Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

The experiment with Jacquard acid dyes taught me one thing quite clearly — acid dyes are not great on Texsolv. I should have known this already, as I know acid dyes work on animal fibers (wool, silk) but not on plant fibers (cotton, linen). While acid dyes work on nylon (think sock yarn), they aren't great on polyester. Texsolv heddles and cords are polyester. So, maybe the answer was to find a dye that works on polyester? Of course, I started by looking at The Woolery, Paradise Fibers, Yarn Barn of Kansas, Susan's Fiber Shop, Earth Guild, and other usual suspects. Not a lot of luck. It turns out, the answer was almost in my own backyard about three miles away at Hobby Lobby and WalMart. Let me preface this by saying I rarely go in either of these stores. In particular, I probably hadn't been in that super WalMart in close to a decade. I'm almost surprised the bank didn't call to ask if my debit card had been stolen after I shopped in both places the same week. They...

We all have those moments when we don't think things through. Right now, I'm working on a versa lace circle jacket. It is lace weight yarn on 60-inch Addi needles. Most yarn shops do not carry the 60-inch length. Even many of the online retailers either do not carry the length or they carry it only in the larger-sized needles. I, of course, somehow came up with a project that needed a couple of 2.5mm needles in the long length. I had to order them from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington. Yes, even Webs (yarn.com) did not stock long Addi needles in the fine lace sizes. I'm working on a versa lace project. I am knitting it center-out, growing the project to the desired size. The yarn is changing gauge when wet-blocked, so I'm dunking the project as I go and checking what size it really is. A couple weeks ago, I did this in the evening around 6 or 7 PM. I had three needles in the project — two of the working size and a third even smaller even harder-to-find size I...

I've written a little bit about exhibiting knit and crochet . One of the reasons quilting is taken seriously as an art form is that quilters exhibit their work. They also keep records. If a scholar wants to research the connection between a quilt pattern and a particular group of people in a particular time and place, there is the possibility they can do so. Even if a quilt is in poor condition, non-quilters recognize its value. They appreciate that time and skill were involved in its creation. But if you have ever crawled the aisles of a second-hand store such as Goodwill, you will see that non-knitters and non-crocheters do not always recognize the value of the work. It is not uncommon to find a crocheted afghan languishing in a second-hand store. Not all of these are great works of art, but they are the result of time and skill. Very often they are a physical manifestation of love. Keeping records of what we've made and exhibiting those items as works of fiber art are th...