Weird Yarn

Lately yarns seem comprised of a bit of this and a bit of that and doled out in 100 yard (or fewer) skeins. Then you pay $10.00 or more per skein. I am amazed that so many people are willing to pay $50.00 for a pair of socks...in self-striping yarn, no less. The technology is amazing, but please! We did ugly back in the '60s, why is it fashionable again?

I was crawling through the latest issue of Vogue Knitting when I spied an ad for a yarn called Tofutsies. SWTC makes the yarn which explains where the tofu comes from. They are the makers of Soy Silk...which is made from the stuff left over from making tofu. They put it through a chemical process and out comes the 21st century version of rayon!

Back to Tofutsies, it is a sock yarn made of 50% Superwash wool, 25% Soy Silk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin. Chitin??? Isn't that what bugs are made of? You know, the stuff that goes crunch when you step on one? eeeYuck! Then they explain that the chitin comes from shrimp and crab shells. Oh, that's better. Does this mean your feet are guaranteed to smell like a fish market at high noon?

After all this I should probably try the stuff, if only for the reaction at the yarn shop when I ask for some of that crab shell yarn. But my first reaction was to visit A.C. Moore for a couple skeins of honest 100% acrylic. It is soft, it is shiney, and sells for $2.19 per 315 yard skein. I can swatch till I drop for a Miz Marple jacket I have in mind. If it works, there is always the option to do it in a nice wool...but no crab shells, please!

Knitty Submission

Today I uploaded my Michelin Man sock pattern to Knitty. And what do I worry about? Getting responses like "File too big" or "Missing X info". Nothing about "We don't want this pattern". Guess I've submitted enough fiction to magazines and publishers to understand "NO!"

The secret of success finally clicked with me the other day. Like the kid on the commercial trying to put a square peg in a round hole: "Just keep hittin' it!" If this pattern doesn't fly, then maybe Viking Formal (aka Frogger) will. Or St. Brendan's Fair Isle. Or something.

Meanwhile I walk the floor unable to settle down to anything specific. So...I blog.

Measured The Shuj's foot today 'cause my next project will be socks for him. I had decided from measuring my own foot that the length, ankle, instep, ball would all measure the same. Not so! His foot is 9.5" long, 8.25 at the instep, and 8.5 at the ankle. Will have to measure more feet before I make any ponderous statements in patterns...

Ain't life jest like...

...knitting a sock. There are times when you are focused and interested, like learning short rows, and times you are flat bored, like knitting those interminable 7.5 inches of stockinette before anything interesting happens again. Then there are the fun times, the dreaming times when you near the cuff and the whole world of colors and textures lies before one. And the bad times...let me count the ways! Evil yarn that won't behave. Color stranding that is too tight...again. Lovely, expensive yarn that hops into the shopping bag but then won't fit into a shoe.

In spite of it all, I can understand the addictive nature of sock knitting, especially for a designer. What better way of working out patterns? 4-5 inches of cuff that go wrong is nothing compared to being halfway up a sweater before realizing the beautiful Fair Isle pattern that looked so stunning in a swatch is going to make the wearer look broad as a barn. Oh, yes, all of the big girls out there will flock to buy that little number!

At least the Knitty sock is ready to go. Just waiting for PayPal to verify my account and then...this weekend...up it goes! First submission and I'm shaking like a first date! Hello, it's just a sock pattern...