Wash them
Wash your knitting needles people. You spend hours holding them. Anything that's on your hands (lotion...hair stuff...chapstick...possibly that pizza you had for lunch) is on there too. Just chuck them a sink full of warm soapy water (ahem, making sure you don't send them down the drain...that's no fun) and let them hang out for a bit. You can use the same soap you use to wash/block your knits, I like Soak (as always, amazon links are affiliate links). After they've sat for a few minutes, rinse them off, and dry them off with a soft towel. They'll feel so [...]
Kinked
Once I decided that the initial incarnation of the gray socks had to give way to a new version, the next step was to free the yarn. Now this is actually surprisingly hard for me. I loathe ripping. I always feel like I'm throwing away all that time I spent knitting. But in this case, there was absolutely no way I was ever going to use (or even finish) the socks, and the yarn was too pretty to waste. So out came the darning needle and the swift. I picked out my ends (why on earth am I so thorough [...]
Point
I distinctly remember, back when I was a new knitter, wondering why on earth people had so many knitting needles. I could understand having different sizes. Though I secretly suspected that you could probably make size 2 act like size 1 if you just pulled extra tight or like size 3 if you just kept your yarn a bit loose...I mean how much difference could a half a millimeter really make? (Hint, new knitters, if you're reading this, the answer is 'a lot.' Half a millimeter makes a lot of difference. Save yourself the headache and be smarter than I [...]
Tools, the blocking edition
I am particular about blocking. It makes such a tremendous difference in how your finished knitting looks (and fits) that it's worth taking a the extra time to do it right. It's only going to take a fraction of the time you've already spent knitting, so it seems well worth the effort. I've been blocking things for the photo shoot (April 7, remember...you're all supposed to be arranging for a warm, bright-but-overcast day, with no snow on the ground, ok?), and thought I'd take a second to show off some of the tools I like best for blocking. You can [...]
Tools, the travel edition
As I was packing my knitting bag for our recent trip, I realized that a rather substantial proportion of the stuff I tote about with me for travel knitting aren't things you're likely to find in your local yarn shop. Sometimes you can get a version of them in a yarn store, but the yarn store version isn't quite as good. And some of it is just stuff you won't find there. So since I've finally gotten my knitting bag to the point where it's pretty much perfect for me, I thought I'd share what's in there! You can see [...]
Peek
You know those websites that show pictures of what's inside other people's fridges or purses or closets? And you know how you're always a tiny bit scandalized by something you see (how does anyone drink that much soda? Am I the only one with three chapsticks and no lipstick in my purse? Why am I not that tidy?). I think the knitter's equivalent must be your work basket. Here's mine. What was that? Why yes, yes that is all yarn for the gray curls. And yes I do love them all. And no, even in mid January, the gray is [...]
Small Things
I'm not sure what happened. But somehow, I find myself not just in possession of a whole whack of stitch markers, but excited by them. It could be because they're so damn perfect. They work as regular and locking markers, they fit up to about a size 10 needle, they weigh nothing, and they don't snag the yarn. And, most important of all, they're about as streamlined and minimalist as you can imagine. They look something like this. Except my pile of them is huge. Alarmingly huge. I didn't show you the whole pile because a heap of black safety-pins [...]
Fever Dreams
So I seem to have lost a week. Some time weekend before last, I thought to myself 'hmm, I have a bit of a sniffle, perhaps I'll lie down for a moment.' Then yesterday I dragged my stinking carcass out of bed, blinked, grunted, and wondered what the hell happened to the intervening week. That's a slight exaggeration, but not much. I more or less did the bare minimum necessary to be considered a functional adult for the last nine days. Eat, shower, feed the cats, mind the blog. That's about it. Alas, The Boy also got the same strain [...]
More Tools of the Trade
So the other day you met Alphonse. He's quite dapper, and makes a perfect house guest. Today I'm showing off some truly funky sock blockers. Now you know we've got some big feet in this house. I wear a ladies' size 11, and The Boy wears a men's size 13. These are big feet. I decline to feel bad about this, as the size of a person's feet is more or less out of their control. The only thing I felt bad about was the difficulty in vigorously blocking socks in these sizes. I had a pair of wire blockers [...]
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