Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Celestarium: or, Life Lessons for Smart Knitters.

Smart knitters DO research handy tips and techniques to help save time and energy. Did you know that when a project calls for knitting with two strands held together, you can wind the two skeins together into a single cake?

Smart knitters DON'T forget to regulate the tension of both strands. Neglecting this important tip can result in one skein being wound much more tightly than the other, leaving dozens if not hundreds of yards left over on the swift after the other is all wound up. Which then has to be wound into its own sad little cake.

Smart knitters DO keep their beads in a handy, secure container. (Indeed, they'll go out of their way to repurpose promising-looking containers.)

Smart knitters DON'T start a project at 2 AM and keep knitting until 6:30 AM... the night before a final exam.

9 comments:

  1. Ohh I would never have thought to wind the yarn together, thats so clever!! I hope the exam went ok, must be an addictive knit to stay up knitting it all night!

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    1. Surprisingly, the exam did go okay! I had never knit with two strands held together before, and when I looked up ways to manage it, I thought winding them together was extremely clever too. I didn't see any downsides to it... until I actually started winding.

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  2. Hope you got a nap today. :) I'm so bad with my yarn-winder. I have to do the first ball about five times before it's right, every time I use it.

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    1. I did not, in fact, get a nap. :( My ball winder is usually very good and well-behaved, and this is the first time I've had any sort of trouble from it. My swift, on the other hand, absolutely loves to gobble up and shred yarn if I don't take care.

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  3. I love the idea of winding them together! So smart! Hopefully winding the yarn was still wonderfully rewarding. It's one of my favorite things to do :) Hope the exam went ok! Thanks for sharing your beautiful yarn!! Can't wait to see it in shawl form :)

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    1. I love the yarn-winding phase too. I feel it gives me a chance to get acquainted with the yarn before I start knitting with it.

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  4. "Smart knitters DON'T start a project at 2 AM and keep knitting until 6:30 AM... the night before a final exam."

    Are you sure about that? Seems reasonable to me.

    "Smart knitters DON'T forget to regulate the tension of both strands."

    How do you do this?

    P.S. I wish I knew how to comment with my actual current blog but I can't figure it out. acoupleofrobots.com

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    1. I have no idea how to regulate the tension of both strands. Clearly.

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  5. Ack! Good tips, and I hope the test worked out!

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