A Winning Yarn

I like to wear something I’ve made when I go to a yarn event or book signing. I notice that I seem to gravitate toward a certain scarf. I always thought it was because I liked the shades of blue so much, but when I wore it to sign Yarn to Go at Stitches Midwest another reason occurred to me.

Everything I make has some kind of story. Where I bought the yarn, where I got the pattern and what it was like to make. I think it is the story connected with the scarf that makes it my first choice.

I bought the yarn on impulse. I was checking out at a Chicago yarn store and saw it in a bin by the door. I tossed it in with my other purchases because I loved the variations on blue and because there was a pattern for what looked like a simple scarf that appeared crocheted.

It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the receipt that I realized that the one skein of yarn cost $50! I had never spent anything close to that on yarn before. And then I noticed the pattern was for a knitted scarf. An uh oh went off in my head.

Even though I barely knew how to knit, the yarn was so pretty and so expensive, I decided to try. By the way, returning it wasn’t an option because the yarn had been in a hank at the store and they’d spun it into a ball for me and it became non returnable.

Along with being pretty, the silk yarn had all kinds of bumps in it which made it very hard to see the knitted stitches and pretty soon I discovered I was somehow adding stitches and the emerging scarf was all crooked. So I ripped it out and started again, and again, and again once more.

And then sitting with a pile of ripped out yarn, I decided to see if I could turn the pattern into crochet. Crochet takes more yarn than knitting and I worried there might not be enough to make a scarf. I gave knitting one more disastrous attempt and went for broke and started to crochet with it.

Crocheting was easier with the yarn, but the stitches were still hard to see, but I persevered and kept going with my fingers crossed that when I ran out of yarn the scarf wouldn’t end up a weird length. Even crochet was a struggle and I was relieved to be finally done. The length could have been longer and I was so tired of fighting with that yarn I thought I would throw the scarf in the closet with some of the other things I’d made that weren’t exactly stellar achievements. But a funny thing happened. I started to wear it and taking it with me on book related trips without ever thinking why.

Only recently did the reason occur to me. It isn’t the lovely color and the ease of wearing it that makes me choose it. That little scarf represents persistence to me. I tried and tried again, never admitting defeat, just taking a change in direction until I found a way that worked.

Isn’t that the way it works in life?

Washington Yarn

It's been one of those mornings. It is supposed to be easy to get wifi in the lobby of the hotel. Easy if my computer hadn't throw a temper tantrum and refused to do anything right until I shut it off and turned it back on again. And the free way to connect - let's just say you have to figure out to do it and the wording doesn't make it easy. But finally, finally, I was able to get on line and post my blog.


Yesterday I went to Old Town Alexandria as planned. I was pleasantly surprised that it was as easy to get to as hyped. Three subway stops and a free trolley ride and I was there. Not only was the trolley ride free, but so were the booklet about and the map of the area as well.

There are a number of old buildings that can be toured. I chose just to go through the Apothecary. It was just me and the tour guide who also mans the gift shop. It turns out they not only made up medicines for their customers, they produced them and sold them to other places. Part of the tour included the work room where they made pills and various concoctions they sold. It turns out what I read in a tour book about the glass globes in the window having different colored water in them to warn people of epidemics of things like yellow fever and plague isn’t true. The globes of colored water were just for decoration.

From there I got down to business and found the two yarn stores in the area. It’s a chance to me the owners and tell them about my books and check out their wares. I’ve noticed the stores each seem to have their own personality and different types of yarn. And I rarely leave empty handed.

No different yesterday. How could I pass up the apricot alpaca blend yarn that was on sale? And the handmade multi colored crochet hook at the second store had my name on it.

Some people are sex tourists. Me, I’m a yarn tourist.

A Yarn's Tale

This will be a short post. I am in the midst of revisions for A Stitch in Crime which my editor needs by June 29. The good part is that I will be able to send it electronically which gives me up until the last minute.

I loved all the posts about craft economy. My only hint dates back to my early sewing days. I had watched a friend decide to take up sewing. She had to have all fancy tools right away. I don’t even think she ever ended up finishing one dress before she threw in the thread. So when I decided to start sewing, I was worried I’d lose interest as she had. She had been backed by her parents. I had only my babysitting money to use (I was in high school, so this is ancient history). I made a conscious decision to buy just what I needed to make one dress and then if I continued sewing, I would buy one tool with each thing I made. I never lost interest and ended up using everything I bought for a long time. The only things I never could quite afford were really good scissors and pinking shears. I did fine without them, anyway.

Thanks to my blog sister’s earlier posts, I was inspired to go stash shopping. Not as easy as it sounds. At one point I took all yarn I had and arranged it on a couple of book shelf. Arranged it is not quite the right word. More like stuffed it into the shelves. The problem with looking through it, is if I take anything out, the rest of the yarn comes flying out behind it. What I could see from not disturbing the arrangement made me wonder what I’d been thinking. There seems to be a lot of boring beige yarn.

When I couldn’t shove any more yarn in the shelves, I started with plastic bins you can stack on top of each other. They kind of got covered up with some projects I’d actually completed. When I finally uncovered the bins, I found way too many balls of crochet thread. Was it on sale? Or did I just forget I already had some and kept buying more?

Then came the dangerous part of stash shopping. All the plastic bags. No matter how careful I was, they kept latching onto my shoes and trying to trip me. What was inside all those white opaque bags? The wrist warmers I started, but the pattern of which had gotten separated. What size hook was I using? Which book has the pattern? Maybe it would be better to unravel and start from scratch. The partially done shrug at least had the pattern with it, but what happened to the rest of yarn? Again, I was at a loss about the hook size since it was missing from the bag. And I was clueless about where I was in the garment. Another thing for the unravel and start over pile, along with finding the rest of the yarn. I keep vowing to include notes with projects with the essentials like what size hook I used and where I am in the pattern. All good intentions so far not realized.

One really big bag has all the glow in the dark yarn. Michael’s was closing it out and bought almost all they had. How could I turn it down? It was half price and I do use it in A Stitch in Crime. I had visions of making glow in the dark flowers to give away. I could still do that. The book doesn’t come out until March.

Eventually I took a break as the mail came. There was a post card from that new wonderful yarn store I found. They’re having a sale starting tomorrow. A big discount on all their gorgeous yarn. Limited time only. Uh, oh.

Hank and Me

As I continue my discovery tour of yarn, I have found something surprising. Paying more for yarn doesn’t mean it’s going to be easier to work with. I bought yarn at both of the local yarn stores I stopped in. The garnet colored worsted I got to make a shawl came in sort of a twisted hank rather than a ball or whatever the shape is called that Red Heart and Vanna’ Choice come in. With the Red Heart or all the yarn I’ve gotten at Michael’s or Joann’s, you just find and end and begin with your project. Not so with Mr. Hank.

I’ve heard you can use the back of chair to drop it over while you wind a ball. You can use a friend’s hands to hold it while you roll it in a ball, or you can use a yarn swift. I bought one a while ago, but had never used it. It looks kind of like the underside of an umbrella and comes with a twirly thing that makes the actual ball. I tried to put Mr Hank on the swift and threaded onto the twirly ball maker, but instead of turning it into a nice orb, he turned into a nightmare of tangles. I did finally manage to painstakingly untangle the mess and hand roll it into a ball, but luckily I was watching television which at least made the two hours it took entertaining. Of course, I was sure I had done something wrong.

The next day I took the rest of the yarn back to the store where I bought it. I had noticed they had a yarn swift and thought if they showed me how to do it, I’d be home free. Well, it turned out Mr. Hank 2 was all twisted and even with hanging it on the yarn swift the correct way, it took an hour and a half to wind a ball by hand because it had been badly twisted by the manufacturer. I asked the store owner why the yarn came in hanks and she said it was all about marketing. If it were in balls, shoppers would squeeze them and mess up the yarn. So basically it’s for her convenience, not her customers.

I will say that Mr. Hank 3 did work on the yarn swift and flew into a ball in a few minutes. The same for the hank of yarn made from recycled sari’s.

The cashmere yarn I got last week did come in a nice workable ball, which I certainly appreciated.

When I tried knitting with the garnet yarn it seemed okay to work with. I made a gauge swatch for the shawl and it didn’t split or knot up. I figured that was the least it could do after the pain I went through turning it into balls. And for all that effort, each ball wasn’t that big. All three together barely make one skein of Vanna’s Choice.

The sari yarn was a different story. It doesn’t like being unraveled. The threads come loose and become kind of a halo that grabs onto everything around it. I decided simple was best with it and am making a skinny scarf with double crochets on a big hook. Even though it didn’t want to be unraveled, I fought with it until it came undone. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I had gotten mixed up about which side was up on the scarf and started the next row on the side of it. I am pleased to report that after starting over, it is now going the right way. However, when I picked up some Lion’s Brand cotton yarn to make a scarf, I sighed with relief and my fingers flew and any unraveling that needed to be done was a breeze.

I have big plans for the pink cashmere. I found a pattern for a ruffly scarf that should be beautiful. The question is how will it be to work with?

The good part of all these problems is they are material for the next crochet mystery.

By Hook or By Crook came out Tuesday. Berkley does such a great job with covers. The colors of my three book’s covers look so nice next to each other. I already stopped into a Borders in downtown Chicago and signed their stock. Saturday I’ll be signing books at the Printers Row Book Fair at the Mystery Writers of America booth from 1-3. And next Sunday, I’ll be signing books around noon at the Encino Barnes & Noble along with other members of Los Angeles Romance Authors.

RWC Retreat

The airplane arrived from Chicago. The passengers came into the terminal at LAX. I could almost hear them sigh with pleasure as they looked at the blue sky and warm sunlight streaming through the windows.

I got on the same plane and it flew right back to Chicago. It was cold, dark and late when I arrived, but I sighed with pleasure all the same. I guess it is just the appeal to being somewhere else.

I was supposed to have company while I was here, but there was a change in plans and I have a week alone. I have turned this time into my own personal retreat - just reading, writing and crocheting with some walks thrown in and well, a little cleaning, too. The company is showing up later.

So what am I reading? Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii by Lee Goldberg. I picked it up last month at Left Coast Crime in Kona. Lee was the toastmaster of the event and when he signed my book I found out he was also a former Tarzanian. It’s a fun read and even though it takes place in Kauai and I was on the big island, it still reminds me of my trip. When I finish, I have seven rooms with overflowing bookcases full of choices.

I didn’t bring clothes, just a suitcase full of yarn. The one thing not conveniently located around here is a yarn store or a Michael’s or Joann’s. I always bring yarn, crochet tools, and crochet books to leave here, which means I have now yarn stashes in two locations. Anyone who knits or crochets will get the importance of that.

I plan to make several of the pouch purses featured in the fourth crochet mystery, which I think might be called A Twisted Yarn. I also want to play. I’m always in a hurry and product oriented. I wanted to try stitches and combinations of them for an idea I have for the project in book number 5.

And the writing. Well, there’s book number 5 and something else I’m working on, too. Along with all the yarn, I brought some yellow legal pads. I like to start with them. For some reason I never have blank page anxiety when I handwrite, the way I do when I look at a blank screen with a winking cursor.

To finish off the retreat, I have lots of coffee and loads of local good food. Am I in heaven, or what?

What is your dream getaway?