Knittyprofs on Pinterest

If you've joined the Pinterest addiction, then you can check us out there, too. We're pinning inspiration, project ideas, and more.

Jordynn's board:


















Katie needs to start pinning.

We'll also start adding Pinterest links so you can pin our projects and patterns.

Knitting Travels: Gastonia, NC, and other Crafts

I've been out of town the past few days with my husband M.A.P., visiting his parents in Gastonia.

I've been wrestling with a knitting project, that must remain secret because it's off to a magazine as a submission when it's finished. I have knit and ripped this project 5 times now, which is a lot even for a trial-and-error designer like me. I had to set it down and take a walk today, and realized as I was walking that I had a bone-crunching headache--I didn't even notice the headache because I was so caught up in the project. My sister called as I was walking and I told her about the project, and she said, That doesn't sound like fun.

So true.

Question: Is knitting always supposed to be fun? If you knit a project for weeks on end and you feel frustrated, or even miserable, shouldn't you QUIT? I'm calling this knitter's angst. Has anyone else ever experienced this? What did you do to get over it?

While I've been here, I commandeered the garage and worked on some wood. A good break from yarn. Two bed-side tables that I inherited from friends, received a refinishing.

And my M.A.P., a fabulous carpenter/cabinet-maker, built custom cabinets for the laundry room we built.

That's a link to another blog I keep, where I've tracked the DIY construction work at our home. The thing is, crafting is crafting, right? So if I rehabilitate found furniture (like this) I can talk about it here, can't I? I added sewing a few posts ago, since fabric is fiber (right?). Well wood is fibrous too, isn't it? I'm kind of tired of keeping up with two blogs. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Um, like Jordynn?

My mother-in-law offered to take me to the local yarn shop one afternoon this week. It's really a yarn corner tucked into a frame shop. I bought a ball of sock yarn and some size 3 dpns (the size recommended on the ball band) but I should have bought 2s, because that's what Cookie A. always uses in her patterns. And I got to have me some of those socks.

Here's my mother-in-law shopping in the store, Things Remembered (isn't that also the name of a chain store in shopping malls?):

They have Berroco and Cascade mostly, and a few other things.

Here's my small haul:

I'm doing well keeping to my promise to support my knitting expenditures solely with knitting earnings. The paypal account looks small right now, though. I need to launch another pattern.

Coming up:
1. Durham Centerfest, where some knitting buddies and I will be selling knitting wares. If you're local come out and find us. We're called the Durham String Thing.

2. The N.C. State Fair. I'll be entering a project in the crafts category come September. (Another secret project. I hate not being able to share WIP pics on the blog.)

Spinning - The Story of my Dangerous New Addiction

Sunday, 10:30am. At my local knitting circle that I went to for the first time on a lark I learned about spinning on a hand spindle. I learned that they're not all called "drop spindles"-- some are "high whorl" and some are "low whorl." Who knew? Not me.

2:00pm. After some research, I learned that I would prefer the high whorl kind. So then I looked on the internet for how to make one. I knew I had some bamboo straight needles at home that I'll never use again, so I went straight from the knitting circle to Home Depot.

3:00pm. Compiled Materials.


3:05pm. (Seriously). High whorl spindle assembled. (In a later post, I will give detailed directions for how I did this. I made up my own design using materials I had on hand. It was stupid easy.)


3:06pm. Pulled out balls of yarn I'd recycled from two thrift-store sweaters, watched some demo videos on YouTube (search "ply spindle" keywords) and spun some yarn while watching the movie "Stand By Me" on TiVo.

(Ace: "What are you gonna do, shoot us all?" Gordie: "No Ace, I'm just going to shoot you.")


4:00pm. Read Knitty.com article on dying wool with food coloring, then got out the food coloring I had on hand and a small bottle of vinegar and heated up some water. Dyed first skein of wool. Meanwhile, still spinning.

8:00pm. Spun four 25oz-ish skeins of yarn, set in hot water, dyed, and hung up to dry.


I'm using the yarn to make Quant.