the blue blog archives: like I need more yarn

First, fellow Knitsmith, Dava, gave me a big, beautiful skein of purple yarn to go with the green tweed I got at our yarn swap. They complement each other perfectly! I love it! In exchange I'll be giving her some leftover Lamb's Pride. She's going to make a real cool sweater out of scraps of different colored Lamb's Pride. I think it's gonna be sort of like the magic ball idea that I've heard Kaffe Fassett has used.

Then, a representative of Boston Healthcare for the Homeless stopped by at Knitsmiths on Sunday and offered us some wool yarn that had been donated to the shelter in exchange for acrylic yarn. Many of the women who come there crochet and the shelter offers them yarn to make themselves afghans and warm stuff. They can't really use genuine wool, since they need something which requires very little care. So I went to Michael's and picked up some nice looking Red Heart and Lion Brand to exchange for 10 balls of this Irish tweedy wool.

And as you know, I went to Wild & Wooly to check out their winter clearance sale. They had some wonderful yarn there, but I was good. I was sooooo tempted though. They had some beautiful Cash Iroha from Noro (25% off!!), but I rather reasonably explained to myself that a cashmere/silk blend is perhaps not ideal for a mother of two toddlers. Then there was the Sisik from Dale that I kept coming back to, but my conscience told me that I already have two projects worth of tweedy wool wedged under the bed as it is, so I resisted. There was also a little bag of Pinguoin yarn in assorted pale pinks and reds, just enough for to make a beautiful sweater for a little girl, which I don't have, so there was no justifying that. And when I found some boy colors I recalled that this year is already booked as far as sweaters for the boys is concerned. But as KnitDad so succinctly wrote in the comments yesterday, "like, what's the point" if you're not going to buy anything? Right on, Larry! So I bought this luscious all season's cotton to make this little number from the new Rebecca.

That's not too bad, right? It seems that I was just good enough that the server gods have forgiven me for whatever offence it was that caused them to shut me down for a day and I'm fully-operational here again. Whoopee!

posted by alison at 8:15 am | in just blogging 03 , ribby cardie , tank girl

Comments

Alison, I have some lovely acrylic that needs a good home, will you be sending the stash or will the representative come pick it up?

Posted by: Amy at January 10, 2003 9:44 AM

Hi Amy! I've already sent my yarn on its way, but I can email you the address and you can make your own donation. It really does sound like a good program and a great way to put some yarns you might not be so excited about to good use.

If anyone else out there is interested in donating some acrylics, just let me know and I'll send you the address.

Posted by: alison at January 10, 2003 10:25 AM

alison, could you please e-mail me with the information for donating my acrylic yarn?
Thanks!
Also, I've never left you a comment before, but I read your blog almost everyday and am impressed with your beautiful knitting!

Posted by: preeti at January 10, 2003 10:50 AM

I'm not just saying this ,but... I have a thing about purple and green - although I favour emerald green and teal. Purple and green are the Suffragette colours = a happy coincidence !
I really like All Seasons Cotton ,and have a tunic sweater that is waiting to be knitted. I made the front panel [ it's then knitted out to the cuffs] /swatch [ ;-] ] ,then got too busy to concentrate on it.

Posted by: Emma at January 10, 2003 12:04 PM

I haven't tried the All Seasons cotton yet. We have some at Skein so maybe I'll try that out later today. Ann Mary didn't buy any bright colors, which I think was a mistake. We haven't sold any of the yarn so far. (Could be the colors.) Strange but true. Cotton yarns don't do all that well in So. Calif.

Posted by: Larry at January 10, 2003 12:41 PM

I didn't know green and purple were suffragette colors! Wow, how cool! I just love them because they make me think of Irises.

Love your blog - have fun!

(I really should be sketching and swatching, and here I sit 'visiting'!)

Posted by: Annie at January 10, 2003 12:51 PM

ooh, I love All Seasons Cotton! it's so nice to work with, & it makes such gorgeous fabric. I used it for a sweater for One a little over a year ago, & it has done an excellent job surviving toddler-life: it hasn't held any stains (even though it's light grey!), it does well with machine washing, & it made it through at least one accidental tumble-dry with only minor shrinkage.

Posted by: daria at January 10, 2003 1:20 PM

Alison, I would love to donate some acrylic yarn, too. Please forward the address and I'll pass it around my knit group as well. BTW, I am the proud owner of that beautiful bag of Pingouin pinks you mentioned. I received quite a bit of attention as I walked the streets of Lexington with my clear bag of luscious looking yarn. Made me feel like a very crafty lady indeed. The hubby spotted the bag and said "It looks like candy!" I have a little girl after two boys, so you never know ~ your future could include pink knitting, too :)

Posted by: kerstin at January 11, 2003 7:33 PM

Thanks Daria for letting me know about All Season's Cotton. It sure is lovely, so I'm glad to hear that it's also pretty durable.

And how neat is it to know who bought those little treasures I passed up at the sale?! I'm sure you'll make something beautiful, Kerstin.

Posted by: alison at January 12, 2003 7:22 AM

I, too, would like to donate yarn that is just taking up space in my closet and could instead be put to good use by someone. Please advise as to where I could send it. Thank you
S. Zarins

Posted by: Silvija Zarins at February 1, 2003 5:07 PM