Tomorrow is Friday and man do I love me someĀ Fridays. I love that the weekend slows down and lends its way to crafting and a time to rejuvenate my soul. I usually are am not one to start a new project on the weekend. I like to work on wips (work in progress) during the weekend. Today I want to talk about on of the biggest things a knitter or crocheter can encounter… At what point do youĀ frog it or finish it? Do you let it go to Area 51 that in the back of a dark closet and leave it for years? Are you someone that lets it go to time got for about a year and the reuses the yarn? Comment bellow or in the Facebook Group (to join click here) and tell us about a project you have in “Time out” and why its got in trouble.
I have a project in Time out… Its been there for a while. I want to finish it because I think it will be pretty but honestly I am just not motivated. It the Labor Day Shawl by Deby Lake. My local knit group made it before I was even in the group. The majority of them used the Stonehedge Fiber Mill Crazy yarn. Crazy Yarn is so much fun to work with. Its made by all the leftovers from their mill and spun into crazy color combinations… hence its name. The problem with mine is I wanted a solid base color but my LYS only had lace in stock which is fine so I held two strand together to do the base. Lace work with two strands is not my idea of a good time. I am sure I could do it because I am a firm believer in not letting something defeat you. I believe we learn from our mistakes and as hard as it may be mistakes can be our best teacher. So its been in time out. Also lets be honest Instagram can be a real pain for us monogamous crafters. Inspiration is in every photo and the bight and shinny new yarns and patterns can be a bit of a distraction. The yarn is one of those you just need to get some to play with yarns. It is so soft and the has more of a barber poleing effect. So what is barber poleing? It is the term used to describe two different solid color yarns that are spun together to create a yarn with a “Barber Pole” effect. Often the term gets confused with the term marled. Marled yarn is very similar to barber poleing but instead of the two solid colors it is spun with a solid and a variegated yarn. So that is why my Labor Day show has been in hibernation. It started was started August 2016 and this month I will decided to love it or leave it.
I want to give a thank you to the amazing Benjamin Krudwig for helping me get clarification on the two. If you have never heard of Benjamin please check him out on the following links. He is a designer, a teacher, blogger, weaver, spinner and crocheter and wears a few more hats as well . He has been on Yarnthing with Marly Bird which is where I learned about him. You can listen to that show by clicking here. I will be making one of his hats this fall and will talk about him more then. I also plan on hosting a giveaway of the hat patern I will be making!! You can can find him in the links bellow.
Here are some examples of some yarn that is barber and marled. The Crazy Yarn on the left is more Barber Pole style to me. You can clearly see two distinct solids spun together to create the effect of a Barber Pole.Ā The yarn on the right is some of my own handspun it is marled yarn. It is more of a mixture of colors or “Variegated” strands that when spun together give it a more muted tone and looks more “blended”.Ā
