Monthly Archives: December 2013

A Super Exciting Post About Yardage and Budgets

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Yarn does not grow on trees (if only… that would be amazing.  Scientists: get on that).    And there are only so many hours in the day.  It’s still relatively early in December, but you are probably starting to feel the pinch.  Obviously, knitting big projects takes more time than knitting little projects (because… duh), so banging out a sweater in two weeks (while that would be amazing) is probably not going to happen.

When I want to make someone a knitted gift, my usual go-tos are knitted accessories: hats, mittens/gloves, and scarves.  Accessories are always useful, appreciated, don’t usually need to be washed (and potentially ruined), and are small enough that you can finish a project in the time it takes to watch a Sunday marathon of Law & Order.

I’ve undertaken a semi-scientific* study of some of the knitted accessories I have sitting in a box in my closet.  I wanted to see about how much yarn I used in each project, but I didn’t want to unravel everything and measure it out (because I’m not a masochist).  Instead, I broke out the kitchen scale and weighed each item, which will let me estimate of how much yarn each type of project requires.

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After much data collection and number crunching**, here’s what I found out:

A hat uses approximately the same amount of yarn as a pair of mittens. ***

A scarf uses about 2 to 3 times as much yarn as a hat or a pair of mittens.

So, if you’re trying to save money, time, and yarn, try making a gift hat.  If you’re feeling generous, how about a nice long scarf?

*Not at all scientific.

**I measured three of each item all knit with worsted-ish yarn (three pairs of mittens, three scarves, three hats) and averaged the weights.

***Note: my mittens were knit at a slightly finer gauge than my hats and scarves.  So while they may weighed the same, the mittens used more yardage, and probably took more time to knit up.

December is Gift-cember

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My porch was icy this morning when I went out to the car, and it’s dark by 3:30 in the afternoon.  That can mean only one thing:  Christmas is coming!

And, if Christmas is coming, then gifts are coming, too.  So, I’m going to dedicate the blog from now until Christmas to everything knitting and gift-related.

Here are a couple of topics we’re going to cover, just to get you excited:

-Gifts for people who knit (your mom, your nephew, your great-aunt Phyllis or that dude who knits socks on the train that you take in to work in the morning)

-Knitted gifts for people who don’t knit (but appreciate the work that goes into a pair of mittens.  If they won’t appreciate your mittens, then they get a gift card to Amazon.)

-Gift inspiration (Giftspriation?  No.  That’s too cutesy, even for me.)

-Yarn-related gift wrapping (cooler than it sounds.)

So, slide up a chair, pour yourself a mug of hot apple cider, wrap a blanket around your shoulders (and pull on some wool socks, a hand-knit sweater or two, maybe a hat, and don’t forget the fingerless mitts… I’m cold, can’t you tell?) and get ready for a month-long gift-giving extravaganza!

 

*If you’re not one for the whole “Christmas” thing, that’s OK too.   Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all religious on you (although I can’t promise there won’t be a Rudolph or two in the following posts).  Everyone gives gifts at some point, or at least gives gifts to themselves from time to time, so you’ll probably (hopefully) be able to find something useful here in December.

Giving Thanks (Better Late than Never)

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I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend, I know I did.  I got to go visit my brother and parents down in San Francisco.  It’s a pretty cool town, and we got to eat a lot of really great food and walked way way way more than I usually do.HappyThanksgiving[1]

Now, because of my busy weekend, I failed to come up with a plan for today’s post.  I’ve always thought that those “What I’m Thankful For” lists that you see on Facebook are kind of dumb, and just used as filler for when you don’t know what else to do.

But I don’t have any good ideas right now, so I suppose it’s as good an idea as any.  Here’s what I’m thankful for (in no particular order):

– My awesome family (and especially my husband).  They totally enable me in whatever crazy project I decide to try.  Want to get a spinning wheel? Awesome.  Want to drop a couple hundred bucks on wool and dye, just to “try out this idea I had?” Go for it.  Want to take over the living room with dozens of yards of fabric so that I can manufacture project bags for everybody I’ve ever met?  Super.  They’re amazing.

-My day job.  I’ve always been super academically inclined and really into planning and making lists (which is why I ended up going to school until I was 25, and graduating with a Masters in Neuroscience… yeah… that happened.)  But, when I left school, I realized that science, while enjoyable, wasn’t what really made me happy.  My new job is my first real artsy-fartsy job, where I work in a ceramics studio making custom tiles.  I get to play with clay and glaze and fire stuff in the kilns.  It’s pretty much the best thing ever, and I totally lucked out in getting it.

-My night job (which sounds shadier than I meant it to), roller derby.  I spend about 20 hours a week rollerskating and doing other roller derby-related things, so I consider it a pseudo second job.  I don’t get paid (unfortunately), but I enjoy it enough to not worry about that much.  And, on top of skating being fun, all my teammates are awesome people, and a great network of friends.

-My other night job (also not shady), my blog!  I’ve been working on the blog for almost a year now, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s turning out.  I get so excited when I see your comments, and looking at everyone’s finished projects posted on Ravelry makes me smile like a crazy lady.  I am constantly thankful for every comment, like, and follower.

But enough sappiness!  I’ve got some good stuff planned for December, and I can’t wait until I get it out of my head and onto my computer screen.  Happy knitting and happy (late) Thanksgiving!