Lies on Knitting

Taking the knit along

At least a week I spent without a no-brainer on the needles. Waiting for my Magic Ball I decided to keep the sock needles free, and I started a baby sweater. The same as I knitted in december 2006. I know, I know. Not really an adventurous knitter I am. I needed a no-brainer, remember? :-)

This little knitting bag here is a very clever idea by one of the residents of the Dutch socknitting yahoogroup. (I would love to give her credit, but I lost the initial e-mail about it... who was she?) It takes a cloth placemat and a zipper and half an hour to make it. This is how it's done: You cut a strip off the placemat to make it an exact square, you sew the zipper on two sides of one corner, you close the other two sides by folding them in half first, and make a loop-handle out of the strip you have cut off to tidy up the pointy end... bingo! Lovely, isn't it?

Fast and Magic

A little notice about motivation: A gun on my head would not prompt me to knit faster than a magic ball does. In four days I finished knitting all 150 grams of wool that was used to wrap a series of lovely presents. I did not make a pillow cover, after knitting two rows I changed my mind (hey, I am a woman. I am in title to change my mind) and started a curly scarf like this one. I altered the pattern a very little bit: I started with an I cord cast on. While knitting, a few nice ribbons fell out of the ball, a series of buttons, a few sachets of Espresso, and two wooden discs that I do not know what they are for. (edit: they are moth-repellent cedar wood, what a clever idea!)

I unpacked a very clever spinning device, a beautiful apron, (with sheep and a spinning wheel in batik print) a ball filled with beads, a piece of soap that looks like some luxurious dessert, and the most luscious, beautiful fiber to spin. It has red and purple and something white and some shiny fiber as well. I feel thoroughly spoiled!

Then I was out of yarn, and I hadn't cast off the gazillion stitches that were on my longest needle. So I did some stash-diving, and found a lonesome ball of Noro Silver Thaw, that felt at home with this Gedifra Living. See? A match made in heaven.

Now when I started Ravelry to add this curly scarf, I found a hint of who my Magic Ball Maker could be. Is it you?  You did a wonderful job. What a nice ball this was! Thank you!

Magic Ball

At last! today the Magic Ball arrived. 

Look! isn't it lovely? The ball itself (Gedifra "living" in a dark red colour) came in a buttonhole bag, a nice green one. I know a few ways to use this bag.... and I already decided what to knit from this magic ball: A pillow case. Really. You know, I have this old, vintage chair, that I am working on to restore it. It needs a few loose pillows, and this Gedifra living will be part of that.

So... off to find my 5 mm needles. I'll keep you informed on what comes out of the ball. Thank you, Magic Ball Maker!

Not on demand

Surely everyone who is knitting in public recognises this situation: you are merrily knitting on your sock, and a passer-by stops and asks when or whether you will knit him (mostly they are men) a pair of socks. Especially the ticket-controlling men on the train seem to be desperate for warmer feet. I mostly answer in the same tone by joking about my hour-fee being astronomical.

But it is not always joking. Only yesterday H. -who is not a ticket-controller, but a long- time friend of Yep- offhandedly ordered 16 pairs of handknit knee high socks. Sixteen pairs. Really. They were all to be knit in the same colourset, for a soccer team. Ofcourse I said no, no! NO! but he insisted with "I'll pay for it!"

Hm. If we assume my hourly fee would be half of what a cleaning lady gets nowadays, (fat chance, but just for the sake of argument) and if I needed 30 hours of knitting per pair (I'm being optimistic here) these 16 pairs of socks would cost him 2400 euro's. Without the material. :-) I don't think we are in business here. Besides, knitting 32 knee highs in the same colour...argh, it would bore me to death.

Amazing, when you think of it! Sometimes I think I don't value my knitting for what it's really worth. Ofcourse I do not consider it _work_ but it would be impossible to sell it for a realistic prize if I did.

I did a lot of very secretive knitting, since I entered a new Magic Ball exchange, and I am sure my victim is reading here. Also I plodded on on my Slow Bee Mystery stole, and I finished the -identical- Brazil socks. I finished them on a trainride home, and photographed them right away. A gentleman sitting a few rows down came looking, and offered to take the socks home with him, since they seemed to be his size. Sigh...