Endless Spring

Our seemingly endless cloudy days this year are not new to many of us. That doesn't make it easy to bear, but at least we know we are not entering a new ice age. If you are cold 8 months of the year, you have to wear hats and sweaters more. You are also comfortable curled in a chair doing things with yarn! We must find blessings in clouds or we would not live here.

Still spring and summer are quiet times for the yarn twiddlers at Deming Library. Here are some more books we found on the racks to inspire with color and ideas!

Hats with a Twist: 17 Fun and Funky Hats to Knit and 1 to Crochet, a special publication from Spin-off Magazine. This appears to be a well-used item at our library! There is a terrific Fair Isle Tam that will would be very popular at the holidays. A Twisted Tail Top has a curly-cue for fun.

No time during the week? Here is the answer. Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas, by Melanie Falick. Gloves galore...fingered, half-fingered, fingerless...all there, and mittens too. You have to see these to believe: turtle neck sweater egg cozies! This is a very timely book for impatient craft-ers, preparing for the holidays.

We are all going to be busy catching up in the gardens and taking trips and caring for the kids during school vacations. You can still make socks and hats on road trips or while waiting at the pool or at baseball games. You still need to rest after all you do, and crafting is relaxing as well as fun. So be good to yourselves and pick up some kind of textile habit that gives back so much. We will keep you company at the Deming Library, on Wednesday evenings from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

Speaking of vacations...Jean sent me this picture of a yarn shop on Kauai, Hawaii, called Hanalei Music's Strings and Things: Ukuleles, Yarn, and More. Stay and Play Awhile.



Next week, or so, I will enter all the yarn and textile shops I can find in this area. I will include the larger stores, with comments from Wednesday night attendees.

A Crochet Addiction Concern

Perhaps there is a special reason yarn-crafters find solace or inspiration in their work. A happy "Addiction" is what comes to my mind. Maybe it is even an identifiable condition! Everyone I know who yarn crafts learns to enjoy the repetitiveness as well as the challenge and the constant chance to learn. There are many words for the experience. And that only covers the yarn and the results! There is also the companionship of fellow enthusiasts.

I am thinking along these lines because of a new book reviewed (and the resulting journey into another addiction) called Crochet Lace, by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. The authors found lace table cloths at garage sales and antique shops, while Susan Lowman figured out the and wrote the patterns for the book. Crochet is not difficult, and the open and closed patterns of filet make for a satisfyingly quick result. Now, when I say quick, I mean rows in a block....not a complete bedspread! I am going for a window panel of maybe 3 blocks as a starter. But I am hooked (get it?)!

Our Library group of yarn enthusiasts are STILL working on gifts. Anne has the trim on the Tree of Life comforter nearly done, and she's not looking forward to the attachment phase! Helen is nearly done with a lovely dark blue cabled scarf. Louise is still knitting a patchwork baby blanket (now at risk to the crochet lace). It is hard to talk, and look at books, and yarn work ALL at the same time. Plus I look sites up on the computer sometimes (as well as download audio books). Of course there is never enough time for the yarn addicted. A new idea emerges. We must save time by blending in one hobby with others!

What about dogs? You can exercise those unused lower limbs by walking that cute, yarn adorned pooch! Especially after looking at this book: Dress Your Dog: Nifty Knits for Classy Canines, by Sys Fredens. You don't have to dress them in a hot sweater! How about a crocheted flower for the collar, or a dog carrying bag? The smaller the dog, the easier the project, i.e. a dog shrug. Now this is not a book for the working dog enthusiasts. But think of all the dog friends, or friends of friends, that are cold and need brightening up? We gave it a thumbs up!

Have fun with all your projects, and exercise a little to stay healthy! Come to our Wednesday Knit Night at the Deming Library, 6:30 to 8ish. We always have too much fun to stop until closing.

Louise