All Mended Again

A mending basket sounds like a piece of vintage nostalgia.  Rocking chairs. Quiet evenings by the fire.  Definitely not something hip and trendy! In fact, how many people would  even consider darning stockings? But then, have knitters ever been 'most people?' Recently, there has been a plethora of blogposts, tutorials, even contests on Ravelry encouraging people to mend and darn.

Initially I agreed with The Yarn Harlot's theory of holding said sock over the trash can and whispering, "oh darn," whilst dropping the well used knitwear.  After all, if you keep fixing them how do you justify making another pair (or 3)? I think it was Susan B. Anderson that finally changed my mind. Her (Video) made this look so easy! She sounded so relaxed while making all those little stitches and positively joyful with the result.  I had to give this a try.

But....my socks were a bit too far gone for this simple woven darn.  I found myself digging further.  Through a series of blogs, videos and various links I finally arrived at the article written by Kate Gilbert inTwist Collective on Mending socks. I would love to have one of the darning mushrooms made by her father.  Essentially, I ended up knitting a patch in place over the busted out heel.  A few kitchner stitches and I have a new pair of socks. And you know what! It was actually kind of fun!

With wear the ragged inside should felt into the patch. At the suggestion of several bloggers, including Susan B. Anderson, I took a deep breath and used a high contrast darning yarn.  I had plenty of the original left but if it didn't hold up the first time, why try the same thing again? Besides, this will be in my shoe-and the bright colors make me happy!

Now, I hope I get many more years of use out of all my hand knit socks. But, when they do wear thin, I might actually look forward to darning :)

Slow Progress

This time of year it seems everyone is at some stage of croupy sickness! Weather changes, being cooped up inside, whatever causes it. The only redeeming quality to this is the extra knitting time after its mostly gone. Nobody wants to have you attending meetings with a croupy cough (and this year's version has a cough that lasts forever!) and a raspy voice keeps you away from chior practice. So, while I didn't feel like looking at yarn for several days, now I'm using the forced evenings at home to catch up. Shoułd have several Finished Objects to display in the next couple weeks.

My favorite row counter, the Ablet.

A bit more organized now!

If you have listened to even one episode of The Knitmore Girls you know all about #OperationSockDrawer! It's an ongoing contest to make your personal drawer of socks contain a better supply of comfy, cozy, hand-knit socks.  Now, I have some but not many pairs from the typical Raveler's perspective.  Truth be told I wasn't all too sure what I owned.  And a picture of this particular dresser drawer is not something I would publish on Instagram! 

It was probably a normal middle-of-the-night-when-I-should-be-sound-asleep kind of thought. It's after Christmas and they usually have those ornament organizers at all the big box stores! Yup, they work quite nicely for socks!

New Year, New Skill:Project 365

Where have 2 years gone?! A couple moves, new job, Internet provider glitches...and general busy-ness.

However! I am hoping planning to do better this year. The plan, as plans often do, started out very innocently. A few weeks ago Craftsy had one of their marvelous sales and...

• I picked up the Basics of a Digital Photography course.
• I convinced my Dad that it would be safe to lend me his new camera. (!)
• Then, I listened to the last episode of The Dyers Notebook Podcast where Laura talked about participating in Project 365 as a way to focus on improving her photography skills.  

Having accomplished all the above, I ran myself out of excuses. So, this year I hope plan to take pictures as I work through the Craftsy class. Since many of my pictures will most likely be of yarny stuff, this seemed like a good bulletin board to pin the pictures to. I will throw in other treasures along the way. I'm sure there will be plenty of gardening shots with cameos of my chickens, bees and other assorted homesteady stuff as well. 

So, Let 2015 begin!

The story behind the skein:  For Christmas I flew to see my brother near Dallas, TX. He gamely took me to visit the Mad Tosh Crafts store in Ft Worth. Ooooh! So many pretties. I came home with (only) two skeins. This Twist Light will soon become socks. Now to get this beauty logged into my Ravelry stash...

World Sheep &Wool Festival: Bethel, MO

This Labor Day weekend I finally had my chance to visit the World Sheep and Wool Fesival in Bethel, MIssouri! ( And it only took 14years on my wish list to accomplish...) It was a bit of a last minute decision, so I didn't get to register for classes as I would have liked. Turns out it was a very small crowd this year. Partly due to finally getting the first hard rain of the Summer. Several instructors were not able to come because of flooding risk at their farms. With a cool misty rain all weekend, I was set to just get through it and mark this one off my ever growing list. Despite the odds, as usual at a fiber event, I had a great time!

The one class I was able to get into was Liz Mitcho's nearly famous "Dye your Buns" workshop. I've heard so many people talking about it, I grabbed the chance to sit in.

We played with overdyeing using the same dye on various color commercial yarns (much like we did in Peggy Doney's Triad class -see earlier post).

This is the method where you apply the dye, wrap in plastic wrap, roll into a colorful cinnamon roll like swirl and then microwave for a couple minutes. I was amazed that the fiber rinsed completely clear afterwards. The results were pretty great for being so low-tech!

 



 

 

 

 

Then we went over several methods of applying color to both yarns and roving. I think even I would be willing to attempt this at home. Thanks Liz!

Of course there were plenty of animals to look at and pet. I wanted so badly to bring home an angora rabbit - or three!

There were numerous sheep breeds, but no goats this year. Little tykes doing their best at mutton bustin'. Auctions throughout the day. The best lamburgers I've ever tasted by the local FFA. Then there was also plenty of time to sit in the tent and just enjoy spinning up some of my new purchases.



 

Shopping is always a given at these events. I was there along with Darlene and Judy of 'A Twist in Time', so that was our focus. The rain didn't help us, it gave new meaning to the term 'floating floor' in many booths. While we were all grateful to be under a tent, the fact that it was yellow made all the gorgeous colors off. But, we are fiber people and know how to make do! Vendors willingly allowed us to trott our selections outside for quick color checks. Given the circumstances, I thought everyone did a great job of not complaining or getting flustered. I met several new vendors and bought plenty of souvenirs.

Below is just one part of the Yarn Geek's roving display-along with some of her Shetland roving that found its way home with me.

There is more to tell of the weekend- including some other purchasing I did. That's enough for yet another post. I don't know if I will get back to Bethel again or not (so many good places on my list to see!) but I am glad for the chance to go at least once.

 

 

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