Yarn snobbery and ugly ducklings

100% polyester novelty eyelash yarn. Is there anything more offensive to human sensibilities? 

When I saw that the prompt for this week's Playful Day Love Your Blog challenge was 'ugly', this remarkably foul yarn was the first thing that sprung to mind. It's certainly true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though. I for one am a huge fan of lots of yucky, kitschy things that could be considered ugly - Christmas jumpers, pugs, plastic flamingos, ridiculous socks, flying ducks, Hawaiian shirts, onesies and slankets, the list goes on (although I do draw the line at Crocs). But I couldn't tell you exactly why it is I like these things. Are they guilty pleasures? Are they so bad they're good, or are they just awful and I have terrible taste? Either way, one thing I was pretty certain of was that I found brown eyelash yarn absolutely abhorrent. Squeaky, unyielding, unnatural fibre, horrid plastic sheen and unbearable fluff. I could not see the appeal. 

That is until I discovered the perfect use for it. This is Mr Owl (below). I knitted him as a birthday gift for a dear friend (see this post, he's a great stashbuster, BTW) and it dawned on me that eyelash yarn was precisely what this project needed. And all was forgiven. 

Now, I'm by no means admitting that me and eyelash yarn became the best of pals and rode off into the sunset together, oh no. I still maintain that the yarn is hideous. But used in the right way, it can be pretty awesome. That yarn above, it could make a really adorable bear or a cute fur collar (seriously considering that one). I guess what I'm saying is, all yarn has its place. The more you work with and learn about beautiful fibres, the easier it is to fall prey to yarn snobbery. But there's more to beauty than mere aesthetics, isn't there? Function, meaning, memory and experience all have their parts to play. And don't we all, at the very bottom of our stashes, have a ball or two of squeaky acrylic or novelty yarn that was given to us in our earliest crafting days, or that we were chuffed with buying as it was SUCH a bargain? 

one yarny weekend

Not last weekend but the one one before, I packed my little red backpack and headed off to London. Who else went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia? I helped out with some yarny workshops again, but did manage a quick dash round as well. Here's what I spied. 

What were your highlights? Did you pick up any treats? More importantly, did you see those felted mermaid merkins? (PLEASE tell me I did not imagine those). If I hadn't been working, I think I would have hung out in the Wilderness area with the magical spinning rainbow yarn wheel and the yarn bombed chairs.

My real weekend treat was that I got to spend the rest of the weekend with my gorgeous sis who lives in London. We spent a gloriously sunny Sunday popping to church and eating Lebanese food. Awesome.  Plus, she had a big ol' bag of yummy yarn for me. We went halvsies on it - I nabbed some sunset-coloured sock yarn and pretty pinks for the blanket, and she picked her favourites. I've promised to teach her to knit next time we're together.

Most exciting news - I've finally finished the back of the orange jumper! Hope you've been having splendidly sunny and yarny weekends.

kool enough

A couple of weeks ago Lizzie at work was moving desks and unearthed a Kool-Aid kit. We found some undyed skeins.  The upshot of it was that we dyed the yarn in the bathroom with the rather out of date and 'fragrant' Kool-Aid. Seriously, if it does this yarn, what does it do to your insides?  

And you know what? I kind of love the insane day-glo colours! Sweet, hyper-saturated bubblegum brights. The dyeing was actually super-quick and easy to do. No boiling and bubbling was required, although we did zap the yarn in the microwave to help set the colour. I found a fab tutorial for Kool-Aid dyeing here on Knitty.  Although Kool-Aid isn't really available here in the UK, you can totally get it online. Hooray!

Now the question is, what to make? The yarn seems to be some kind of silk blend, around about a 4ply weight. Maybe a pair of loud and extremely decadent socks? I've never made socks before, but I have just conquered knitting in the round (watch this space for more knit updates) so this could be the perfect opportunity. Any ideas?

I'm hooked

ce n'est pas une tricoteuse

I've just entered the third week of my new job.  Hurrah!  I'm thoroughly enjoying the new creative challenges, and spend most of my time surrounded by considerably more yarny goodies than you could shake a very long stick at.  As a result of this full time role, however, I find myself actually doing very little knitting.  The Chap's Totoro Hat remains on hiatus, and my other needles sit together in their jar, forlornly bare and bereft of yarn.  

But wait!  All craft is not lost, I have started learning to crochet!     

My latest foray into crochet

That's right, folks.  Though I've heard that yarn crafters seem to favour one or the other, it is possible to be both a knitter and a crocheter!  I love how immediate the results are - you can see your crochet growing so quickly.  It's also great to have less stitches to deal with at any one time, no more worries about dropping stitches and whole projects unravelling in bags.  In short, I'm hooked.

Do any seasoned crocheters out there have some hints for a beginner?

Just one more thing to share.  In my internet based crochet rambles I've come across something excellent.  Namely, my newest blog crush - One Sheepish Girl!  Seriously, were it possible I would pack up my hook and needles and teabags, crawl slowly through the screen and take up residence in this blog.  Yarn lover Meredith blogs all things knit, crochet and craft.  With beautiful photographs, quirky projects and honest writing, if this doesn't make you seize the nearest ball of yarn, I don't know what will.  

Wool Week 2012

It's Wool Week from the 15th - 21st October!  

Whether you get your needles out, rock some knitwear, hide under a blanket or befriend a sheep, celebrate Wool Week! 

Wool Week's a great excuse to get your knits out if it's been a while. The Knitter blog has a great bunch of charity knit patterns if you're stuck for ideas.  My Ravelry queue is getting longer and longer so I will be taking my knitting to work again.   

You can find out more about the Campaign for Wool here.   

procrastiknitting

 I have loads of work to do at the moment, so naturally I've been ignoring it and knitting instead.  Therefore, plenty of knit news to impart. 

1. My first ever knit tutorial for Eden is up.  Check it out here.

2.  I've posted about my Christmas knitting progress over at Crafty Christmas Club.  Found loads of brillant patterns on there too.

3.  Including this one - a fab chunky headband.

4.  Are you on Ravelry?  Let's connect! I joined a while back but haven't really used it.  Recently discovered that it's actually quite brilliant.  Leave me your Ravelry name and I'll find you.  I could do with some pointers really, I'm such a newbie!  Can't wait to see what everyone's knitting. 

Right, now to do some work.

Wool Week - it can make one weak!

Selvedge (oh, if only subscription was free for students!) helpfully informed me that this is wool week. Hooray. There are competitions all week, so check out their blog here.

See http://www.campaignforwool.org/ to find out more!

All work and free yarn . . .

makes one happy becca!

There is much knit news to report. Most excitingly of all, some of the free yarn samples I requested for my summer project arrived this morning. I was expecting meagre offcuts and a shade card. What I actually recieved was a package containing seventeen balls of beautiful designer yarns! :) Oh yes, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding and Noro. Bring on second year textiles I say.

I've been working hard in the shop, becoming more familiar than I would care to be with the steamer. In between I've been attempting this pattern using the mohair disaster remnants. I'm about halfway through now, but it's coming up a little small. With any luck the long long train journey to Fron's will be the perfect knitting opportunity.

• Knitting in/at/on: The humble 2a bus. Had a nice knitting chat with a jolly purple shod lady. She told me about how her Nan had tried to teach her, and the year everyone got crocheted blankets for Christmas.
  
• Spotted: A Mother-of-the-bride knitting adorable rainbow socks with four tiny wooden needles.
  
• Listening to: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - HOME

Let me look and let me try, to find a poem in the sky. I will dream up something new and weave words from it's boundless blue

Not strictly knitting, but once again I took my tapestry weaving out onto the mean streets. This was a couple of weeks ago.

Having utterly failed to complete my weaving in the last session before uni, and with a dozen and a half things to do, I set out to the bus stop. While waiting, had a good natter with a nice old lady about my woollen creation. Nothing like public transport and yarn to bring people together. I visited my weaving teacher to finish off, then had to grab another bus to the art shop to obtain some overpriced sketchbooks.

Cutting the weaving loose from the frame, I experienced a fear much akin to making the first solid brushstrokes on a blank canvas - this could all go horribly wrong! However, no misfortunes, it stayed intact. Amber had taught me how to wrap the ends of the warp to make tassels. I still have yet to bead, trim and stitch along the top edge.

Anyhow, cutting it loose meant I was obliged to hook a big empty frame over my shoulder and attempt to appear normal. Excellent. On the bus I tied up most of the remaining ends. That day's reaction to weaving was decidedly reserved and British. In a weird way, I'd become accustomed to foreign men in vests yelling "chao!" or "Is that yours?" whenever I took the weaving out. I suppose a sizeable wooden frame trailing multicoloured yarns and buttons is quite conspicuous.

Weaving: 6%
Stares/Amused glances: 0
Comments: 1, the chat with the lady at the bus stop, which began with "What's that?" and much pointing.