So I am a yarn snob...

I here by admit that I have a favouritism for natural yarns and in particular wool. Mohair I like to look at it but it has a problem with me it makes me sneeze and wheeze.

My snobbish in relation to natural fibres has increased with my collection of spinning wheels. It just makes sense to spin and therefore use a natural product. I also find spinning to be a very very relaxing activity and it can help bring me down from an almost full blown panic attack meltdown. Wool has some exceptional properties and there are hundreds of varieties. Add to that in addition we also have silk, quivit, alpaca, chasmere angora, yak, hemp, flax, banana and cotton to play with among others.  Then add to the various mixes and we can then talk about the properties that they give to possible projects such as stretch or fall of the finished garment or item.  There are other man made fibres which are based on plant sources but it is necessary to consider the processing it takes to get it and the benefits the final product yarn gives to the knitter or crocheter.

I do like some non natural products but the acrylic content has to be low. Yes I suffered through having to use poor quaility 100% acrylics in the 1970s and 1980s which were incredibly hash on your hands while leaving you with a garment that was uncomfortable to wear. It makes sense to have some nylon in sock wool especially when you are actually knitting socks.

Sock wise I have to start pair number 2 out of 26 for 2011 as it is now the second half of the month. I was going to knit a pair of Bee socks for Ry but she was a super stroppy teenager in the middle of the week and I decided I was going to be a selfish knitter for the next pair of socks.  I have finished the stump sock but we have had a very overcast and dark day and therefore no photos. I got up late at 10am cause it was that dark I still did not feel like the sun was up. I  have my new pattern for me as supposed to cast on a new pair being the 15th but I can not find the yarn I want to knit it in. Must do some stash diving.

A Cat observing the Zauberball in 2010.

Currently I am working on a shawl called the Garden of Alla Shawl by Suzy Crancer, my version of this pattern I am calling Masha'allah. I am using Zauberball Starke 6 that I got last year.  I had been saving it for another shawl project but I am also  a member the Village of the hopeless over committed group on Ravelry. The January event for the group is to do the long colour repeat project or using handspun. Well I have already used some handspun in my first shawl for 2011 and now I just wanted to use some of the Zauberball and this pattern looks good in a long colour repeat. Hopefully we will get some sunlight soon as I want to get a stack of photos done.

Spinning my little heart out

I have been spinning my little heart out over the weekend between working on the stump sock for the hubby.  So far I have spun 300gms of Blue Faced Leicestershire [BFL] and I have another 200gms to go in this lovely mocha colour. I then have to workout how I am going to work out the meterage since my scales have decided to go kaput. Working out what I can knit with this handspun has been interesting contemplation while I have been treadling away.

Example of Broomstick Lace from Romansock 2007

When I dropped daughter off at the train station this morning I noticed that mags in the news stand had a lot of broomstick lace in their pictures along with a higher ratio of crochet to knitting. It was cold in the car park and I was in the  station waiting with her and picking up the Metro paper for her Dad. Could crochet be the new knitted item for 2011? Then getting home in the ads between the news bulletins the there were more items with broomstick lace.  I have a feeling that this Spring we will be seeing a lot of broomstick lace in the shops.

An evil sock thought

I have in the past made stump socks for my husband and I have even darned them for him - ah the price of love. These socks have been natural and neutral colours like light brown, beige, cream and white. I have even knitted and handled wool during the tropical moonsoon season for him. Just thinking about it almost makes me break out with prickly heat. I have even managed to get suitable materials in the middle of the Never Never before the start up of the internet shopping for his sodding stump socks. I must love the bugger cause I have even driven excessive amounts of miles.

The Todd River in Alice Springs

I am reminded of one ocassion where I did a road trip of over a 2000 miles (3000kms) under a tight time frame to visit the prosthetic clinic to collect his socks for him. He had ripped his silicone stump sock and I drove from Alice Springs to Darwin to collect a new one from the Royal Darwin Hospital Prosthetic clinic, organised an express international parcel delivery to Malaysia where he was doing a short visit to another university and then drove the return journey back to work and the kids in Alice Springs in less than 36 hours. While I visited the clinic I also picked up another 10 pairs of various types of knitted stump socks for him which I dropped off at our home in Darwin on my way past. He was on a jolly to KL and I had to do a short work trip to Alice at the same time.  I had taken the kids down to visiting the extended family while I worked or else we would have been cooked. I was wise enough to leave them with the Greats (several of my aunts, uncles and of course my gran) in Alice rather than do the road trip with me as they were only very young. I think Ry was three-ish and Rh was only about one.

Last pair of boyish sock that I knitted for Rh.

But his recent ribbing about my handknitted socks being stolen by my 14 year old boy, Rh, has made me think of a slightly evil thought.  I wonder if I could make him a stump sock out of some of the feminine coloured left over sock yarn that I have hanging about. Previously I have used these tail ends for little projects such as easter eggs, Amigurumi projects and minor timmings when required. We have an anniversary coming up next week as it will be 20 years since we got engaged on the 12th of January. I just wonder if I have enough left of my Yarn Yard Cairn skein in Lavender to make him a matching stump sock to my new pair of artichoke socks.  I could then give to him as an anniversary gift...  He would have to wear it then....  hee hee an evil witch like cackle that goes on and on...