Yarnspinners Tales

This month's two podcasts come as a set-and are chocked full of holiday music. If you are in the mood for traditions and some of yarnspinners tales, check out the Christmas 2007 Traditional podcast. Be sure though to also check out the Non Traditional Christmas podcast, for some music that should put a smile on your face. As usual, the podcasts can be found here or clicking the link on the right side of this blog.

Happy Holidays everyone!

CW

This is the only Christmas knitting this year, a stocking for a customer's new grandchild:




This is about the sixth stocking I have knit and I think I am finally over my infatuation with them. I was knitting this one to a specific size, and had problems acheiving that size. After getting about 1/3 of the way through the first try, I knew it was just too large, and I started completely over with smaller needles. This one is just a smidge too large, and the next (she has another grandchild due in Jan) I made a note to use the a size smaller yet.

A second reason for starting over was that I had attempted to try a design with three colors instead of just two, and felt hopelessly tangled all the time and finally decided that was just too much stress knitting. So I went back to a basic two color stranding. Maybe another time, when I do not feel so much deadline pressure.

It feel very strange to knit a sock flat, yet, I tried starting this stocking in the round (the pattern recommends flat knitting) and gave up because I could see that the further I got down into the sock, the more difficult it would be to pull yarn for stranding and keep it moderately untangled. I gave up that idea, and knit it flat as suggested in the pattern. There's another reason I am glad I did that. This is knit in stockinette stitch and curls in on itself. There's no way the stocking would look good without a good pressing to stop the curl. Pressing this out before seaming had the same miraculousness to it as blocking lace, the stocking really became a nice piece of knitting, once the acrylic had been pressed.

Here's what I did this year with the two stockings I have knit for myself:

A new podcast for you, the link is here or click on the link to my podcasts in the side bar.


It's all about angora bunnies in this month's second podcast. In the first part I explain just how I harvest the fur from this lovely French angora buck. In the second part, I talk about one of my favorite subjects, raising an angora as a pet. It's a fiber bearing animal and it sits in your lap. What better pet could there be for a spinner.

In between there are some fun songs, all about, what else, rabbits.

Enjoy and talk to you in December, with lots of music for you to listen to as you maybe spin, or probably knit on those have to be done Christmas socks.

CW