There really isn't any real need to knit when you live in SoCal. It never really gets so cold you'd need anything other than a sweater to live comfortably here. Even sweaters should be light, since the coldest I can remember it ever being here was 32 degrees, and that was late night/early morning only. And only a few times in my 62 years of living here. Mostly, our winters here, which begin in December and sort of peter out in early Feb, run around the 50s, with dips into the high 40s at night.
So, cowls, hats, scarves, mittens, etc. have no real use, here. And yet, I really want to knit cowls and small shawls, a few scarves, and even a few hats. And fingerless mitts, too. (Those I can use, since it gets really, really cold on my hands when sitting at my computer in the winter. My computer sits in the direct path of a draft.) I love knitting sweaters, but almost always I love the big, complicated sweaters, with cowl necks or turtle necks, long sleeves -of course-, and lots of cables or complex stitch patterns. Just the sort of sweater I don't really need, living in sunny SoCal. The very first thing I ever knit was an Aran, cables front, back and on the sleeves. (I didn't know they were considered hard, so I just thought it was fun.) I wore it for years.
I get discouraged, though, limiting myself to sweaters all the time. I love knitting them, but there's no instant gratification available, and I find that as I get close to finishing my interest just dies. Like with my latest sweater. My own design, based on a stitch pattern I found in Up, Down, Around. It's been sitting in its bag for weeks, with just the last few rows of the back and the sleeves to go.
I've made myself a promise that I will not start another project until that one is completely finished ~ wearable finished, not just the knitting. And I'm finding it incredibly hard to keep that promise. I've bought new yarns, new patterns, gone through my currently owned patterns, and I keep wanting to cast on for a pretty cowl, or interesting small shawl, and even a couple of other sweaters. I have done swatches for a bunch of the yarns I have, to get an idea of what they may want to be. I haven't cast on, yet, but it's becoming more and more difficult to stick to that promise. And why don't I just pick up the sweater on my needles and finish it? I don't know. I just don't feel like it. I look at it every day and think, "I really need to finish that", but I just don't. I like the sweater, I like the yarn, and it's not a difficult project, now that I've worked out all the details (neckline, armholes, sleeve caps), but I just haven't picked it up and done it.
The last thing I knit to completion was a tank, back in July. Simple, fast, and wearable. I tried to knit another tank top, but the pattern for it had too many problems in it, and I got too frustrated trying to solve them to even want to knit it. So then I played around and finally decided to design my own, which is now sitting in time-out, reproaching me daily for ignoring it. And the siren song of a new project is whispering in my ears daily.
May your knitting bring you joy and happiness, whether it's through the process or the product.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
The Passing of a Great Yarn Website
I received some sad news a little while ago. In about a month ~ November 15, 2014, one of my favorite websites for yarn and free patterns will no longer exist. Elann.com is closing its website and brick and mortar warehouse, and moving all its yarns to Amazon.com (us, ca, and a few other Amazon sites). I absolutely hate this. Hate it!
I love Amazon. I am a Prime member. Have been for years. But I love Amazon for its books. I don't buy anything else from Amazon, for the most part. An occasional CD, or I watch a movie on the site, but it is overwhelmingly my source for books.
I'm not sure if this move means that Elann will no longer be producing their "tasting and testing" yarns. I've bought a ton of those, and I love them. They are made exclusively for Elann, and they come with a lot of information you don't find on a regular yarn tag ~ micron count, for instance. And Elann takes our feedback on these yarns to decide if they should keep or let go of these yarns. How could that work on Amazon?
When I first started buying yarn online, Elann was the only place I could find great yarn. They would send samples of the yarns coming up for the next month, so you could hold them in your hand, knit them up in small swatches. (you had to pay for a subscription for this, but it was so worth it!) You got credits for buying (knitting) books, which you could use to discount your yarn purchases. And every $500 spent there got you a $50 gift certificate. Yah, I know it's only 10%, but it was still a kick when their tally hit the number, and you got told you now had $50 to spend on anything. They also did a random drawing, and the person who won got a gift certificate for however they'd spent during that month. I won once, and I never win anything!
They shipped everything US Priority Mail, so the wait was never very long. They offered a chat room (pre-Ravelry) where you could drop in and chat about knitting and just about everything else (minus politics and religion, of course). Just a couple of months ago I used their "Desperately Seeking" feature to find a skein of yarn I needed for a sweater, and the person who responded actually worked there, had exactly the skein I needed, and sent it to me (from Canada to So. California) for free, just asking that I would pay it forward some day. How do I do that once their site no longer exists?
I am just so totally bummed that they are going. I am seriously going to miss them. They offered terrific discounts on yarn, had their own delicious line of yarns, offered so many perks for shopping there. I wish there was something I could do to keep them operating on their own, and not become part of the monolithic Amazon reality. With the world of knitting growing so enthusiastically, I don't understand the logic of this move. They could have raised their prices a bit if it was the economy (Is Canada's economy tanking?). Charged a bit more for shipping, because I am sure they undercharged for it. ($5 for shipping 15 skeins of wool from Canada (or Washington state, where they have/had another warehouse) to SoCal? I don't think so. Ann and Robert Cannon-Brown are terrific people, and I'm sad to see them go. I wish them all the joy and happiness in the world, while I mourn the passing of their company and website.
I love Amazon. I am a Prime member. Have been for years. But I love Amazon for its books. I don't buy anything else from Amazon, for the most part. An occasional CD, or I watch a movie on the site, but it is overwhelmingly my source for books.
I'm not sure if this move means that Elann will no longer be producing their "tasting and testing" yarns. I've bought a ton of those, and I love them. They are made exclusively for Elann, and they come with a lot of information you don't find on a regular yarn tag ~ micron count, for instance. And Elann takes our feedback on these yarns to decide if they should keep or let go of these yarns. How could that work on Amazon?
When I first started buying yarn online, Elann was the only place I could find great yarn. They would send samples of the yarns coming up for the next month, so you could hold them in your hand, knit them up in small swatches. (you had to pay for a subscription for this, but it was so worth it!) You got credits for buying (knitting) books, which you could use to discount your yarn purchases. And every $500 spent there got you a $50 gift certificate. Yah, I know it's only 10%, but it was still a kick when their tally hit the number, and you got told you now had $50 to spend on anything. They also did a random drawing, and the person who won got a gift certificate for however they'd spent during that month. I won once, and I never win anything!
They shipped everything US Priority Mail, so the wait was never very long. They offered a chat room (pre-Ravelry) where you could drop in and chat about knitting and just about everything else (minus politics and religion, of course). Just a couple of months ago I used their "Desperately Seeking" feature to find a skein of yarn I needed for a sweater, and the person who responded actually worked there, had exactly the skein I needed, and sent it to me (from Canada to So. California) for free, just asking that I would pay it forward some day. How do I do that once their site no longer exists?
I am just so totally bummed that they are going. I am seriously going to miss them. They offered terrific discounts on yarn, had their own delicious line of yarns, offered so many perks for shopping there. I wish there was something I could do to keep them operating on their own, and not become part of the monolithic Amazon reality. With the world of knitting growing so enthusiastically, I don't understand the logic of this move. They could have raised their prices a bit if it was the economy (Is Canada's economy tanking?). Charged a bit more for shipping, because I am sure they undercharged for it. ($5 for shipping 15 skeins of wool from Canada (or Washington state, where they have/had another warehouse) to SoCal? I don't think so. Ann and Robert Cannon-Brown are terrific people, and I'm sad to see them go. I wish them all the joy and happiness in the world, while I mourn the passing of their company and website.
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