Miss T's Mystery House of Yarn & Horrors

A Very Long Post About Tools

Each of my pursuits requires a different set of tools, and I’ve always believed in buying good ones and taking care of them.  These brushes?



I’ve had them since college.  Which was a long time ago.  No, I'm not telling.  Yeah, a few are taped, but I’ve never had to throw one out, and that’s because I paid the money for good ones, even way back when I I was a student and really couldn’t afford it.  Cheap brushes fall apart in no time, and they leave a trail of bristles on whatever you’re painting.  These don’t.  I’d be sad without them.

Bonsai tools.



I’m a newbie, big time.  Not much idea what I’m doing.  Bonsai tools can be incredibly expensive, so these are not top of the line, but they’re really good, Japanese-made tools.  Solid, and very, very sharp.  You could just about take your arm off with those scissors.  (I’m trying not to do that.)

I have far too many kitchen tools.  I won’t even go there.

Writing tools, for my real work

A small representative sample, that is.  I’m a pen geek.  I won’t show you all the pens.  Or the bottled ink.  Or the pencils.  Or the journals.  Not today.

Okay, maybe just a little ink.  In case Dan stops by.  He’s into ink, too, and may want to see the latest acquisitions.

Clay tools.

I’m finding my clay mojo again, and since all my old tools vanished in the House That Ate Things, I’m acquiring new ones.

I love my tools.  Every single one of them.  But what I’m really working up to here are these.

I’m surprised -- and annoyed -- everytime I see a post on Ravelry which goes something like this:  I want to knit a pattern that calls for size seven needles and I don’t have any.  Do you think I could maybe use tens instead, because I have tens and I don't want to pay all that money for sevens?

See, hobbies aren’t about money.  (Even though you can certainly spend a great deal of money on them, and even though I’ve been known to do that.)  Hobbies are about what you love to do.  Love to do.  If you need size seven needles, find a way to get some.  There are thrift stores and garage sales and friends who might be willing to loan out their needles, and knitting moms and grandmas who'd love to share.  Actually, a decent pair of needles doesn’t cost all that much more than a cappuccino at Starbucks, and I rarely hear people complaining they can’t afford that. 

The way I see it, if you don’t want to invest in tools for your hobby, then you don’t really love it.  Because people who really love something always find a way, even if they have absolutely no money.  Click here, scroll down to the January 9th post and read about the woman who wanted to crochet a baby blanket but didn’t have a crochet hook, so she made one herself.  You won’t believe what she used.  This is why I say that if you claim you can’t afford needles, maybe you don’t really love knitting and just want to do it because everybody else is doing it.  So don’t knit.  Go do something you really love.  It’s okay.

Well.  Now that I’m finished with my little tool rant for the morning, would you like to see some needles?  I’ve started collecting them, and I’m finding that to be a good thing, because it seems that no matter how many pairs of size nines or sevens or whatever I have, I’m always one short when I need one.

My mom is knitting again after a long hiatus, but decided she had too many needles and only wanted to keep one pair in each size.  Go figure.  So she gave me a big bag of them at Easter, knowing I'd give them a good home.

Wooden ones.

Plastic and plastic-coated metal ones.

Vintage metal.

Wonderful stuff.  And yes, I will use them all.  (Just not all at once.)  Thanks, Mom!  Mom doesn’t read this blog.  Or any blog.  But I’m sending thank you vibes out in the air.

I get asked now and then--usually at my knitting group, where, for awhile, the same woman was asking me a variation on this same question every week and it’s a damn good thing she stopped because I was ready to brain her--if I only use straight needles.  No.  Or only use circular needles.  No. 

I like straight, circular, dpns...each kind suits a different purpose, and I have lots of each of them.  (I should--I’ve been accumulating them since at least the early 1980’s.)

Some projects just feel better with certain needles.  Same thing goes for material.  I like wood, plastic, metal, bamboo, depending on the yarn I’m using, the kinds of stitches I’m doing, and the gauge.  I hate bamboo for lace.  I love it for slippery ribbon.  In other words, you can’t pin me down about needles.

I just love knitting needles.  All knitting needles.  Can’t get enough of them.  I respect them as tools for my favorite hobby, and love the charm and aesthetic and history of them. 

Some eye candy now, since you’ve been so kind as to read all this (or at least skim it):

Vintage needles from Australia, many of them made by Patons.

They have a fabulous feel to work with, but the sizing is different from U.S. sizing, so I tend to use them for things where gauge isn’t an issue.  I’m keeping my eyes open for more.  And I do think I probably need a few more pink vases now, too...

The Mystery of Knitting...Revealed!

Shh!  This is the Master Engineer writing.  Miss T is away from her computer, unknitting a mistake in some lace, and while I can, I’m going to clue you in on what I’ve discovered.  I only have a few moments, so read fast.  I am not part of the secret cabal, but I have discovered your secret.  Yes, I have discovered the Secret of Knitting!  Knitters want you to believe that scarves, socks and sweaters emerged from tireless weeks of precision effort. However, I have uncovered the Dark Secret of how knitting really happens.

After watching my wife endlessly tap sticks together in a bizarre ritual, I began to wonder how this could possibly produce items of woolen wear:

    "#$%*@!  I have dropped a stitch!  I'm going to have take out three days work!"
    "*&^%#%@!  How did that happen?!  I have to rip back to yesterday!"
    "*&*^&%$#!@!  Where did I drop the &*^^%$#!  stitch?!  Arrrgghh!"

And yet, two days later, a sock emerges!  How can this be?  Most of the knitting was ripping out stitches, not putting them in.  I now realize that Dark Magic is involved. Each of those profane utterances is not an admission of error, but an invocation of Dark Magic that causes knitted goods to spontaneously appear.  As with all such things, there are levels to be obtained, and the more one is willing to sacrifice, the greater the Dark Rewards:

Initiate:  "&*^&%%@!  Dropped stitch!"  Invokes one sock.

Acolyte:   "$%#%&@!  I can't find where I dropped the &&%#%! stitch!"  Invokes a short scarf or wrap.

Dark Magician:  "(&*$%*@!  My gauge swatch must have been off!  I'm going to be short!"  Invokes one sock, plus the spontaenous appearance of one new skein of $40 yarn.

Elder Priest: "^*%&^%@! I can't believe I have dropped a stich, AND the &%&^%! lifeline was put in wrong!"  Invokes one full-length scarf.

High Elder Priest:  "*%^&^#!  There are so many splices in this ^&*^$%@! yarn, I'm going to *%%&@!  %&&$%^%!  the *&^%&@#@ company!"  Invokes one complete sweater, but in a different color and yarn than the one which was started.

So, if these are my last words, know that I Was Right and the hidden agents of the Knitting Illuminati have dispatched me!

Ravelympics? Me?

Bezzie’s right about the name.  It does sound like some sort of disorder you don't want to know about.  But I’m plunging in anyway.  Call me crazy, but I've signed up for the Shawl Relay, the Sock Put and the Gift Knits Pentathlon.  I figure this is as good a way as any to get some Christmas knitting done.  I know I'm going to be glued to the Olympics (the only sports thing I actually like), so why not?  Of course, it was Amy who put this idea in my head.  Loves to get me in trouble, she does.  Good friends are that way.

I’m going to work on a Forest Canopy Shawl for my mom, and a pair of pink socks for my pink-loving mother-in-law.  Watch this space -- yarn photos coming soon.

There's stilI time to sign up if you're as nutty as I am, so check out the rules right here.

Not Good

Well.  I haven’t had that happen before.

Three

Three friends for coffee.  Three Noro socks cast on.  Three little toes getting a start.  Three is good.

If You Weren’t There...

...I'm sorry that you missed it!

Amy proved once again that she not only knits and thinks, she throws the very best parties.  (I’m only such a good hostess in my dreams.) 

Yesterday's soiree was a great party, in fact, that I never did get around to taking pictures even though my camera was in my bag.  Deb did, though.  You can rely on her.  Not only is she reliable, she’s the kind of good friend who helps out by providing some of the door prizes.  Yes, there were prizes!   I won this skein, which is sooo soft.  Lovely.  Thanks, Deb!

See?  I wasn’t kidding when I said you should have been there.  There was great food (including some amazing cranberry salsa), adorable dogs, incredible knitting, very cool knitters and a bit of drama when one guest walked out with another guest’s boots.  We knew she didn’t mean to do it, but it still lent a note of sturm und drang to the afternoon.  (If you ever want to get another woman riled up, wear a pair of black boots to a party.  Then when you’re putting them on to leave, don’t pay attention to what you’re doing.  The chances of there being another pair of black boots by the door in exactly your size are greater than you think.)

I got some knitting done on my I Need More Socks sock (only made a couple of mistakes while talking) and loved being in the company of this group of women while I did it.  Um, Uber-hostess Amy?  You should have a party every week every month more than once a year.  Thank you so much!

So Close

This was as close as Amy and I got to Frida Kahlo yesterday.  Wonderful Frida sticky notes!  Deb gave us each a set of them when we met her for coffee and knitting in the morning.  We had a delightful time chatting and knitting.  Amy made good progress on the lovely Cat's Paw Shawl she’s making, Deb did the same with her amazing Flower Basket Shawl, and I knit the heel flap and started to turn the heel on my Panda Cotton sock.  (All gift or charity projects!  Aren’t we productive?)

Then Deb departed for a Very Important Appointment and Amy and I had lunch and set off for the Walker Art Center to see the exhibit.  Very excited!  Ready to see Frida!  Been waiting for Frida!

Frida was not ready for us.  Again. 

The first time, we rescheduled because Amy’s Youngest Son had strep throat.  This time?  Funeral.  Big, big funeral.  Not anybody we knew.  But someone a lot of other people knew, because all the streets and freeway exits near the Walker were blocked off.  Through a series of frantic phone calls--Where are you?  Oh, you can’t go that way.  I’ll try this.  Where are you now?--we determined that it was going to be impossible.  There was no way to actually get to the Walker.  We could see it.  We just couldn’t drive to it.

Sigh.  Frida has been rescheduled.  Again.

Thank you, Deb, for the little touch of Frida!  I may have to work some hoodoo on this painter so we can actually get to see her show, and sticky notes will come in handy...      

First Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary to me!

Whew, that year went fast.  For someone who wasn’t certain she should do this in the first place, I’ve sure been tapping on the keys a lot.  This blogging thing isn't so bad.  I’ve gained a few new friends, and found that blogging makes a nice daily writing warmup before I move on to the real work of the day.  But it’s more than that.

Del wrote recently about how blogging’s made her a better knitter.  I had to stop and think about that.  I was a knitter long before blogs existed.  Has blogging affected my knitting?

The surprising answer--surprising to me--is yes.  It has.  I didn’t expect that, but I have become a better knitter since I’ve started this blog.  There is, of course, the concern about how things look in the photographs.  If a whole bunch of people who don’t know me are going to see something I’ve made, I’d better do a good job on it.  There are also tremendous resources online, which you pay more attention to if you’re blogging and reading other people’s blogs:  hundreds of patterns, yarns that don’t appear in the LYS, video or photo tutorials which go beyond what printed instructions can offer.

But it’s more than all that, too.  Blogging has made me think more deeply about my technique.  Why do I do things the way I do them?  Is there a better way, and can I learn it?  The exchange of ideas plays a big part.  There are far more knitters with ideas than there are knitting books and magazines.  Even with a vast library, no knitter could gain as many different perspectives as there are floating around the blog world.  The monkey-see, monkey-do factor doesn’t hurt, either.  As human beings we’re all subject to it, and it’s impossible to resist trying a new technique or pattern or great idea seen on somebody else’s site. 

The more I see what other knitters are cooking up, the more I want my own knitting to become wonderful and exciting.  Writing about my knitting on an almost-daily basis has really made me pay close attention to the quality of my work.  I’m forced to think about the what, why and how of it, the story of it and why it’s important to me.  And it is important to me, to who I am as a creative person.

So, I’m working on my knitting.  Better finishing and blocking.  More attention to stitch technique, fit and design.  New skills, like dyeing.  There’s a ton of stuff to learn.

I started this blog with the idea that I could quit in a few months if it wasn’t working for me, but I think I’ll keep it going.  And in honor of my First Blogiversary and all the goodness I’ve gained from doing this, I’m giving away yarn!  (You were hoping that was coming, right?  Presumably that’s why you bothered to read this far.)

Leave me a comment on this post and let me know what blogging’s done for you (if you have a blog) or what reading blogs has done for you (if you don’t have a blog) and I’ll throw your name into the hat (probably a ceramic pot, in reality, unless I can find an interesting hat).  I’ll accept entries through Sunday, November 11th, 2007.  On Monday, I’ll draw a name and the winner will receive some yarn from my overflowing stash.  What will it be?  I don’t know!  But it will be free yarn, and that’s what counts, right?  Because we all need more yarn.  Especially if it’s free.  New readers are welcome to enter, and I do hope you’ll stop in again to see what nonsense I’ve gotten myself into here at the Mystery House, whether you win or not.   
   
         

Party Favors

I'm pleased to report that Chris is looking well and happy after her surgery.  Also happy to report that she makes a mean chocolate chip brownie.

She and Amy and I spent yesterday morning knitting and chatting, and then had lunch together.  (No pictures, none of us took any!)  I think that Chaos and Mayhem were a bit offended that so much yarn had been brought into the house that they weren’t allowed to play with, but they seemed to tolerate our intrusion anyway.

Beware, though, if you go to visit Chris.  If you think you're safe, that she gave all the party favors away to Jeanne?  Uh uh.  Neither of us escaped, um, ungifted.

A Word From the Knitting Inspector

“Nothing much to see here today, but I‘ve inspected the premises and there is knitting in progress.  Carry on.”