Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Yarnarian Chats.



We're having a hodgepodge page today.

Tea: You all know that I'm a big time tea drinker. I love it. If I could live on tea and toast (from homemade bread, of course), I would. My sister just introduced me to http://www.steepster.com/dashboard This is so cool. You make comments about the teas you love, and you get to see other people's comments. And, the really fun thing is that you find new teas and new tea companies. I'm "yarnarian" there. Surprise! This morning I'm drinking New Vithanakande tea from Harney's. I prefer this for the afternoon, but there it was, and I was in the mood for it. Mighty good tea.

My sister: The best sister in the world! She recently spent a few days visiting me and we had such a good time together. I feel as if we're back in our childhood and chatting nonstop. She's an amazing crocheter, and is the person responsible for my latest foray into that activity. I wish we lived near each other. It's a good thing for my marriage that we don't. We'd be in each other's houses nonstop, and the poor Hubbo would be quite neglected.

Crochet: Speaking of crochet, why is it that my arm hurts a lot when I crochet? I think I use many more large muscle movements with the hook than with knitting needles. Piffle upon it. I will have to do this in short spurts or I'll mess up my right arm. Piffle yet again!

Piffle: Think of this as a substitute for a really really good swear word, any swear word that you like. I love to swear, but save it for important occasions. but "piffle"! Ah, I can write it and still maintain my ladylike composure. Sounds good anyhow.

Projects: I finished yet another little scarf the other day. I started this thing way back in July and it kept being put on the back burner. I finally got the mojo back to finish it and here it is. The yarn is a self-striping one I dyed, and you can see how well it works here. Plus, quite unexpected for me, is that it is easily as nice on the wrong side as on the right side.




Sad activity: I went to the hairdresser all set to be beautified. Um, my appointment is tomorrow.
Good activity: I popped into the Stitching Bee, which is right around the corner from the hair salon, and treated myself to some Noro Silk Garden for the 10 Stitch Blanket.

Here are some of the skeins. I bought a bunch, and if I run out, I'll get more. The dye lot doesn't matter at all.



AlisonH - I've been drooling over it for some time now. I do have the cute crochet on in process, but crochet is hurting me at the moment, so I need to take some time off from it. Hence, the 10 stitch blankie. (I love the word "hence")

DJNL - Isn't it neat? I like the fact that I can find all sorts of teas from companies I've never heard of. I added you too. Now to figure out how to add other people. sigh.

CathyR - So far I've frogged the 10 stitch blankie 5 times. I like how it looks much better on the "wrong" side than the side we work on. Are you having the same experience? It's addictive, I think.

skepweaver - Yep, I've used it in a scarf and liked it. I think my major issue is the size of the yarn. Worsted is just plain hard on my hands. If I look at my sweaters, some of which go back 20 years, only 2 are knitted in a worsted heft. Everybody else is much finer. It could be because I have small hands; I've not liked knitting with it long before the wrist problems started. What can I tell you, I'm a skinny yarn knitter.

4 comments:

AlisonH said...

I had not seen that pattern before--that is COOL. Enjoy knitting it, and wow do I ever want to make one now!

DJNL said...

Thank you for directing me to Steepster! I love the site and added you as a friend. I am Tea-and-Roses on Steepster.

CathyR said...

I like the new scarf. The self striping yarn looks great.

The Noro will make a great 10 Stitch blanket. I'm making one with my leftover bits of sock yarn.

Anonymous said...

Ruth -- Unless you are truly purist in practice, take a look at Plymouth Boku. At $6 a ball, it looks and feels so much like Noro. Same process of spinning from the dyed wool, so you get the gradual transitions, same palette. Some tiny silk bits here and there. I'm weaving a piece with it right now, and it's lovely.

S.

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