The quick answer is Yes, I have been known to commit stitches to needles at times over the years. My bones do as well! 😉 They had the chance to prove it a couple of years ago when I broke my wrist!
First off there was the strip of garter stitch on the short plastic needles in wool that started out as my ‘most’ favourite colour and then some months later became the one colour I hated for life! My problem with the strip of school knitting was that I never managed to have the same number of stitches on any one row. I think the ideal was twenty, while I had 18 or 19 with a lacy pattern (dropped stitches or holes), then later magically the stitch count was 21. Mammy spent hours sitting in front of the fire showing me what to do. I remember the rhyme: ‘In around, out and off’. It sounded easy but never seemed to work for me.
Brother No.2 was quietly watching these lessons one day and then disappeared. Ten minutes later he was back! “Is this the right way mammy?” he asked. He was back with two wooden skewers that had started life in joints of meat from the butchers and a ball of string! Are you allowed to hate your brother? He was standing there with a strip of garter stitch as long as his arm and there were no dropped stitches!
Then there was the year we were learning to make socks! We learned to turn the heel and fashion the toe. They took me the whole school year to complete and then a brother would only wear them inside his Wellington Boots. I did improve and made several cardigans and jumpers for myself.
Recently I have felt the urge to try again and while surfing the net I discovered this lovely looking yarn
Recycled Sari Silk is popping up on the web. Generally sold by the ounce, every skein varies greatly in its colour way, gauge, twist and texture. This yarn is 100% silk in a myriad of vibrant colours.
It is imported from Nepal, where it is spun from the snipped ends of saris into this wonderful textured yarn. Each skein is unique in its colour ways and natural inconsistencies of the fibre, turns the simplest project into something very special. The women use these skills to provide additional income for their families.
It is noted that some of these yarns have a certain ‘aroma’, in other words ‘The yarn starts out dirty and musty’, It is recommended that the silks are hand washed and dried before knitting up; this loosens the fibres making it softer and nicer to knit with. Most web sites recommend if you are making a big garment that you knit a couple of rows from each hank alternately to prevent obvious colour-banding.
I have not found it in any wool shop here in Northern Ireland. I don’t know of anyone who has tried to use it. I would like to buy one skein to play about with, but on line it comes in bundles of at least ten. Did you ever hear of it? Have you used it?
Grannymar – that silk yarn looks beautiful but I’ve not heard of it before.
How well I remember learning to knit (aged 10-12) and the agony of mastering a turned heel. Our ‘attempts’ at making socks were pinned to a display board at the end of term for everyone to see the dropped stitches. Those were the days when knitting and sewing were part of the school curriculum. It all stood me in good stead however as I wooed my future husband by knitting him an Icelandic sweater, which we still have to this day.
Medically, stitches are going out of fashion as well. I had 59 staples removed from my head last year, and we’ve still got those too 😀
Grannymar one of my bloggy pals is an avid knitter. A complete nut of a knitter and has a side blog with patterns and advice and stuff. She would probably know about the yarn although she’s in the US. I’m sure she’d be happy to share . Take a look at http://katesaid.wordpress.com/. I used to knit baby stuff (useless with 2 December babies mind! They lived in little coloured singlets!) Then I knitted blanket squares for Afghanistan then began knitting something, dunno what, to keep my hands busy when I first gave up smoking but it’s still sitting in a drawer half finished . . the novelty took about 2 days to wear off!
Steph ~ I did knit an Aran jacket for Jack years ago. You have staples, I have pins!
Following surgery on my toes over 15 years ago to remove joints and fuse bones I walked around in weather like this with pins that looked like mini skewers sticking out of my toes.
Baino ~ Thanks for the link I’ll take a peep at it shortly. Not like you to give up on a project. What was it?
I haven’t done any knitting for years. I used to do a lot when my girls were young but then it sort of went out of vogue. I still have all my knitting needles and old gauges ( probably antiques now like me he he)!
Chris ~ I have a great collection of knitting and crochet needles and I discovered a pattern book of baby items. It had the crocher pattern I used for Elly’s christening dress and pants.
Ouch! Grannymar – those tooties of yours sound horribly painful.
I don’t have any pins to brag about but I do have a large metal screw.
It was meant to be a permanent fixture in my shoulder following surgery about 20 years ago but it dislodged itself 😮 and caused the surgeon great embarrassment 😀
Grannymar,
I have never knitted. I tried my hand at sewing for a few years but gave it up because of what I noticed people saying to me about my dresses.
They would look at me in my handmade dress and say,”Oh, what a lovely dress. Did you make it yourself?.” I would very proudly smile and say,”Yes, I did.”
Then it dawned on me. If I bought a dress in Macy’s and wore it to a gathering, NO ONE asked me if I had made it myself! So, I concluded that something about the way the sleeve was set in slightly crooked or the zipper was not straight, gave me away as a “Not so great” seamstress.
AND, truth be told, the money I spend on material and notions was far more than I would have spent on a nice dress that no one asked if I had made it myself…..
Steph ~ is there any part of you not touched by a surgeon? I think we should hold an exhibition of our nuts, bolts and screws?
Nancy ~ How is the Pope’s sister tonight? I loved your piece at The Elder Storytelling Place this week.
I made all my own clothes when I was in my late teens and early twenties. I at that time was what they call now a size zero. Not by choice I might add It was difficult to find clothes to wear. Dress dances were populat and i made a new dress for each one. It didn’t take much fabric to cover me!!!!! 😆
I bought that yarn through ebay. I tried knitting with it however, I thought it was way too stiff. Also had lots of little sticks, etc. in it. A friend came over to help me organize, ha! my yarn and I gave it to her for helping me. Good friend, huh? I should ask her if she’s tried using it.
Goinglikesixy says “hey”
Welcome Nancy2. I have to call you that as we have another party girl called Nancy who regularly visits from your side of the pond. Thanks for the information on the sari silk. Just the kind of feedback I was looking for.
Tell Sixty I said Hi!
Hi GM:
I’m an avid knitter when I can due to time constraints and have used the wool you describe. Very very hard on the hands and messy if you wash it, I will experiment some more with the washing and drying. maybe when I get back to NL.
I’m currently working with a healing wool from the deep sea, a sea silk, and it leaves my hand so soft….
good luck!!!
WWW thank you for the information about the Sari Silk. It is hard to judge from a picture on the internet what it might be like.
The sea silk sounds interesting, I never heard of it before. Maybe one day you will blog about it and let us see a picture. Healing wool… we could all do with that!
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Sixty
I’ll not be knitting for a few months. Curtains for Elly’s new house come first.