Metro Yarn Crawl 2015!

Hard to believe another yarn crawl has come and gone!  Two friends and I headed to Virginia last Tuesday and visited Nature's Yarn, Aylin's Woolgatherer, and Uniquities.

The first stop was Nature's Yarn.  I couldn't believe that the store has been open for 7 years, and I've never heard of it.  But they did say that this was the first year they were participating in the crawl, so why else would I have heard of it since I think of Fairfax, VA, as the edge of the earth ;-).  I didn't actually buy any yarn at this store (even though they had a lot of great fibers), but scored some Knit Blockers and this beautiful shawl pin by Jul.

Then it was on to Aylin's.  It's a little tricky to find since it's actually on the third floor of an office building wedged between the Loehmann's and the Giant grocery store.  I love this store because it still carries the Catania yarn by Schachenmayr that's so impossible to find.  With 20 percent off, I loaded up on some beautiful colors and think I've found the perfect project for it (which of course will be in another post).

We were starved, so after a quick South American chicken lunch, we were back on the road to Uniquities.  This is such a great shop and totally worth the trip out there to Vienna, VA, even when it's not crawl time.  I managed to not buy anything after breaking the bank at Aylin's, but there was some hand dyed sock yarn that I've got my eye on!  It was definitely Mary's favorite, and she scored some wonderful sock yarn and a yarn bowl at an awesome price.

So, after our Virginia adventure, we made it back to civilization (aka the District limits) by 4, just in time for me to drool a bit more over my purchases and take a nap!

Spin that Wheel!

Just read a great article on Vanna White in the Washington Post.  She's been on "Wheel of Fortune" for 30 years now, hard to believe how that much time has passed.  With technology, it's interesting how she doesn't have to actually physically turn the letters anymore.  I don't know why people are so critical of her, I think she's quite smart -- she found a way to make a nice living working 35 days a year (they tape 5 to 6 shows each day!) wearing beautiful dresses and not having to really say or do much (though apparently she's called upon to talk with the audience while there are breaks in filming, which I think could be quite challenging). Oh, and I thought it was interesting that her motivation for going into television was her uncle, actor Christopher George (I always loved his wife Lynda Day George on Mission Impossible.  They were quite the "it" couple back in the 70s.  Sadly, he passed of a heart attack in 1983).

The reason I paid attention to the article is because I know that Vanna is an avid crocheter and has built quite a yarn empire for herself as well.  "Her contract, estimated to be worth millions, gives her the freedom to dabble in real estate and crocheting, hobbies she’s since turned into business ventures. Among knitting enthusiasts, Vanna is known for her popular line of yarn, from which she recently donated $1 million to St. Jude’s Hospital."  Unfortunately, that's all the article says about this aspect of her life, but I really liked this statement of hers:  "What people don’t know about me is that I’m a pretty good businesswoman,” Vanna says. “Yes, I do this little ol’ game show, but I know the show isn’t going to last forever, so I’ve gone into different ventures. But I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging.”  I think there could be some very interesting business lessons we could learn from Vanna!

My Rose Valley and Princess' Wool

"My Rose Valley" is a beautiful blog by a Swedish woman living in Switzerland with her American husband and three children. She covers all sorts of crafts and has some great crochet patterns. I especially love her Maybelle Crochet Flower that she is working on translating into Swedish in her latest post (her English is so good).  I aspire to have such a seamless, special look to my blog. Mmmm, it might be time for some more revamping...

On another note, I just got the shipment of chunky yarn made from Princess' wool (remember, this year I said I was NOT going through that whole skirting and cleaning process again!  I still haven't carded, much less spun, her wool from last year). There's a lot of yarn in that bag!  I can't believe this is it, that's all the wool that I'll ever have from her :-(. So, that just means that I will have to come up with a really special crochet project for it!  Help me decide what to make!

What Yarn to Choose?

Happy Friday!  Just wanted to quickly share my guest blog post at http://stitchandunwind.com/choosing-your-yarn/ in which I share some tips about how to choose the right yarn for the particular project on which you are working.

A Moth in Wool's Clothing

Thankfully, I have not been seeing any moths flying around the house or any holes in my sweaters, but this article in the Washington Post caught my eye, so thought I should share in case anyone's had to face this distressing development.

I've heard from an expert at the Textile Museum that placing clean garments in plastic bags for short periods of time can really help in avoiding infestations and preserving items.  The WP article also suggests hot storage or running a garment through the clothes dryer, though that sounds a little scary for a wool garment that you want to keep the same size! 

That's why I keep my yarn hanks and balls in plastic containers, for both organizational and cleanliness purposes.  I just heard recently also that you should not wind a hank into a ball until right before you're planning on using it -- the pressure of the outside of the ball on the core can adversely affect the consistency of the yarn.  I'm not sure I've ever noticed anything like that, but I found it to be an interesting tip...

Please join this conversation and share your tips for yarn and garment maintenance here or on my Facebook page!

Happy New Year!!

Wow, 2010, here we are!

I had such a great day today, I hope it's a sign of how the year is going to go.  I went to Barnes & Noble and found "Inside Crochet", a crochet magazine from England!  I haven't had a chance to really pour through it yet, but one word of caution that I have to remind myself of -- the English use different crochet abbreviations for stitches than we do here in the US.  But, I'm still excited to see how crocheters in other countries approach projects and what they're focusing on in the UK.

I also had lunch with a friend of mine who's currently living in Germany.  I got him to agree to look for crochet magazines for me when he gets back there :-)

I also figured out how to add more "buttons" to the blog for Ravelry and Lifetips, but these were harder because I had to configure the HTML myself to match up the pictures and the website addresses -- I'm feeling like quite the techie ;-)  It really was fun in a way.  Maybe this is the first step in getting me to the point where I can actually tackle doing something with my main website, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, let me just bask in the glory of getting two buttons working right!!

Ok, I need to go get ready now for a private lesson that I've got scheduled for tomorrow morning.  Happy New Year to everyone again, and thanks for reading my blog!

Today's Thought:  http://www.knitpicks.com/ seems to be very knitters-oriented, but they have an amazing palette of yarns, so might be worth checking out http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Palette_Yarn__D5420132.html?intmedid=Bottom1:Palette+Colorwork

Tip 6 -- Changing Colors

If you are using multiple colors when crocheting an item, you're going to want to make the color changes as seamless as possible.  The easiest and best way to do that is to finish the last part of a stitch with the new color.  For example, if you're doing single crochet stitches and working with Color A, you'd insert your hook, yarn over, pull up a loop of Color A, then yarn over with Color B, and pull through a loop of Color B.  You're now ready to work in Color B.

Go Green

Well, of course, it's good to reduce your carbon footprint, but in this case, I'm really talking about plants. We went to the home and garden store last weekend and bought some great stuff. It took us an hour and a half to get everything repotted on the balcony, but I think it was worth it. We got parsley, mint, green peppers, jalapenos, and some flowers too. Did you know that the jalapeno plant is known to keep away the bugs, especially those tiny white flies that infest tomato plants?! Last year I discovered that by accident, but then read it in the newspaper. This time, we got perennials so that hopefully, they'll come back again next year.

Oh, and I got an article published by Triond! Like Associated Content, it allows you to submit articles for publication, but Triond will place it on a topic-related website. My article's about "How Yarn is Made" here.

Today's Thought: Happy 4th of July!!

Yak!

Ok, I think I'm running out of animals from whose down yarn can be made! Yaks are endangered animals from Tibet and the surrounding Himalayan region in Southeast Asia. Considering how unstable that region is and to help keep them from extinction, yaks are being sent to cold-weather regions for reproduction. Yaks produce two types of hair: a coarse outer coat, which is used for rugs and ropes, and a soft inner coat (the “down”), which has been compared to cashmere. Yak hair is extremely warm because yaks are used to subzero temperatures. It's quite laborious to produce yak yarn because the coarser hairs must be removed from the down to get usable yarn. Thankfully, there seem to be enough people around willing to put in the time!

Today's Thought: Next time you're in the mood for a home-made hamburger, try using ground buffalo meat instead -- it's much lower in cholesterol and fat than ground beef!

More Babies!

Well, more babies on the way! I know, I know, I still haven't finished the girl blanket (so close, I swear!), but now I find out there's a baby shower for a co-worker on June 11th! I'm sure I can whip up something between trying to create more patterns and finishing up the girl blanket. I'll of course keep you posted :-)

I don't know why I'm so fascinated by the different animals involved with yarn production, but the latest thing I've learned is that really thin wool used for making lace comes from Shetland sheep that trace back at least 5,000 years in Shetland, an archipelago off mainland Scotland. These sheep have a naturally colorful fleece that yields a really light wool. Because Norse settlements sprang up on the Shetland Islands around 800 C.E., you can see their influence on the knitting styles that come from that area: detailed lace patterns as well as intricate colorwork.

Today's Thought: Check out my recently published content on http://www.associatedcontent.com/: The Five Financial Mistakes Never to Make.