Skip to main content

On stripes and gifts

I decided to put everything else aside and knit the gifts for my parents - after all I can finish the projectsl for myself anytime, but a handknitted gift is a timely thing. I went through the stash looking for 110 meters of yarn to use for my mother's slippers, but nothing grabbed me. Everything was either too short or mill dyed. When I look at commercially dyed yarn these days it just looks so flat and boring. I didn't really have time to dye something for her, so I took two skeins of hand spun that were not quite long enough and stripped them: I'm quite happy with how they came out and I am reminded - like I need to be - how satisfying knitting with my own handspun is.
For my father I am using yarn from the opposite end of the spectrum; self stripping yarn from Spotlight. Judge me not, I love Moda Vera Noir. It feels very like Opal except it is super cheap. And it wears like nothing on earth. My father has only one pair of handknit socks and he wears them all the time, so I'm going to make him socks for every present for a while so that he can rotate them and not wear them out, like he did the first pair I made him.
And if it seems like I might be obsessed with stripes, that's because I am.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Sonia18 December, 2011

    Love those stripes!

    One more gift to knit for me, I think I'm going to downsize from a felted bag to a crochet night mask… I'm desperately needing to knit for myself…

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Linky Wednesday - 3/2024

  It's been a bit of a week. Because of my hand , I can't really knit, so I'm doing some charity crocheting:  It's quite fun, but also I'm halfway through a shrug for myself, and I'd rather be knitting. Oh well, we can't always get what we want! In reading, I'm reading Stargazy Pie , the next Victoria Goddard. This is a comedy of manners and  lots of things happen. I can't say I feel deeply  about any of them, but that's not the point. It's fun.   I'm listening to Elin Hilderbrand's The Five-Star Weekend . It's got a lot of characters, and it took me while to get into it, but now I'm invested. Women's fiction at it's finest. Next up is a review book Tidelines by Sarah Sasson. Great cover. It's Australian, and you know how I love a local book (although I think it's set, or at least starts in Sydney). It's described as a coming of age  novel, and I love those too, so it sounds like a winner.  I just re-read t...
16 comments
Read more

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises. 
7 comments
Read more

Linky Wednesday - the one with the pause

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year!  In reading I've just finished  The Beckoning Lady   by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...
5 comments
Read more