Yarn Arts

Tips and tricks, so you know you are ready for NYSW! Tip # 1: get there early. Like 45 minutes early. Lines begin to form around 1 hour before the gates open, and with the uncertainty of how this year’s festival will be conducted, it is best to be prepared by arriving early. Tip # 2: First year attending? Sweet! Welcome to the party! Familiarize yourself with the layout of the festival by checking out a map. While you’re at it, make notes on a piece of paper of where your favorite vendors are, and list them in order of which ones you want to visit first. We all only have one booth this year, so crowd navigating will be challenging, and visiting your “must see” vendors first will ensure souvenir success. Tip # 3: *MOST IMPORTANT* WiFi is literally non existent on the fairgrounds- so remember that thing I mentioned above about writing everything down on paper or in your phone- yeah, SUPER IMPORTANT! You are more than likely going to find it impossible to access things like Ravelry or pattern websites to check yardage and yarn info, so if you are planning to shop specifically for projects, in some form of another, have a hard copy of what you need for that pattern. Tip # 4: Do not wait for lunch to grab those coveted Apple Cider Doughnuts- EVERYONE DOES IT! Grab them at the beginning or end of the day. Lines are thinnest then, and you won’t waist time standing in line when you could be shopping. But seriously, you need one of these in your life. Tip # 5: preorder you Rhinebeck merch. You don’t want to go to the merch tent only to find that everything is sold out Tip # 6: Couldn’t make it to a vendors booth to grab that “must have item”? Ask the vendor if they are willing to do a preorder. Most of us are, but that is up to the vendor. And since we are limited to space this year, we are also limited on how much we can stock. *My booth will be accepting pre orders* Tip # 7: Have fun y’all! You are attending the best wool festival in the world!

I hope this helps, and I can’t wait to see ya in 2 weeks time!

It’s because after spending serious £££ on materials, and then HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF LABOR on the creation of the item, with every stitch a prayer of totally focused intent, creating a large display of technical skill - it is then gifted to a non-knitter who does NOT APPRECIATE the work/effort/skill/cost/TIME it took to make it, and in fact thinks you’re a bit weird and making a big deal out of a piece of clothing, and after they go “oh thanks” and shove your creation in the cupboard next to a sweater they got for £15 at an M&S sale, then they never wear your sweater because it’s too tight because when you asked them how their favorite sweaters usually fit they said “I ‘unno” and when you measured them for the fifth time and asked, rather tersely, if they had enough room in the chest, they said “I guess,” and then if pressed they say they don’t really like the sweater design, but then you point out that they were supposed to participate in helping you design it and they say they don’t really care about how things look, and when you say that you tried to match it to their other clothes so how can they hate it, then they say that honestly their mother still buys all their clothes because they hate going shopping, and that they hate all their other clothes too, well. That’s when a sensible knitter goes “Fuck this shit. And you know what? Fuck this man.”

This is what happens when someone posts in a knitting forum “Attack of the sweater curse!” - this is the usual story. It has a rigid plot. It is as old as myth.

That’s when you look at the time you spent and realize, “I could LITERALLY have written the first draft of a novel instead of doing this.” That’s when you go “I could have taken that £200 and bought myself a new wardrobe.” That’s when you go “I could have taken all that intent, all that willpower, all that creative force, and laid down some fucking witchcraft, all right?” That’s when you go “I basically spent 100 hours straight thinking about this bastard while making something amazing for him, and I have no evidence that he ever spent 10 hours of his life thinking about me.”

And “I could spend this time and energy and money in making myself an enormous, intricate heirloom silk shawl with just a touch of cashmere, in elvish twists and leafy lace in all the colors of the night, shot through with subtly glittering stars, warm in winter and cool and summer and light as a lover’s kiss on the shoulders, suitable for draping over my arms at weddings or wrapping myself in to watch the sea, a lace-knotted promise to myself that I will keep for my entire life and gift to my favorite granddaughter when I die, and she will wear it to keep alive my memory - but instead I have this sweater, and this fuckboy.”

The sweater curse is a lesson that the universe gives to a knitter at an important point in their life. It is a gift.

Knitting a sweater for a husband or wife generally doesn’t call down the curse, because the relationship is meant to be stronger than 4-ply.

NaKniCroMo Day 18: WIP Wednesday!

Day 11: WIP Wednesday

LOOK AT HOW MUCH I HAVE KNIT. THIS IS LOADS FOR ME.

Some presents for a fellow artist and friend.

Sockies coming along nicely

I saw a thing and thought it seemed like something you might find cool

How to double knit very, very quickly

Mrs. Jonson on the third pew won’t mind her own business, bless her heart. And she buys her pies pre-made for all the church functions.

Ways that women cheated the system in 1950s Texas to get into college and start careers. Including a memorable “He told me I wouldn’t last a week, but then 6 years later, I had to let him go because his production was way down.” *drinks sip of coffee*

We Might Be Conservative But Gosh Darn That Trump Bless His Heart He Doesn’t Know Anything About God Or Texas

And On That Note, God And Texas Are The Only Good Things Left In The World. Erin Write That Down.

How to rescue a dropped stitch and make it look like it never happened

Public schools and inclusive, desegregated education will single-handedly save the world

Sharing recipes is a sacred bonding and community-building tradition that rivals the greatest political negotiations and land deals in history

“It’s better that you prefer girls honey, the Boyfriend Curse doesn’t apply to your girlfriend and a lovin’ god’ll keep on a-lovin. You better make that girl a sweater.’” 

(Boyfriend Curse = knit a sweater for a boy and he’ll leave you when you finish it)

Mrs. Barbara’s husband cheated in ‘76, resulting in a divorce. She thought it was the end of the world because her youth had already passed, but now she’s an engineer and married to a kind, good man who she met when she went back to college in ‘79.