the quality of knitting/crochet, yarn, & etc...

I've been spending a lot of time in the chat rooms of etsy, and a lot of time in etsy (since 2006) and other online selling sites, and a discussion that has come up time and time again, among knitters & crocheters, is the quality of materials used in knitwear and crochetwear. This has also been a topic of countless discussions on ravelry as well. 

"Yarn snobbery" or "fiber snobbery" is about as taboo of a discussion as talking about religion and politics in mixed company. What defines a snob when it comes to yarn varies from one person to the next.

If you choose to not use a certain type of yarn, due to allergies or whatnot, that I can understand. There's nothing wrong with that at all. What I can't seem to understand, though, is simply going with a certain kind of yarn to make things simply because it's cheaper.

Acrylic, for example, tends to be (more often than not) cheaper than most other yarns. There are different qualities of acrylic, but at the end of the day, acrylic is acrylic, and acrylic is plastic. That's all that it is. So, why on earth would one make clothing from it? A sweater or scarf etc, made from acrylic, is the equivalent of wearing a plastic bag, and it keeps you just as warm. All it does is make you sweat, since it doesn't breathe. It's not a snob thing, it's just fact.

I've seen a lot of people on etsy make garments from acrylic, and their excuse is that acrylic is just the cheaper yarn to work with. Aren't you setting yourself up for failure before you've even started? I look even in my own closet, and I don't own any 100% acrylic clothes, even though much of what I have has been bought in department stores. Many of my shirts and undergarments are made from cotton. Even store bought sweaters are a wool blend at worst.

Yarn goes on sale all the time. Plus, if you already start with quality yarns, wouldn't that retail for more if you're planning on selling them? Or are we all comdemned to that Walmart mentality, where cheaper is always better? Do we not value our work enough to start with quality materials to make a quality product? If we're going to invest our energy into using a quality pattern, and we all know that handmade tends to be better quality than not, then why use inferior materials to begin with?

I'm not knocking acrylic yarns - I've plenty, but I believe it needs to be used accordingly. Acrylic is ideal for making toys. It's even great for making throws and afghans. Acrylic blend are great for making machine-washable garments. But to use 100% acrylic for clothing? I don't think so.

Even if you're not planning on retailing anything you've made - when you make something for yourself or to gift to someone, one would think you'd want to wear a quality garment. You don't have to spend a lot of money on quality yarns, there are some great ones that are priced inexpensively to start.

I use this as an example: A chef wouldn't use inferior ingredients to make dishes at his restaurant, a baker wouldn't bake with expired or inferior ingredients either, because (and pardon borrowing the slogan from a certain commercial) you can taste the difference quality makes. It's exactly the same in knitting and crochet.

Anyway, that's my vent, for what it's worth. I'm not even going to start with the ethicality of not charging for labour on selling sites when it comes to handmade, or infringing on trademark or copyright items when it comes to selling your work either, that's a different post for a different day. It would just be nice to see, when it comes to knitting or crochet as a whole, that people make an effort to start with quality yarns from the get-go.

You don't have to spend a whole lot of money to get good, quality yarns - just know which yarns are best suited for which projects is all.

again, all felted up

I've included pics of some sheep I just finished making... more info about them can be found on my sheepy blog in this post I just put up today... here are the pictures, nevertheless:

Two birds, one stone

I've been using this pattern for basic kid's mittens to knit these 10 pairs, for afghans for Afghans, during the last 6 weeks or so. Exhausting, but fun. :) Managed to get a good handle on how to whip up a basic mitten, and I think I can now brave my own design. And, the other bonus, was I was able to destash much of the partial skeins of yarn I had laying around my house!

I think I'll have these mailed by the end of the week, since I need to the post office anyway to mail a couple thank-you cards.

skull cablery!

Super yummery: I'm adoring this skull cable, and am currently knitting it into a scarf for my nephew for Christmas. Granted I only have about half the scarf done so far, but here's how the cable knits up:

The cable's worked across 22 sts, and I'm doing a K1,P1,K1,P1,K1 rib on either side. I'm also using Bernat Wool Blend in Slate to knit it up, so it'll be nice and warm.

of sheep and paper

I've had a box of wool sitting in my home office now for at least 3 months, and I finally got around to dying about half of it last week:

Not that I spin, although I've tried my hand at it. Practice makes perfect, I know, but in the meantime, I'm a bit frustrated at how chunky and not-so-neat it turns out in the meantime. But the dying part of it is fun. And, of course, I keep forgetting to wear plastic gloves while I dye, so for the weekend I had purple fingers. Very gross, but I didn't mind.

I've also succumbed to collecting stamps again. Not for myself, but for others. I've an uncle who collects used stamps, although I'm not sure he does still any more. But, my MIL's brother does, and since she's going to Ireland next month to visit him, I thought I'd invest the next month or so to collect what I can for her, to give him. So far I've got stamps from the U.S. and Hong Kong. When I received my package of noro kureyon a while back, that envelope had Hong Kong stamps on it which I already gave her to send over, and she seemed very pleased with them. So, why not collect a few more? I figured that ones from Hong Kong may be harder to come across for her brother, so it'd be neat to have those to add to his collection.

since it's Friday the 13th...

I've decided to post some random facts about knitting and crocheting... enjoy :)

~ People magazine's "Insider" column reported in early 2001 on a very special baby shower for Camryn Manheim (The Practice) given by celebs and friends. The focal point of the party was a knitting lesson. Friends then each made a six-inch multicolored square for a baby blanket for Manheim
~ Younger women are picking up the craft. Since 1998, there has been a 400% increase in the number of women under 35 years old who crochet and knit
~ 1 out of 3 women knows how to knit or crochet. The number of women who do these crafts increased from 34.7 million in 1994 to 38 million in 2000.
(facts from http://iwpshopinfo.interweave.com/Knits/Judy%20Swartz/knittingfacts.htm)
~ The term sweaters began to be used for knitted pullovers formerly called ganseys or jerseys after they were used for athletic clothes. It is said they were called sweaters because that's what the athletes who wore them did -sweat!
(from http://escproductions.bizland.com/stonesneatstuff/knittingtreasury/index.html)
~ In the medieval Europe hand knitting was an important industry and had developed into an advanced craft by 16th century.
~ The oldest known knitting needles are double-pointed needles. They are normally used in sets of four or five as depicted in a number of 14th Century oil paintings.
(facts from http://www.purplekittyyarns.com/patterns/knitting.html)
~ During World War I President Woodrow Wilson allowed sheep to graze on the White House lawn. When the sheep were sheered, the wool was auctioned off and the proceeds went to the American Red Cross war relief fund.
~ American Red Cross knitters were still supplying the military with wool helmets as late as 1964. The men at remote arctic military outposts like Thule Airbase in Greenland and Goose Air Force Base in Labrador preferred the hand knitted wool helmets to the machine made synthetic varieties supplied by the army. The soldiers claimed that they kept your face warmer, longer in sub-zero temperatures
~ 1946 the North Atlantic Area chapters processed over 3,000 pounds of olive drab wool for the supplementary items for the military.
(facts from http://www.afghansforafghans.org/red_cross.html)
~ The Name "Crochet" comes from the word "crochet" meaning hook in the French language.
~ The Granny Square was orignally published by the Weldon company in London, as a pattern to use up leftover yarn.
(from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/21758/crochet_facts_and_fun_filled_information.html)
~ Wool is comparatively stronger than steel.
~ Wool can absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture, and is fire resistant.
(from http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/Semprojs/wool/wool_facts.htm)

Duke: O, fellow! come, the song we had last night.
Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones,
Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.

ShakespeareTwelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 4