Thursday, August 26, 2004

Well, here I am...

...my first home on the internet. Some paint, a few curtains, and it'll really be something.

I was inspired to start this by my friend and almost-relative Spinnity's fabulous blog (www.spinnity.blogspot.com) Like her, I knit. But, as my name suggests, I just learned. From her, actually. And I am constantly amazed by the zen of knitting, the things it makes me think about, as well as the overwhelming coolness of what you can actually do with a simple ball of yarn and a couple of sticks. I've developed a very dangerous Knitting Arts habit (www.goknit.com).

Have you noticed that yarns have personalities? (Of course you have; if you're reading this, you've probably been knitting much longer than I have.) My very first two projects were a hat and scarf in a super-soft Anny Blatt angora blend, dreamily colored in gentle blue, green, orange, and raspberry. Aaah! So peaceful. So relaxing. A good first yarn -- misty and forgiving of small mistakes, but still not too tricky to see the stitches.

Now I've got two totally dissimilar projects. One is a poncho in Softy and Ironstone Paris Nights. The Softy is black and spidery and sticky. One evening I realized it was an angry yarn. I wrestled with it a lot at the beginning. We've come to a sort of truce now. I've conquered two whole balls now and I think it knows who's boss. The Ironstone is more elusive. Sparkly and colorful, but with a sharp edge. It hides in and out of the black but helps me when it's time to count rows of purl bumps.

The other is a blue cardigan for Peter, Best Nephew in the Universe. My new favorite yarn, a Rowan cotton. It's miles and miles of stockinette, but soothing somehow through the fingers. Except the buttonholes, which have been onerous.

I suppose other people have favorite yarn personalities. Tell me!

2 comments:

spinnity said...

I've really branched out in trying new yarns in the past 18 months, but still my favorite yarn personality is Dale Baby Ull. It's so soft, so compliant. You can tell it just wants to do what you have in mind. It's a little bit splitty (its only downside!) and the stitches drift into each other a bit, making it really nice for large stockinette surfaces or color work.

Congratulations on your new blog, knuknitter! And welcome to the family, sis!

Wiz Knitter said...

I noticed that you used that yarn in several of your projects. Sounds yummy. I have to confess to being more of a cotton than wool person -- some wools irritate my skin. The angora blend is good, though.