Jan
11
2010
Home By Christine Eclavea Mercer | 1 comment

Acrylic Yarn is Yukky

It seemed like a good idea to try knitting with acrylic yarn. It’s cheap and available. And those seem like two of the most important factors in any new hobby decision. Because, if I could not get the needles to manipulate the yarn, no need for expensive yarn and needles.

As it turns out, the acrylic yarn feels gross, splits, and doesn’t show any kind of pattern. After I switched to cotton yarn; and made three small dishcloths in different patterns, I tried the acrylic yarn again. It is soft. And I like the color. I still think it feels yukky and is difficult to manipulate. I knitted about ten rows of a ribbed scarf pattern before I made the final decision to chuck the yarn. So, into the donate pile it goes.

I got the circular knitting needles that I ordered for my birthday, from Knitpicks. They are every bit as wonderful as Marne, and the ladies from the knitting group have said. Saturday, one of the other ladies in the knitting group had her set, also pretty new, so I got to preview them and oh and aw. Mine arrived Saturday evening – of course.

DD is completely interested in the knitting, in all things crafty really. But she’s just learning to write. So I don’t want to try to teach her to knit or crochet yet. As she will probably get frustrated and hate it. I am on the lookout for one of those knitting/weaving devices made specifically for children her age who are interested, but need a bit more growing up before they can move on to crochet hooks and knitting needles.

I remember making all kinds of ugly potholders on one of those things when I was a preschooler. God bless my mother for telling me they were so wonderful. Though, she may have been just thankful that I was occupied for hours.

I got the No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights
book on Saturday too. It has all these fantastic patterns that are totally over my head, in addition to lots of non-wool fiber information. It has a whole section on hemp yarn, which I find terribly scratchy. But I don’t find cashmere scratchy. And I think alpaca feels nice. Though I haven’t tried to wear it yet.

What?

What? by Jayegirl99

I am going with the long fiber and scale theory of itchiness – that it is the length of the fiber and occurrence of scales that makes something itchy or not, rather than that it came from a plant or animal. I’ll find out anyway. My plan is to buy several random cotton blend, linen, and alpaca blend yarns and see what itches or doesn’t, how it holds a pattern and then try to make something simple.

Aware of my novice knitting status, several people helpfully pointed out this weekend that cashmere comes from a goat. And that alpaca is a completely different sort of animal. Which is really funny, since I wore cashmere for years and thought it came from a special breed of sheep. And I insisted on DH driving a certain way home so he could identify the weird animals near our house – which turned out to be alpacas.

So that’s my plan, to purchase some random yarns this coming weekend. And then try them all out. And definitely, definitely chuck the acrylic yarn.

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Jan
6
2010
Home By Christine Eclavea Mercer | 1 comment

Happy New Year 2010

The New Year has been pleasant.  But unsurprisingly, has not gone as planned.

I turned forty.  My aunt helpfully suggested this is better than the alternative.  I told my cousin, also recently forty, that if I had known we would survive this long, I might have made better decisions. He said, “I know! Me too.”

I paid all the bills, but forgot to write down the incredibly whopping medical bill, which is not getting the bookkeeping off to a good start.  I had a weird feeling that something was going to come up.  But I couldn’t think of anything, and decided to go ahead and get myself a present, then had to transfer some funds.  I hate when I do that.  I could have waited a week.  I can hardly keep track of what day it is anyway.

I have created a two knitted dishcloths and am exceedingly entertained by the accomplishment.  I used one for the first time today, and am surprised by how well it suits the purpose of cleaning dishes.  I did not know.  I hereby abandon sponges.

knitting stockinette stitch

knitting stockinette stitch

The Ni Hao Kai-lan hat is missing in the house.  So I cannot photograph it or blog it, putting the sewing blog even more miserably behind.  Ugh.

It’s ridiculously cold.  Nights have been in the teens and days in the twenties.  Crazy cold for Georgia!  I went in search of coats at the thrift store since we’ll likely only wear them one or two weeks per year during a cold snap.  And DD might be able to get one more year out of hers before she outgrows it.  No joy for DH and SS.  But I got myself and DD jackets so warm that I could hardly keep it on long enough inside the store to zip it.  I got one for my nephew too, since it was perfect and only three dollars.

I’m sick of DDs ballet program, but conflicted about switching her to another one.  She likes it because her friends from school are there.  But there are several teachers kids in the class, very young.  And they disrupt the class and the learning of the kids who are actually old enough to participate.  The other options are to move her back to the county sponsored program, which is taught by the same ballet company, but somewhat better organized, and will include one of her other friends.  Or I can just enroll her in the more serious, more expensive program.  She has been doing this for three years already.

ESOL starts up again in a week.  I am going to switch days so that I can go to the Tuesday knitting group if I want to.  I met up with the ESOL instructor and other three volunteers today to get the new schedule.  The students gave all the volunteers and teacher – all female – earrings.  Mine are silver.  I am allergic, but will wear them once to class so I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.  Then I’m giving them to someone who won’t turn green.

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Jan
2
2010
Home By Christine Eclavea Mercer | 3 comments

Knitting with Cotton

My scarf knitting project was ill-fated, but not a total loss.  I didn’t like the feel of the yarn.  But before I chucked it out, did figure out how to knit.  By this I mean cast on, and perform the knit stitch repeatedly.

Someone smart at the knitting group, whose name eludes me, suggesting simply knitting until it became easier.  And I believe Liz also mentioned this learning method.

After repeated attempts to learn the Continental method with a number of handholds,  I kept dropping the thread.  I finally managed to knit with the English method and an alternate handhold.  The stitches are fairly even.  They aren’t perfect.  But they’re good enough for a washcloth.

knitting garter stitch

knitting garter stitch


I threw the acrylic yarn in a bin and bought two balls of variegated, tropical colored cotton.  It’s cheerful, which is encouraging.  I’ll update with my own picture when I have a chance.

I also mustered the energy to help DD make a Ni-Hao Kai-lan hat.  The instructions were for a scarf with a premade hat and felt.  But we didn’t have a plain hat, glue and felt.  Also, what small child wouldn’t ruin that in ten minutes?

Of course we have fabric scraps, applique backing and fleece laying around.  And puffy paint.  If you want to make a five year old girl really, really happy, let her have some puffy paint.

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Dec
28
2009
Home By Christine Eclavea Mercer | 1 comment

Christmas Gift

After days of deliberation, I finally decided that what I want for Christmas is the perfume that I asked for in the first place. My favorite is Must by Cartier. And no, it’s not a typo, Must not Musk.

unidentified atomizers

unidentified atomizers by snigguly

I was never able to convince Grandma that it was Must, by Cartier not Musk, although I did resort to showing her the bottle. She shielded her face as though presented with a deadly toxin, or dirty diaper. Some time in the 1990s she decided she would not wear perfume. She didn’t tell Aunt Jeanine, either because she thought she’d change her mind and wear it again, or because it would be very un-French of her to reject perfume.

In any event, her disavowal of perfume was a boon to my perfume collection, already fabulously supplemented with the tropical and floral fragrances that she received as gifts and said smelled like stuff my father would pick out and give me. And she was right, he did in the early 90s, prior to his death, send me a bottle of Champs-Elysee, or something very similar.

Champs-Elysee is my second most favorite perfume, followed by l’Éte.  Both of these were in Grandmas perfume stash, now part of my collection, in small bottles.  They are the kind you dab on.  But yesterday I discovered two atomizers that Grandma must have refilled around the time she swore off perfume.  Because they had a strong smell of rubbing alcohol.  Dumping them down the sink produced the weirdest odor.

Refilling the atomizers should be interesting as well.  I washed them really well and have left them open to dry.  I’ll have to remember to refill them right before I shower, so I won’t stink myself up too much and smell like an old lady on an elevator.

I caved in my quest to find all natural, preservative and chemical free lipstick.  I do like the tinted balms.  But really, I need red lipstick.  I do.  So I’m going to try some from the Body Shop, since I really liked that brand before I discovered stuff even less irritating to the skin.  I hope it doesn’t taste nasty, like Bare Escentuals lipstick, and some other mineral lipstick I’ve tried.  I don’t know what that is about.  The balms that I have are made with minerals and aren’t nasty.

Right, so my totally fun, girly and frivolous Christmas gifts that I picked out should arrive sometime around my birthday.

DH is not a gift giver.  He likes to give things.  But as he says, get yourself something nice baby… no woman should have to get a gift picked out by me.  I have to give it to him for funny.

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Dec
27
2009
Home By Christine Eclavea Mercer | 4 comments

Learning to Knit

My attempts at knitting are laughable. I am horribly, painfully slow. I have managed to cast on, knit one row, and then try to purl, knit, purl, knit, etc across one row numerous times.

This, my friends, took hours.

This, my friends, took hours.

I keep pulling it all out and starting again. The cast on seemed too tight to get a needle through. I kept trying to make it looser, but succeed in making it looser and uneven. I eventually settled for tight, though not as much, even loops. The knitted row was okay, just maddeningly slow.

Then I tried to actually knit and purl, which was a horrible disaster. I kept dropping stitches, adding stitches, and losing my place. I must have spent an hours on only a few stitches.

Then I met up with Aunt D and her knitting group. Everyone was really nice and helpful. I thought I was distracted by the entertaining conversation, because my knitting became even worse. When I got home, I realized everything the lady next to me did looked confusing and different because I had been following a Continental Knitting video at home. And she was doing the English style knitting.

And so, I begin again.

I will eventually figure it out or give up and donate the knitting needles to somebody who knows how to use them properly. Or maybe someone who is just more coordinated.

I bought a knitting book today. This seems mundane. But two weeks ago I tried to buy a knitting book, got sensory overload on the choices, and didn’t buy anything at all. So actually, this is an improvement.

Also, it’s a knitting an crocheting book, which makes me feel like slightly less a dumbass. I can do a bit of crocheting. Not enough to make a sweater. But I’ve made simple afghans before. And they came out fine. This encourages me to try the knitting, since crocheting does require the use of yarn.

Blah, blah, blah.

Christmas was lovely here. We had a nice family Christmas Eve and morning. And then we visited with family in the afternoon. I have more calls to family to make and more people to visit. But all is well.

Merry Late Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

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