Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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Nosta-fail
I have a lovely nostepinne made of walnut wood that matches a beautiful handmade swift I got from my parents for my birthday last year. I love both. I love slowly hand winding a center pull ball of yarn and getting to feel the fiber as I create something to knit from. It’s a slower process than using a ball winder, and it has taken practice and reading instructions on the internet, but I now wind a lovely ball of of yarn. Specifically a ball of about worsted weight yarn of a manageable length.
I have discovered that when it comes to winding thinner weight yarn, either I need a lot more practice or I really need to use a ball winder or just make a plain old ball of yarn. This is what happened to my Malabrigo sock yarn, and it actually got worse before I have now started to rewind it.
This isn’t slippery with silk in it even, just happy soft merino wool. No knitting tonight for me, just slowly fixing the mess I created. Perhaps it is time to give in and put a ball winder on the list of knitting things I would like to have.
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Muted Garter Love
I’ve got this lovely bit of yarn on my needles… all garter stitch with tones blending and changing. The yarn is Koigu Kersti Merino Crepe (Rav. Link), which is always fantastic to work with. (Note: I have not met a Koigu yarn I did not love madly.)
I’m hoping the finished object turns out just right.
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Spit Happens
I successfully spit felted to skeins of yarn together last Sunday! The colors of the 2 skeins even matched up (which it variegated yarn is asking a bit). I unwound the ends a bit, mushed them together, used some liiquid (moisture from the outside of my cup of iced chai) and after some rubbing and twisting: voila! 1 uberlong bit of yarn with no knots!
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Hope Chest Tale
My grandmother (also a Genevieve) was married in 1939 and received a beautiful Lane cedar chest. It was always at the foot of the bed and as children we sat, stubbed our toes, and jumped off it onto the bed. When it was time to move Grandma from her own house to assisted living, some of her things were moved to other family members’ houses and much of it was tossed.
For years I forgot about the cedar chest, untill during a visit to my aunt’s house there was a great moth fiasco that involved much moving of furniture and the throwing away of a large Persian rug. We had to move the cedar chest, which upon seeing again I immediately loved, and discovered my uncle liked to store his old paperwork in it.
For probably a year I thought about that chest. Wishing it was with me and full of my lovely yarn, protecting it from any possible mothy infestations. When I eventually mentioned this to my Mom she commented that I should probably just ask my aunt (my mother is full of sound and reasonable advice!) because if my uncle has it filled with papers then probably they won’t miss it much if I wanted it.
So I emailed and asked. I waited with bated breath… well as much as one does when they email someone. My aunt said she would be thrilled if I would take it, Grandma would want me to have it, and it clears up some space in the basement. Hooray! So, on my last visit to see my family, we cleaned it up and loaded it into her station wagon and drove from L.I. to Cambridge with Grandma’s cedar chest in the back.
Now I have a cedar chest in my living room full of yarn and Jason’s sweaters (mostly yarn). The hinge creaks just a bit as I open it and am accosted by a myriad of colors and textures. I even recieved a swift and nostepinne for my birthday from my Mom in a walnut wood that matched the center panel of the simple deco design. There are so many reasons I am so happy about having Grandma’s hope chest… not the least of which is that she is the one who first taught me to knit, which I will never forget.
