Month: March 2011

Purling

by T, posted in knitting

I consider myself an experienced knitter. I have been doing it for over ten years now. I like cabling, know various stitch patterns and have done limited lace work. So I was surprised to find out that I’ve been purling incorrectly this whole time. I think this comes from teaching myself to knit in the pre-youtube age. I thought purling was just pulling the yarn through the back of the knit stitch. Apparently not. That is how you twist the stitches. Purling is a little more complicated than that. You actually have to wind the yarn around the needle and then pull it through the loop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAMD_XpybQY

But I know none of you out there have this problem. We all have the internet and we all know youtube is a knitter’s best friend.

Exhibitionistic Spinning

by T, posted in Uncategorized

Unfortunately the knit bunny is still not done. Time is precious and in short supply. Every year my Mom and her boyfriend set up at an antique engine show/flea market in Zolfo Springs, Florida. I drive up and visit every year. Usually I walk through the show and flea market looking for odds and ends. Two years earlier I was looking for a spinning wheel and found one on the drive home at an antique store. Unfortunately it was missing quite a few pieces and it never did work. However, it inspired research and knowledge of spinning that I am still gathering.

This year I brought my very own Kromski Sonata spinning wheel. In the beginning, I set it up behind the tables of stuff for sale and people were coming right up to the tables and watching me. I had a man who owned alpacas in North Carolina tell me they spin the fibers all the time and he has fiber for sale as high as $130 an ounce. I also had a mechanical engineer come up to me and just watch analyzing the movements from the treadle on up.

The best part of the experience was when two young children who didn’t speak English came up to me. First they were standing back, fascinated. Some one guided them closer and I pulled out the bunch of wool roving from my bag and had them touch it. Then I tore off small bits of drafted fiber which is looser and easier to spin. Finally I pointed to my handmade niddy noddy with the twisted yarn. I can only hope that some day they’ll remember the day they saw the lady using the spinning wheel and will try their hands at crafts themselves.