I took inventory on my yarn today. I actually have a stash now. A lot of it was acquired some way or another (gifted, swapped, bought) last year. So I counted about 180 skeins/hanks/cakes of yarn, plus some crochet thread and leftovers. OMG. I've become a yarnie! In 2006 I didn't even have a stash. About 90% of it is wool (or wool/nylon wool/silk blend) and 10% of it is cotton. I don't count a bag full of acrylic which was gifted to me (leftover stash) that I plan to use to make toys with since it's leftovers and I didn't look at my leftover stash at all. There is barely any unusual or luxury yarn. There is a little bit of linen, little bit of hemp but no mohair, cashmere, alpaca, angora, bamboo or likewise. I guess I just really like wool :) There are a bunch of alpaca farms here close and I must get a local alpaca fiber at some point, but I don't remember ever having alpaca at all nor cashmere. But I've had angora and bamboo that's knitted up now.
What does your stash say about you? I don't think I'm the kind of person that is not likely to try new things and I really enjoy the finer side of life. But at the same time I'm terribly practical. I guess I'm saving the fancier fibers until I can actually afford them. We'll see then.
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There is this interesting trend in Iceland of knitting with plötulopi, the unspun wool. People have started to experiment with it and use it in more unorthodox ways. Usually it was knitted with three strands held together for classical Icelandic sweaters. Now people have started knitting it with two or even just a single ply and on bigger needles so the resulting fabric is thin and flowing. Same with eingirni, the lace weight. People have started knitting it with bigger needles as well and knitting sweaters and dresses, not just shawls.
I heard a story today that is something that would only happen in Iceland (?). A guy came in to a workplace cafeteria in a nice looking (handknit but bought) sweater. He was promptly asked to remove the sweater (or else!) and a group of women studied the sweater and counted out the stitches. Yeah, this would never happen in the US, that's for sure. Apparently the man didn't really mind. Maybe he's familiar with knitters?
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I was going to take pictures of some of my knitting today. It was nice out warm (above freezing) and sunny. Maybe even too sunny. We didn't last long outside today even with the nice weather. It was just too bright. Probably even too bright to take decent photos?
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Oh yeah. And my Sunrise Circle Jacket (SCJ)- it's on hold now. As I was nearing the top of the back something didn't feel right. A quick search on Ravelry.com told me that the author is going to release the pattern after a review and there seems to be an error in the back part of it. I love Ravelry :) First hand information at your fingertips. I love the project though but there are so many other projects that I can't wait to start. I had a hard time deciding but after talking to my mom today I decided to go ahead and do a vest for Kamilla. Same as the one I made for me but based on this pattern. I decided to make it into a vest, since that is more practical and she could get more use out of it. Lately they've worn outdoor vests indoors due to the cold (the houses here are poorly (or barely) insulated, I have to explain this to the Icelandic readers, since cold houses don't exist there). The dress looks great too, but I opt for the practicality. I'm making it out of purple plotulopi, single strand on 4.5 mm. My SCJ is knit with two strands on 4.5 mm giving a very dense fabric. It's an interesting difference between the two projects.
4 comments:
The dress is actually really practical too. The girls here wear it with jeans as well as with thights and when they grow, it becomes a long vest.
At the moment they mostly wear sweatpants and the dress wouldn't match them. I don't even think they have any jeans left and if I buy jeans I get boy's jeans because the girl's jeans are too tight and skimpy. They are not comfortable and they can't play in them properly (climb and run and things like that).
They have some tights and I could do that but it's much easier just to have them dressed in a vest over a long sleeve shirt. They have a lot of those but they aren't warm enough so the vest would be perfect.
Let me know if you ever just want to quit work and start trying to knit our stash. I am right there with you!!!!!
The vest/dress is very pretty. Have you looked at the kids' clothes from Hanna Andersson? They have some great leggings for litle girls that they can wear a long shirt or a dress over, much more practical than jeans and prettier with something like this. Their prices are kind of high but they have great sales and the quality is excellent. You could buy something, use it for both girls, and still sell it or give it away in great shape.
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