Monday, February 9, 2009

libraries are good

When I became obsessed with knitting a few years ago my friend Sarah reminded me how useful and economical the library can be when you're tempted to order more knitting books from Amazon. My library records look like I'm determined to check out every title in the system with the words knit, yarn, or wool. That suggestion has saved me hundreds on books!

On Friday I picked up the next knitting book on my library list, The Best of Lopi. On a winter evening when your yard is still dotted with snow, a book full of bulky, warm Icelandic sweaters can be very tempting! The color choices began to swirl in my head and the online yarn ordering options lured me to the brink... almost. My better angels performed an intervention in the nick of time! After all I did have a few skeins of Lopi yarn that I had over-dyed for Christmas projects and well, maybe I should just experiment with what I had before committing to a whole sweater. Enter this glorious skein of yarn from the end of a dyepot session that suggests a name like Easter meets a Sunflower! Maybe glorious is not the right word.



With a hat pattern I found online and Easter meets a Sunflower primed, I cast on. A quick project with big needles, if you're paying attention to what you're knitting, which I didn't. I did finish it in a matter of hours and now I have no desire to order Lopi yarn for a whole sweater. As I pushed the bulky yarn on and off the big needles, I remembered December's Lopi knitting marathon and how it inflamed my shoulder and well, now I'm cured of the Iceland sweater project. Though I really liked the hat's inside where the two strands of yarn are carried along, there's some interesting, felting potential there, but the Lopi moment has passed (for me). Pphew!



But friends and family, the Icelandic moment may not have passed for you! I tried the Bjorkish hat on and was reminded of how dorky I look in hats. This must be gifted! When you least expect it, it may end up under your Christmas tree or next to your birthday cake or for your anniversary, arbor day...

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