Monday 9 February 2009

Knitting

Suddenly I feel as though I should learn how to knit. Preferably this evening. I know that it's not a road I should go down, as I will then have to learn how to spin my own yarn, then learn how to dye it, then have to start keeping sheep to support my habit (I really hope that I am exaggerating here), but I want to start a small gauntlet selection, some of which must be in very soft wool (silk will do, of course), and some of which must be in very sturdy wool. As I do not want to buy these, I shall have to make them myself.

Of course, I do not have any knitting needles, nor any wool I would use for knitting: the only stuff I have is ribbon substitute, for adding the finishing touch to wrapped soaps/presents/truffles. It is all synthetic and a lot of it changes colour as it goes along; this is an effect I really love in the wool itself, but I find the effect it gives to finished garments really irritating.

The plan is this: tomorrow I shall go go the charity shop to see if they have any knitting needles. If they do, I need to find some wool (either as a ball from there, or from a garment from there which is made from good wool, but which is not very pretty). If they do not, my plan is scuppered for a bit. I really want to have a scarf underway by the time I go to visit the parents on Friday (HWSNBN can drive while I knit) so that I can learn some basic stitches again. Once I have mastered that, I can then attempt gauntlets. Because they will be very easy, I am sure.

HWSNBN will, of course, be delighted for me to find a whole new hobby just before we move house. If I keep it to one pair of needles and a couple of balls of wool it should be manageable...

2 comments:

Lisa Moon said...

Oh, dear... it is a slippery slope from casual stiching to ouright wool-junkihood! Be warned!!!

However, I must say I rather fancy the results, often; a friend of mine quite took to it quickly (the lucky thing) and quite promtptly made a gorgeous, 'professional' looking touque (this is a Canadian term, I think, meaning a round-headed hat for winter, generally knitted).

Optistatic said...

Yeah. I have been looking at wool online and am very tempted to splurge. There are a couple of issues, though. Firstly, I have bought one pair of needles, and one pair only. Now I need to buy wool which can be knitted using 5mm needles. Turns out I should have done it the other way round! Well, you live and learn.

The other issue is that I appear to have lost coherence and comprehensibility.

I think that I may well inherit Nana's knitting needles, so I don't want to buy too many only to have a whole new deluge of needles in what will probably not be a massively long time.

What was my point? No idea. Isn't pretty, soft wool nice?