Tag Archive | crafts

Alpaca, merino and silk, oh my!

Today was a craftful day. My husband has been working a lot lately, so he arranged to take the day off, and we used the time to drive up to Weston, MO. Sadly, one of my LYSs is closing soon, so of course I had to take advantage of the sale. And it was a great excuse to visit Weston. It’s a cute little town with about three blocks of unusual, unique, and locally owned shops. There are several quaint gift shops, but also antique shops, a hardware store, an Irish-themed store, an architectural salvage barn, a liquor market, and a jewelry store with a lovely resident dog. Plus it has the Weston Cafe, which we love. It’s not fancy: the chairs are lightweight black metal with the barest padding, the tables aren’t exactly level and covered with plain oilcloth. But the food is good and the service is better. We’ve gone with the kids to Weston maybe once every three months or so. But today our favorite waitress greeted us by asking where the kids were, and she even remembered my regular order. It was a refreshing change from the sterile anonymity of a bigger city.

But anyway, that wasn’t my main goal. My main goal was the yarn. Actually, my main goal was to pick up a mannequin head the owner was holding for me. I’m newer to the knitting business and I’ve found that things photograph and sell better if they’re displayed well. So now I’m the proud owner of a head.

I love that her neck is long and she’s got a hint of shoulder–I’ll be able to display cowls and scarves on her too!

I really wasn’t going to buy much yarn. (I’ll pause here for fellow yarn enthusiasts to stop laughing.) Seriously, I’d already ordered some from her website, and of course I didn’t *need* more yarn. But she had alpaca for 40% off! Gorgeous baby alpaca. No, I don’t know what it’s going to be. But it’s alpaca. It doesn’t matter.

Then I touched some Cascade superwash by accident, and was surprised by how soft it was. There were some great colors too. I grabbed three colors, trying to decide between them, and realized how well they went together. I picked a gray for a neutral and I think they’ll become a nifty striped bag.

I found some splurges too. This sweet green is a mix of mohair, wool and silk so it has a fuzzy halo and a soft touch.

The colors of this yarn caught me. I loved the deep tones, and when I touched it and felt the silk/merino blend, I was a goner. They’re actually a bit darker than they look in the pictures; they’re Magenta and Teal.

This last one might be my favorite. It was a lucky find, the last skein in the store, and it happened to be in the 60% off basket. It’s a cashmere/silk blend and it feels as luxurious as you’re imagining. I had no silk before today, and certainly no cashmere, so this skein thrilled me.

My arms were full, and by then I was waiting by the counter, trying to get out of there before finding more. It didn’t work. Right next to me were two skeins of Cascade Magnum, a fabulous super bulky yarn. One was red and one was this dark, vivid blue, almost a purple blue. Maybe indigo? Not sure. In any case, at 40% off it was coming home with me too.

You’d think that was enough, but I managed to throw in a pattern book, a couple of bamboo crochet hooks and a packet of cute green buttons before all was said and done. Thank goodness my husband is a crafter too (he plays with wood and tools and makes beautiful furniture, check out his blog here) so he understood the importance of getting high-quality supplies at more-than-reasonable prices. In fact, I would have bought much less if he hadn’t encouraged me to stock up. But I’m tickled with the additions to my stash, and now I’m off to knit!

Help Me Help You

Mar20

The universe was working against me yesterday. I was supposed to have a crafternoon playdate with my SIL yesterday, and creating this blog kind of took up my morning. So I had lunch and then went to pack up my knitting bag. Remember that magic yarn from yesterday, the wondrous rainbow fingering? That’s what I wanted to start! I tossed it in my bag, found the pattern I wanted to use, and discovered I did not have the proper needles. Or anything even close. I play with thick yarn, so I don’t own any of those teeny-tiny needles.

Okay, fine. I had a pattern for a summer scarf I want to make out of some white Sprout, a fun chunky yarn that’s all nubby & full of texture. I found my size 15s, tossed them in the bag…but where was the yarn? I dug through the two yarn baskets in my living room, I dug through two of my yarn tubs in my craft room, and no Sprout. I was bewildered and befuddled. It was getting late, my knitting time was ticking away, and I had no project to take with me!

Desperate, I snatched up two different skeins of Malabrigo and tossed them in, along with two empty toilet paper rolls. I figured I could wind them while I was there. I stuffed in my pack of interchangeable circs too, in case I actually had time to cast on for something. It was a ridiculous bag, screaming of poor planning.

While I drove, I realized SIL lives two minutes away from a Joann store. And I really really wanted to cast on that rainbow yarn. Spring is coming–Spring is here, actually–and I wanted to be able to wear them before it got too cold. I’m sure you can guess what we did. We drove to Joann, I bought the size 1 DPNs I needed, and I ignored everything else in that stupid bag.

Here’s what I learned from this: my urge to finish one project before starting another actually works against me. It’s OKAY to have multiple projects. A big, complex project does me no good when I need a small, simple travel project. They serve different needs, and I have a lot of different needs. I need to help my knitting help me.

Oh, and my Sprout? I found it when I got home. I remembered I had tucked it into a cute little jar so it would be ready to use.

Chasing Rainbows

Mar19

I’m Bonny, and I knit. I crochet too, but mostly knit, and besides, most people look at crochet and say “Ooh, what are you knitting?” So, I knit. I’m also a stay-at-home mom of two kids who are active and smart and delightful and also kids so they’re challenging. So, I knit. It makes me happy. A few days ago, I fell in love. Hard. So hard I saw rainbows. No, not with my husband–that happened many moons ago. This was yarn. I was out with my sister-in-law and my daughter at a local yarn store (LYS) http://www.thestudiokc.com/ and this little ball caught my eye. It wasn’t just any yarn, but rainbow yarn. (I feel like it deserves a special name, something more poetic than just “yarn”.)

See all the lovely colors, and how they just flow together? I gazed at this special yarn and imagined all the things it could grow up to be. Did it want to be a cowl? A scarf? I touched it, and it was soft. I picked it up, squeezed it, rolled a strand between my fingers and realized it was fingering weight. Uh oh. Trouble in paradise? I’m a bulky gal–I usually work at least in worsted weight if not thicker. I don’t have the patience for these thin yarns and the teeny needles they require. But this yarn was speaking to me: it said it needed to be beautiful fingerless gloves. For me! Well, in that case, I had to take it home.

After The Studio, we went to Knitcraft in Independence, MO. I found the same brand, the same colorway…in BULKY! Well, my heart just lifted and I sang “Hallelujah!”, only silently. I snatched up two balls that said they wanted to be a matching hat for my gloves. The next day, that’s what happened.

I love how it turned out, especially the way the colors striped so smoothly. As I updated the project in Ravelry (you can find me here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/bonnyknitsforyou) I realized I had two more balls of this bulky yarn in a different colorway. This time I used a slightly different pattern, which made a nifty square design on the top.

This is why I knit. I can find gorgeous raw material that speaks to me, and I can do something that relaxes me and feels good in my hands to create something equally beautiful–something that’s functional, something I can wear often to bring a smile to my face, and maybe even to yours. And if that happens, well, color me happy.