An Experiment in Sock Yarn

While organizing my craft room, I discovered some roving I purchased at Retreat two years ago that was supposed to be spun up into self-striping sock yarn! It was rainbow dyed romney that I painstakingly separated by color and carded on the guild drum carder. So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened the tote and found it glaring up at me in all it's splendid glory.

Okay, so much for organizing the craft room. I took the tote straight to my wheel for spinning. Wait! Now I needed to decide in what order I wanted to spin the colors. Did I want a hodgepodge yarn... Just pick any old color and let the colors fall where they may? Yeah, sure! If you know anything about me, you know my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) would never, ever, let THAT happen. So, take the tote over to the couch and sort through the colors and put them in the right order. (Of course there's a right order, what's wrong with you normal folks?)

So, without further adieu, here's the result of my experiment in self-striping sock yarn.

I have not knitted up a sample yet, but I believe the length of color may be a little long for socks. Once I knit it up, I'll learn whether the experiment was a success or not. I did spin up only half of the roving so I have enough for another skein. If the colorway is too long for the effect I'm striving for, I may end up spinning the other skein in the reverse color order so I can knit a few rows with skein 1 and a few rows with skein 2.

Oh my! This may end up being a very looooong experiment ~ u

Weaving (An Extension of Yarn)

I attended my first tapestry group meeting Saturday. The invitation came from a friend that knows I cannot say no to the urges of my "fiber gene." (Shame on you Sharon!) I decided to attend as a spectator. Just wanted to see what it was all about. YEAH, SURE!

Before it was over, I was weaving my own little tapestry. No clue of what I was doing....I just went for it. As I scanned the table covered with the various colors of yarn, my eye fell upon the bag with blue yarns. Of course, the design that emerged would have to include water. It came out more like a rocky shoreline rather than the tranquil beach scene I had anticipated. But all in all, it came out well enough to hang on the wall in my craft room. I'll think I'll hang it next to the my rigid heddle weaving sample.

Now, back to knitting. Gotta finish up some socks!

Students Give "Teacher" a Lesson

When I learned to knit 24 years ago, I never dreamed that one day I would be teaching this ancient craft to inquiring minds. My journey as a teacher has helped me to understand the craft in ways that I otherwise may never have fully appreciated.

• Realizing that a stitch has somehow become twisted on your needles and knowing how to set that stitch straight....
• Picking up a drop stitch and knowing the difference between how to seat the knit versus the purl......
• Joining a newly joined skein or color and knowing how to weave in the ends so that it doesn't show or unravel ......
• Adding a thin "fuzzy" yarn to give your garment a completely different look and feel.....

These are just a few of the things I now realize I have taken for granted over the years. Teaching has made me much more aware of individual techniques that, once learned, apparently become burned into the brain and get jumbled up with other non-assuming tasks.

It pains me to see a knitter struggling, strangling the yarn in total frustration because they cannot grasp the concept of a new technique. Knitting is supposed to be relaxing! "Okay, let's stop for a minute and re-evaluate exactly what is happening" has become my most often used sentence lately. The most difficult thing to accept is that some people just aren't cut out to be knitters. Not in this lifetime, or any lifetime to come...... Sad, but true. And as the teacher, how do you tell them their efforts are futile? Well, I now know that the sign of a good teacher is "you don't!" You simply encourage them as much as you can and let them decide whether or not to continue the pursuit of becoming a knitter.

After all is said and done, the ultimate awareness that knitting has inconspicuously become an extension of my life has been the most gratifying part of this journey.

Thank you my students, for giving the teacher a lesson!

Reposted from MSN Spaces - January 03

You can teach An Old Dog New Tricks!

When I realized yesterday that I have 4 pairs of socks on the needles, it hit me that sock knitting has become my newest obsession.

• Pair #1 are the Lorna's Laces Black Pearl socks...my dearest friend Amanda gifted me with this magnificent yarn just because I had never tried LL's. (I told you she was my dearest friend!)
• Pair #2 are the latest from Six Sox KAL....I just HAD to try this new illusion knitting thing.
• Pair #3 are socks that I'm test knitting for a designer....sorry, my lips are sealed on this one!
• Pair #4 are my latest adventure in socknitting! 2 socks on 2 circulars......Resurface dearest friend, Amanda who encouraged me to try this technique.

No matter that the girls taking my sock class at the LYS wanted to learn this technique. There was no way that this devoted dpn, old-time knitter was gonna try those danged old circulars. No way!

Oh, oh, here comes Amanda with her gentle but persistent nudging about how wonderfully socks work up with this technique. I think her words went something like this, "I know you don't think you'll like this technique BUT!!!......" Ok, Ok, I'll give it a shot. So what if I begin another pair of socks before I finish the gazillion I have already started?

WELL, are you ready for this? TA DAAAAA! So see, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.