Purloined: Knitting Q & A

Happy Tuesday! This week, I purloined from Karen. She posted her Knitting Q & A on Saturday. I didn't actually get to read it until yesterday but that's another story.

Anyway, I decided to do the Knitting Q & A (and feel free to do it yourself, leave your blog post or your answers in the comments!).

• You’re given a magic yarn bag that will supply one skein at a time as needed. You reach inside and pull out a skein. What is this yarn? Be specific or not.
• When you enter a yarn store how do you work the space? Does it vary if it’s your regular store or a new to you store?
• Have you ever knit or crocheted something that you swore you never would? What was it? Why did you never want to make it and why did you?
• What is your next project going to be? Do you have a planned queue or do you make whatever strikes your fancy at the moment?

So, I've been given a magic yarn bag that will supply one skein at a time, as needed. I reach inside and pull out.........I honestly don't know. I'm one of those people that tends to have more than one project going at a time so a bag that just gives me one skein, presumably for one project, at a time....I just don't think that's going to work out too well for me. But, it's probably sock yarn. Maybe a DK weight. Probably merino.....but that Cormo sport weight I picked up from Sincere Sheep at Vogue Knitting Live is a dream (having knit using the worsted weight version)......hmmmm......

When I enter a yarn store, how do I work the space? Does it vary if it's my regular store or a new-to-me store? I suppose it depends on how the space is set up. My shop back home in Wisconsin had a buy & sell area in the basement (which I frequented far more often than I should have....but I got a lot of great yarn down there), but the upstairs was sectioned out by yarn weights (mostly) and I frequented the sock yarns and the worsted weight yarns first. My shop here in California (that has been closed for at least a year and a half now) had yarn along the perimeter with the desk/checkout area and knitting area in the middle and I would usually just start at one end and work my way around the room. I tend to dig in new shops. The first time I was at the now-nearest LYS (since mine closed), I sat on the floor, digging through shelves because I was trying desperately to find a match to a skein of KPPPM...and their computer said it was there but, alas, it was not. I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy, which isn't exactly a lie, but it was fine. 

Have I ever knit or crocheted something that I swore I never would? What was it? Why did you never want to make it and why did you? This is a very loaded question. I always said I'd never make a cowl. And then I discovered the long, loopy scarves. Some people call them infinity scarves or infinity cowls but to me, that implies that there's a twist in there somewhere. I don't need the twist, just the long loop. That works really well for me. I don't like things around my neck in a tight manner, and a lot of cowls are like that. If I can control the tightness by having it long and loopy, I'm okay with them. I still don't have a lot of them, though. I did try to make a regular cowl and it's too tight for me to wear. It also itches me. I might have to sell that one. I also said I wasn't a shawl person and, most of the time, I'm not....but I still have a few that I've made and I do wear them. So, there's that. 

What is my next project going to be? Do I have a planned queue or do I make whatever strikes my fancy at the moment? I have a few projects that I want to make, that I have the yarn for, and are "ready," so to speak (see my Year of Projects posts). I use my Ravelry Queue and my Ravelry Stash Page to my advantage because, honestly, I can't always remember what I have in stash and what I want to make. It also allows me to add notes and kind of combine everything. So, for example, I know that I have the Forest Cardigan by Holly Priestly in my queue. I also know that I have some Baah Shasta in a bright London Blue and some Neighborhood Fiber Co. in a Charles Centre grey that will work well for it. I've noted it in both the stash pages and I think I put a note somewhere about the cardigan. Maybe. I have enough yarn to knit the largest size, which is probably what I'll want when I get there. Of course, that implies that I'm going to get there, which is a whole other matter. So, I have a planned queue (again, see my Year of Projects posts) but, really, things just strike me whenever and I decide to act. It's how I ended up with a Clapotis in my WIPs. I like having a personal, smaller queue because it allows me to focus a little better but I also like the ambiguity of knitting whatever the hell I want. 

Hope you're having a lovely Tuesday! I might be back later this week but that implies that not only do I get my ends woven in on my FrankenSocks or the little cup cozy I made at Vogue Knitting Live, it also means things get washed and photographed and so on. 

And then she laughed and laughed....