Confession Friday!

Welcome to the first edition of Confession Friday! Todays' theme is... oooohhhh....*gasp*....

KNITTING!

Say your piece! Take a deep breath and get it all out! Leave your identity at the door if you must but for Pete's sake just say it!

All will be forgiven! No one will be judged, condemned, or cast out of the knitting community. After all, we've all been there and done that.

Disclaimer: this is not your opportunity to be just plain evil (I do that of Thursdays not Fridays) so no slamming of fellow knitters. We are not here today to be mean to others but rather to relieve ourselves of our dark and hidden emotional knitting baggage. All names must be changed to protect the innocent.

Also, nobody is allowed to get all offended. If I say I hate yellow yarn and you love yellow yarn please remember that I said I hate yellow yarn not I hate people who love yellow yarn. (I can't believe I even felt the need to say that.)

I'll go first...

1. I love Noro... but I don't know why. I have Silk Garden hoarded away like a squirrel with a bunch'a nuts the day before armageddon... but I don't know why. I have never knit a Noro pattern and, in fact, I don't believe I even own any. I have knit a total of 1 item with Noro and it was a scarf. That's it.

2. I don't like Blue Sky Alpaca's cotton. There. I said it. Its too much like a spun cotton ball... literally. I know, I know, its IS a spun cotton ball (basically) but really I just can't stand it. I did make Tater a little sweater out of it one time and as much as I loved the color and really wanted to like it... I just don't.

The new Skinny Cotton, however, is to die for! Its all smooth and tight and I've got a hank or 12 here some of which are ear marked for something special... maybe even a Knitty submission... and while we're at it there's another confession for ya... I've never submitted to Knitty because I'm a Knitty-chicken.

3. Ya know how I blabbed about making an entire family's worth of boot socks a while ago? Well the entire family of socks is actually one sock. Okay half a sock. Half a Tater sock... which means its about >this< big. And I am completely stalled.

Now, you guys gotta help me with this one. I really meant it when I said I wanted to make boot socks for everybody. The kids and Mac Daddy even all think its a great idea and they all picked what color they want. Tater even tried her little half sock on (its a toe-up) and it fits! But after leafing through that Cat Bordhi book and fiddling with the little learning socks and taking everybody's foot measurements and settling on which style I would make... well I guess all the fiddling sort of satisfied my sock hunger. The spark went out. I cleverly shaped one sock and now the thrill of the hunt is just... not a thrill. Its just a sock.

What am I gonna do? I really want *to want* to make socks. At least a few. The toe-up thing was cool... I liked all the shaping and stitch shuffling and turning and short rows. Now I'm done. (Shrug)

4. I cannot felt wool. I don't mean I don't know how to felt wool... I mean I can't/won't do it. Its like murdering good wool. I've spent years making sure silly men who think they are being helpful don't decide to do a renegade load of laundry and wash my wool garments so I'll be damned if I'll put them in the washer on purpose! Won't do it. Nope.

5. Have you ever had one of those wool yarns that had little dried bits of vegetable matter in it? I seriously love it when that happens. It makes me feel like I've gone all connected with the sheep. The sheep grazed in the field and the field got all stuck in the wool and now I have the field and the wool. Totally.Nifty.

Okay... who's next?

Comments

[Cindy]

1) I love those vegetable bits for the same reason.
2) I am horribly gauge impared - my swatches lie consistently.
3) I want to scream when a friend-who-shall-remain-nameless admires a pattern I have found online and asks me to print one off for her. "You have a computer. I'm happy to give you the website. Print it off yourself."
4) I don't want to wear it myself, but I think there are occasions when acrylic is actually the most appropriate choice of yarn. (Yikes, did I really say that?)

[Libby]

OK, here's mine: I don't really like giving away handknits, that's my dirty secret. I buy yarn because I love it, and then I don't want to give it away. (Family Christmas a rare exception, and even then...they have to be really nice to me!) If I knit something I'm not crazy about, I don't want to give that away, either, because it seems unworthy...

[Floridamom]

I found your blog through The Denim Jumper and have been reading it for quite a while. I think this is my first time commenting though. I might as well go all the way out on a limb.

I knit left handed. Not Continental. Left. Handed. From the right needle to the left. And I'm too old to care about those who think that's wrong.

[Kelly]

1. I don't get the Noro love. But, that leaves plenty for those who do.

2. I am SO frickin' tired of knitting for other frickin' people I could spit. Something for ME would be nice once in a while.

3. Whoever said that my doing a man's size 13 sock on US0 needles was a good idea should be shot.

Thank you. I feel better now.

[Wendy]

I think lacy shawls are just awful. There. I said it.

[elizabeth m]

I do enjoy (but not absolutely LOVE) making socks. I've made at least 12 pairs of socks over the years. And (whispering this part) my favorite warm socks this winter are all store bought ones from Farm and Fleet. I don't know why this one style is so satisfying, but they are very warm and lofty and durable. I have 4 pairs of them and they have taken me through the sub-zero miseries with warm toes, a feat my hand-knits haven't entirely matched.

Also, about socks, I've tried to make something other than 2X2 ribbed legs and always come back to the basic that works for me. All those fancy sock patterns out there? They look pretty, I guess, but I'm all about utility.

[Wooly Mama]

I'm a yarn snob!!!!!!
And I think I might spend more time reading knitting blogs than actually knitting.
:-)

[Tammy]

1) I love the super processed, super soft merino yarns. I don't want to connect with sheep.

2) I adore sock yarn. I keep it in drawers in the hall where I can gaze at or fondle it on my way to bed.

3) I knit itty-bitty swatches. Useless really.

4) I roll my eyes at all the new "organic" cottons coming out. Sorry, but I do.

5) I am completely unable to spend time knitting dishclothes. I'd like to, but just can't do it.

6) I am crazy about my handknit socks and wear them daily. Which brings me to your sock problem... after you turn the heel on the first sock, it just comes down to commitment. Sorry. But it does make perfect carry-around-town or TV watching knitting. And I can usually get a round in at a red light. Wearing them makes it worth it to me.

[Kristen M.]

I have a bag full (10 balls?) of Trendsetters Finesse in Carnation (PINK). It's 100% Polyamide! That's a yarn that no one wants. I have to admit that at first I wanted to hide this yarn in my drawers and never pull it out. But, lately it's special to me because my dad picked it. When he bought it...I was like, "What am I going to do with the?" But now, I'd like to find a nice project for my 2 to have from her Papa. I don't even know where to start though.

[Amanda]

This is my first time here, so I'm going to start slow: I've never knit an adult-sized sweater-type garment. I've started 4, and I'm determined to finish #4. Hopefully. #2 of those attempts is a swingy coat thing that looks horrid on me, I can tell even though it doesn't have arms. But I can't toss it because the yarn cost so much, and I can't rip it because it's feathery yarn that won't come out. Maybe I should let the cats have at it...

[Karen]

1. I have knit at least 40 pair of socks and I have never used Socks That Rock yarn and really don't feel called to buy it. Maybe if I could feel it is person I'd feel differently.
2. Most days I wear store bought socks.
3. I own more patterns than I could knit in two lifetimes but I still keep buying them.
4. I never buy yarn without a plan even if it's really cheap, except sock yarn.
5. I have a small stash of sock yarn I probably won't knit since I like it too much in skein form.
6. If I'm in a bad mood buying sock yarn can improve it.

This is a great idea!!

[bezzie]

1.) I hate anything hand-washable. If I have non-machine washable yarn, then I try to make something that will never need to be washed out of it. Handwashing my socks? The pits. I've got one pair that's un-machine washable and they've been known to languish at the bottom of the hamper for months because I'm too lazy to take the time to hand wash them.

2.) I hate ball winder wound yarn. I enjoy a good old fashioned hand-rolled maybe not so symmetrical ball of yarn to knit from. Ball wound yarn takes the human-ness out of knitting for me. Those neat little cakes of yarn give me the heebies.

[Miss Scarlett]

1st off - love that picture of Tater!

Ack! Knitting confessions...

1) I actually don't like Noro -- I keep trying to like it. I like the colours and the blending but it is so d*mned scratchedy. But I kept on making the mitts and the next year the hat because everybody loves Noro. The last few times I've put the mitts on I've shuddered. But I wear them? What is wrong with me?!
That's it. No more Noro on this lady.

2) I like the prospect/process of knitting more than the product. When I decide to finish something before I start something else I usually wind up knitting like it's a punishment. Which defeats the whole purpose of knitting for me - relaxing!

3) I hate blocking. Just like I hate buying jeans that say: Wash before wearing. It's just irritating to me. But when I wear the garment without blocking, I wish I had blocked it. But...I probably still won't do it.
yeah. I'm stubborn.

4) I hate swatching - I think it is pointless. I have yet to swatch something that matched the result of the project gauge. What is that? Why does it work for some knitters?
Bah - who cares. Given the short life of my knitting attention span, swatching is like a death sentence to a project.

5) I like the idea of Stitch 'n Bitch groups. If they were more like every 2 months I might even love them. They're too distracting - I don't get much knitting done and the group I went to was small so I felt an obligation. Nothing about an obligation is fun! Even if it comes with a Grande Raspberry Mocha.

6) Some of my favourite yarns I don't want to knit! I want to keep them the way they are. Lovely little skeins of soft or shiny or fancy or handspun. I like to just see them, waiting to become something but being enough the way they are.

This is so fun! Thank you - what a great idea.

[Tammy]

I'll be back for confessions later... but I just needed to stop by and let you know you've been tagged. See my blog.