by Susan
I’m rearranging my stash and trying to get some semblance of order established (don’t ask me what I’m supposed to be doing, that’s far too embarrassing a question).
I’ve packed away yarn in various bins, one for good stash (OK, I admit it, several), one for the charity knits, one for “what on earth was I thinking?” one for “maybe life as we know it will end I’d better hang onto this just in case”, one for...well, you get the picture. It didn’t seem like an excessive amount of yarn - as long as you ignore the stuff already packed away in various nooks and crannies. Tidily arranged in baskets and used as decorative accents doesn’t count, by the way.
It seemed logical to put the projects I was working on onto the table while I filled and stacked the bins. After a couple of landslides it occurred to me that maybe the table was full, so I started piling current projects on the chair as well. When that was full I decided to count just how many things I had on the go. No, I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to guess. I’ll give a prize to the first person to come up with the exact figure, but to collect you have to confess your number of UFO’s. In public.
At what point, do you think, do current projects become abandoned projects? How long do you have to leave them?
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Reply to this post with your guess of the number of Susan's UFO's. We'll collect your responses for a week and announce the winner next Thursday. The prizewinner's UFO number will be published that day.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
News from Pam
The Twist blog will now feature entries from our entire staff - instructors, shop assistants, and FOT (Friends of Twist.) Today, Pam will tell us about her recent knitting class and has a couple of great tips! Pam is a knitting and crochet instructor, and is the person who helps on Wednesday afternoons when you bring in your projects with questions.
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I am just back from my class with Lucy Neatby, at Wildflower in Manhattan. What a class it was! We learned how to knit a tube on flat needles. I am sure lots of you already know how to do that; I knew how to do that too. But she went somewhat beyond the basics. I had never thought about knitting glove fingers in a flat tube, but that sure beats doing them on double-pointed needles! She also suggested we could use flat tubes for doll or bear clothes, not to mention the doll or bear itself. She has a free tutorial on her website for a double-knit bag for an mp3 player (or iPod). Shelly has Lucy's instructional DVDs in the shop.
The other thing that made Lucy's class "interesting" was the weather. It was raining cats and dogs, when one of the student's husband called to tell us we were under a tornado watch. The only word that several of the students heard was "tornado" and they were through with class. They packed up and left. Lucy is from Nova Scotia, and doesn't know the first thing about tornadoes. But she was nervous after a third of the class got up and left. I couldn't figure out the extreme reaction until I realized that Manhattan got hit by a tornado last year. We finished the class promptly at 5, and I think Lucy was ready to leave about 5 minutes after we were done. Hopefully if she ever comes back to Kansas we won't have such awful weather.
All of you who haven't joined the vintage underwear KAL (Knit-A-Long) are missing a great group! Not all of us are knitting underwear; I am adapting a pullover sweater out of the pattern for the teal bed jacket. The jacket itself makes a great spring/fall cover-up. Cori is knitting a slip pattern into a night gown, and if we used heavier yarn, that pattern would make a cute slip dress. Don't worry about not being able to size up a pattern or change the yarn used. I will be glad to help you get the size and the yarn you want to use with the pattern you like. (You know that office Christmas party? Some of these patterns would make a dress that would make you be the star of the party!)
We started a CAL (Crochet-A-Long) with "plarn" last Saturday. Plarn=plastic yarn. We're making our plarn with strips of plastic grocery bags. Then we're crocheting them into durable market bags. The ultimate recycling!
I am still making plarn. I decided I didn't want to start making my bag until I had enough plarn to finish it. Truth be known, lots of people on the internet have said it is hard to actually crochet the bags because of the big hooks, and the plarn doesn't stretch or give like regular yarn, but Lee and LeeAnn dove right in and started crocheting. Neither of them were having many problems. Lee said it is slower than using regular yarn, and maybe that is what people are talking about when they say plarn is hard to use. Even if you don't want to crochet or knit - yes, I do have a knitted pattern with plarn - join us! You could also use kitchen cotton to make a bag or two. Shelly has some great colors of worsted weight cotton yarn, and your bag could have stripes or a design on it. The main thing, though, is that if we all made re-usable bags to take to the grocery store we could stop some of the non-biodegradable trash in the landfills. And its a whole lot more enjoyable crocheting/knitting with a fun bunch of people!
The Recycled Market Bag CAL meets every Saturday through April, May, & June from 11:00-1:00.
Speaking of recycling, there is super blog out in cyberspace: My Recycled Bags. She has links to patterns that use old VCR tapes, cassette tapes, soda pop tops, and plastic bags. It is quite a collection and worth a look.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
I am just back from my class with Lucy Neatby, at Wildflower in Manhattan. What a class it was! We learned how to knit a tube on flat needles. I am sure lots of you already know how to do that; I knew how to do that too. But she went somewhat beyond the basics. I had never thought about knitting glove fingers in a flat tube, but that sure beats doing them on double-pointed needles! She also suggested we could use flat tubes for doll or bear clothes, not to mention the doll or bear itself. She has a free tutorial on her website for a double-knit bag for an mp3 player (or iPod). Shelly has Lucy's instructional DVDs in the shop.
The other thing that made Lucy's class "interesting" was the weather. It was raining cats and dogs, when one of the student's husband called to tell us we were under a tornado watch. The only word that several of the students heard was "tornado" and they were through with class. They packed up and left. Lucy is from Nova Scotia, and doesn't know the first thing about tornadoes. But she was nervous after a third of the class got up and left. I couldn't figure out the extreme reaction until I realized that Manhattan got hit by a tornado last year. We finished the class promptly at 5, and I think Lucy was ready to leave about 5 minutes after we were done. Hopefully if she ever comes back to Kansas we won't have such awful weather.
All of you who haven't joined the vintage underwear KAL (Knit-A-Long) are missing a great group! Not all of us are knitting underwear; I am adapting a pullover sweater out of the pattern for the teal bed jacket. The jacket itself makes a great spring/fall cover-up. Cori is knitting a slip pattern into a night gown, and if we used heavier yarn, that pattern would make a cute slip dress. Don't worry about not being able to size up a pattern or change the yarn used. I will be glad to help you get the size and the yarn you want to use with the pattern you like. (You know that office Christmas party? Some of these patterns would make a dress that would make you be the star of the party!)
We started a CAL (Crochet-A-Long) with "plarn" last Saturday. Plarn=plastic yarn. We're making our plarn with strips of plastic grocery bags. Then we're crocheting them into durable market bags. The ultimate recycling!
I am still making plarn. I decided I didn't want to start making my bag until I had enough plarn to finish it. Truth be known, lots of people on the internet have said it is hard to actually crochet the bags because of the big hooks, and the plarn doesn't stretch or give like regular yarn, but Lee and LeeAnn dove right in and started crocheting. Neither of them were having many problems. Lee said it is slower than using regular yarn, and maybe that is what people are talking about when they say plarn is hard to use. Even if you don't want to crochet or knit - yes, I do have a knitted pattern with plarn - join us! You could also use kitchen cotton to make a bag or two. Shelly has some great colors of worsted weight cotton yarn, and your bag could have stripes or a design on it. The main thing, though, is that if we all made re-usable bags to take to the grocery store we could stop some of the non-biodegradable trash in the landfills. And its a whole lot more enjoyable crocheting/knitting with a fun bunch of people!
The Recycled Market Bag CAL meets every Saturday through April, May, & June from 11:00-1:00.
Speaking of recycling, there is super blog out in cyberspace: My Recycled Bags. She has links to patterns that use old VCR tapes, cassette tapes, soda pop tops, and plastic bags. It is quite a collection and worth a look.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Speaking of Vintage Knits
This is from dear friend & customer, Pat - a link to the Victoria & Albert museum in England. Their website features free vintage patterns from a book called, "Essentials for the Forces" by Jaeger.
Check out the other great items in the knitting section of the website -
Check out the other great items in the knitting section of the website -
- A history of regional knitting
- Stories of learning to knit from around Britain
- A free pattern for knitted art (funny!)
- Pictures of knitted items and knitting-related art in the V&A collection.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Knitting Daily TV!
Great news! Twist is going to start underwriting Knitting Daily, the TV show on public television!Knitting Daily airs on our local public television station, KPTS, on Fridays at 2:00.
Our underwriting message will start airing next Friday, April 24th.
Woot!
While I'm tooting this horn, I'll remind you that we also faithfully support our public radio station, KMUW, and the spring pledge drive starts Friday. Give today, plant trees in our parks!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
In Which My Nerd Shines Through
I'm a major fan of the Slate podcast, Political Gabfest. It comes out once a week on Fridays, and I get to the shop early, download it, and knit and listen (my little Friday morning treat.) One of the commentators, Emily Bazelon*, mentioned she's a knitter! Oh, little me, I was so excited.
*Emily is one of my all-time favorite columnists - she often writes about the Supreme Court and national politics. She is flippin' smart and insightful.
*Emily is one of my all-time favorite columnists - she often writes about the Supreme Court and national politics. She is flippin' smart and insightful.
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