- Since I can't actually find the yarn stated in 99% of the patterns that I knit, I always buy one or two extra skeins "just in case". Sometimes, this yarn is a Godsend and will be used up before the garment is finished. Sometimes, it is destined to become scarves, hats, gloves or (if there is enough) another garment. Sometimes, it just ends up in stash waiting for inspiration to strike.
- I don't really have a local yarn store, not one I can drop in on, hang around in, etc. My nearest LYS are Baron's, an overgrown market stall in Uxbridge caught in the 1970's, and Bunty's, but their range is limited to Rowan and Sirdar. Even to get to Bunty's takes a special effort. My regular yarn buying takes place at the Knit & Stitch Show every October, so when I'm there, I really stock up. I miss the days when I worked down the road from John Lewis' yarn department and could just wander in when my latest project was nearly finished, in order to buy yarn for the next one.
- Projects-In-Waiting ("PIW"). In the blind hope that I'll find something suitable in a yarn I can afford, I carry a "want to knit" list in my Filofax complete with yarn quantities, notes about gauge, notions, etc. When I get lucky, the yarn goes into the PIW category in the stash. Sometimes, I'm efficient enough to include a photocopy of the relevant pattern when I pack the yarn away.
- Yarn-desperately-seeking-a-project. As a side effect of buying my yarn mainly at shows, sometimes I "buy first, work out what to do with it later" using a rough rule of thumb to determine how much to get. (My rule of thumb is simple: a ball band once told me that to make a medium sized ladies sweater in DK yarn, you need approximately 700g. So, I go with that and try and buy one or two extra skeins if I can find them "just in case"). The yarn may be cheap (try £1 a ball for 100% Scandinavian wool I picked up at the last Knit & Stitch Show), it may be hard to find (100% DK Alpaca is not easy to obtain in the UK), or it may be rare (100% Wensleydale Longwool).
- Sock wool. If I can't figure out what else to knit, I can always make another pair of socks - is any other explanation needed?
Monday, 2 February 2009
Reasons I have stash
Reasons I have Stash:-
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Conception 2009
THURSDAY 29TH JANUARY 2009
I'm spending most of the week at a games convention, Conception 2009, together with the crowd from the games club DH runs. The Con started yesterday and runs until Sunday. So far, I’ve played two sessions of Cthulhu and I’m booked into five more. Both my characters have survived – no mean feat in this environment.
There is wi-fi here, but at £5/hour or £25 for the week, I’m trying to avoid logging in. I can’t justify the £25 – it would just be a wasteful luxury (either that or one of the other members of our party would attempt to monopolise my laptop and I’m damned if I’m paying out for them to play internet games). I think I’ll just do one £5 session either tomorrow or Saturday.
Bringing the laptop was my idea. As well as its role in character generation for one of the games, it’s acting as an entertainment centre – the backup of my MP3 player is on it and the speakers are reasonable.
=======================================================
NOTE TO SELF:
Next year when we come to the Con, remember to pack the following:-
- - kitchen timer
- - tea towels
- - oven gloves
- - the garlic crusher
- - a chopping board – the chalet only comes with one and a second would be handy
- - my main dice bag! (Fortunately, I have my travelling dice in my handbag.)
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FRIDAY 30th JANUARY 2009DH has been using the laptop to generate certificates for games the club is running ("Most heroic death" ... that sort of thing). We've lost count of the number of times someone has asked whether it is a netbook, then "wowwed" over its features. If Acer needed salesmen, we've done a really good job this weekend.
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THE VENUE
The venue is one of your typical British holiday camps. Not quite “Hi Dee Hi”, but an obvious descendent. Picture a hundred acre, partially wooded site, populated by “chalets” (mobile homes to you Americans), with a communal bar and banqueting suite. Every possible inch of the communal areas is occupied by gamers; even the bar has been overrun by LARPers.
This is my third year and DH’s 6th or 7th. Each year, the chalet we’ve hired has had a different layout but universally they seem to be well designed. Far more thought has gone into their layout than your average British home: the open plan kitchens are bigger, with more food preparation space; each chalet has three or four double bedrooms with built in wardrobes and at least two bathrooms (one en-suite); the L-shaped living rooms can host a dinner party at the dining table without requiring the other furniture to be moved out of the way, and the sitting area is large enough to seat everyone for coffee afterwards. How ironic when you consider how much these buildings are sneered at.
==========================================
THE KNITTING
As far as I can tell, I'm the only knitter at the Con. I'm knitting a pair of the Herringbone Rib Socks which featured in the Winter 2008 edition of Interweave Knits. Here is the picture from Interweave:
I'm using Wendy's Happy, a 75% bamboo yarn, in the Scorpio 2505 colourway.
I've had a love-hate relationship with this pattern over the last few weeks. (I started the socks I'm working on about 3 weeks ago.) It is easy to learn but not easy in execution - if you drop a stitch or make a mistake and need to go back and correct it, it's hell on earth. On both socks, I made different mistakes that required tinking back, and the tinking was harder than knitting them up in the first place. This is not a pattern for your knitting autopilot - you constantly have to watch what is happening on your needles. The stitch pattern is fiddly in the extreme. It's also slow. Two years ago, over the course of the Con, I knitted DH a pair of socks in 4-ply sock yarn; last year, in two days, I knitted a pair in Regia 6-Faedig (DK weight, I believe). This year, I've managed one and a half socks, in five days of almost constant knitting.
I hated it for almost all of the first sock. Interweave says, "This versatile unisex pattern may well become one of the go-to sock patterns in your repertoire". If you'd asked me four days ago, my response would have been a sarcastic "Yeah, right. You've got to be kidding!".
And yet..... The results are stunning. The stitch pattern shows up the varigations in the yarn beautifully. And even the fiddliness stops being irritating after a while. Will I knit it again? Yes.
- Pam
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Putting a marker in the flour
Two weeks ago, I phoned Vina: "Is £4.99 for 10kg a good price for Atta Flour?", I asked. Atta flour is wholemeal Asian bread flour and Tesco's had a special offer.
Vina is used to my stranger culinary questions; I've regularly picked her brain about Asian food and the best places to buy it. (She knows my love for her native cuisine.) This time she filled me on the best grade of Atta flour to buy (Vina uses medium to make chapatis) and that her regular price was closer to £13.
Tonight, DH and I decanted a 10kg sack of fine, medium-wholemeal Atta flour into my largest tupperware container. Plus two other mid-sized ones. (Despite my best efforts, I didn't have a container large enough.) The flour is finely milled and the bran-wheatgerm bits have been ground to a fine powder. It should make light, fluffy baked goods. I'm wondering how it will go in a regular bread recipe.
I reckon that I have enough flour to last most of the year. I'll let you know how it goes.
- Pam
Vina is used to my stranger culinary questions; I've regularly picked her brain about Asian food and the best places to buy it. (She knows my love for her native cuisine.) This time she filled me on the best grade of Atta flour to buy (Vina uses medium to make chapatis) and that her regular price was closer to £13.
Tonight, DH and I decanted a 10kg sack of fine, medium-wholemeal Atta flour into my largest tupperware container. Plus two other mid-sized ones. (Despite my best efforts, I didn't have a container large enough.) The flour is finely milled and the bran-wheatgerm bits have been ground to a fine powder. It should make light, fluffy baked goods. I'm wondering how it will go in a regular bread recipe.
I reckon that I have enough flour to last most of the year. I'll let you know how it goes.
- Pam
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Envy
Why does Envy cross into jealous spite?
When I was a child, I envied all the children in my class who could draw. And had neat handwriting. Kids who could do things that I patently couldn't - my handwriting was never "good" (I was probably the last child in my class to be allowed to use a pen). My best drawings weren't even fit to line the rubbish bin. I dreaded "Craft" lessons and hated going into the art classroom.
At about the same time, I envied the girls with long, slightly wavy hair. Mine was short, curly and frizzed when brushed. For some years, I wished my hair was blond, too. And that I didn't wear glasses. As I got older, I envied the skinny girls (I was fat). And the ones with real waists (I'm short-waisted). Eventually, I got contact lenses, learned how to manage my hair from a hairdresser who "cut it curly" and told me never to brush it, and dabbled with hair dye. I grew up, lost weight and learned that looks are secondary to confidence and self-esteem when making friends or attracting a life-mate.
As an adult, I've envied the well organised and the neat*. I've worked hard to be organised, but people who have time management down to a fine art still trigger flashes of the green-eyed monster in me. I know time management is a matter of prioritising what is important and pursuing those things instead of watching television. It's about achieving small, daily or weekly targets on the way to the big goal. I still haven't figured out how to fit into a day everything I want to do or achieve, but I'm working on it.
I've learned how to harness the power of envy and now use it to determine my priorities, goals and dreams.
Sometimes, though, people broadside you with their jealousy, and in the most unlikely settings. How many times have you received a backhand insult? When someone compliments your knitting or your cooking and then says "I could never find the time to do what you do. I wish I had all your spare time!", implying with their tone that you are tethered to the kitchen or your knitting basket and have no other life. (When I was a student, a girl I despised once attempted to insult me by disparagingly remarking, "How terribly domestic of you" after I cooked dinner in the Nurses Home. I laughed at her.)
My friend, Fluff, was recently the recipient of some unbridled jealous spite, when she showed off her latest project at her knitting group. The needling started almost immediately afterwards, "Where do you find the time?". "I wish I had all your spare time!" and on and on and on. All delivered in a spiteful tone.
I've wondered why these people were so nasty to Fluff. And why so many people deliver veiled backhand insults. All I can come up with is that the bitterness they're expressing is really directed at themselves. The thing they're disparaging in you is actually something they dislike about themselves. They wish they could knit a sweater and are angry at themselves for not achieving it. They like good food but despise themselves because they can't cook. They want a career, but can't be bothered to put in the hours of study, so disparage the people who do rather than admit their own failings and laziness.
Of course, you win no Brownie Points for pointing any of this out, but at least you can use it to neutralise their venom.
- Pam
* I've figured how "neat" works. It's the next step beyond tidy. It's to do with proportion and getting things in alignment with the major planes of say the table on which they are sitting.
When I was a child, I envied all the children in my class who could draw. And had neat handwriting. Kids who could do things that I patently couldn't - my handwriting was never "good" (I was probably the last child in my class to be allowed to use a pen). My best drawings weren't even fit to line the rubbish bin. I dreaded "Craft" lessons and hated going into the art classroom.
At about the same time, I envied the girls with long, slightly wavy hair. Mine was short, curly and frizzed when brushed. For some years, I wished my hair was blond, too. And that I didn't wear glasses. As I got older, I envied the skinny girls (I was fat). And the ones with real waists (I'm short-waisted). Eventually, I got contact lenses, learned how to manage my hair from a hairdresser who "cut it curly" and told me never to brush it, and dabbled with hair dye. I grew up, lost weight and learned that looks are secondary to confidence and self-esteem when making friends or attracting a life-mate.
As an adult, I've envied the well organised and the neat*. I've worked hard to be organised, but people who have time management down to a fine art still trigger flashes of the green-eyed monster in me. I know time management is a matter of prioritising what is important and pursuing those things instead of watching television. It's about achieving small, daily or weekly targets on the way to the big goal. I still haven't figured out how to fit into a day everything I want to do or achieve, but I'm working on it.
I've learned how to harness the power of envy and now use it to determine my priorities, goals and dreams.
Sometimes, though, people broadside you with their jealousy, and in the most unlikely settings. How many times have you received a backhand insult? When someone compliments your knitting or your cooking and then says "I could never find the time to do what you do. I wish I had all your spare time!", implying with their tone that you are tethered to the kitchen or your knitting basket and have no other life. (When I was a student, a girl I despised once attempted to insult me by disparagingly remarking, "How terribly domestic of you" after I cooked dinner in the Nurses Home. I laughed at her.)
My friend, Fluff, was recently the recipient of some unbridled jealous spite, when she showed off her latest project at her knitting group. The needling started almost immediately afterwards, "Where do you find the time?". "I wish I had all your spare time!" and on and on and on. All delivered in a spiteful tone.
I've wondered why these people were so nasty to Fluff. And why so many people deliver veiled backhand insults. All I can come up with is that the bitterness they're expressing is really directed at themselves. The thing they're disparaging in you is actually something they dislike about themselves. They wish they could knit a sweater and are angry at themselves for not achieving it. They like good food but despise themselves because they can't cook. They want a career, but can't be bothered to put in the hours of study, so disparage the people who do rather than admit their own failings and laziness.
Of course, you win no Brownie Points for pointing any of this out, but at least you can use it to neutralise their venom.
- Pam
* I've figured how "neat" works. It's the next step beyond tidy. It's to do with proportion and getting things in alignment with the major planes of say the table on which they are sitting.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Bits'n'Pieces
I took my new toy with me when I went to Site this week, so that I could surf the internet in the evenings. It is small enough that it fits into a large handbag. I did a bit of surfing, but mainly I downloaded some programs I'd missed on the BBC and watched those. I'm a big fan of the BBC, so I was very happy when the leader in my breakfast copy of The Times was a message to the TV regulator telling him to back off and leave the BBC (and its funding) alone.
Thank you Mr Editor; for once we are in total agreement.
===========================================
When I was driving back today, it struck me that I never explained why I'm feeling so broke this month. I didn't really have an explanation ("Gone mad on wool" isn't strictly true - the Sanity Fund covers that). This afternoon, the penny dropped. I've fallen foul of No Pay Day. For seven years, December's salary was paid on the 31st December, but I changed jobs two years ago. And this company does its December payroll on the last Friday before Christmas; this time that was nearly two weeks before the end of the month.
===========================================
In one respect, driving home was a bit of a white knuckle ride. The Toy is just a handful of miles off passing another milestone: 180,000 miles in just over 8 years. A milestone I'd like to record. I didn't take a camera with me when I went to Site. My nearly-seven-years-old mobile phone doesn't have one built in, either. Fortunately, I got home with 179,980 miles on the clock. We'll hit the milestone tomorrow.
===========================================
I've mentioned before about the British media's latest obsession, the new frugality. Last night, I caught the last 10 minutes of a Dispatches program, The True Cost of Cheap Food. They had several axes to grind, but the bit that I picked up on was that they'd challenged two families in Leeds to change their shopping habits. Both were classic nuclear families: two parents, two school-aged children. One family had to buy only supermarket budget lines; the other family had to only shop at small, local stores: the green grocer, the butcher, the delicatessen, the street market.
The results were interesting: both families saved significant amounts of money. The Budget Lines family cut their spending to approximately £250; the Small Shops people cut theirs to £350-ish. God knows what they were living on before - they both regularly spent over £500 a month on groceries. How??? That's practically a mortgage payment!
========================================
Speaking of mortgage payments..... Thanks to the latest Bank of England base-rate cut to 1.5%, the tracker mortgage I have on the flat has fallen by two-thirds in less than a year.
Thanks, Gordon.
- Pam
Thank you Mr Editor; for once we are in total agreement.
===========================================
When I was driving back today, it struck me that I never explained why I'm feeling so broke this month. I didn't really have an explanation ("Gone mad on wool" isn't strictly true - the Sanity Fund covers that). This afternoon, the penny dropped. I've fallen foul of No Pay Day. For seven years, December's salary was paid on the 31st December, but I changed jobs two years ago. And this company does its December payroll on the last Friday before Christmas; this time that was nearly two weeks before the end of the month.
===========================================
In one respect, driving home was a bit of a white knuckle ride. The Toy is just a handful of miles off passing another milestone: 180,000 miles in just over 8 years. A milestone I'd like to record. I didn't take a camera with me when I went to Site. My nearly-seven-years-old mobile phone doesn't have one built in, either. Fortunately, I got home with 179,980 miles on the clock. We'll hit the milestone tomorrow.
===========================================
I've mentioned before about the British media's latest obsession, the new frugality. Last night, I caught the last 10 minutes of a Dispatches program, The True Cost of Cheap Food. They had several axes to grind, but the bit that I picked up on was that they'd challenged two families in Leeds to change their shopping habits. Both were classic nuclear families: two parents, two school-aged children. One family had to buy only supermarket budget lines; the other family had to only shop at small, local stores: the green grocer, the butcher, the delicatessen, the street market.
The results were interesting: both families saved significant amounts of money. The Budget Lines family cut their spending to approximately £250; the Small Shops people cut theirs to £350-ish. God knows what they were living on before - they both regularly spent over £500 a month on groceries. How??? That's practically a mortgage payment!
========================================
Speaking of mortgage payments..... Thanks to the latest Bank of England base-rate cut to 1.5%, the tracker mortgage I have on the flat has fallen by two-thirds in less than a year.
Thanks, Gordon.
- Pam
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
On this day
Today is the first real day of a new era. This morning, in the White House, Barak Obama woke up as President of the United States of America. A man with lots of labels, but with whom the stereotypes fail. President. Democrat. A real African-American - son of an American woman and a Kenyan man - half African, half American. A black man who does not share the heritage of most black Americans, he is not the decendent of slaves. A politician who fought his campaign without playing the race card (much to the disgust of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was reported to be accusing Obama of not being black enough). The world will never be quite the same place again.
While most of the rest of the planet are just grateful to be rid of Dubya and his cronies, we did not have a vote. We are only the indirect recipients of whatever actions President Obama makes. The hopes and dreams he has to satisfy are those of the American people. I don't envy him this responsibility. If he can go even halfway to tackling the problems listed in his speech, then he will have achieved more than the last half-dozen presidents put together.
Prior to the election, much was said in the press about the reaction of Americans to Obama's ethnicity. Please, God, that this Presidency will demonstrate the fulfilment of Martin Luther King's dream, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Does his colour matter? No. Does his religion matter? No. What really matters is whether he is a man of principle and conviction who thinks through the consequences of his decisions and choses the least bad option, not the most expedient. It is doing what is right that matters, not what is easy.
Good luck, Mr President.
- Pam
While most of the rest of the planet are just grateful to be rid of Dubya and his cronies, we did not have a vote. We are only the indirect recipients of whatever actions President Obama makes. The hopes and dreams he has to satisfy are those of the American people. I don't envy him this responsibility. If he can go even halfway to tackling the problems listed in his speech, then he will have achieved more than the last half-dozen presidents put together.
Prior to the election, much was said in the press about the reaction of Americans to Obama's ethnicity. Please, God, that this Presidency will demonstrate the fulfilment of Martin Luther King's dream, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Does his colour matter? No. Does his religion matter? No. What really matters is whether he is a man of principle and conviction who thinks through the consequences of his decisions and choses the least bad option, not the most expedient. It is doing what is right that matters, not what is easy.
Good luck, Mr President.
- Pam
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Cold
On Boxing Day, we went for a walk round Rochester Castle in Kent. It was sunny, but the wind was bitingly cold, cutting through coats and hats and gloves. We took refuge in the warmth of the Cathedral. Even after stopping in a cafe for a hot drink, I was still cold. The temperature never got above freezing. There was ice on the ground at midday.
A couple of days later and further down the coast, we walked from my SIL's house to the local pub for lunch. On the way down, one of the neighbours was washing his car. Later, his driveway was coated in ice where the water had pooled. It had frozen where it landed.
Last Sunday, we visited my FIL's grave, only to find the flowers frozen in their vase.
Excluding a few days of this week, it has been seriously cold in Britain for the best part of a month. The BBC reports that it hasn't been this cold since 1995! Last Thursday, the local weather station registered -9 Celsius. I think my prediction from September is coming true. This year, Britain is having a respectable winter instead of just a rainy, grey one. (And how is that different from our summers? Not much.)
Interestingly, when it gets that cold, instead of ice/frost forming on cars and pavements, we're getting a sort of snow frosting. It looks like snow flakes, but it hasn't fallen from the sky. (We've had almost no snow falling.) It's fluffy, too, and the wipers just brush it off the windscreen.
Several times, the Toy's screenwash has frozen in its jets. On Saturday, I was horrified to discover that the regular brand is only for temperatures down to -5C. Even when used neat. I've replaced it with some heavy duty stuff that is guaranteed down to -20C. My biggest fear is that I'll be driving down the M4, use the screenwash and it'll just freeze on the windscreen, leaving me blind. I've had it freeze when the car is cold, when I've been stuck at the traffic lights, but we'd only just started up then.
The weather reports suggest the cold weather will return at the weekend, when these islands will be hit by a front that has crossed the Atlantic. I wonder if it will snow.
- Pam
A couple of days later and further down the coast, we walked from my SIL's house to the local pub for lunch. On the way down, one of the neighbours was washing his car. Later, his driveway was coated in ice where the water had pooled. It had frozen where it landed.
Last Sunday, we visited my FIL's grave, only to find the flowers frozen in their vase.
Excluding a few days of this week, it has been seriously cold in Britain for the best part of a month. The BBC reports that it hasn't been this cold since 1995! Last Thursday, the local weather station registered -9 Celsius. I think my prediction from September is coming true. This year, Britain is having a respectable winter instead of just a rainy, grey one. (And how is that different from our summers? Not much.)
Interestingly, when it gets that cold, instead of ice/frost forming on cars and pavements, we're getting a sort of snow frosting. It looks like snow flakes, but it hasn't fallen from the sky. (We've had almost no snow falling.) It's fluffy, too, and the wipers just brush it off the windscreen.
Several times, the Toy's screenwash has frozen in its jets. On Saturday, I was horrified to discover that the regular brand is only for temperatures down to -5C. Even when used neat. I've replaced it with some heavy duty stuff that is guaranteed down to -20C. My biggest fear is that I'll be driving down the M4, use the screenwash and it'll just freeze on the windscreen, leaving me blind. I've had it freeze when the car is cold, when I've been stuck at the traffic lights, but we'd only just started up then.
The weather reports suggest the cold weather will return at the weekend, when these islands will be hit by a front that has crossed the Atlantic. I wonder if it will snow.
- Pam
Thursday, 8 January 2009
New toy to play with
Having umm'd and ahhh'd for about a week, I bit the bullet on Sunday and purchased a new laptop: an Acer 2930 laptop with a 12.1 inch screen, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, DVD writer, webcam, bluetooth.....
I could go on and on. This is the PC I'd hoped to get 3 years ago, when I purchased that rather expensive doorstop I rebuilt last month. It's small, almost small enough to fit into a regular sized handbag. It's light, weighing in at 2.2kg/4.6lb.
I got a good price, too. PC World were selling it "on special" for £449.99, down £50 from it's non-sale price of £499.99. (Today, they have it listed for £479.) A web-search turned up an additional 2.5% discount if I bought it from their sibling company, Dixons. So I did and got the lowest price I could find on/off the internet, £438.74. Ordered it online and it was delivered yesterday.
Now it's time to have some fun!
- Pam (DH has comandeered the doorstop)
I could go on and on. This is the PC I'd hoped to get 3 years ago, when I purchased that rather expensive doorstop I rebuilt last month. It's small, almost small enough to fit into a regular sized handbag. It's light, weighing in at 2.2kg/4.6lb.
I got a good price, too. PC World were selling it "on special" for £449.99, down £50 from it's non-sale price of £499.99. (Today, they have it listed for £479.) A web-search turned up an additional 2.5% discount if I bought it from their sibling company, Dixons. So I did and got the lowest price I could find on/off the internet, £438.74. Ordered it online and it was delivered yesterday.
Now it's time to have some fun!
- Pam (DH has comandeered the doorstop)
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Christmas knitting 2008
Did you get all of your knitted/crochetted gifts finished in time for Christmas? Since work consumed so much of my life last year, I set myself a very modest total of two pairs of socks and a pair of slocks (crochetted, slipper socks). The slocks never made it.
I didn't get a photo of the first pair of socks, which I gave to my SIL. However, they are from the same yarn as the sock that I was knitting half-way down this post. Here is another shot of that photo.
Yarn: Regia 6-Faedig a.k.a. Regia Crazy Colors 6 ply in the colourway Passion. 2 x 50g balls (I used approximately 80g).
Sticks: 3.5mm Addi Bamboo dpns.
Pattern: none, really. I just applied the Yarn Harlot's generic sock recipe.
The second pair of socks seemed to take forever to knit. I bought the yarn at the start of December, when I visited Barons in Uxbridge. Despite the down-beat start to our relationship, the Elle Machine Washable Sock Wool was actually a pleasure to knit. Which is just as well really - because the first sock took over two weeks, I was frantically knitting the second sock at midnight on December 23rd. My wrists were killing me!
They were for DH's best friend. I think he likes them. He modelled them for me.
Yarn: Elle Machine Washable 4-ply Sock Yarn in brown. 2 x 50g balls (5g left over.)
Sticks: 2.5mm Addi dpns.
Pattern: "retro-rib" pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2004. Here's a link to the pattern on Ravelry, if you're curious. I made larger socks than those in the pattern, by increasing it to 72 stitches and working the heel flap over 36 stitches. The final result is perfect for a plain yarn since it allows the texture of the stitches to take centre stage, but the rib pattern does make it slow going. It was easy to memorise but almost impossible to knit without paying attention because it changes every few stitches. It was a relief to get to the foot so that I could do some plain knitting on the sole.
In a fit of inspiration/madness two weeks before Christmas, I added a hat to the mix. I'd gone into John Lewis to buy a wedding present and, as usual, wandered through the yarn department. In the clearance bin, I found two balls of Rowan's Biggy Print and thought: "That'd make the perfect hat for Kim". (It did, too.) It was only when I got home that I discovered the recommended needle size is 20mm! And I needed dpns to knit a hat. DH was sceptical that I would find needles for it, let alone get it done in time.
Tuesday 23rd December found me trekking into I Knit London to see if they had needles I could use. I ended up with a 15mm Addi Turbo circular and good luck wishes from Craig.
I cast on on Christmas Day and was finished within two hours. Lets just say that it was interesting doing the magic loop on a circular as thick as my thumb.
I made up the pattern, trying it on as I went.
Final view:
Yarn: Rowan's Biggy Print in Thunder. 1 ball per hat.
Sticks: 15mm Addi Turbos.
Pattern: Made up by me. Cast on 28 sts and join careful not to twist. Work in K1 P1 rib for 10 rows. On next row, decrease every 4th stitch either by K2 tog or P2 tog. Then work two rows decreasing every third stitch. Work 1 row of K2 tog P1. On the final row, K2 tog and repeat to end. Thread a paper-clip with the tale end of the yarn and, using that as a needle, thread it through the remaining stitches, drawing them tightly together. Weave in the ends using the paperclip as if it was a needle.
I liked it so much that I made one for me, too.
- Pam
I didn't get a photo of the first pair of socks, which I gave to my SIL. However, they are from the same yarn as the sock that I was knitting half-way down this post. Here is another shot of that photo.
Yarn: Regia 6-Faedig a.k.a. Regia Crazy Colors 6 ply in the colourway Passion. 2 x 50g balls (I used approximately 80g).
Sticks: 3.5mm Addi Bamboo dpns.
Pattern: none, really. I just applied the Yarn Harlot's generic sock recipe.
The second pair of socks seemed to take forever to knit. I bought the yarn at the start of December, when I visited Barons in Uxbridge. Despite the down-beat start to our relationship, the Elle Machine Washable Sock Wool was actually a pleasure to knit. Which is just as well really - because the first sock took over two weeks, I was frantically knitting the second sock at midnight on December 23rd. My wrists were killing me!
They were for DH's best friend. I think he likes them. He modelled them for me.
Yarn: Elle Machine Washable 4-ply Sock Yarn in brown. 2 x 50g balls (5g left over.)
Sticks: 2.5mm Addi dpns.
Pattern: "retro-rib" pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2004. Here's a link to the pattern on Ravelry, if you're curious. I made larger socks than those in the pattern, by increasing it to 72 stitches and working the heel flap over 36 stitches. The final result is perfect for a plain yarn since it allows the texture of the stitches to take centre stage, but the rib pattern does make it slow going. It was easy to memorise but almost impossible to knit without paying attention because it changes every few stitches. It was a relief to get to the foot so that I could do some plain knitting on the sole.
In a fit of inspiration/madness two weeks before Christmas, I added a hat to the mix. I'd gone into John Lewis to buy a wedding present and, as usual, wandered through the yarn department. In the clearance bin, I found two balls of Rowan's Biggy Print and thought: "That'd make the perfect hat for Kim". (It did, too.) It was only when I got home that I discovered the recommended needle size is 20mm! And I needed dpns to knit a hat. DH was sceptical that I would find needles for it, let alone get it done in time.
Tuesday 23rd December found me trekking into I Knit London to see if they had needles I could use. I ended up with a 15mm Addi Turbo circular and good luck wishes from Craig.
I cast on on Christmas Day and was finished within two hours. Lets just say that it was interesting doing the magic loop on a circular as thick as my thumb.
I made up the pattern, trying it on as I went.
Final view:
Yarn: Rowan's Biggy Print in Thunder. 1 ball per hat.
Sticks: 15mm Addi Turbos.
Pattern: Made up by me. Cast on 28 sts and join careful not to twist. Work in K1 P1 rib for 10 rows. On next row, decrease every 4th stitch either by K2 tog or P2 tog. Then work two rows decreasing every third stitch. Work 1 row of K2 tog P1. On the final row, K2 tog and repeat to end. Thread a paper-clip with the tale end of the yarn and, using that as a needle, thread it through the remaining stitches, drawing them tightly together. Weave in the ends using the paperclip as if it was a needle.
I liked it so much that I made one for me, too.
- Pam
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Thank heaven for the Sanity Fund
Yesterday, I informed DH (and the blogsphere) that I'm broker than broke and had resolved to give up spending for January. Then I promptly went shopping for a pair of boots (black, knee high stretch with 2" heels - £34.25 in the M&S sale). Sounds contradictory, no?
The money for the boots came from my Sanity Fund, a concept I've borrowed shamelessly from Anita Bell, the author of "Your Mortgage and how to pay it off in 5 years - by someone who did it in 3". I've been a big fan of Anita's ever since I bought her first three books in Melbourne Airport six years ago. I read them back-to-back on the flight back to the UK.
After they purchased their first home, Anita and her husband lived off one salary whilst using the other to pay off their mortgage. The first salary paid all of their basic living costs as well as a full mortgage payment. One of the strategies that stopped them both feeling deprived, going mad and having a big blow out was the Sanity Fund. Each of them got a certain amount of money each fortnight to do with whatever they wanted (Aussies usually get paid fortnightly). Anita kept track of her Sanity Fund on a wallet card (a home made index card she kept folded in her wallet). On it, she listed items she really really wanted to purchase, portioning out her Sanity Fund each pay day until she'd saved up enough money to buy whatever it was. She'd take the Wallet Card out every time she felt tempted by something, to remind her of her goals.
The Sanity Fund and Wallet Card concepts struck a chord in my mind that has reverberated ever since. How many items were on my wish list but when I came across them, I never had the money to buy them? Things that didn't really justify becoming line items in a real budget but that I lusted after in a vague "Oh! I wish I could buy one of those!" way? They weren't mega-major purchases, just things like an expensive pair of leather boots. So I borrowed Anita's ideas and made them my own.
Initially, I started with £60 a month which was automatically transferred to a deposit account at my bank. Gradually, I've upped the money and split it between three accounts at two different banks, based on my goals. Over the years, I've used my Sanity Fund to buy those expensive boots (target £120, actual cost £95), a second-hand piano, lots of yarn (from the "Craft" budget) and to save for a very expensive mobile phone (that's the money I'm going to blow on my new laptop instead). Here's a copy of my Wallet Card from the middle of last year (apologies for the poor quality of the scan).
Sure, I could have just saved the money in the bank, but I've found carrying around a Wallet Card concentrates the mind. It's daily, sometimes hourly, reinforcement of my mini-goals. If I'm tempted by something, I know immediately how much money is available. If it costs more than the money accrued, then I either work out a trade off ("I can take £xx from Clothing and put it back next month") or I'll decide it isn't worth spending my money on. That's what I'm doing with the laptop. There won't be much money left in the fund after I buy it, maybe £100, but that's OK. I know I can save up again for a new phone and, as for the knitting software I wanted, maybe I don't want it as much as I thought when I began saving for it (the money has been there for nearly a year).
- Pam (no longer needs boots)
The money for the boots came from my Sanity Fund, a concept I've borrowed shamelessly from Anita Bell, the author of "Your Mortgage and how to pay it off in 5 years - by someone who did it in 3". I've been a big fan of Anita's ever since I bought her first three books in Melbourne Airport six years ago. I read them back-to-back on the flight back to the UK.
After they purchased their first home, Anita and her husband lived off one salary whilst using the other to pay off their mortgage. The first salary paid all of their basic living costs as well as a full mortgage payment. One of the strategies that stopped them both feeling deprived, going mad and having a big blow out was the Sanity Fund. Each of them got a certain amount of money each fortnight to do with whatever they wanted (Aussies usually get paid fortnightly). Anita kept track of her Sanity Fund on a wallet card (a home made index card she kept folded in her wallet). On it, she listed items she really really wanted to purchase, portioning out her Sanity Fund each pay day until she'd saved up enough money to buy whatever it was. She'd take the Wallet Card out every time she felt tempted by something, to remind her of her goals.
The Sanity Fund and Wallet Card concepts struck a chord in my mind that has reverberated ever since. How many items were on my wish list but when I came across them, I never had the money to buy them? Things that didn't really justify becoming line items in a real budget but that I lusted after in a vague "Oh! I wish I could buy one of those!" way? They weren't mega-major purchases, just things like an expensive pair of leather boots. So I borrowed Anita's ideas and made them my own.
Initially, I started with £60 a month which was automatically transferred to a deposit account at my bank. Gradually, I've upped the money and split it between three accounts at two different banks, based on my goals. Over the years, I've used my Sanity Fund to buy those expensive boots (target £120, actual cost £95), a second-hand piano, lots of yarn (from the "Craft" budget) and to save for a very expensive mobile phone (that's the money I'm going to blow on my new laptop instead). Here's a copy of my Wallet Card from the middle of last year (apologies for the poor quality of the scan).
Sure, I could have just saved the money in the bank, but I've found carrying around a Wallet Card concentrates the mind. It's daily, sometimes hourly, reinforcement of my mini-goals. If I'm tempted by something, I know immediately how much money is available. If it costs more than the money accrued, then I either work out a trade off ("I can take £xx from Clothing and put it back next month") or I'll decide it isn't worth spending my money on. That's what I'm doing with the laptop. There won't be much money left in the fund after I buy it, maybe £100, but that's OK. I know I can save up again for a new phone and, as for the knitting software I wanted, maybe I don't want it as much as I thought when I began saving for it (the money has been there for nearly a year).
- Pam (no longer needs boots)
Friday, 2 January 2009
Joining the new frugality
Dear Diary,
2nd January 2009:
Have just observed the ruin of my finances at the bank and (excluding new laptop, already saved up for), I'm broke. I'm broker than broke. I have £200 left in the world - or at least until pay day on the 31st - which will cover fuel for the car for the month but not much else. I can't keep going on like this. It's ridiculous. I earn a good living but it vanishes on bills.
So.... Along with half the country, have decided to join the new frugality. Everywhere you look are articles, TV and radio programs about cutting spending and saving money. Have brushed the dust off the cash diet. Am virtually giving up spending for January. Have even avoided the sales! Fortunately all the regular bills are paid and I've already contributed my share to the grocery kitty. And my knitting needs are insulated as there's plenty of yarn in the stash. Pity about my work suits needing dry cleaning. [ sigh ]
Am now waiting for roof to leak, appliances to suicide and car to break down. (What else happens when you have no money?)
- Pam
2nd January 2009:
Have just observed the ruin of my finances at the bank and (excluding new laptop, already saved up for), I'm broke. I'm broker than broke. I have £200 left in the world - or at least until pay day on the 31st - which will cover fuel for the car for the month but not much else. I can't keep going on like this. It's ridiculous. I earn a good living but it vanishes on bills.
So.... Along with half the country, have decided to join the new frugality. Everywhere you look are articles, TV and radio programs about cutting spending and saving money. Have brushed the dust off the cash diet. Am virtually giving up spending for January. Have even avoided the sales! Fortunately all the regular bills are paid and I've already contributed my share to the grocery kitty. And my knitting needs are insulated as there's plenty of yarn in the stash. Pity about my work suits needing dry cleaning. [ sigh ]
Am now waiting for roof to leak, appliances to suicide and car to break down. (What else happens when you have no money?)
- Pam
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Terminal decline?
I am writing from a doomed laptop. As if the Blue Screen of Death episode wasn't enough, it has decided not to recognise its own sound card (whilst still making all the usual Microsoft noises), can't work its internal wireless modem and has begun to ignore the USB ports. Oh, and when I tried to view a file on my data-stick, it couldn't view it, attempted to "install new hardware", looped on trying to find a driver (there isn't one - it is only a flash drive), and seized up.
This has never been a 100% happy relationship. I bought the laptop blind in 2005, through a scheme at work, the year the British Government decided to give tax breaks to fund its "home computer initiative". There were only two laptop choices in the scheme and I rejected the Apple one on the grounds that it didn't contain a DVD-writer. So I ended up with this, a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D. I can't recommend them. I've been disappointed from the day I opened the box.
From the start, switching it on was a nightmare. I thought the problem was the on-off switch, but it turned out to be a battery connection. (This is one machine that won't work unless it's battery is in its socket. And battery life is abysmal.) I spent an hour on the phone to Fujitsu sorting that out.
The current sound-card problems are just an extension of an intermittent problem it always had but was hard to demonstrate on demand: the first time I wanted to play back a recording to my singing class, it failed. It had worked fine the day before, but at class we only got the video playback without any audio. Since it was still under warrantee at the time, I got onto the help desk and naturally it worked perfectly.
And then there is the fact that it has always been too big and heavy. We've always had a desktop computer - I'd wanted a small, lightweight laptop that was easy to carry around with me. I've been using laptops for work since 1997, when "going out on audit" meant lugging around a Cannon 386 laptop equiped with Windows 3.1. Even that dinosaur was lighter than this one!
There is only one thing for it. It's time to buy a new laptop. We went window shopping yesterday. I saw some pretty netbooks (keyboards are two small for this touch typist). My inner-accountant thrilled at the new wide-screen laptops that come complete with a built in number pad (no more struggling to enter columns of numbers into Excel). But I've defined what I want: a 12-inch screen; minimum of 3GB of RAM; integrated webcam; 250GB hard disk; DVD-writer with Blu-Ray, Dolby surround sound, etc. Sadly, my budget is a bit lower than the price of my wish list, so I will have to compromise somewhere. But a girl can dream.
The next problem is what to do about Vista. I don't want it and I don't need it. I own licences for Windows XP and Office 2005. I haven't heard a good thing about Vista from any of the users I know. I want to wait for the next generation to be released, when all the bugs will have been sorted out, before I install it. Any suggestions as to how to rid myself of this blight?
- Pam (got to go. DH wants to go shopping.)
This has never been a 100% happy relationship. I bought the laptop blind in 2005, through a scheme at work, the year the British Government decided to give tax breaks to fund its "home computer initiative". There were only two laptop choices in the scheme and I rejected the Apple one on the grounds that it didn't contain a DVD-writer. So I ended up with this, a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D. I can't recommend them. I've been disappointed from the day I opened the box.
From the start, switching it on was a nightmare. I thought the problem was the on-off switch, but it turned out to be a battery connection. (This is one machine that won't work unless it's battery is in its socket. And battery life is abysmal.) I spent an hour on the phone to Fujitsu sorting that out.
The current sound-card problems are just an extension of an intermittent problem it always had but was hard to demonstrate on demand: the first time I wanted to play back a recording to my singing class, it failed. It had worked fine the day before, but at class we only got the video playback without any audio. Since it was still under warrantee at the time, I got onto the help desk and naturally it worked perfectly.
And then there is the fact that it has always been too big and heavy. We've always had a desktop computer - I'd wanted a small, lightweight laptop that was easy to carry around with me. I've been using laptops for work since 1997, when "going out on audit" meant lugging around a Cannon 386 laptop equiped with Windows 3.1. Even that dinosaur was lighter than this one!
There is only one thing for it. It's time to buy a new laptop. We went window shopping yesterday. I saw some pretty netbooks (keyboards are two small for this touch typist). My inner-accountant thrilled at the new wide-screen laptops that come complete with a built in number pad (no more struggling to enter columns of numbers into Excel). But I've defined what I want: a 12-inch screen; minimum of 3GB of RAM; integrated webcam; 250GB hard disk; DVD-writer with Blu-Ray, Dolby surround sound, etc. Sadly, my budget is a bit lower than the price of my wish list, so I will have to compromise somewhere. But a girl can dream.
The next problem is what to do about Vista. I don't want it and I don't need it. I own licences for Windows XP and Office 2005. I haven't heard a good thing about Vista from any of the users I know. I want to wait for the next generation to be released, when all the bugs will have been sorted out, before I install it. Any suggestions as to how to rid myself of this blight?
- Pam (got to go. DH wants to go shopping.)
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Merry Christmas Everybody!
Santa on Boxing Day
Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May the best of your past be the worst of your future!
- Pam
PS: I call the above image "Santa on Boxing Day". I lifted it from a website at the American University in Beirut years ago. Couldn't find it today on the internet to attribute it properly.
Monday, 22 December 2008
It's the Economy. Stupid!
A month ago, the British Government issued its "Pre-Budget Report" (a.k.a. a mini-budget that covers government spending). If you click on the link and look at the fourth item down, you'll see that from midnight on 30th November 2008, VAT was cut from 17.5% to 15% in an effort to boost the economy.
This VAT cut is the Government's main weapon in fighting the current recession. They estimate that it will add a £20bn stimulus to the economy. How?
The theory put out by the spin-doctors is that the cut will lower prices in the shops, consumers will stampede snapping up cheaper goods and thus spend the country's way out of Recession. Looks good on paper, doesn't it? But will it work? I don't think so.
(VAT stands for "value added tax". If the business is VAT registered (i.e. all businesses with sales > £67k), then they can reclaim the VAT on goods/services they've purchased by offsetting it against the VAT payable on the sales they make. Therefore, they only pay VAT on the difference or on the "value added" to the goods or services by their business. VAT cannot be reclaimed on purchases for private use.)
From the moment I heard it, I've been trying to figure out how it will stimulate the economy. And each scenario I come up with, doesn't work. Here's why:-
Instead of funding public works, the Government is actually cutting them. An example: because the private companies involved can't raise capital, the Government has CUT the number of apartments that will be built in the Olympic Village to the minimum allowable under the IOC athletes' housing rules. This is in a country where we need an estimated 250,000 more homes just to meet current demand, in a city where the premium for new builds is still 100% over the cost of the build.
The lower rate of VAT will exist for 13 months. What worries me is that the VAT cut is short term but the long term costs will be with us for many years. To quote from the BBC
Ouch! I've heard commentators say that it will take at least 20 years of tax rises to pay it back. In addition, the increase in National Debt will handcuff our economy, decreasing prosperity long term. It also makes us more vulnerable to economic and political shocks worldwide. Remember, he who owns the debt, calls the tune. (Don't believe me? Check out the Oscar nominated documentary: I.O.U.S.A. recently featured on the BBC.)
This is going to be an interesting few months, particularly if I'm proved right.
- Pam
This VAT cut is the Government's main weapon in fighting the current recession. They estimate that it will add a £20bn stimulus to the economy. How?
The theory put out by the spin-doctors is that the cut will lower prices in the shops, consumers will stampede snapping up cheaper goods and thus spend the country's way out of Recession. Looks good on paper, doesn't it? But will it work? I don't think so.
(VAT stands for "value added tax". If the business is VAT registered (i.e. all businesses with sales > £67k), then they can reclaim the VAT on goods/services they've purchased by offsetting it against the VAT payable on the sales they make. Therefore, they only pay VAT on the difference or on the "value added" to the goods or services by their business. VAT cannot be reclaimed on purchases for private use.)
From the moment I heard it, I've been trying to figure out how it will stimulate the economy. And each scenario I come up with, doesn't work. Here's why:-
- It misunderstands the way business thinks about VAT because in virtually all businesses it is excluded from decision making calculations. Cutting it won't affect a multi-national's decision to build a new factory - that will be decided by the cost of the capital needed to fund the investment. And few banks out there are making money available to borrow at an affordable price. If the VAT cut offers any advantage, it is to cash-flow only since it slightly lowers the amount of cash businesses have to pay out to their suppliers and/or to the VATman. Even this, though, comes with barbs attached: for the first month or so, businesses will still be paying out VAT at 17.5% on invoices received prior to the cut-off but will only be able to recharge their clients/customers VAT at 15%.
- A 2.5% discount is useless at enticing consumers back into the shops when the 25%-50% discounts already on offer have failed. This response to the VAT Cut was raised by most political and economic commentators: consumers aren't shopping because they're worried about jobs, credit card bills, the price of fuel and mortgages. Cutting VAT won't affect that behaviour because it is only pennies - it doesn't put a lot of real money in our pockets. When your credit card is maxxed out and you are worried that you won't have enough money to buy petrol to get to work at the end of the month, the last thing you're going to do is go out and buy a new dress! This is the reality we are living with: the average Briton is carrying £4,000+ in credit card debt; mortgage interest rates are still rising, even though the Bank of England Base Rate has fallen to 2% (those on variable mortgages are paying close to 7% interest); in the past 9 months, the price of petrol and diesel increased by a third with knock-on price increases for virtually everything that is shipped by road. (FYI, for routes out of London, public transport is frequently more expensive than driving.)
- Where will the additional money go? Out of the Country. Whilst grocery items (food, toiletries, etc) are either made here or elsewhere in Europe, much of the "discretionary spending" items (clothes, shoes, household goods) are made in China, Vietnam, India, Africa, etc. If the consumer does go out and spend on nonessential items, they'll be purchasing cheap goods made in China or India and ultimately their purchases will benefit workers/investors in those countries and not here. Just as in the US with George Bush's Economic Stimulus Package, it will stimulate their economies and not ours.
Instead of funding public works, the Government is actually cutting them. An example: because the private companies involved can't raise capital, the Government has CUT the number of apartments that will be built in the Olympic Village to the minimum allowable under the IOC athletes' housing rules. This is in a country where we need an estimated 250,000 more homes just to meet current demand, in a city where the premium for new builds is still 100% over the cost of the build.
The lower rate of VAT will exist for 13 months. What worries me is that the VAT cut is short term but the long term costs will be with us for many years. To quote from the BBC
"..[The Shadow Chancellor]..George Osborne said the government's package of measures would double national debt to £1 trillion."He said this would leave "a huge unexploded tax bombshell timed to go off under a future economic recovery".
"He said Chancellor Alistair Darling was giving away £20bn but taking back £40bn through tax hikes."
Ouch! I've heard commentators say that it will take at least 20 years of tax rises to pay it back. In addition, the increase in National Debt will handcuff our economy, decreasing prosperity long term. It also makes us more vulnerable to economic and political shocks worldwide. Remember, he who owns the debt, calls the tune. (Don't believe me? Check out the Oscar nominated documentary: I.O.U.S.A. recently featured on the BBC.)
This is going to be an interesting few months, particularly if I'm proved right.
- Pam
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
I'm not a yarn snob. Really.
Towards the end of last week, I learned of a yarn shop not too far from here in Uxbridge, so on Saturday I went to check it out.
Baron's don't have a website and their address in the phone book just says "Market Square, UB8 1LH". I'm not that familiar with Uxbridge, so wandered around for a while before I realised that the Market Square has long-since been subsumed into the Pavilion's shopping mall. (Town planning vandalism, don't you think, building a shopping mall on the site of an ancient market?)
It turns out that Baron's is little more than an indoor, overgrown market stall. I felt pangs of disappointment - I was half-hoping to find a shop that might just, possibly, be that rare-to-Britain gold-mine, an American-style LYS - but wandered in anyway to check out their range. There was a lot of yarn crammed into a space that is maybe 12 feet by 8. They had some fun fur, a small quantity of wool, a little bit of cotton and a large amount of acrylic.
After a bit of a search, I gave in and asked for assistance. I was after sock-yarn, not just because that's my default purchase when in a new-to-me-yarn-shop but also because I have a pair of socks to make as a Christmas present. "Do you mean wool for darning socks?" was the response. "No, I mean wool for knitting socks, usually 4-ply", I replied. I got the feeling that knitting socks was an unusual concept, rarely encountered before. Still, the teenage shop assistant was good at her job - she found me the only sock yarn they had: Elle Machine Washable Sock Wool in brown. I'm not sure who was more surprised: her or me.
On the way home, I pondered my reaction to the shop's range of yarn. The vast amount of cheap acrylics and acrylic blends found me mentally wrinkling my nose and curling my lip in distaste. What made me such a yarn snob?
The first three or four garments I ever knitted were made in acrylic. It was cheap and my mother didn't want to waste money buying wool for a teenager who might never finish the garment she was making. Then, when I was 16 or so, I knitted my first pure wool sweater and I've rarely touched acrylic since.
When I think about acrylic, I think about yarn that squeaks when you knit it, yarn that feels plasticky and leaves your hands clammy as you knit. I use it occasionally in baby garments (normally Plymouth’s Encore which is 25% wool), but the 100% stuff? Haven't knitted with it in a long time and don't intend to. Emblazoned on my psyche is a belief that acrylics are cheap and nasty and that if I'm going to spend my time knitting, then I deserve better.
And 99% of the acrylics out there just aren't good enough. There are some beautiful yarns out there that are acrylic in all-but-name (I have some silky soft eyelash made by Elle that is so beautiful to handle, I just sit here and stroke it), but they are the exception. Good marketeers know that putting "acrylic" on a yarn label is the kiss of death to people like me - we won't touch it, but we might look twice if it's described as "microfibre" or even "polyamide" and included in a blend with wool or cotton. However, no matter what is on the label, if it feels like cheap acrylic, I won't use it. Why waste my money on something that makes my skin creep?
I think that's the crux of the matter - I believe I deserve to knit with decent quality yarn. Anything else isn't worth my time and attention. If valuing my handiwork makes me a yarn snob, then so be it.
- Pam (will probably go back to Baron's, sometime)
Baron's don't have a website and their address in the phone book just says "Market Square, UB8 1LH". I'm not that familiar with Uxbridge, so wandered around for a while before I realised that the Market Square has long-since been subsumed into the Pavilion's shopping mall. (Town planning vandalism, don't you think, building a shopping mall on the site of an ancient market?)
It turns out that Baron's is little more than an indoor, overgrown market stall. I felt pangs of disappointment - I was half-hoping to find a shop that might just, possibly, be that rare-to-Britain gold-mine, an American-style LYS - but wandered in anyway to check out their range. There was a lot of yarn crammed into a space that is maybe 12 feet by 8. They had some fun fur, a small quantity of wool, a little bit of cotton and a large amount of acrylic.
After a bit of a search, I gave in and asked for assistance. I was after sock-yarn, not just because that's my default purchase when in a new-to-me-yarn-shop but also because I have a pair of socks to make as a Christmas present. "Do you mean wool for darning socks?" was the response. "No, I mean wool for knitting socks, usually 4-ply", I replied. I got the feeling that knitting socks was an unusual concept, rarely encountered before. Still, the teenage shop assistant was good at her job - she found me the only sock yarn they had: Elle Machine Washable Sock Wool in brown. I'm not sure who was more surprised: her or me.
On the way home, I pondered my reaction to the shop's range of yarn. The vast amount of cheap acrylics and acrylic blends found me mentally wrinkling my nose and curling my lip in distaste. What made me such a yarn snob?
The first three or four garments I ever knitted were made in acrylic. It was cheap and my mother didn't want to waste money buying wool for a teenager who might never finish the garment she was making. Then, when I was 16 or so, I knitted my first pure wool sweater and I've rarely touched acrylic since.
When I think about acrylic, I think about yarn that squeaks when you knit it, yarn that feels plasticky and leaves your hands clammy as you knit. I use it occasionally in baby garments (normally Plymouth’s Encore which is 25% wool), but the 100% stuff? Haven't knitted with it in a long time and don't intend to. Emblazoned on my psyche is a belief that acrylics are cheap and nasty and that if I'm going to spend my time knitting, then I deserve better.
And 99% of the acrylics out there just aren't good enough. There are some beautiful yarns out there that are acrylic in all-but-name (I have some silky soft eyelash made by Elle that is so beautiful to handle, I just sit here and stroke it), but they are the exception. Good marketeers know that putting "acrylic" on a yarn label is the kiss of death to people like me - we won't touch it, but we might look twice if it's described as "microfibre" or even "polyamide" and included in a blend with wool or cotton. However, no matter what is on the label, if it feels like cheap acrylic, I won't use it. Why waste my money on something that makes my skin creep?
I think that's the crux of the matter - I believe I deserve to knit with decent quality yarn. Anything else isn't worth my time and attention. If valuing my handiwork makes me a yarn snob, then so be it.
- Pam (will probably go back to Baron's, sometime)
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