Too Much Wool

the rules of the game: blues

Rule 1: This is my game, therefore I get to make the rules (or change them at any time).

Rule 2: When I said "lots of fabric" I meant both quantity and also that these would be in groups. You can't say "I just want that one" - you get the whole pile.

Rule 3: Amuse me! Tell me why you want it, what you'd do with it, why you need it. Make up a poem, tell me a sad story. Rule #3 is that there is no rule, but a teeny bit of effort in any direction would count.

Rule 4: I'm going to do each group of fabrics (no books yet, they're in a different room) as a separate post. ONLY comment on the post/lot that you're interested in, ok?

Rule 5: I may keep these posts open for comment for up to a week, depending on response. When I've chosen a "lucky winner", I'll close comments for the post. That's how you'll know that it's too late.

Rule 6: I should repeat, if you're outside the US, shipping is going to be too expensive. (Hell, shipping in the US is probably going to make me rethink this whole idea pretty quickly.) So I'm going to have to limit this to people in the United States.

Rule 7: There are no strings attached. I don't want anything from you.

For now, I'm going by color. It makes the most sense to me, as that's how my stash is organized.

(Click for bigger.)

Blues - as anyone who has spent any time here knows, I'm not overly fond of blue. Yet, somehow, it's the largest color group of fabrics I own. For years I had an idea I'd make a blue and white quilt. I've made a couple, actually, but scrap quilts just aren't my thing anymore and so ... here are some blues.

There are some fat quarters, probably a lot of 1/2 yard pieces, maybe a yard here and there, and the piece on the bottom is a full two yards. Enough for the back of a baby quilt, and then some. None of these are true scraps (little bits of cut-off leftovers, in my book). I don't even save those anymore. There might be a square cut out of one of the larger pieces, though - I'm not opening them all up to find out.

(Another shot)

You may ask why I'm doing this. The answer is, because I have so much ... stuff. Things that aren't giving me pleasure and don't excite my creativity anymore. I'd love it if it sparked something creative for someone else. I'd also love to have a bit more room on my shelves, in my sewing room, and in my life.

 

One more thing: I realize my timing on this is a bit off. I barely post anymore and so I'm not even sure who's still coming around and reading this blog. Help me out with this - get more people involved. Tell your friends, tweet it, put it on Facebook, Tumblr, wherever. This isn't a ploy to get traffic, I'd just like more than a couple of people to have a chance to get something they might enjoy or need.

 

And........... go!

 

 

Friends,

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your replies to my enquiry about weaving workshops. They are very much appreciated and all of them have/will be passed along.

Moving on ... Most of the years I've had this blog, I've promoted myself as a knitter/spinner (hence the name, 'Too Much Wool'). In real life, though, I've spent the better part of nearly the last 20 years being a professional quilting teacher. Lately, with the healing of my thumb-crisis over and done with, I've been quilting a lot again. And looking at my quilting stash and realizing that it's overwhelming me, and I need to do something about it.

Having spent 19 years getting discounts at great NYC fabric stores, combined with my over-eager aggregation of materials I've taken a good, long step back. And I've decided that it's time to send some of this bounty out into the universe.

This is going to be un-scientific, and it's going to be biased. (You have been forewarned.)

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to start going through my stash, and posting lots of fabric (and probably books too) to be given away to .... the person whose comment touches, amuses, or piques my interest the most.

Due to crazy international shipping rates, I will probably have to limit this to people in the United States (unless you're willing to pay the postage to somewhere outside the US.

My camera is charged and ready. Stay tuned.

help, please

Dear Friends,

I know I haven't posted in quite a while. But I'm writing now to ask for your help.

I have a student who is very interested in doing an intensive weaving course over the summer. It doesn't need to be here in the Northeast - anywhere in the US would be great. I'd love to have some tips and suggestons for schools and programs that I can recommend to her.

Suffice it to say, I wouldn't be asking for help with this if I didn't feel that it was important and if I didn't need your imput. She's interested in making blankets, so we're talking about big looms.

I appreciate all of your help (in advance).

I've been really busy lately, but I promise to be posting more, soon.

C.

my brain moves a lot faster than my hands

Thumb update: It still feels funny but after being "good" by avoiding knitting (aka bored out of my mind and a little bit twitchy, in spite of all the reading) for over a week, I am happy to announce that knitting doesn't hurt. I'll take it slow, I promise.

Now, some thoughts on Ravelry. Anyone who reads this blog and doesn't even occasionally ponder the wonder that is Ravelry, and it's impact on our world, and the (hard to imagine) concept of what we all did before Ravelry ... well, I can't relate.

I've been part of Ravelry since very early on. I've (so far) managed to ignore the possibility of "cataloguing" my stash. While it would occasionally be cool to link a future/queued project with a stash picture/link, I can't go there. A. it would mean ripping my house to shreds to find everything and photograph it and B. I really do know (more or less) what's here. If and when I allow myself to think about it. Which I rarely do.

However, I do regularly go and look at what my friends are making/queuing/favoriting and browse. I'm a few days into month #2 of not buying yarn right now. [See paragraph above.] Honestly, this has been relatively painless, in spite of working at a fabulous yarn store several days a week. One becomes blind to yarn seen on a regular basis [again, see paragraph above]  - I'm only really in trouble when I do something dangerous, like going to Rhinebeck.

What I love about browsing patterns on Ravelry, most often courtesy of my friends - and their excellent taste in ... everything - is when I find a pattern for a yarn that I already own. Even better? When the yarn that I already own is owned in enough quantity to make the pattern that I'm suddenly so excited about.

The latest? Thea Colman's Irish Coffee. I've got enough Berocco Blackstone Tweed (a birthday gift from my sister, via a gift certificate) to make it. I love the design, I love the style, I love that it's top-down. And having the yarn in the house to make it (go see the Ravelry projects - two are done in Blackstone Tweed) makes me want to cast on immediately.

But I'm going to be "good" (which honestly is getting tiresome and annoying) and wait until I've finished at least one other sweater before I even. buy. the. pattern. The upside is that having a new project singing it's sweet siren song is making me knit again.

Gotta go - sweaters to finish...

ouch

I'll put this simply:

my right thumb hurts. A lot.

I don't know if it's been too much knitting, knitting the wrong yarn, or perhaps the weather. I'm quite willing to blame damp/cold weather for this kind of thing - I'm old enough that I can get away with it, perhaps even without sounding like my grandmother.

I haven't had this kind of joint/muscle pain for years, so this took me by surprise. I'm more than willing to blame chunky yarn and fat needles, but I fear that's not the whole story.

In the meantime, while it ... gets better, I'll probably be reading a lot. I finished a book today that I started yesterday. I also knit a lot, but that didn't feel very good so I kept putting down the knitting to read instead.

I wish my fingers were as satisfied with turning pages as they are with twisting wool.

chunky and not

There were two sweaters - Chunky and Not.

Chunky had always tried to be easy going. She was simple, pure Scottish wool, and didn't ask much in the way of attention.

However, she kept getting put in "time out" (a concept she totally didn't understand), had her hem and sleeve knit and then violently ripped out and reknit. Never taken anywhere - Chunky was "too big" - she started to feel a bit neglected until a cold snap gave her some renewed attention.

Not, however, got taken everywhere. Subway rides, book signings, restaurants and bars. Even the Hilton hotel in Manhattan.

Not really enjoyed all of the attention. She didn't think of herself as complicated, rather Not was also quite simple, but had a shiny merino quality that always stood out at events. Not even got to hang out with her big sister sometimes, although she always felt a little undone when they were together.

Chunky and Not don't quite feel like they're in competition - but their relationship is a difficult one.

Most relationships are, really.

not socks, and other changes

This weekend is the big Vogue Knitting Live event in NYC. An event that was totally off my radar until I found out that a whole bunch of friends were coming to my city for it. I had dinner with a few of those friends last night and it was ... well, fabulous. Being sort of out of the blogging habit these days, I didn't take any pictures (I keep saying that, don't I?). And being at this kind of convergeance of internet friends and regular life again made me realize how things have changed.

Several years ago, when all we had were blogs (I started blogging six years ago in October), these meet-ups were everything. Fiber festival trips, big get togethers. Really, I met most of my good friends this way, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

However, the world itself has changed. Or the internet has changed, really. Because now we all have Facebook and Twitter and communicate in other, less public ways a lot of the time. The blog world has also gotten bigger, which has changed things as well.

But onto more knitterly topics - I realized last night, when I was knitting on a sweater in public ... that I wasn't knitting on a sock. That other than finishing the last socks on a couple of pairs that were in progress, I have no interest in socks these days.

I'm sort of chalking it up to the holiday knitting. I set a goal of gifting four pairs of handknit socks and managed to deliver three of them - the fourth pair is finished and waiting to be gifted. But somewhere around mid-December I developed a serious aversion to dpns and socks. Yes, of course I can knit socks on circular needles, but it was more than that, really. I have a drawer full of socks, and even some that haven't been worn yet. All of a sudden, something about going around and around in a small circumference has lost its appeal.

I have two sweaters in progress - the Chunky cardigan, which is NOT portable. At all. But nearly done except for the sleeves. And the second Koigu sweater, which is eminently portable and was what I was knitting on last night (until I finished the ball of yarn and had to stop).

I did finish a hat recently, which got delivered yesterday (I haven't talked to my dad yet, but I heard he loved it).

The pattern is the Facets Hat by Rose Beck. This one is in Manos' wool/silk blend, and I lengthened it to have a turned up brim. This is the second time I've knit this pattern - the first was in 100% cashmere and was given as a holiday gift. I had to tweak the pattern a bit for the cashmere, but it was well worth the trouble. I pretty much know the pattern by heart at this point, and will probably knit another one.

All of which is to say, I feel like things have changed a lot. I don't feel like much of a sock knitter these days (although I have enough sock yarn to knit them for years), and sock knitting used to be my default. I didn't used to knit garments very often, and now its all that I'm interested in. And I used to pull out my camera and blog everything - that's something I might have to work on again.

picturish

Anyone who's been reading this blog for any length of time knows that I have little in the way of project monogamy. I've never really seen the point, to be honest. Sometimes one needs a mindless knit that's small and portable. Sometimes you're cold and want a chunky sweater.

This is Chunky Current. (Hmm... currant?) Its been in time-out for a few days, since I finished the bind off. This morning I put it on (it's rather vest-like right now) and wore it around the house for an hour or so. Really, it's suprisingly lightweight considering the heft of the yarn. But I came to the sad conclusion that I need to rip out the last few rows (garter stitch) and add a bit of length to it. It kept riding up on my back. I suppose that's a really good thing to find out now, before I sit down and start picking up stitches for the collar, after which there will be no (easy) going back.

I was fresh out of portable knitting over the weekend - Chunky Currant is not portable at all - and so I started .... another sweater. Socks always used to be my failsafe subway knitting, but I haven't been in the mood for socks since Christmas.

I started another Folded. Not only have I knit this before, but I knit it recently. The sleeves are perfect travel knitting, and I have one of them finished already. I cast on for the body this morning. The color is deceptive. Its an overdyed shade of Koigu that reads either green or gold, depending on the light. I couldn't get the camera to capture the green shade, but trust me, its nearly magical the way the color morphs from one to the other.

Interestingly, I found the receipt for this yarn (Koigu KPM) in the bag. I bought it back in December 2004, which was a bit of a shock. I think its about time it got knit, and considering how much I love my first Folded, I know this is a good choice for the yarn.

Back to the Chunk situation - my daughter wore her Ancient Chunky sweater the day after I finished it. I didn't get a picture, but did finally get a chance to wash it. I think/hope that it grew a bit in length in the wash, and will try to get some photos when she gets back from her weekend trip.

Chunky Currant/Current is a bit problematic right now. I'm still dreading picking up the stitches for the collar, especially now that I've realized I need to lengthen it (more stitches to pick up, ugh). This is precisely the kind of dread that will allow me to put something away for way too long. Irrational, yes, but true. On the upside, the knitting on it goes quickly. On the downside, it does hurt my hands a bit - however, I'm willing to take it slowly in order to use this yarn and have a finished sweater. Casting on for another fingering-weight sweater probably wasn't the best tactical move here. It will be quite a distraction.

And now, a question: is a 32" circular needle going to be long enough to pick up all of those chunky collar stitches? I'm doubting it, but I don't have anything longer in the house.

maze

 

They that mistake life's accessories for life itself are like them that go too fast in a maze: their very haste confuses them.

Seneca

abruptly

I'm breaking radio silence for 2011 here, abruptly it may seem. I know its been a while since I've written. I've got handknits to photograph (some that are yet to be gifted) and other things to say as well. All of a sudden, I have a lot of things to say, but much of it will have to wait for another time.

I finished a sweater tonight. It was an odd thing, really. I've been working on a new sweater since Monday. Elizabeth wrote recently about knitting from stash this year, and I've been thinking about it, a lot. When I started this blog over six years ago, I called it "Too Much Wool". In some ways that's been a self-fulfilling prophecy, but in other ways it was already true when the naming happened. In large part thanks to Ravelry, I can now look at my stash and then find patterns to knit, with the yarns I have. By gauge, by style - top down, bottom up, seamed, lace, etc.

So I decided to pick a yarn - I somehow fixated upon the Rowan "Harris" chunky that I had in stash. This yarn has been re-named, discontinued, and it was gifted to me. In a color I probably wouldn't have ever chosen, but it was a lot of really expensive yarn and I figured it was a good place to start. I started a sweater with it on Monday (you really have to be patient, no pictures have been taken yet). We'll call this Chunky Current.

Truthfully, I dislike chunky yarns. I always have. But this one ... well, it was free. And really quite nice. So I found a pattern (from Knitty, via Ravelry) and started. It seemed odd to me that I couldn't find the 8mm needle tips from my metal Knitpicks set, so I started it on the wooden tips. Finished the main part of the body of it tonight, actually. And was faced with the (alarming) prospect of picking up a ton of stitches for a collar and getting on with the process.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to have those 8mm needles, somewhere. And after finishing up a nice chunk (300g worth) of knitting, I was finally inspired to find the errant needles.

It took about a minute, once I'd thought about it. At which point I pulled out a very old UFO sweater and found both the dpns and metal circulars I'd been looking for. And then my daughter walked into the room, saw the old UFO sweater and looking at me with accusation. Because, of course, that sweater had been for her and I hadn't finished it. She tried it on (it still fit), the sleeves were unfinished. I thought it was ugly, but she pointed out that it was ALMOST a sweater. And so I did it. I spent an hour knitting (8mm needles, remember) and got it done. We'll call this one Ancient Chunky.

But this next bit is the important part. I couldn't remember when I had started it/Ancient Chunky. This was pre-Ravelry, so I figured the blog would have a record or a picture or a mention somewhere. I started looking in 2005 (because I met the friend who gave me the yarn in 2005) and scrolled through a year and a half of blog posts without finding any clues.

Where is this leading, you may ask? Two chunky sweaters, one finished and one just started? Yarn diets (I'm sure everyone has heard enough about those 2 weeks into the new year)? Missing needles? Ancient stash and UFOs?

What really happened tonight was looking through my old blog posts. When I blogged about anything and everything. Back to '05 when I met some of the people whom I'm now honored to call my best friends. What the hell happened to my blogging? There's plenty of fodder there for another (or many) post(s), but looking through my early blogging has made me realize that I've really lost a sense of spontaneity about all of this. I've never been a particularly linear thinker or writer (this post proves that point quite well) but I used to at least ... write. 

I still knit. I really do. I've finished socks, hats, and a sweater. Started another sweater, cursed chunky yarn to the point of threatening to burn it, and then dreamed about knitting fingering weight. I've spun hundreds of yards of singles since the last time I wrote here too. I need to get reaquainted with my camera, and with sitting here and writing my thoughts on all of these things. I've thought a lot over the past few years about how blogging has moved on, and how I haven't. But maybe going back to the beginning, to where I started - random, non-linear, spontaneous - is really the best place to start. Or re-start.