:Yarn Love :

I know for some, crafting started on Day 1 of 2015 but it took a few days for me to get started. But once I did, as the kids in my neighborhood would say, “it was on and poppin’.” To start the year, I figured a little focus on someone else would be a good way to start my crafting year. Seems like that was everyone’s thought since charity crafting is the focus of the Ravelry’s HPKCHC Quidditch Match 1 (Winter 2015). Out of those thoughts came these:

Two crochet beanies to be added to some other hand-made goodies for babies dropped off or left in my local area hospital under Daniel’s Law. No one needs to start his or her life being unloved and/or unwanted. While the hats might not make any difference to the abandonment circumstances, my hope that in some small measure, the Little Princes and Princesses will have a better than nothing at all start with the handcrafted layettes these hats will be a part of.

Pattern: Newborn Hat
Designer: Athena De La Rosa
Modifications: Used aran weight yarn in order to create a larger sized hat. Added two rounds of sc (single crochet) through the front loops to lengthen and add a decorative element to the pattern. I also attached some iron appliques for some added panache!
Yarn Used: Vanna Choice in Dusty Blue and Beige. King Cole’s Cotton DK (pink yarn)
My Ravelry page: The Little Prince & The Little Princess
Additional comments: These items have been totally crafted from my stash, including my library of patterns. One of my crafting goals this year is to work through the entire year with my current stash and pattern library (outside of any unsolicited gifts I might receive this year).

How has your crafting year started?

Everyone who knows me knows that I’ve always made space in my stash for the dreaded acrylic yarn. Making space for acrylic is a sometimes hot button topic in the crafty world primarily because of the unnatural nature of acrylic and how it’s produced. But one of the, if not the greatest selling points of using acrylic, is wash-ability aka the “many non crafters don’t care to hand wash so let’s use acrylic” reason. Then there’s the price point. Need I say more? Added to those, it’s come a long way and is now softer than your grammy’s old Red Heart, and there’s more variety than ever before. So what’s the problem?

In my earlier, not so discriminating days as a knitter, the only thing I thought of was colour. There was absolutely no concept of fiber, how to match particular weights with projects, none ah dat! All I lived for in the early days was … “ooooooo pretty!!” Needless to say, I have a cruise ship worth of acrylic, and no tan lines or hot pool boy to show for it! 😀

Recently, I was commissioned to make some boot cuffs. I picked a lovely pattern, then I got started. By the time I got to the the second cable repeat, I smelled gasoline. So much so, while I talking to my mom on the phone, she suggested that I called the super of my building to have him investigate. Yes, that’s how much it smelled. It’s a good thing I didn’t. I kept smelling that gasoline smell, then my hands started to itch. Then my face, then inside my mouth. I got up to wash my hands then realised that it was the yarn that smelled like gasoline. I’d actually thought it was the heating radiator in my apt. My mom thought I should toss that suckah asap, but nooooooooooooooo, I had to finish the project because I didn’t have yarn in the requested colour other than for this single skein. So I plugged on, finished the project then ditched the rest of the yarn. The boot cuffs turned out beautifully but I had to ask myself — when is enough, enough? I don’t consider myself a yarn snob and I do believe that acrylic has it’s place, but honestly, after all that drama, I really just feel like sticking to natural fibers only or at the very least, acrylic blended with natural fiber. If I do that, what do I do with the acrylic I have? What do I do with the acrylic I have and like?

What’s your take? Do you use acrylic yarn? Do you think that the rest of the cruise ship load is worth keeping?

While you answer me, here’s a picture of the boot cuffs. They turned out really nice despite me almost ripping my skin off from the itching. 😀