Yarnival!

February is not the most inspiring of months.  For those of us who live in northern climes it’s the dead spot of winter, coming after the glitter of the holidays but before the cleansing rains of spring.  February can be, well, just flat-out blechy and depressing.  This, I believe, is why so many people love the redness, pinkness and floweriness of Valentine’s Day.  We need color, we need love, we need petals and blossoms and chocolate and smooches and.…

Passion!  And what inspires passion like knitting?

Knitters Love Yarn and Knitting and Color and, Ooh...Knitting!

Our lust for knitting is fueled by the marvelous seductive qualities of yarn, the Oooh shiny of it all.  Yarnyarnyarn.  Smell it, smoosh it, run it through your fingers, obsess over it, break the bank to buy it and hoard it.  We reach for ever more expensive, exotic fibers and limited edition handpainted yarns.  But sometimes it pays to think back to the essence of the thing, the pure love of yarn and knitting, and how much it means for someone who loves you to understand your passion.  Ask Bezzie.  She knows.

What is it about knitting?  Kate hid her identity as a knitter from her blog readers for a long time, but then finally had to step forward and speak up about it.  Woot, Kate!

Knitters love color!  In fact, a knitter can become so passionate about one particular color that it causes her to abandon all resolutions.  The Uberstrickenfrau has a few words to say about that subject.

Is it love or is it war?  Or is it simply the stupefying effect of the yarn fumes?  Peacockchic, you've got some ‘splaining to do!

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough To Keep Me From My Knitting

Knitters will step through floods, fire, dangerous weapons, pestilence and plagues to knit, I’m telling you.  Don’t believe me?

Cass is determined.  I mean, De. Ter. Mined.  Put on a fresh pot of coffee for her, please...um, decaf?

Ann's knitting provided consolation at a time when troubles were piled up around her as deep as the ocean.  Who among us hasn’t sunk into the soothing rhythm of the sticks and felt fortunate, grateful, to be knitting?

Plagues!  I know you thought I was getting all hyperbolic on you when I said knitters would suffer through plagues to practice their craft.  Well, Chemgrrl is here to set the record straight.

Your reward for making it through this emotional and occasionally ooky section?  Mary Lou has a tale to tell about the dangerous nature of knitting needles. Despite her injuries, she loves knitting to such a degree that she forged ahead and designed a pattern based on the experience, just so she could share it with you.

Love At First Sight?  Not Always

There are knitting bandwagons.  Sometimes we take a flying leap and hop right on the first time the wagon trundles by, sometimes we deliberate for a long time before jumping.   Pull up a chair and let Del tell you all about it.

Recipients of handknit gifts don’t always get it.  I mean, sometimes they really, really don’t get it.  But when that lightbulb blinks on, baby, it’s love.  Set the GPS for Maple Corners and go visit Annie at the farm.  She’ll share her story of how a lovingly made pair of mittens went from being reviled to cherished.

Garter stitch.  It’s just garter stitch, right?  No, it’s garter stitch.  The A.D.D. Knitter will explain.  She's in love!

Love Makes You Want To Share

Knitters are a passionate bunch, and they’re pretty darn generous, too.  Instead of secreting away the technique tips they’ve worked so hard to develop, they’re happy to pass them along to fellow knitters.  Y’all are too cool.

Jen didn’t simply write out her tip on two-color knitting.  She made it into a clever, handy cartoon, suitable for clipping out and posting next to your knitting chair.  (She’s made more of these, which you’ll find if you poke around her blog.)

Terrified of sewing in zippers?  Barb will fix you right up.  Her sweater’s fabulous, isn’t it?  It’s her original design and the link to the free PDF is in her post.  The yarn is her own handspun.

Holly has figured out what to do with a salad spinner, other than drying arugula.

Attaching buttons is another finishing technique that makes some knitters crazy.  Cheryl offers good advice for sewing on stable, sturdy, shank buttons .  Now say that three times fast.

Then there’s Lindsay.  Oh, Lindsay, where have you been during all our panicked moments of desperate, sweaty tinking?  Well, now that she’s here, she’ll show you how to rescue doomed lace.

Passion Leads To Unexpected Treasures

Candice loved her new scarf so much that she wanted to find a special place in which to photograph it.  She not only got some great scarf pictures, she discovered an interesting bit of history along the way.

Passion for knitting often leads to blogging, and blogging leads to making new friends, which, as Chris discovered, occasionally leads to the desire to learn new skills.  New, not-knitting skills.  (Yes, there are such things!)

When Sarah gets a box of books in the mail, she finds that you really can’t judge a book by its stylish design.  But if you’re crazy about knitting, you can never have too many references, right?

Pretties!

Last, but oh so very not least, some beauties upon which to feast your February-weary eyes. 

Deb's gorgeous Flower Basket Shawl, which she made with love and gave away with love.

Elli’s very pretty sweater which will fool you into thinking it’s already spring outside.

Do check out bellamoden’s too-cute ski hat, which offers a much-needed dose of pink, both inside and out.

Caro's wonderful new sweater, which looks warm and cozy enough to carry her through those last few weeks of winter we’ve been threatened with by the groundhog.

Lily's charming new socks, which she’ll wear...oh, you’ll see.

Take at look at the tasty, spicy socks Cashmere Dreams concocted.  Mmmmm, I can smell the coriander and ginger from here.

Thanks for reading! 

That’s Yarnival for February 15th, 2008.  If you’d like to have one of your posts considered for the next edition, here’s the submission form.  If you didn’t get in this time, do try again--every edition is different, and your story may be just perfect for the next one.  And please, if you like a story you’ve read through one of these links, leave some love for the knitter who wrote it.  Everybody needs a little love, especially in February.  Now back to your knitting! 

Comments

[Lindsay]

Thanks for all your work on this edition of Yarnival, and thanks for including me :)

[Sarah R]

Thanks for putting this together for our enjoyment. There are some beautiful things out there! And some very talented writers. I'm so pleased to be included among them.

[Alice]

Thanks for all the great reads! That zipper tutorial is priceless :)

[Annie]

So many blogs to check out. Thanks for including me!

[ruth]

This is so much fun. It should keep me busy for a while. Thanks.

[Connie]

Great job! I need to work through all the great posts!

[Deb]

I spent soo much time clicking, that I forgot to post. How rude of me!

A MILLION thanks for your hard work. :)

[kate]

Thanks for including me in this, nice to be in such great company! Lots of fun articles to check out (must... do .... work... first....).

[Jeanice]

Oh my, I was just going to check my e-mail this morning at about 9:00 while I had my first cup of coffee. It is now after 11:00 - Thank you for sharing all of the great blogs. I am amazed by your talents!! Knitting, cooking, writing-I am sure there are many more!

[cursingmama]

Love Yarnival!

[del]

I'm so honored to be part of this. You did a FABULOUS job with Yarnival--I've got all these cool new blogs to check out now! Thank you so much.

[olga]

Good issue, I read all the articles and found me some new blogs to haunt. Hey- thanks for including me, I feel so honored. Great job!

[deb]

Oh my - I thought you were kind of "just thinking about it"!! Thank you!

[Chris]

Oh, fun - this will keep me busy today. I'll mention it Monday, too.