Have Needles, Will Travel

But I don’t think TSA will allow me on a plane with these!

High Visibility Needles

These are the big needles (NOT spears!) I’ve been using to demonstrate casting on and the knit stitch to my large group of students in the Beast to Blanket class. One of the biggest challenges to this class is finding ways to help multiple students at the same time. I decided that trying to show the different steps of casting on and the knit stitch would just be too difficult for more than one or two students to see at the same time if I used regular needles.

These worked very well last week, especially since I knit several rows with white bulky yarn and then did my demonstration with red yarn. It made all those little movements show up very well. I didn’t think through the implications of the red yarn with the violent version of the knitting poem, though, until I was halfway through reciting it while knitting. Thankfully, the boys were too busy howling with glee to come up with any blood comments.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, I heard from one of the boy moms that night that while her son couldn’t remember the polite knitting poem I taught them first, he remembered every word of the violent version and proudly recited it for the family after dinner. Thankfully, it was after everyone was finished eating. I do love boys.

Incidentally, I think I could use these for handknitting a lace fence like this woman did, should I feel compelled. What do you think?

New Videos To Share!

Several of the moms have requested videos as the class has progressed, to make up missed classes or to help their students with finishing projects throughout the week.

This week we posted all my “How to Knit a Dishcloth” videos, which include everything you need to learn how to knit, including two different cast on methods, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, binding off, finishing, and counting garter rows. They’re free, short, there are no ads, and the link is on the same page as all the other free resources available here on this website.

If you’ve ever thought about learning how to knit, and you prefer learning from videos, I encourage you to give them a try! They’re made to teach someone to knit a square dishcloth, but that’s just a starting point. Once you have the basics, you can knit anything!

If you or someone you tell about them does happen to try them and has feedback for me, I’d love to hear it!

ICT Yarn Crawl

I took my own knitting on the road on Saturday during the Wichita area Yarn Crawl and had the pleasure of visiting with four yarn dyers in three spots.

Our first stop was Coast to Coast, which was not only full of Erin’s beautifully hand dyed yarn and other goodies, but was also hosting a trunk show and Kate of Red Door Fibre Studio.

Kate has a great story of transitioning during the pandemic from a career as a microbiologist to a full-time dyer. She’s inspired by pop culture references and perusing her colorway names would be an excellent way to review for the pink wedge questions in Trivial Pursuit that were always my downfall.

Coast to Coast was a good first stop, and it was hopping! I picked up a couple of Erin’s skeins (Jupiter and Potato colorways) to make a second Musselburgh Hat in worsted weight.

Next, we went to visit Jenny at her 316 Dye Studio and talk about what she’s been up to. We’ve been seeing her beautiful hand dyed work in local yarn shops all over the place, from Wichita to St. Louis. She’s looking forward to continuing her exciting work and education with organic dyeing and eco printing. She’s selling some fantastic kits people can use to learn the principles of eco printing, including dried flowers and sock blanks to try it all at home.

Finally, we went to El Dorado, to Amy K Designs, a boutique that hosts Amber Waves, a business in hand-dyeing run by Bekah. This shop and this dyer were both brand new to me, and it was delightful to meet both Amy and Bekah.

I enjoyed the complexity of some of Bekah’s colorways and am eager to see how they look when they’re knit. I picked up a couple skeins I’m looking forward to turning into socks in the near future.

It’s always exciting to discover a new local yarn shop, or other small business that serves a special interest that’s meaningful to us. Amy’s sign (pictured below) was an especially timely reminder to us, as we learned just recently that one of the local yarn shops we visited this last year will be shutting the doors on its brick and mortar store and shifting to online sales only. (She’s having a big online sale, and if you’d like to support her in this transition, you can do that here!)

Have you got a special local spot? How’s it doing these days? Our local coffee roaster has a sticker on one of its machines that says “Support Your Local Anything!” and I’m thinking of that more and more often.

March Madness Knitting

The other travel knitting this week was associated with my favorite time of the athletics year: college postseason basketball! This year, for the first time, I actually attended a tournament game! It wasn’t for my beloved alma mater, but for the local team and to support a family member associated with it. We didn’t end up with the win, but it was fun to go! And now I’m travelling virtually, with the assistance of my TV, watching all these amazing young athletes perform in the best tournament in sports.

I don’t even have a team in the hunt, really, so I’m hoping my tension won’t be too affected by close games or a broken bracket.

I always get a little nostalgic when it comes to arranging my bracket. When I was a kid, Dad would bring home Manila file folders and I’d use a ruler to draw blank brackets for our family. We’d watch the selection show and frantically write down all the teams in their proper places on the master bracket and then we could make our choices. I’d carefully watch the scoring updates throughout the first four days of the tournament so I didn’t miss any results, or if I did (gasp!), we’d figure them out based on what teams were getting matched up in the next round. It all seems so easy now! I can just watch, knit, make ignorant comments from the couch, and the internet will feed me the results at my convenience.

What are you working on today?

Happy knitting!

Kiersten J