So, how do you select projects to work on? Do you work on multiple items at a time? How do they differ? Do you keep an easy one on hand for when you’re watching TV, while a complicated one awaits for when you have quiet time?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I know I’d complete more projects if I worked on them more (or had the time to work on them more), but there are also times I get immersed in a good book or just enjoy getting out into the fresh air more than I feel like picking up my needles.

I guess it’s because I know the yarn and the needles aren’t going anywhere. Or maybe I just get tired of using my hands that way, though I can almost always feel a yearning to go back to it when I’m busy working or helping someone with homework. However long my un-crafty breaks, I always go back to the yarn eventually.

Do you ever put projects aside because you don’t feel like working on them? Or do you always have a project in your hands?

Image: Photos.com

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Unlike previous years, I didn’t ask for yarn as a gift this Christmas. For one, I really do have a lot of yarn (it takes quite a lot of guts to admit that!), yarn that I probably won’t use all up in 2009.

Right now, I’m trying to see how I’m going to approach 2009 as far as being crafty. I want to try some new things; I want to use yarn I already own…and not just to make more room for new yarn.

Pictured is part of my stash (I’ll discuss proper storage for yarn another time), so as you can see, I’m pretty well-stocked. Did you get more yarn for Christmas? And if so, did you need it?

Image: © D. Sandeen

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While there was some buzzing that Ravelry led to the demise of some craft blogs, that may have happened to some bloggers anyway. Blogging is still evolving, after all. What Ravelry did kill for me was my knitting journal.

A few years back, I bought this nifty little journal and I treated it like my knitting diary of sorts. I recorded what I wanted to work on, what I was working on and the yarn I used, needle size, yarn care, whether I liked the yarn, etc.

Hmmm….all things you can now do at Ravelry…but with pictures!

Needless to say, my knitting journal is gathering dust on my bookshelf. Sorry, journal, but Ravelry makes it so easy to record this same information (the only thing I can’t do is tape my ball band and yarn sample to it) as well as share it. 

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I’ve been knitting since 2003 — not a really long time when compared to many knitters I know, who learned as young kids. But I had a lifelong desire to learn and when I happened upon a book in the bookstore one day, I decided to take a chance and finally figure it out. It’s been quite a journey since that first day I sat with wooden needles and cheap dark blue yarn and wondered just why my knitting didn’t look like what was in the book! Somehow, I managed and I kept trying and trying until I could make projects that were useful and looked like actual knitting.

Since I feel that the more you knit, the more you learn, I’m interested to see what we learn together. I don’t believe you ever really know it all about knitting, even if you’ve been doing it for a lifetime.

Questions or comments? I love them, so don’t be shy. Let’s share our hankering for yarn together.    

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I’ve been blogging with b5 media, the company that owns hankering for yarn for 2 1/2 years now, and it’s been a slice.

But we are at a crossroads, and so are parting company. It’s been a difficult and painful choice to make, but sometimes, that’s the way the cookie crumbles and the yarn tangles……

I absolutely love my readers and have enjoyed our interaction so much!

I am still blogging – you can catch me at www.tottietalkscrafts.com

THANK YOU SO MUCH for being such lovely companions!

hugs and love all round,

Noreen Crone-Findlay

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She has written about what it has been like for her to do the sewing of the memorial textiles (called antependia) that we have co-created in memory of her Nana, my precious mother in law….. we both found it to be very stirring to put huge effort into creating a loving memorial to a marvelous woman who was central in our lives.

Here’s her entry: Chloë  and the memorial textiles

Here’s what I wrote about this process:

1] Starting the weaving 

2] a not so stellar moment…. 

3] weaving…. 

4] weaving a metaphor

5] my part finished…. 

Sunday morning, we’ll be participating in the dedication of the altar cloth,  pulpit banner and  table runners.  Jim’s trio is going to play, and a friend of ours, a fabulous singer, is going to be singing. It’s going to be wonderful….

I’ll take some pics and post them……

Post from: Hankering for Yarn