Letters
Alternative Yarn Auditioning
Dear Ann,
Before I start rhapsodizing about stuff . . .
Big! Shop! News!
It’s a holiday weekend, so you know what that means: the most festive thing a couple of yarnmongers can think of—FREE SHIPPING in the MDK Shop! From now through Monday at 11:59 pm Central Time, get free U.S. shipping on orders of $25 or more by entering the coupon code FREE2020 at checkout.
Enjoy, U.S.-based customers, and thank you for your support of the MDK Shop with your purchases, which fund all the daily goings-on here at MDK. We love doing this.
Now for the Rhapsodizing
I was so inspired by Jillian Moreno’s post about how she auditions yarns. I also realized that I have my own, slightly different way of putting a new-to-me yarn through its paces.
I like to get an FO out of the deal.
A Case in Point
Our friends at Rowan recently sent over a box of yarny goodness, filled with temptation in the form of beautiful Rowan yarns that we don’t carry (yet) in the MDK Shop. It was like Christmas. I could only hold back for so long: When I’d reached the obligatory seventh-inning stretch-while-looking-for-the-exact-right-buttons phase of my Trellis Top, I decided to treat myself by trying out Rowan’s Creative Linen, a worsted-weight blend of cotton and linen. I’m a sucker for linen.
But I’m still not a Recreational Swatcher. I may be lacking in intellectual curiosity, or maybe I just want to make something. And while I’m making that something, I’ll discover things about the yarn.
My first pattern idea for this sturdy linen and cotton with a smooth and stringy feel to it: Ballband Dishcloth. A superfancy dishcloth, and with the durability of linen in the mix, a dishcloth for all time. A dishcloth I can leave to someone in my will. A dishcloth that will see out the 21st century and welcome in the 22nd in the kitchen sink of a worthy descendant.
But I’d just come off of a 30-Ballband bender, and couldn’t muster the strength to cast on another one.
Then I remembered another go-to pattern that is particularly handy when you’ve got single skeins of different colors: Dangling Conversation by Mindy Ross. This is a pattern we enthusiastically recommend for our Euroflax Mini Skein Sets, because you can start each new color with a row of eyelets, making it look intentional instead of I Ran Out of This Color.
So that’s what I made. I knit on it during Zoom calls long and short (wait—are there any short Zoom calls?) and while watching the two measly episodes per night of Shtisel that they are doling out to me around here. I had barely got going on it before it was done.
Indigo shibori mask by Neighborhood Fiber Co., for maximum quarantine chic.
This is my new summer scarf, in three very me shades: Navy or Maybe Black, Slate Blue or Maybe Gray, and White Definitely White (not their real names). It will go with literally everything in the navy, black, and white Kay Summer Uniform. It’s generously long and . . . dangly. Just like I like my summer scarves.
And I like Rowan’s Creative Linen very much. It’s cottony like cotton, it’s swingy like linen, and it knits up fast and loose.
Love,
Kay
You are a vision of COVID chic!
I’m jealous. Subtitles and knitting don’t go together for me …even if my Hebrew was good enough.
For a dramedy, try Srugim.
Love the scarf. I’m in my third rewatch of Shtisel. So much to take in.
I absolutely love Rowan Creative Linen! I’m knitting up Shellie Anderson’s Lucia in it right now. I think it would also make a super throw or light blanket. The Dangling Conversation scarf is lovely.
I think I love Creative Linen very much and I haven’t even seen it yet. I also love that palette, it would fit right in with my closet.
Fast and loose. I remember those days. Seems so long ago now.
For test-knitting in the round, Elizabeth Zimmermann recommended a hat: she pointed out that whatever size it ends up, it will fit someone you know If you are sure you’ll be making a particular sweater out of your yarn & you hate swatching, a sleeve can give you a faster gauge answer than the body and you might find it works out just fine for final use. But for flat knitting, nothing beats a shawl for a swatch!
Love it. Including ending up with a finished thing. But also the thing you ended up with. And how you went on a 30-dishcloth bender.
So beautiful! I loooooooove Rowan Creative Linen and it’s so perfect for shawl/scarf situations. I’d like to knit a top with it too. So breezy!
I am not a great fan of swatching. A sleeve makes a great swatch – no lying to yourself that 20 stitches by 20 rows is a big enough swatch, and then at least one of the sleeves will be finished. You can usually tell if you are way off by about five inches of knitting.
I swatch for jumpers by knitting the sleeves too. And generally, even if gauge is off a bit I can fiddle the body numbers so it works.
I just made a Dangling Conversation for my over-ACed office! Such a fun knit. Yours is lovely, and makes a great swatch.
Some days I wish I made my living knitting like you two do— there is no way I have time (while working 24-30 hours from home) to knit all the wonderful knitting projects you have in your posts…sigh, I love this & want to (some day) make it. Thanks !
You just have to multitask: knit WHILE working from home. As I am doing right now. A lot of the time you are just twiddling your thumbs by your computer, waiting for someone to send you the next thing to do. Perfect for knitting. Dangling Conversation is a good pattern for this as it’s super easy, so can be picked up and put back down at a moment’s notice.
I wouldn’t depend on a knitted mask to protect her, or more importantly, other people from exposure, so I’m hoping your wearing it just for effect.
Don’t worry, it’s not actually a knitted mask. It’s regular cotton fabric and will protect just fine.
Hi Kay, did you use the ssp in your shawl?
I want to know more about the top you are wearing, with that really cool scarf. Is it a knit or a woven?
Hi Kay – what size needles should I use to knit a Ballband dishcloth with my new Euroflax? I love the idea of using my mimiskeins to add to my supply of Covid Ballbands. Thanks. Bev Hertle from Illinois
I have some yummy silk bamboo….bet it will look nice as Dangling conversation! Similar colors as yours, except white, which for some reason, I put somewhere “safe” when I moved.
Creative Linen…..you’re right….its lov÷ly yarn. I have, for some reason, a yearning to make a towel for the ages that my grandkids can use to wipe their counters. Imagine my surprise to see that it sUs to handwashing and line dry! Really?? You can’t just chuck it in the washer and dryer with ball band dish cloths and the like?? The next generation doesn’t know how to handwashing and line dry….what am I gonna do?
I gotta proofread before I send! ( finds glasses and is dismayed to see typos
)
Saw this late (it’s August…), but I needed to say that I’m also a fan of Dangling Conversation — one of the few patterns I’ve made more than once. Last summer it was the Euroflax mini-skeins I used for an adorable one (gifted to a friend)., then several more in a cotton/linen blend, also gifted. Now I’m doing another one in Zauberball Cotton, and having (sorry!) a ball. Perfect listening-to-music knitting.