yarn that I have a project planned for. I'll know I've crossed the line when I get to the point of these 2 women who came into the store last week. Each one bought over $200 worth of Noro and other pricey yarns, and as I was checking them out, I asked what projects they had planned, and neither of them had any! They were just dropping hundreds of dollars on yarn for their stash! So, for now, I'll allow myself a few balls of irresistible yarn when I get a fat paycheck...but when I'm slapping down my Visa and spending my savings on Noro, someone please stop me.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

First post!

Well, this is my first post of my new knitting/crocheting blog and I don't really know where to start.

I work at the brand new yarn shop in Hyattsville, Maryland, A Tangled Skein! It's a really great place with friendly people and, of course, a great selection of beautiful yarn. If you live in the area you should definitely check it out. www.atangledskein.com

Technically, I'm working on countless projects right now, but the ones I'm focusing on now are:
The short 'n sweet bolero for my mom from the Stitch 'n Bitch crochet book. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a beautiful shade of bright blue that my mom picked out at the shop. It's coming along quite nicely. I'm done with the top portion of the back and almost done with the right shoulder area. At first I was quite nervous to begin this project. First of all, I'm not nearly as comfortable with crochet as I am with knitting, and second, I wanted it to be perfect and fit well since it's for my mom! But the pattern is actually quite fun and I've learned a new technique, how to crochet around the post which creates this cool 3-D effect.

Here's a close up of the shell pattern:


I'm also working on the Clementine Shawlette from this Spring's Interweave Knits for myself. I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun sportweight in a lovely burnt sienna color that reminds me of the carpet from my parents' house. I've finished the increase section for the first half and am about a foot away from finishing the first part. Then I do the exact same thing again and sew the halves together.


Working on this shawl has reminded me how much I like lace. Luckily, there are three lacy projects in this issue of Interweave that I love. My next project is definitely the Tea Rose Halter. That project is why I bought this issue in the first place. I started it and got to the middle of it, but decided I didn't like the yarn I had chosen and am now looking for a different yarn. I had started with holding 1 strand of Araucania Magallanes in a cream/pink/green color with 1 strand of Ella Rae classic in an olive color. I loved the combination of those colors but I've decided that I want to use a solid color for this project to show off the big bold lace pattern. Plus the 100% wool thing wasn't working for me. It's a summer top after all. So, I'm thinking of making it in either Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (luscious but expensive), Sirdar Just Bamboo (love the drape), or maybe Ella Rae Silkience. We just got Silkience into the store a few days ago and I was the lucky one to swatch it for the shelves. It's a dream to knit with and comes in all kinds of gorgeous jewel tones. Not too expensive either ($6.60/skein). So, we'll see.