Dear Kay,
Had to give my psyche a break from knitting my life. That hem is weighing heavy on me!
Clif lured me in to watch the Bulls-Heat playoff game last night, which is a great way to get some long-haul knitting done and also to get a rich, full running commentary from your kid about the state of the NBA playoffs.
The perfect project for this: Hilary Smith Callis‘s sublime Citron Grande. SO CLOSE TO THE END of Citron Grande. All that stood between me and glory was the ruffle. Twelve rows of a thousand stitches or so. I was on Row 6 when the game started.
It took about 45 minutes to do Row 7. And right about when Nate Robinson began his crazy takeover of the game, I officially ran out of yarn.
I guess I knew it was going to happen. My plan was to see how mingy the part-ruffle looked, then either keep the part-ruffle or ditch the ruffle altogether. Seeing all that knitting on the needle, I wasn’t ready to make a decision, so it seemed like a good idea to finish out the ruffle in another color in order to a) see how it would look and b) do a ton of knitting that might be totally pointless.
During halftime, I decided to go Koigu-diving. I dug out that one skein of black Koigu that I bought ten years ago. Black Koigu??? What on earth was I thinking? Is there a bigger oxymoron than Black Koigu?
I do not know if this is going to work. But black yarn is more fun than I thought it was. It’s so absolute.
Here’s a 1901 Josef Hoffman brown chair edged in black. And a brown shoe, 18th century, edged in black. Oh, Pinterest, you are such trouble.
(The Bulls won. Clif assures me we are Bulls fans. Just happy to be included.)
What’s the weirdest yarn in your stash? Black Koigu definitely takes the cake for me.
Love,
Ann
You’ll be fine as long as you don’t have to add in a third colour! The black will be splendid.
I have lots of ridiculous yarn in my pile labelled “This is not really my stash, but just some yarn I happen to have.” Like white fluff-ball/eyelash/whatever. The kids loved it when I taught knitting at a school, but of course, it is impossible to knit well with. Or the three feet of sublimely soft angora, dyed Kool-Aid green. I know I’ll find a use for it some day.
A whole ball of black Koigu seems perfectly rational.
Black Koigu is awesome — it, plus another color of Koigu, allows you to knit almost any Stephen West pattern without a trip to the yarn store…
I have a skein of glow-in-the-dark yarn. (Fiber Fantasy Knitting Products “Nightlights.”) It is way too cool to actually knit up.
I would make glow in the dark yarn into lace.
My strange yarns were gifts…from people who think I will wear orange fun fur, apparently.
I have a Brahmin pocketbook – brown with black trim. (or black with brown trim?) Goes with EVERYTHING. Excellent idea for the ruffle.
my mother used to often observe that sepia and black was a good combination. so, according to mom ( and to my way of thinking), you’re O.K. black Kiogu! you go girl!
i don’t know the strangest yarn i have, it’s in a bag of someone’s stash which i kindly inherited. up until yesterday, i thought it was lilac baby weight. but i went to inspect it for use for a certain purpose, and saw it had “things” in it (wiggles or squiggles, or something like that). what the heck i’m going to do with that, the good Lord only knows…
anyway, you’re citron grande with its brown and Koigu black will be be-yoo- ti- full! you’ ll wear it well, too.
lovediane
My favorite, go-to shoes are brown penny loafers with a black heel and sole. They even look smart with black pants. Edging in black is a classic choice!
Oddest yarn in my stash: fuzzy pink stuff that I neither know where it came from nor like to touch. I think Punkin, the pink loving cat, may have filched it from a visitor’s bag.
Well, now I have to go look at my black Koigu and see if it still has a place in my stash, or not. There is, however, the orange yarn purchased to make my SIL a scarf (her favorite color). The poor stuff has been much debated as to the name of the shade. Is it Cheeto? Jumpsuit? Traffic Cone? (Officially, it is something like #0168.)
Looking forward to seeing what happens next! I love black and brown, especially when a dull cream is added. (Think: licorice allsorts.) And I am with you 100% on the matter of pinterest. I do have a few boards and love them, but rarely wander far across the pinterest landscape because it is so very, very difficult to find my way back home.
We might be worn out, injured, sick and scared of not being so great anymore but they’re still our Bulls and they will keep fighting until the end!! GO BULLS!!!
Oh, yes, the sweater looks great too. Isn’t it nice to find something you’ve had for 10years and it works well with your current project?
With great expectations from Chicago!!
I don’t like to burst your bubble, but only the sole, underneath, on that shoe is brown. The shoe itself is black.
But, I like brown edged with black…why not?
The strangest “yarn” is hsve is over 20 yesrs old and I still don’t know what to do with it. It’s Mokuba Knitting tape, Forest Green patent leather on one side and red suede on the other.
(I forgot to add this to my comment above).
elaine– will the baktus scarf work at all for your. Mokuba? you might check it out on ravelry if you’re so inclined.–lovediane
Thanks for the tip, Diane. I looked up the scarf on Ravelry and they all drape quite nicely. This is not drape-able!! It’s like thin strips of patent leather with red suede “applied” to the other side, about 1/4″ wide. It’s all man-made material and it’s nothing like the “tape” yarns available today.
for your “knitting my life”…what about no hem…just do a purl row and then bind off. nothing could stand up to all of that cabling…meaning the cabling is wonderful. Mary in cincinnati
for your “knitting my life”…what about no hem…just do a purl row and then bind off. nothing could stand up to all of that cabling…meaning the cabling is wonderful. Mary in cincinnati
I have a bit if a skein of something my MIL had in her crochet stash. It is a very vintage blue color, and thicker than she normally would have used for crochet. I think it would be a post war version of nylon, or rayon, likely used for some small baby things, because it was in the bag with her precious prewar tablecloth leftovers and her pattern for it. It is so slippery that it won’t stay in a ball, skein or butterfly. There originally was a pink, too, but I couldn’t untangle it.
I have a bit if a skein of something my MIL had in her crochet stash. It is a very vintage blue color, and thicker than she normally would have used for crochet. I think it would be a post war version of nylon, or rayon, likely used for some small baby things, because it was in the bag with her precious prewar tablecloth leftovers and her pattern for it. It is so slippery that it won’t stay in a ball, skein or butterfly. There originally was a pink, too, but I couldn’t untangle it.
I have a bit if a skein of something my MIL had in her crochet stash. It is a very vintage blue color, and thicker than she normally would have used for crochet. I think it would be a post war version of nylon, or rayon, likely used for some small baby things, because it was in the bag with her precious prewar tablecloth leftovers and her pattern for it. It is so slippery that it won’t stay in a ball, skein or butterfly. There originally was a pink, too, but I couldn’t untangle it.
Weren’t those Bulls amazing? I couldn’t even knit!
Brown + black = one of my favorite color combos. But that’s just me. I also love navy + black and silver + gold.
elaine– sorry no baktus for your Mokuba. maybe it could someday be used as a kind of lacing for a leather project; but for now, it sounds as if you’ve won the proverbial prize for the wierdest “skein” in your stash.– lovediane
I have some white Regia with sparkles in my stash. I look at it and wonder what I was thinking about. I normally like lots of color and no sparkles. I will keep it, you just never know!
I have a yarn that is somewhat like small smushed pom poms strung together, in a ’70s shade of burnt orange and brown. Despite this I am inordinately fond of it, just no clue what to do with it!
I knit a whole shawl from black Koigu eons ago! 🙂
http://wendyjohnson.net/knit/kimono.htm
Don’t tell Kay, but white Rowan Denim yarn wins my vote for most oxymoronic yarn in my stash.
Interesting that the majority of “weird” yarns in stashes are ones that were inherited or received as gifts. I have a few of those too, but am guilty of picking up some pretty unorthodox ones myself, especially if I find them for a dollar or less per skein…
Black brushed mohair. It went to a donation shop. You couldn’t see anything when working with it.
I don’t think my stash is overly weird. I have some odd Habu stuff, but most of the weird things are gone at this point.
But that glow in the dark yarn. I want it. I need it. It sounds awesome!
I just added chocolate brown border ribbing to a black hooded weekender jacket I made myself and love it. Your shawl will be lovely!
Well, I just want to know what “mingy” means (when your referred to the ruffle).
Yes, Virginia, there is a bigger oxymoron than black Koigu. White Koigu, as in UNDYED KOIGU! And I still have it! I bought the white, the black, and the hot pink solids of Koigu, (who DOES that?!?)and my memory is that it is actually longer than ten years ago. What on earth was I thinking indeed!
Elaine, what about an i cord belt? Google “Idiot’s Delight Makes Knitting Fun” and read the newspaper article from 1984. You might start a trend! Here’s the link:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19840927&id=JUhOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nxMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7111,7967991