Showing posts with label ball winder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ball winder. Show all posts

Monday, December 10, 2012

What to Give a Knitter for the Holidays

It happens every year: your loved one with a knitting hobby is the last one on your list, and you can't think of what to give them.  Why?  Maybe you're not a knitter.  Or maybe there's just too much knitting in the world to choose from.  What's a sure-fire gift for a knitter to cherish?
Never fear!  There are knitting gifts galore if you know where to look!  Start here.  As always, I recommend shopping locally as much as possible.  Our local knitting stores are the backbone of most area knitting communities, and the knitter in your life is probably well known to the staff of at least one of these establishments.  (They may even have a wish list on file!)

Knitting All the Day
The Savvy Girls Podcast is a knitting podcast by sisters Deborah and Melanie Gall.  Melanie is also a gifted singer, and has recorded a wonderful CD (click the link below the pic) of knitting songs from the WWI era.  It makes a great gift!  Colleen, my intrepid and magical assistant, gave me a copy during Rhinebeck this year, and I'm completely in love!  There's little chance your knitter already has one, and they're sure to enjoy it.

For the book lover on your list, The Vogue Knitting Knitopedia from Sixth&Spring Books is an extraordinary volume.  It has a little of everything a knitter needs - patterns, history, techniques, biographies, and more - all packed in one volume.  Every knitter will find things to love, and ideas to delight them.  The color photos, articles, maps and information will enhance the work of the most beginner and the most advanced knitters. Try your local bookstore, yarn shop, or favorite online bookseller to collect a copy.
Lantern Moon Ebony Knitting Needles
Every knitter loves to have beautiful tools that do the job well.  Few companies produce tools as beautiful and functional as Lantern Moon.  The needles at left are made of ebony, and are spectacularly beautiful.  The wood warms to the temperature of your hands, and the finish has wonderful action.  These needles, and most of their other tools, are not priced for bargain shoppers (the needles at left retail for around $24.)  They are fairly priced for high-end hand-made tools.  On the other hand, if they were cheap, they wouldn't be special enough to count as wonderful gift.  Lantern Moon makes a wide variety of knitting and crochet tools, widely available at local yarn stores.  You can also find their products at a variety of online needlework outlets.  Check out the complete line on LanternMoon.com

For many knitters, a yarn swift and ball winder are a pair of tools they would definitely use, but wouldn't buy for themselves due to the expense.  This pair of tools works together, with the swift holding large hanks of yarn and the ball winder spinning the yarn into balls without tediously hand-winding the balls.  Knitters who by their yarn at yarn shops and online outlets instead of craft stores often purchase yarns that are still in the hanks, and not yet wound into skeins or balls.  The photo at right is of a pair for sale on eBay.  Often you can find them in yarn shops and online outlets. Prices for the combination run from approximately $60-$175.  If you're not a knitter, you may want to ask for help in choosing a pair that are right for the knitter in your life.

If none of these ideas work for you don't despair; visit your local knitting store, and describe the knitter in your life.  Maybe you know they love to knit socks.  Maybe you know they knit for children.  After a short conversation, the staff at the knitting store will be able to guide your towards a gift that will delight the knitter in your life. 

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Designing Around the Puppy

10 days ago, I picked up a puppy whose owner has become disabled and unable to train her.  She's 11 months old, and wasn't trained at all.  At all.  She is a beautiful English Setter from a top show line, with lots of fluffy soft fur and the elegance that goes with the breed.  Her name is Rosa.

She also bounces off everything - walls, floor, people, kids, adults, trees... She has boundless energy, and boundless curiosity about the world I've brought her into.  She's adorable and goofy, and constant work. 

Rosa also loves to eat my yarn.  Any yarn.  She picks up the skein, prances around the house for a few minutes playing keep-away-from-Elisabeth, and then tries to eat it.  I understand a love of yarn, but I don't think much of this eating it behavior.  I'm trying to design and test knit patterns for the Gift Knits Kit Club, and Rosa keeps trying to lick the project or make off with the yarn.  Talk about adverse working conditions!  I'm tempted to picket, but it is my house after all. 

There's an upside.  My dear friend Cecile has loaned me her swift and ball winder, so at least I'm not trying to ball yarn for projects on top of everything.  These tools are addictive!  It's amazing how quickly the balls get made.  I've always made my hanks into balls the old fashioned way - I hand-wound them.  This is so cool.

Did I mention?  Now Rosa wants to eat the swift, too.