A Post All About Yarn
Firstly, Target Yarn.
The news on the big knitlist this week is that there is yarn at Target. Ordinarily, the words "yarn" and "Target" used in the same sentence would send me into a rapturous frenzy similar to the first advertisement I ever saw for "Isaac Mizrahi at Target". But, I remained skeptical, since we were all had a false alarm last winter when there was supposedly yarn at Target, and it turned out to be kits, and they were not all that great. Nevertheless, needing to do a little birthday shopping anyway, I scooted my heinie over there pretty quick to check things out.
I looked all over the craft (I use that term loosely) section, til I had to ask a sales associate. It turns out, it's in the "dollar spot", right next to the front door. Yes, the dollar spot. The yarn was not that great, there were 3 types, a mohairy blech, an acrylic boucle in some candy colors, and some little flags, pictured below. Yeah, the colors were just ok, but seriously, a skein for a dollar? It would pretty much have to be yarn rolled in dog doo for me to pass it up for a dollar.
I bought two.
Secondly: Stash Sorting.
One of the reasons that I got all fired up about knitting again this week was because I got to take a class on Saturday with Knitting Goddess Sally Melville (author of The Knit Stitch). The class was based on her earlier book Sally Melville Styles, which is mainly about using up your scraps.
Not to give away a bunch of information from the class, but I will tell you a little thing that really inspired me. She advised us to sort our stash by color. Most of us keep our odds, ends, and leftovers in a big bin similar to this, my "Before" shot:
Yuck.
When you look at a sweater, the first thing your eye sees is color. Before texture and fiber content. So when you are looking at the ugly color mish-mash above, you will never see a sweater.
When you organize by color, you start seeing pleasing combinations that could work into something new:
Here's a close up of my greens:
And my favorite, a close up of some reds and purples. I can see a fabulous scarf in there!
Lastly: Prize Yarn
After mulling over the possiblities of a fabulous yarn prize for the Survivor Challenge, I decided a trip to LYS was in order. I wanted to find something that might be a little out of the ordinary, that might be hard to find. My LYS usually has a pretty fantastic supply of Koigu (get it-starts with a "k") but it is a little low. It also has some fab Kureyon, but I haven't seen that around the blogs so much recently, is everyone maxed out on the stripey goodness?
Then it hit me. Fleece Artist. Not available in many yarn shops in the US, and its utterly fantastic. I have made one pair of socks out of it, and it is the only sock yarn that has the silky feel of Koigu, IMHO. It is also the only one that is as random as Koigu, but the colorways are more subtle.
So, here I present you with the Grande Prize, your choice of Fleece Artist sock yarn. The top one is a gorgeous dark "midnight purple"or "inky purple", with lighter purples thrown in for even more beautification.
In case there is anyone out there who is not a purple person, the bottom on is a slightly safer, but equally beautiful blue, deep dark blue with denim and a little royal.
How I am going to save these for 13 weeks, I have no idea. I'm going to have to bury them deep in the closet and forget about them.
Don't forget to vote! Have a great evening!
The news on the big knitlist this week is that there is yarn at Target. Ordinarily, the words "yarn" and "Target" used in the same sentence would send me into a rapturous frenzy similar to the first advertisement I ever saw for "Isaac Mizrahi at Target". But, I remained skeptical, since we were all had a false alarm last winter when there was supposedly yarn at Target, and it turned out to be kits, and they were not all that great. Nevertheless, needing to do a little birthday shopping anyway, I scooted my heinie over there pretty quick to check things out.
I looked all over the craft (I use that term loosely) section, til I had to ask a sales associate. It turns out, it's in the "dollar spot", right next to the front door. Yes, the dollar spot. The yarn was not that great, there were 3 types, a mohairy blech, an acrylic boucle in some candy colors, and some little flags, pictured below. Yeah, the colors were just ok, but seriously, a skein for a dollar? It would pretty much have to be yarn rolled in dog doo for me to pass it up for a dollar.
I bought two.
Secondly: Stash Sorting.
One of the reasons that I got all fired up about knitting again this week was because I got to take a class on Saturday with Knitting Goddess Sally Melville (author of The Knit Stitch). The class was based on her earlier book Sally Melville Styles, which is mainly about using up your scraps.
Not to give away a bunch of information from the class, but I will tell you a little thing that really inspired me. She advised us to sort our stash by color. Most of us keep our odds, ends, and leftovers in a big bin similar to this, my "Before" shot:
Yuck.
When you look at a sweater, the first thing your eye sees is color. Before texture and fiber content. So when you are looking at the ugly color mish-mash above, you will never see a sweater.
When you organize by color, you start seeing pleasing combinations that could work into something new:
Here's a close up of my greens:
And my favorite, a close up of some reds and purples. I can see a fabulous scarf in there!
Lastly: Prize Yarn
After mulling over the possiblities of a fabulous yarn prize for the Survivor Challenge, I decided a trip to LYS was in order. I wanted to find something that might be a little out of the ordinary, that might be hard to find. My LYS usually has a pretty fantastic supply of Koigu (get it-starts with a "k") but it is a little low. It also has some fab Kureyon, but I haven't seen that around the blogs so much recently, is everyone maxed out on the stripey goodness?
Then it hit me. Fleece Artist. Not available in many yarn shops in the US, and its utterly fantastic. I have made one pair of socks out of it, and it is the only sock yarn that has the silky feel of Koigu, IMHO. It is also the only one that is as random as Koigu, but the colorways are more subtle.
So, here I present you with the Grande Prize, your choice of Fleece Artist sock yarn. The top one is a gorgeous dark "midnight purple"or "inky purple", with lighter purples thrown in for even more beautification.
In case there is anyone out there who is not a purple person, the bottom on is a slightly safer, but equally beautiful blue, deep dark blue with denim and a little royal.
How I am going to save these for 13 weeks, I have no idea. I'm going to have to bury them deep in the closet and forget about them.
Don't forget to vote! Have a great evening!
posted by Emily at 4:48 PM
2 Comments:
Ok, in under the wire...(remember, I'm in EStandardT here!) Not wanting to be a copycat, but I'm going for the thorny shouldered guy, too. Name?
And I'll be working on a shawl. (Christmas present...knockin' em off the list!)
Still not watching Survivor but still knitting on my Habu bag.Trying to get it done for next weekend to use at Midwest Masters!
Love that yarn! I bought it in the hot pink but it is still snoozing in my stash.
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