Yarncraft Podcast

I was on the road for work yesterday for a significant part of the day.  When I drive, I listen to all sorts of things, but I really enjoy listening to podcasts downloaded from iTunes.

 In December, I downloaded several episodes of YarnCraft, a podcast sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to listen to it until yesterday, so I listened to a holiday episode way after the holidays, but that didn't really make a difference in my enjoyment of the show.

I was really interested in how they would make knitting and crochet interesting in an audio-only format. I'm not sure what I expected, but what I heard was surprising.

Aside from the very poor audio quality (which I found strange because one would think that Lion Brand would be able to sponsor something a little clearer; heck, I could make a clearer audio), the podcast had me laughing within 5 minutes.  I wasn't laughing because it was particularly funny, but because it reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skit, The Delicious Dish. Here's one of my favorites:



No, the gals on YarnCraft didn't talk about Scweddy Balls, but they had that same low key, almost deadpan delivery as Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer on SNL. But I don't think they were trying to, and that's what made me laugh.

In spite of the monotone delivery and the poor audio quality, I still enjoyed the podcast.  Apparently, I am very easily entertained.

Practicing on Dish Cloths

I'm not a big fan of green living.  Actually, it's more accurate to say that I am not a big fan of making major inconvenient lifestyle changes just so I can say I'm living green.  That said, I'm all for helping the environment, within reason.

So, when I saw some patterns for dish cloths, I thought, "Hmmm. Could I make some of those?  Would my husband use them?  They can be thrown in the wash for cleaning and we'll save money on paper towels and help the environment, too.  It's a win-win."

It's really a win-win-win because I can practice new stitch patterns on them without worrying if I make a mistake.  It's just a dish cloth, right?

The photo here shows a few that I have made.  They knit up quickly and my confidence in trying new stitches on other projects has dramatically increased - and I'm not just knitting swatches for practice.  Not that I mind swatches, but my knitting time is so limited that I'd much rather be more productive.

(One of the cloths in the photo is dirty because it was on active duty in the kitchen at the time I wanted to take the picture. By tomorrow, it will be clean as a whistle.)

My husband loves the dish clothes! He's a very frugal guy, so anything that saves money is really good in his book.

I've also learned that those with raised patterns are more absorbent and scrub better (without scratching teflon or glass!). 

Gee, I sound like I'm trying to sell these things, but I'm really not.  But wait a minute...that's not a bad thought......

Cotton yarn and size 11 (or smaller) needles - that's all you need.  I suppose you could use larger needles, but at some point you want them to be less "holey" than more "holey," right?

So, that's my knitting tip for the day.  Practicing on dish cloths. Enjoy!

Posted with altBlogger.

A Quick and Easy Crochet Project

I found the pattern for this cute curlicue scarf on Ravelry.com. The instructions said it was "quick and easy," words that lead to me to be very suspicious these days. I'll tell you why in a minute.  First, let me tell you about the scarf.

Here's a link to the free pattern, but you don't need any more than this, really:

Work a row of loose chain as long as you want the scarf to be.
row 1 - work 3 dc into each chain
row 2 - work 2 dc into each stitch
row 3 - work 1 sc into each stitch

That's it.  Easy, huh? The pattern creator recommends using a novelty yarn for that third row to give it some personality (as if the corkscrew design doesn't give it enough personality).  As you can see from my picture, I chose to simply go with two alternating shades of blue. And I used plain old worsted weight Red Heart yarn.  Nothing expensive or fancy.

So, why am I suspicious of "quick and easy" patterns?  Because what is quick and easy for someone experienced with a crochet hook may not be quite so quick and easy for me.

But this pattern was telling the truth. You can't really go wrong when you stick to single crochet and double crochet in rows, can you? It took me a total of about 3 hours, but I made it way too long.  If I had made it a bit shorter, it would have taken about two hours.

Quick, easy....and cute. :-)

Red Ribbon

I made this scarf for a very good friend last month.  It was knitted with Lion Brand Homespun yarn (doubled - two strands held together) on size 15 needles using a basic garter stitch.  It knitted up very quickly and it came out better than I had hoped - soft, shiny.  It's a really beautiful piece.  I wish the picture did it more justice.

I continue to be amazed at how something gorgeous can be made from a very simple pattern. Yarn choice and love make all the difference.

Knitting Cables without a Cable Needle

This is genius!

Okay, maybe not genius, but it's pretty clever and a great solution for cabling if you don't have a cable needle handy or if you just don't want the hassle.