A box o' socks!

I went to Goodwill yesterday. As I always try to do, I brought things to donate (two boxes of clothes that, alas, no longer fit) before I went into the store.

I found two sweaters that I'll be raveling (unraveling?) and two whose yarn is too tender for the ripping out process and are thus destined for the felting pile.

But that's not what's got me all excited. Check this out:

It's a sock kit!

And not a kit for just any old socks, either.

Argyle -- squeeee!

The yarn in the box hadn't even been taken out, although the plastic wrapping wasn't intact. (Sorry the pic isn't centered. I'm a reforming perfectionist, so even though I'm itching to retake this one, I'll be strong and ignore the impulse.)

The insert looks and feels fairly dated. I don't know ... maybe from the 1960s or 1970s? And now that I've written that, I guess that means I'm fairly dated, too -- ha!

And there's the chart. But wait, there's more!

Two other charts. Fortunately, the choice is a no-brainer. I'm all about the argyle, baby.

All in all, not a bad find for just $3, eh?

The $3.00 was the original sale price; you can see the Goodwill sticker in the first picture. Nice to see that inflation hasn't had an adverse effect on a box o' socks.

Looking for affordable yarn? Try unraveling!

NOTE: Yes, the header is a mess, but I do plan to get to it ... sometime ... and make it both legible and lovely.

Since money is extremely tight and yet I still have the need to spin and knit, I've found a new source of extremely inexpensive yarn: Goodwill. My name is Laurel, and I'm an unraveler. I have become an avid troller of the wonderful world of Goodwill for more than just new-to-me clothes. Where else can you buy a sweater's worth of cashmere for $3.50? How about 100% merino wool for $3.50? Maybe some silk for ... you guessed it, $3.50.

This past trip, I snagged a cashmere cardigan in my favorite green that fit. That baby is now mine, all mine, to have and to hold and to wear. Bwahaha!

There's an art and a science to unraveling sweaters, and I've become fairly proficient at it. At the risk of enabling local fiber aficionados to cut into my turf, I thought it might be fun to try posting a how-to. There are many, many excellent how-to's out there on the intertubes, and I am well aware of them -- seek them out if you'd like more info than I have here.

So, what do you look for? These are the basics:

• It's gotta have knit seams. No matter how much you love the fiber, a sweater that has serged seams will break your heart if you have said heart set on unraveling it. A sweater with knit seams will (usually but not always) magically unzip, leaving you with opened up sleeves, a front, and a back. Sometimes you'll end up with the turtleneck or collar portion, too.
• It's gotta be in good shape. A sweater that looks tired and felted will look tired when unraveled and knit up ... if you're able to unravel it at all. Believe me, I've tried unraveling semi-felted sweaters, and it's been the opposite of fun and satisfying.
• It's gotta be fiber that you love. If you love working with acrylic, then by all means snag that sweater for your stash. If you prefer wool, then only buy sweaters that are 100% or mainly wool. The same rule applies to whatever fiber(s) you're drawn to.

It's important that you check labels. Touch will tell you a lot, but it's not absolutely reliable. Even cotton can sometimes successfully masquerade as silk. Equally important is the sweater's construction. Your best bets are pullover sweaters. A cardigan is going to be frustrating, because that right front (in women's sweaters) is going to have buttonholes breaking up the yarn. Sure, you can pick out the sewed edges, but the yarn is still cut. It's up to you. If you love the fiber and are willing to have lots of short runs, then go for it.

A mild-mannered sweater I found
that's super-soft, but w-a-y too tight

So, here's my donor sweater. I loved the way it felt, all soft, warm, and smooshy. Even though it didn't fit (and I wasn't really shopping for clothes that day, just yarn), I can use the yarn to make a sweater that will fit. As an added bonus, it is a turtleneck, meaning that I'll have extra yardage to fit my extra bustage once I decide what kind of top to make myself.

Excellent! A lovely blend of wool for warmth
and acrylic for less-temperamental laundering

I don't really care who makes my donor sweaters; however, I do have to say that the better-known labels tend to be attached to items with better-quality yarn. And as an aside, I don't know who The Limited is kidding. This particular sweater could be considered large only if the prospective buyer was a child. Harrumph!

Check those seams!
This is an example of a knit seam.

I liked the feel of the fabric. I liked the fiber it was made with. The next step is always to check that the seams are knitted. You can be sure you have a winner if you gently pull apart the two edges and see what looks like a ladder running up the middle. Sorry, but that's one shot I forgot to take. Experiment with sweaters you already own, and you'll see what I mean.

A seam ripper is the best tool for unraveling.
The pointy end will let you gently tease the yarn (as shown here)
without cutting it. Scissors are not nearly as forgiving.

To begin your unraveling, look at the seam, One side will be like what's pictured above. A line of V's will run up or down the seam. In this case, the Vs run from left to right. The key to remember here is "the points of the V point the way," meaning that you should be able to unzip this seam from left to right. Cut just one of those V's, then tease up a loop or two, just enough for you to be able to grab the yarn between your forefinger and thumb.

Let the unzipping of the seam begin!
As long as the sweater hasn't felted, you should be able
to just pull the thread (looks like this one is actually two,
or maybe it's two-ply?) and go. 

This is the same seam, but I've pulled a couple of the stitches out. You can just see the largish holes there between the thread and where the seam picks up again. You can also see that the first V in line there is pulled kind of tight. It's about to come undone. (It was very difficult to stop and take pictures. I love ripping the seams out ... too much, maybe.)

Sometimes the pieces will pull apart, leaving loops of yarn like this.

Sometimes you don't even need to pull the yarn more than just a little bit. The pieces will just come apart, like this one did. In this case, you'll have the loopy bits that were just a moment ago chained together to make the seam.

Goodbye seam!

You'll want to hang on to bits like this, the yarn that formed the seam. Just throw it in a Ziploc bag, along with the tag (for future care reference). You never know when those bits will come in handy.

This seam, which attaches the turtleneck to the sweater body, will
unzip from right to left. Think of the Vs as arrows that point the way.

Just go along and separate the sweater into its component pieces, one at a time.

Off with its head!

This sweater couldn't have been easier to disassemble.

The tricky bit where the underarm meets the body

Often you'll find that the intersection of the underarm seam where the sleeve meets the body is kind of tricky. Just take your time and figure it out. I've found that sometimes the seaming is reinforced, which isn't a problem for the seam ripper, which is slender enough for pinpoint cutting.

Can you spot the knotted bit on the left?

In this case, I tugged on the knot that you can see on the lower left piece, just at about the 8:00 position. By pulling it out, I found that the ends had been kind of braided together. If you want you can fiddle around and unbraid these bits. Me? I just snip the knot off.

Unraveled seam thread and label: save it all

Again, save the unraveled bits and the label. Your future self will thank your present self for doing it, trust me.

Zzzzzzip!

Pick a piece, find the beginning, cut one thread (maybe two), and unzip.

The top of one of the sleeves. See the braided knot?

This sweater was perfect for a tutorial. Here's the top of one of the sleeves. The little braided bit (i.e., the beginning) was neatly tucked into the little line of Vs that forms the top of the curve.

This is a bit that you don't really need to keep.

I amputated the knot, and that released the sleeve for unraveling.

Be free!

And that's all there is to unraveling. If your pieces are very cooperative, you might be able to use a ballwinder to unravel. I prefer to wind a loose ball, then wind that with the ballwinder to take some of the tension off the yarn. Then I use my niddy-noddy to make skeins, then wash the fiber.

And that's it! From thrift store find to usable yarn. As a side note, it was all too apparent that the economy is brutal right now. Usually Goodwill has one rack full of sweaters. On this last trip, it was extremely difficult to find them. Here's hoping that things turn around. I don't really need more sweaters to unravel, but with winter setting in, many people in these parts can use affordable cold-weather clothing. All of us -- yes, I mean me, too -- need to donate things that we don't like, aren't using, don't fit, etc. Even though I may not wear the sweaters I purchase, the money I spend at Goodwill is put to good use.

My Nerd Wars dissertation: silk and fun with indigo

A couple weekends ago on Worldwide Knit in Public Day I went to Greenbank Mill. Of course I'll knit anytime, anywhere; however, I was compelled to go because of one thing: an indigo dyepot.

That greenish tinge and surface scum let you know that it's good to go.

A fellow Raveler named Pallas sent an envelope of Japanese indigo seeds to me last fall. I did as instructed and put them in the fridge for the winter. Wonder of wonders, they weren't thrown out and weren't lost. What are the odds? (Hint: not good).

Here are some of the seedlings I grew and donated to Greenbank Mill's dye garden.

One of the attendees was a lovely young woman who'd brought along her wedding shawl for a dip in the dyepot. Since I'm terrible with names, I can't remember hers. I do, however, know that she's a friend of Heather, who was in charge of the day's dyeing. (For a bride-to-be, she was remarkably calm for being just 7 days away from the big event.)

Here is the before shot of her shawl (unblocked, naturally).

 After a dunk in some hot water, it's ready for dyeing.

 

 After just a few minutes, dyemaster Heather pulled the shawl out of the pot and made sure that every bit of the knitting had a chance to be exposed to the air. With indigo, you have to go on a bit of faith that the blue will magically appear. When you pull the item from the dyepot, the color is initially yellow. It's only as oxygen permeates the dye that the blue develops.

 And voila, a lovely blue shawl for the bride. Everyone oohed and ahhed. Dyeing with indigo never gets old.

 I hope that Heather posts pictures of her friend wearing the shawl. I'm not a girly girl and so don't get all squee-rific about weddings; however, there's just something about a handmade shawl hand-dyed with a natural plant one week before the wedding makes me just melt.

 Here's my "stuff," waiting to be dyed. For this second tournament in Nerd Wars (over at Ravelry), I'm on the Supernatural Team. My project is a "dissertation," meaning that it will take me three months to complete.

So, here's the first part of my entry: nearly 1,000 yards of hand-spun unbleached Tussah silk from this year's Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I'm telling you, spinning that silk is just about a close to a drug-like state as I can get these days. The way it handles, the way it shines, the way it plies -- it's all just a fabulous dream. Happy happy, joy joy!

 Here goes my pre-wetted silk into the hot pot.

 And here it goes into the dyepot. Just look at that beautiful dark-blue scum -- mmm! (Not quite sure why the Rit dye box was there ... maybe Heather brought it along as a backup?)

 Just look at that! You can see that the yarn is primarily yellow. If you look at about the 11:00 position, though, you can see where the yarn is turning blue. It must have been just above the top of the dye.

 And here we go. The yellow gradually gives way to a faint blue, then a teal-ish blue.

 The blue just keeps developing. Now it's more of a Wedgewood blue. We had quite a time with the skeins -- they tangled a bit and I'd tied each off just a tad too tightly. I only discovered the latter when I wound one of the dried skeins into a "cake." Oh, well. If I wanted absolute uniformity in my yarn, I'd just buy it, right?

 The first dip left the yarn a bit lighter than I wanted, so it went back in for a second dip. And here it is, in all its glory.

 See what I mean about the tangles? But this picture is really accurate when it comes to both the color and sheen of the yarn.

 I just now took this picture, and Im not exactly happy with it. The day is overcast, and I just don't have the time or patience to futz around with settings, lighting, etc.

So there's the indigo silk yarn and the shawl I'll be making with it. The project has to relate to Supernatural, and my take on it is pretty much that shawls make me think of hugs, and those Winchester boys sure could use 'em (hugs, that is) as they hunt demons. Since I am my father's daughter, I also related Dean and Sam constantly having to leave one town for the next one to the leaf motif (get it? leaf / leave -- awful, I know).

 And just another shot -- going for artsy here. Again, without changing the lighting. I do just love that macro setting, though. Up close and personal!

There you have it. Indigo dyeing and my awesome silk. I'll do my best to post progress pictures. I have through the end of August to complete my project. Guess I need to "man up" and cast on already!

No matter how you spell it, fiber/fibre therapy is good for what ails me

2009 is The International Year of Natural Fibres!

While I was Raveling today, I stumbled on mention of this year as being the International Year of Natural Fibers (Fibres, to my Canadian and British brethren and sistren).

How exciting is that? I'm surrounded by sheep, goat, dog, cotton, and most likely cat (miss you, Spot, Django, and Foster Grant!) fibers here. I have too many knitting projects to keep track of ... most likely because I have some degree of ADD--oh, look! something shiny! My spinning wheel and drop spindles are ever-present and ever-ready. All 40 samples in the sheep study have been washed and are waiting their turn on the wheel or spindle. It's just fiberriffic!

When I picked up the needles after a lengthy hiatus, I just thought maybe I'd make a scarf or two with (*shudder*) eyelash, acrylic, or other "dead" yarn. The smooth flow of the yarn and the smooth action of the bamboo needles were soothing -- just the sort of therapy I could use.



So I bought some wool yarn and happened to mention to SpecialEd how many different types of yarn there were, and it wold be so cool to be able to knit something with yarn I'd made. I honestly wasn't dropping any hints. However, when Christmas rolled around, there was my Kromski Sonata and some Coopworth roving, just calling my name.



So here I am, two years later, so heavily addicted to fiber that I have to have a dose every day. Life is very good.

The only thing that could possibly make things better would be my own tiny flock of pocket-sized sheep.

My Marbles -- I Still Have Them

I downloaded this image from here. You'll find an awesome selection, and it's all f*r*e*e. And, as I like to say, "If it's free, it's me!"

It's 24 hours later, and my headache is -- drum roll, please -- gone. Yeah, baby!

Granted, it took most of the day, more decongestants, two Excedrin Migraine, diet Coke (with caffeine), and a lie-down with my trusty hot rice bags, but I finally kicked that lousy headache to the curb.

Sheesh! I guess it's only fitting that someone as stubborn as I am would have headaches equally as stubborn.

Despite it all, I was able to accomplish quite a bit today. Let's see ...

• Touched up my hair. Why is it that whatever gray hair I have tends to concentrate right out front, in the open, where everyone can see it? I have nothing against gray hair, but the whole gray-at-the-temples thing works so much better on men, I think. Last I checked, I'm not a guy.
  
  
• Cleaned my everyday jewelry (wedding and engagement bands, cocktail-type ring from my favorite aunt, and my diamond earrings from SpecialEd).
  
  
• Copied (ripped?) three Weird Al albums to my laptop. I've been meaning to do this for a long time. And I'm so proud: this is the first time I've ever copied music to my computer -- and all by myself, too!
  
  
• Worked about 2 inches of the first of a pair of socks for SpecialEd. His feet have been "problematic," and that means that shoes are right out. What they need are some nice wool socks that are custom knit to fit just right.
  
  
• Wrote out a check to my bruddah to pay him back for the stuff at IKEA that he put on his credit card.
  
  
• Oversaw the burning of about a ream's worth of bills, bank statements, and other personal papers. We have a shredder, but it's intended for just one or two sheets at a time. You let that paperwork get a toe in the door, and it'll breed in the dark. This little job allowed us to get back on top of the situation, plus it enabled Skimbleshanks to burn things, something that's usually pretty near and dear to a boy's heart. It seemed to satisfy him, and he was quite cautious, which was a relief to see.
  
  
• Wrote a check for a field trip to the Constitution Center -- and GIFT SHOP (yes, this was included on the permission slip) -- in Philly. Kids just love gift shops. Their parents? Not so much.
  
  
• Did my roughly quarterly ironing session. Gee, what will I wear tomorrow? I have so many nice, crisp shirts to choose from!
  
  
• Wrote my weekly post for Type-A Mom. This week's article is about the actual size of an infant's stomach. Ever wonder why babies are prone to "spitting up"? Well, it often has to do with their being overfed by the adults in their lives who are obsessed that they (the babies) get "enough" to eat. A newborn's stomach has the capacity of a thimble or a marble. Think about that for a minute. Hmm. So even if you can get a newborn to suck down an ounce or two of breast milk or formula, you'd better be prepared for its imminent return, because a newborn's stomach does not stretch. Period.

So it was a productive day, overall. And I still have about as many marbles today as I usually have. However, I expect I'll lose a few tomorrow ... when I have to go back to work for "da man."

I want to be a knitting pinup girl

Until I make some time to post something, enjoy this picture of some of my knitting goals: A basket full of sweet yarn, a classy chair in which to make classy projects, and matching handspun semi-sweater and hairbow. Oh, and great posture and a positive attitude.

Cornered Animals … and Enraged Knitters … Will Bite

The host of one of my favorite sites, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) devoted part of today's post to respond to an individual who was sending her anonymous email criticizing Stephanie for lousy spelling (e.g., colour, favourite, and cheque).

Guess the mystery know-it-all missed that the Harlot is based in Canada. Yes, there is a country to the north of the U.S. and, no, it’s not “U.S. lite.”

Anyway, I was happy to read Stephanie’s response as she stepped up and defended herself from what she described as rude and abusive comments. I particularly enjoyed this bit:

Now, as much as I would like very much to be able to, what was it? Oh yes ... "Take my head out of my ass and get a clue", I just can't, since ... my decorous and rectifying reader, you are just plain wrong.

I’ve always believed in giving people a “the graceful out.” This is where you’re pretty sure you’re in the right but you're not 100% sure and you don't want to be a total jerk about it. The mystery emailer did the opposite: he or she said, “you’re wrong – period.” Tsk. Might as well say, “put up your dukes.”

Fun fact: If cornered, any animal will fight. The fight might be immediate or it may be delayed; however, there will be payback … and I hear that it’s a bitch. (By the way, in only 8 hours, Stephanie has received 581 comments on her post, all of which supported her calling the mystery know-it-all on the carpet. Yep, even a gentle, learned knitter can bite. And people who needlessly criticize can also bite … just in a different way.)

Elyse, a Harlot reader and supporter used the following perfect quote from Shakespeare to describe our mystery person:

"...but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most
assur'd,..."

10 Reasons to Knit

One of the easiest ways to get yourself writing is to make lists. In preparation for my great leap into the blogosphere, I've started writing "top 10" lists.

10 Reasons to Knit

1. Outward and Inward. You can be as social or as introspective as you want to be when you knit. Knitting in public (KIP) isn't seen very often here in Delaware, so you have a 50/50 chance of someone asking what you're making or looking at you as if you're from another planet ... or out of town.
2. Art and Craft. Knitting stimulates both sides of the brain because it's both an art and a craft. There's an art to selecting the right yarn for your pattern and being able to tweak the project so that it fits you perfectly. On the other hand, since knitting only involves two types of stitches (knit and purl), it's kind of a tactile take on the binary language of computers: a stitch is either purled or knit.
3. Budget Friendly. Compared to other hobbies, knitting is fairly inexpensive. Heck, you can produce knitted fabric with dental floss and sharpened pencils if you want to. Of course, you can also spend a fortune on needles, yarn, and patterns, so proceed at your own risk.
4. Have Project, Will Travel. Knitting is portable. If you're knitting a pair of socks, you can easily fit all the materials you'd need in a purse or even a pocket.
5. Easy Peasy. Knitting is easy to learn, and you can stop learning new techniques whenever you want.
6. No Offense. Knitting isn't stinky, sticky, noisy, or otherwise intrusive or offensive.
7. Keeping It All Together. The idea is to keep the yarn in one continuous piece and the needles in contact with the yarn. There are some yarns that tend to shed, but compared to a dog or cat, there's not problem.
8. Perfection Is Possible. You can be as anal retentive as you need to be, redoing and redoing parts of your project -- or the whole thing -- until it lives up to your expectations.
9. Anyone Can Do It. If you want to knit, you don't need lightning-quick reflexes or 6-pack abs or the ability to bench 300 lb. Fine motor skills are pretty much all you need. (As your stash grows, you may need those reflexes to hide your latest acquisition before a family member discovers it.)
10. Senses All A'Tingle. The variety of needles (wood, metal, plastic) and materials to knit (from wool to novelty yarns to metal wire) will satisfy all but one of your senses. If you must taste while you knit, I recommend chocolate.