A Yarn About Yarn

I came up with ideas for two patterns for the Yarn Retreat book I’m working on which may be called MIXED KNOTS.. One was going to be a crochet pattern for a group of knitters who wanted to learn how to crochet and the other was going to be a knitting pattern for a a group who wanted a mindful knitting workshop.

The crochet pattern was pretty easy to come up with. I decided I wanted something that would show off one of the differences between crochet and knitting. With knitting, all the stitches stay on the needle which limits how big you can make something. But crochet is worked one stitch at a time so size doesn’t matter. I came up with the idea of a shawl worked the long way. And then I used all different crochet stitches making it almost like a sampler and to keep it interesting, the stitches are worked in the back loop.

I picked out some yarn at Joann’s and started to work on it. I thought one skein would do it, but as the yarn began to run out, I realized I’d need another skein. Now I admit that some time had gone by since the initial purchase of yarn, but we’re talking a couple of months. Anyway, after my knit and crochet group meeting I went looking for the yarn. It was gone. Not just the color I wanted but all of that kind of yarn.

I didn’t want to list discontinued yarn when I described the yarn needed. So, it was back to square one. I chose a new yarn which is totally different than the one I’d had. Hoping this one stays available for awhile.

The knit pattern is for a bunch of people from Silicon Valley who’ve come to Vista Del Mar for a mindful retreat. Even thought Casey isn’t the leader of their retreat she gets sucked into when they are less than satisfied. She arranges some mindful knitting for them. I didn’t want them to just make a swatch and I came up with the idea of them knitting a tie. I’d bought the yarn for it at the same time I bought the yarn for the crochet project. I had enough yarn to make a tie, but I somehow lost the sleeve with all the detail of what kind of yarn it was, who made it, etc. I thought I could look at a sleeve at the store. However, like the first yarn it was no gone from the shelf.

I started over from scratch with the tie, which actually turned out better anyway. The first yarn I’d used to was a fine texture and the knitting needles small that translates to the project taking a long time. They are novice knitters and limited with time. I decided to start over with this project too. I chose a bulky yarn that could be worked on bigger needles which meant it would work up faster. And I decided the blue yarn I’d been using was too dull. These people are black turtle neck wearers and I wanted to give them something with color. I chose a varigated yarn that goes from orange to beige to turquoise.

Now here’s hoping these yarns stay around for a while, but just in case I make sure to list the weight of the yarn and how many yards are needed so that someone can substitute yarn if they can’t find the one that I used.