Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Scarf’

19 Reasons I Wish I Had My Knitting With Me Right Now

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Humor, Knitting, Life, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 28, 2013 | 23 Comments »

1) I’m at a work dinner surrounded by people who are talking shop, only on a plane of knowledge and experience that makes me feel like a paramecium. If only I had a suitable conversation piece to redirect the discussion to more familiar territory.

2) I’m attending an hour-long meeting, only five minutes of which actually applies to me.

3) I don’t know how to sit at a restaurant waiting for food without something to do. Knitting has ruined me for fine dining.

4) Christmas with the in-laws. Lots and lots of time spent with people who are nice, but unfamiliar. I want to impress them. Knitting is ladylike and productive.

5) I’m trying to stay awake during a finance presentation. Spreadsheets do it to me every time.

6) I had no idea one short errand would turn into five errands.

7) Leaving my cat at the vet for treatment is almost as stressful for me as it is for him.

8) That lady two rows away on the bus is knitting and I’m jealous.

9) I wish there was some way to knit while running on a treadmill. I would be in such good shape.

10) Someone just gave me an end-of-day deadline at 4:12 pm. I need something to prevent me chucking my computer out the window.

11) My SO is addicted to a really terrible  super heroes cartoon. I need something to do while I pretend to watch it.

12) I can’t sit in the dark with nothing to do, even at a concert.

13) All the good celebrity magazines are next to the other pedicure chair.

14) My SO has disappeared into the Lego store. He may never come out again.

15) I’m trying to cut calories so I need something to distract myself from the appetizer tray.

16) I’m at a New Years party, which these days is half kiddie play date. Lots of sitting around watching munchkins suck on wooden blocks.

17) I just discovered I’m lactose intolerant and I’m a little pissed that I can no longer order the cheese plate. But at least I can still have this awesome yarn.

18) I’m watching a dance movie where the dancing is the only point. I need to fill in the empty spaces between awesome dance numbers.

19) I might discover a new Ravelry friend. When I whip out my knitting they pop out of the woodwork.

Read Full Post »

What will the alien archaeologists make of my knitting bag in 10,000 years?

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Humor, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2012 | 5 Comments »

In archaeology, they say that you can learn as much from a civilization’s trash as from its literature, art and science. Perhaps more. Well, here’s my miscellaneous “trash”–the results of emptying my project bag, then holding it upside down and shaking it over the carpet.

  • 1 small scrap of yarn
  • 1 small ruler, almost never used because I can never find it. It likes to stick to other things with static electricity.
  • 1 unit of measuring tape, which lives in this little drawstring Settlers of Catan dice bag.
  • 2 band-aids, which I really should keep in my primary notions bag where they’ll be of use.
  • 1 pot of scented knitter’s hand cream, which I like, but which the men in my life can’t stand. Sigh.
  • 1 stray KnitPicks needle tip, size unknown.
  • 1 set of teeny tiny dpns
  • 1 unsharpened pencil – heck if I know why this is in my knitting bag.
  • 1 receipt from Dunn Brothers - the local coffee shop where my Wednesday night knitting group meets.
  • A business card from a vendor who makes ridiculous-cool hats

I imagine the alien archaeologist examining my trash, thousands of years in the future, and drawing conclusions about me and my knitting habits.

  • Knitting was a dangerous past-time, requiring frequent application of first aid.
  • Knitters often congregated in commercial food establishments. Perhaps because their avocation left them no time for conventional food preparation.
  • Knitters were scavengers, like blue jays, constantly picking up and re-purposing common items. Perhaps this writing implement was used as a substitute cable needle.

What else do you think future archaeologists will think of us knitters based on our trash?

Read Full Post »

Covert Reclamation of Unloved Knitted Things – Totally Justified

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , on July 25, 2012 | 10 Comments »

Curls & Q recently wrote a post entitled Are They Handmade Worthy? She shares a very entertaining Do You Knit the Gift or Do You Buy The Gift decision chart, created by The Panopticon blog. This chart very faithfully outlines the decisions I make each time I ponder whether or not to knit a gift. Is the occasion special enough? Can I count on this recipient to treasure my gift and appreciate its true worth?

As shown on http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com

My judgement on this score has definitely been a work in progress. I’ve made some (to me) tragic misjudgments and have learned bitter lessons.

In her post, Curls & Q asks: Share with us the worst scenario for your hand-made gift, all of us will sympathize

Alright. I will. Here’s my story:

I learned to knit when I was about 8. My first projects were dish cloths, full of holes but much adored by my family members. My first more ambitious project was a ribbed scarf. I started with some ancient cream colored yarn from my mother’s stash. When that ran out, undaunted, I tied on some orange yarn and continued to the end. The result was pretty ugly, but it was my first item of knitted clothing and I was immensely proud of it.

Casting about for a worthy recipient, I decided to gift it to my friend, E. I remember wrapping it up and walking over to her house in the snow and presenting it to her, warning her not to open it until Christmas.

Cut to several months later: I was at a sleepover at E’s house. We were in the bathroom making Barbie shampoo–horrific concoctions of common bathroom items (like mouth wash and cologne) that we would use to wash Barbie’s hair. It turned the hair odd colors and made it frizzy. We thought this was hilarious.

Anyhow, we were digging around in a cupboard in search of a bottle of bubble bath when a mass of towels and old t-shirts fell out onto the floor. (Her mom was not the world’s most accomplished house keeper.) Mixed in among those things was my scarf, abandoned and unloved.

I burst into tears right there, but quickly covered them up. E had gone back to her room to fetch our next Barbie victim so, furtively, I gathered up the scarf, hurried down to the living room, and stuffed it into my backpack.

This was covert reclamation and I am unashamed of it. E never mentioned the loss; indeed, I doubt she ever noticed.

I took the scarf home and gifted it to my mother, who accepted it gladly. She probably still has it, secreted away in a drawer.

Now, in case I haven’t emphasized this enough–this thing was horrendously ugly.  Ugly in a way that only a scratchy half orange, half cream scarf, knitted by a novice knitter can be. And it was also beautiful, for all the same reasons.  I chose my second recipient much better. Mom appreciated it far above its value as a scarf. Indeed, it had almost no value as a scarf, being full of holes and unbearable to wear against the skin.

This memory is the standard against which I measure all of my hand-made gifting decisions. Roughly, here is my decision chart, which is a little simpler than Panopticon’s.  Guess who gets the gift?

Will wear it once to make you happy. Treasures and uses it all the time. Brags to their friends.
Will store it in a bathroom cupboard to get moldy. Loves it for what it represents, even if it is hideous.

Read Full Post »

4 Big Thank Yous and 7 Questions I’ve Always Wanted to Ask Another Knitter

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2012 | 10 Comments »

In the last few weeks I’ve been very privileged to be nominated for two blogging awards:

One Lovely Blog 

Nominated by Crafts by the Sea.

Sunshine Blogger

Nominated by Curls & Q and The Sweaty Knitter.

In addition, I received a surprise reward from Agujas for being her 100th follower. She sent me a scarf kit from Habu Textiles. One cone is a very fine merino (red). The other cone holds a very interesting silk and stainless steel yarn. The idea is to knit the scarf in several sections, sometimes with one yarn, sometimes with the other, and sometime with both.Then you felt it. Of course, stainless steel doesn’t tend to cooperate with felting, so you get a scarf with a really fascinating crumpled look. Like a scarf buried for years in the back of your coat closet, only fashionable and artistic. Trust me.

Stanley posing with my gift from Agujas. You’re making me do this again, Mom?

See, isn’t this neat looking? I love the pre-planned rumpled look. It goes so well with the rest of my wardrobe. Kusha Kusha Scarf by Setsuko Torii (鳥居節子) as seen on Ravelry.

All of this attention and luck makes me feel very happy. I love writing a blog that others enjoy reading. And I’m delighted to be Agujas’ 100th follower. She has a wonderful blog and I’m sure she’ll soon have more followers than she knows what to do with.

I also have some obligations to fulfill as recipient of these two awards. Rather than write separate posts, I’m going to combine it all into one. I’ve noticed that there is a lot of variety in how different bloggers have responded to these awards in the past. There doesn’t seem to be a specific formula to follow or even a consistent set of questions to answer. So I feel free to make it up as I go along.

One Lovely Sunshine Blog

1) Link back to blogger who nominated you and say thank you 

Thank you, once again, to Curls & Q, Crafts by the Sea, and The Sweaty Knitter. A blessing upon you all:

May all things curl that you wish to curl.

May the sea inspire you with its crashing might and not deposit salt upon your hand knits.

And may the wool maketh not your hands to perspire at inconvenient moments.

2) Paste the award image on your blog 

Done

3) Answer 7 questions about yourself

Instead of doing this, I think I’m going to pose questions to other knitters. Things I’ve always wanted to know but was afraid to ask.

  • Do you hold on to horrible yarn from your early knitting days because you’re convinced that it hates you as much as you hate it…and it’s good to keep your enemies close?
  • What do you do when you give someone a lovely hand-made gift that they don’t like or don’t use? Is covert reclamation allowed?
  • When your mother in law gives you a large bag full of cotton yarn to make dish cloths out of, how much obligation do you have to start popping them out? Is the obligation greater if you have not given her grandchildren?
  • Are shawls really fashionable these days, or is that a delusion I’ve fostered to deny that I dress like a Jane Austen reenacter?
  • Does my knitting really make the whole couch vibrate?
  • What would you do with all the spare time you would have if you didn’t knit? Would you be thinner?
  • Do you think sheep would find it creepy that I spend so much time petting yarn?

4) Nominate other blogs for this award and notify the authors about their nomination

In no particular order, here are a few other bloggers I would like to nominate for the One Lovely Sunshine Blog Award(s).  I’ve nominated these bloggers because I’ve had some recent, very positive interactions with them online. They are active and talented crafters and writers. I admire what they do.  


Feel Good Knitting

ReWOLLuzza

The Magpie Knitter

G-Ma Ellen’s Crochet Corner

Weekend Knitter

Read Full Post »

3KCBWDAY3 My Knitting/Crochet Hero

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Competition, History, Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 25, 2012 | 26 Comments »

I’m participating in the third annual knitting and crochet blog week. Today, I must blog about someone in the fiber crafts who truly inspires me.  It should have been a tough question: there are so many people whose patterns, yarn, tools or craft I admire. But one special lady floats to the top.

Queen Victoria. Take a gander at that lace decoration she's wearing.

Queen Victoria

The BF and I recently rented Young Victoria. I enjoyed the movie so much that I watched the extras too. In one of the making-of interviews, actress Emily Blunt, who plays Victoria, talks about the research she did to prepare for her role, and she revealed something very exciting: Queen Victoria was an avid knitter and crocheter. And she was unashamedly so at a time when fiber craft was still considered by many in England to be a “career of the working man” and not a refined art. She was a trend-setter.  She was a change agent.

This is the Queen spinning.

And here she is, crocheting.

During Victoria’s reign, knitting and crochet experienced a dramatic resurgence in popularity. Well-bred girls were expected to learn how to knit.

And here’s a really important development we can all thank her for: because middle and upper class people were interested in knitting, we began to see some of the first formal documentation of how things should be made. That’s patterns, ladies and gentlemen. The first printed patterns. 

Queen Victoria promoted the fiber arts throughout her life. Shetland knitted lace became extremely popular in England when Queen Victoria fell in love with it.

Late in life, Queen Victoria crocheted eight special “Scarves of Honor” to be presented as awards to British forces fighting in South Africa. Some believed this special honor to be the equal of, or even a rank above the Victoria Cross. This is not supported by research, which indicates that the scarves had no particular status as a decoration. Still, it would have been pretty darn cool to receive a scarf personally crocheted for you by the Queen.

Queen Victoria's Scarf of Honor. From Canadian War Museum.

Thank you, ma’am, for all you did to promote fiber crafts. You’re my knitting/crochet hero.

Related articles

Read Full Post »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,006 other followers