Tour de Fleece - get your wheels going by guest blogger Annie

Tour de Fleece - get your wheels going by guest blogger Annie

I can’t believe it’s the end of June and you know that for me and lots of other spinners that means it’s time for the Tour de Fleece! What is the Tour de Fleece? It’s a spin along on Ravelry with the Tour de France bicycle race! The goal is that each day the Tour races you also spin, when they take a rest day we take a rest day. If you’re competitive you can join one of the many teams on Ravelry, upload pictures of your progress and compete for prizes but here at Looking Glass we just do it for fun and bragging rights. This year the Tour runs from June 30 – July 22 with rest days on July 10^th & 17^th.  Those of you who are interested in watching the Tour De France can find daily coverage online or on NBC Sports network if you have basic cable or Dish.

I do like a bit of friendly competition but mostly this is just a fun way to concentrate some time on reducing the fiber stash. When I learned to spin I was very dedicated to spinning at least one evening a week, as time has passed I tend to only spin in fits & starts, usually only close to the monthly spinning group at the shop. The fact that I spin very little has not slowed my fiber acquisition, especially since the shop has so many really lovely hand dyed and special fibers for sale. One of my favorite fiber producers is Abstract Fibers and the shop carries quite a good selection from them in various blends including Alpaca/Silk, Merino/Alpaca, Merino/Silk, and on. 

Last year during the Tour I was able to reduce my stash by several pounds which allowed me to reward myself with several more. This year the goal is 10 pounds – yikes that is such a big number in print. I think if I get a good jump on it this week then I can maybe buy some new fiber to motivate me at the big anniversary sale next week!

A MAGAZINE FOR EVERY KNITTER by guest blogger Jana

A MAGAZINE FOR EVERY KNITTER by guest blogger Jana

Here’s a challenge for you: how many knitting magazines are available to you within, say, 20 miles of where you are right now? The answer is…well, there’s no way you could possibly count them. Just keeping track of the ones at Looking Glass is pretty overwhelming, and if you add in the ones you can find at newsstands or the fabric store, plus the online mags, you’d never get anything made if you tried to look at all of them. Is there a perfect magazine, the one that will fulfill you in the deepest way and to which you will always be true? Not for me, and I’ve looked at pretty much all of them at one time or another. But I am going to mention a few of my favorites (please keep in mind that Kay and Sheila have both, separately, called my taste in knitting patterns “odd”).

I will always be loyal to Vogue Knitting – admittedly in a sort of doggy, uncomplaining despite the short walks and lousy food way. Vogue Knitting was the first knitting magazine I ever saw (the very first issue of the new VK, back in the fall/winter of 1982). I’ve subscribed to it ever since, even when I was stone broke. Yes, there are usually lots of errors in the patterns. Yes, some of the patterns cross that fine line from fashionably trendy to what were they thinking? I don’t care. I like having a magazine that will reliably show me patterns I won’t find anywhere else. No other magazine published Tom Scott or Wenlan Chia (Twinkle) until after the bandwagon left the barn. Plus Elizabeth Zimmerman used to write for VK. I heart VK and always will.

Interweave Knits is, I find, consistent with the patterns I wouldn’t mind wearing and maybe would want to knit. Plus it has good articles and a great layout.

Rowan Magazine is more in the coffee table realm. I usually love the winter issues and hate the summer ones. I don’t care for Rowan Yarns and am well past the age demographic for many of the patterns. But it is always fun to see lacy frocks worn with wellies by a pale model strolling across the misty moor.

Knitscene is always entertaining, and usually has one or two patterns I like. The premier issue of Knitwear was a slam-dunk, and I’m hoping will continue. Debbie Bliss puts out pretty but not, to me, very interesting magazines. Verena burbles well over into the Eurotrash look, but the accessorizing of the knitwear is mucho caliente. I wish there were a reliable source for the German Rebecca around, because it has always been great.

Magazines I’m not crazy about: Knit ‘n’ Style, Simple Knitting, Creative Knitting, Knitter’s (oh, the horror of its color choices!), Simply Knitting, For the Love of Knitting. I realize I am alone in most of these opinions. And that’s ok. Like I said, a magazine for every knitter.

(I haven’t mentioned the online mags Twist Collective or Knitty. Both worthy, but I don’t follow them closely enough to have much of an opinion. My fellow guest blogger Annie seems crazy for both of them.)

Project Planning Organization by guest blogger Annie

Project Planning Organization  by guest blogger Annie

How do you plan your projects? I’ve heard that many knitters actually select a pattern and then go to their LYS to select the yarn, needles, notions necessary and then set to work. I’ve never been that organized in my knitting. I find patterns I want to knit while browsing Ravelry, magazines, or at knit night. If I find a pattern on Ravelry I will usually add it to my “queue” where it almost surely stays, forgotten about, until I see someone else knitting that pattern or wearing it. If I see a pattern in a magazine I’ll turn down the page and then set the magazine aside until 2-3 years later.

I buy yarn that I’m attracted to by color or feel, especially if it’s on sale and then stash it away while I wait for the “perfect” pattern worthy of the yarn comes along.  You can imagine this process has lead to quite a stash of yarn along with stacks of magazines and a rather large Ravelry queue.

This year I decided I needed to put an end to or at least curb this haphazard approach to knitting so I set out to knit from the stash and knit through my Ravelry queue. I set about entering as much of my stash as I could into the nice stash feature on Ravelry – this allows me to search what I have from the comfort of my desk rather than climbing amongst the yarn bins. I then went through all the patterns I had queued up and spent a chunk of time matching stash to pattern. I put all my purchased and loose patterns into three ring binders and placed sticky notes with ideas of which stash yarn to use for them. All this organization made me feel calm and serene until I realized that if I stick to the plan I would never be able to buy another skein of yarn since I likely have all I need for the rest of my life. I of course did what any sensible knitter would do then…..I walked around the corner to my LYS and bought some yarn with no plan and no purpose, just to settle my nerves.

Why do I want nothing but thick, chunky wool now that summer is here? By guest blogger Annie

Why do I want nothing but thick, chunky wool now that summer is here? By guest blogger Annie

Over the past week as the temperature has been rising and it’s now officially summer all I want to knit is thick, chunky wool. It started over the weekend when I was browsing through Knitting Everyday Finery by Mel Clark.

The first project in this book is a yummy thick cowl knit with 2 strands worsted weight held together and meant to be wrapped around the neck twice. I had to have it. I cast on right away with Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky in BLF. It is a lovely fast knit with a pattern that is interesting enough but still allows for some TV watching. I finished it in about 3.5 hours. My husband thought I had gone mad when I tried it on in the oppressive heat of our un air-conditioned home but I just had to feel lit on my neck. I don’t know if it was the heat, the yarn, or just the great experience I had with the pattern but it made me want to knit everything in the book. 

I still had a few skeins of the Rowan left over so I moved right on to the Barcelona hood & scarf. I’m altering it to be just a scarf as I won’t have enough yarn to do the hood and the shop doesn’t have any more in that color (but lots more in a lovely brown or charcoal if anyone is interested). It will still be a very nice squishy item. 

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I could understand my need for the warmth of wool if I worked in an over air-conditioned office so I wonder if any of you are furiously working away on heavyweight items now that summers here?

Posting on the fly by guest blogger Annie

Just checking out a new app for the iPhone which will allow us to blog from anywhere! We'll be able to blog from events and include pictures which I find far too exciting.

I'll have to try it from spinning group this Sunday.

THE JOY OF BOOKSHELVES By guest blogger Jana

THE JOY OF BOOKSHELVES

By guest blogger Jana

Recently two friends of mine gave me three large wooden bookshelves. They’re downsizing and deaccessioning (30 boxes of books!) and needed the space. I’ve been giggling with glee since the shelves arrived at my house. (Don’t worry, vaguely knitting-related content eventually follows).

Now of course I already had bookshelves to hold my forever books – the books I will reread throughout my life. But what these new bookshelves did was transform how I saw a previously unused room in my home and change how I am spending my time.

The previous owners of my house had converted a two-car garage into a third bedroom . I already use the middle bedroom as the yarn room (little sunlight to damage the yarn), but that third room was pretty much a dumping ground for junk (and occasional knitted item blocking area).

A few weeks ago I moved my desk (actually a large dining table) from the yarn room to the third bedroom with the idea that it would be handy for sewing in there (lots of natural light). But what to do with all my fabrics and the tee shirts I rework and the craft books and magazines and the sewing supplies?  I dislike keeping them in a closet – I’m very visual and want things where I can readily find them. The third bedroom was a mess – until the new bookshelves arrived. Suddenly that third bedroom has become a STUDIO! The shelves are perfect for storing all the things I need for sewing and artwork and designing – everything is out of a dark closet and into the light, neatly arranged on these immense shelves. I’ve become inspired with the possibilities and am finally actually spending time in this room.

And now there’s more space in the yarn room closet.

So vielen Dank to Vickie and Paul (sorry, neither one knits) for the shelves and for finally giving that unloved room an identity.

Vacations are for Knitting by guest blogger Annie

Vacations are for Knitting by guest blogger Annie

I’ve always felt that vacations are a great time to knit. Time on the plane equaled uninterrupted knitting time and then upon arrival at my chosen destination more time not complicated by the demands of everyday chores and obligations.  I just returned from my summer vacation and though I had 4 projects in my bag I was able to knit a mere 360 yards in a week! I had planned my packing well taking along the following projects: an adult sock yarn sweater which is both mindless and fun, a toe up pair of socks in a yummy cashmere blend, a Color Affection shawl which would demand a little more thought but not so much that I couldn’t watch a movie, and the 2^nd sock in a pair that were a present for a friend.  I thought all this should keep me well entertained and I would return home having made lots of progress.  

We all know what they say about best laid plans…..I barely touched my knitting the entire time I was away. This made me wonder if I’m alone in my vacation knitting delusions. Do you anticipate vast amounts of knitting time during vacation only to knit less than you normally do? How many projects do you take on vacation? 

I do know I’ll get a lot of knitting done tomorrow because it’s WWKIP day and we’ll be meeting from 10am – noonish at the Lucky Bean Café inside the old Borders store at Sanbusco. Come out and join us, they have tons of room, really good food and you can knit or spin as long as you’d like.