More Saturday Contemplations

Back from pancakes and feeling cozy in my bed. Do I work on Mr. Sock, or perhaps the lovely Rowan sweater called Lotus. I have two baby afghans also, although, if truth be told, I really only like one of them. The one called Crowns and Cables is so pretty in it's simple cream color, but the other one, I will have to change yarns. As the Yarn Harlot wrote: "When you start with crap, that's what you end up with." (That's more or less what she said, although I am paraphrasing it.) I hope that it might be better with another yarn that's not all acrylic. Please don't be offended. Am I a yarn snob? Most likely, but I once had someone tell me that she tried to learn to knit once, but the feel of the yarn in her fingers made her "skin crawl." Really? Are you serious?

that yarn must have been some really scratchy stuff. For me, there is nothing more soothing than a beautiful merino, baby alpaca or cashmere. Am I right? Yes? I though so. Well, back to the matter at hand. The Rowan sweater. That's it. Absolutely. I'll think on the ugly baby afghan so more - maybe change to another yarn...then I'll let you know.

Knitting with Cotton

When I first started knitting, I was pregnant with my first child (19 years ago). I thought it would be nice to knit a baby blanket. I had grown up with a grandmother and a father (yes, that's right, a father) who crocheted. Since I was born in the last half of the 1960s, I was a young child in the 70s. Who remembers ponchos? Macrame? Crocheted bikinis? Daisy afghans? (Still have that one, by the way.) I had this large swing that was made out of macrame and had a homemade clown sitting on it. It hung from the ceiling in the corner of my room on my sister's side. Now, who remembers the movie Poltergeist? Are you following me here? Never in the history of the world has a clown been removed from a child's bedroom faster. I still have nightmares.

Anyhoo, where was I? Oh yes, so because I grew up around crocheting, I didn't particularly like the look of the baby blanket if it was crocheted. To me (in my ultimate 20ish wisdom) knitting looked so much more professional. We had, at that time, gotten through the craft era of the 70's, through the fashion atrocities of the 80's (enough said on that era) and were just squeeking into the 90's when this thought occurred to me. I want to KNIT! I headed off to the nearest craft store and bought a book on knitting along with some yarn. Initially I got stuck and sheepishly walked into a yarn store in Southern California. The wonderful clerks helped me and I was on my way. How was the blanket? Don't know. Never finished it. In fact, I didn't pick up needles again until about 2 years ago. This was after we moved to Utah and I was experiencing my first winter when I realized that reading books (or watching TV) whilst stuffing one's face whilst watching the snow fall outside was not terribly healthy. People don't get depressed because of the winter, they get depressed because in the spring they step on the scale and see the results of all the noshing! I never packed on the freshman 15, I packed on the Utah 20!

Needless to say, I was such a novice back then about this whole knitting thing. I was satisfied with any old yarn and if the project looked reasonably simple and elegant, I was game. It wasn't until I found this Filtura Di Crosa Baby pom pom yarn by Tahki that I started to realize that yarn really mattered when it came to one's projects. This was the crossroads of my knitting existence. And I crossed over, I mean I really crossed over. Living on the planet Yarn Obsession is fun! Stash is a blast! Have you seen the Kleenex commercial where the woman touches everything, until she gets to the tissue and suddenly .... it's FEEEEEEL. Oh yes, the feel of the yarn is essential. It makes you excited to see the final project.

However, knitting with cotton is something different. If you don't have a consistent tension, it ends up looking all wompy (or is it wonky?). I know that's not a Webster's word, but you know what I mean. Here is an example of my first attempt to knit with cotton. Truly humiliating. But, I have finally gotten the hang of it, and yesterday I finished the Gumdrop Sweater for my next door neighbor's little girl. Here it is. I will post pictures of her in it, though. I promise. So since spring and summer are just around the corner, pick up some cotton, or maybe some bamboo/cotton mix. There is so much out there, I just don't have enough time to see it all! And ladies .... use good yarn. You'll be glad you did.

Perplexing Question

Well, thanks to you all who gave me feedback on my first entry. I really enjoyed hearing from you. Today I have mostly been contemplating the baby sweater that I am knitting. It's a darling pattern from Debby Ware called "Gumdrop Sweater." It's probably about the cutest thing I've ever seen! I'm sure you will agree. Now, here comes the dilemma. My foster daughter (she's 27 and married) has a 2 year old who could wear this (let's call my grandbaby Lisa). We also have a next door neighbor (who we dearly love) with a darling little girl of the same age who would also fit in it.

I know the neighbor would really appreciate and understand the love and effort that goes into an item such as this and my 13 year old says our foster daughter won't appreciate it. My husband says you don't do things for other people because they will appreciate it, you do it because you love them. That I understand. But after Lisa has outgrown it, will it end up at -- heaven forbid -- Goodwill? Is it wrong of me to give the sweater with the caveat that when she's finished with it, return it to me so my other granddaughters can enjoy it? I know. I know. I'm being petty. Why, I could just solve the problem by knitting two sweaters! Allright! Allright! All you knitters out there, pick yourselves up off the floor. I know you're rolling around laughing. You, there! Wipe that grin off your face! Okay, where was I? Oh yeah. Please help me, because I'm in a serious conundrum here. This has me truly perplexed. I look forward to your comments.