28 February 2013

What would the knitwits do? A post by guest blogger Kelly Lightbeam

What would you do if you had a very special skein of yarn that refused to be knit into anything???

I have tried the Ginkgo shawlette, Balm for the Soul shawlette, and the Holden shawlette.  I have ripped this out so many times...I have *almost* completed the Holden shawlette, but I don't love it. 

Would you rip out a perfectly good knit?  I am thinking I would try the Swallowtail shawl next, but am hesitant to frog this sucker, since I worked so hard on it.  Also, I hate knitting for nothing. 

The problem with this skein is that it is small, 360 yards, but it goes a lot farther than you'd think it would, since the yarn is Handmaiden silk and cashmere, and is knit on smaller needles to keep the stitches from flopping around.  After knitting the Holden shawlette, I still have half a ball of yarn!  Another problem with this yarn is that I bought it on vacation, paid a lot of money for it and it has the sweetest memories attached to it, and I cannot bring myself to give it away.  Le sigh, if my biggest problem in life is that I have an uncooperative ball of yarn, things can't be too bad, but I'd love some advice!

10 comments:

  1. hmmm ~ a riddle ;)

    let's see what everyone can come up with! chime in everyone with any ideas you have for Kelly!

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    1. Thanks Mel! By the way, remember when I said I'd be back to the west coast sooner or later? Turns out to be August 2014. I have a conference in Seattle ;)

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  2. so exciting!!! we'll have to come kidnap you if you can squeeze us in and take you to a few of our favorite haunts...maybe The Artful Ewe and Churchmouse (type either in the search engine and you'll find more than one blog post with photos to drool over!)

    let's plan on it!!

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  3. I'd take it out if I won't enjoy it...your yarn sounds "Chocolat Bar" if you don't already know the story of Dylan Siegal and his best friend Jonah, google it...I'm always on the hunt for my version of the perfect PNYC( pattern,needle,yarn combination) I'll think about it tonight, I work at the yarn shop tomorrow and see what I can come up with~ would be so fun to meet you next summer!


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  4. Yes, you're absolutely right. I think I just needed to hear that from someone else ;). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, and I already got a few from Mel.

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    1. I would love to meet you girls in person, and to get to go yarn shopping together ~ dream come true!

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  5. Oh goodness, I think we all face this problem at some point in our knitting careers. I think that the best plan of action would be to either send it back to the stash until a pattern jumps out at you or since it has sentimental value, maybe you could skein it and use it as decoration?

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  6. Good call! I am feeling better about tearing out a finished project...

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  7. Hi Kelly, Do you like Ishbel by Ysolda Teague? or Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding? I think Little Shells, by Holly & Ella Knits would look nice. I think Sivia Harding has a few other 1 skein little shawls to look through. I have 340 yards of Kiviet that I can't wait to use,I think I've decided on Honeycomb by Churchmouse. FYI: Does everybody know that Churchmouses newsletter has a free pattern in it every issue? So if you havn't, sign up for it, it's a worth-while newsletter to get in the mail and/or online~
    I'm excited to see what you knit. Thanks for letting us be apart.

    Kelli

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