Prevent Pilling

When shopping for items you wear frequently such as black cardigans or crewneck sweaters always look at the fiber content. While synthetic fabrics can look and feel like cotton or wool, knits with acrylic or polyester in them will pill more because it is an inherent quality of the fibers. Go for wool, cashmere, mohair, or cotton/wool blends. Although it will cost more, it will look better longer.

Abrasives accelerate pilling, so hand washing and line drying are the best options. Some fibers, such as mohair, must be dry-cleaned. Wash sweaters with polyester or acrylic in them inside out with liquid detergent. Don’t put heavier items, denim or jackets with zippers and pulls on it, in the same wash. You could use a lingerie bag for your knits in the washing machine to lessen the friction on the surface of the garments. Also, don’t hang your knits on hangers as this further weakens the fibers especially around the shoulder seams.

As for getting rid of the tiny balls of fiber already on your sweater, any technique is going to take some time. Sewing and craft stores sell fabric shavers, but I find sitting down with a razor blade and some time to kill effective and inexpensive. Pull the fabric taught and carefully lift from under the pill to break it away from the surface. Use a thimble on your finger to control where your blade goes.

Happy New Year and How Do you Wind Your Yarn!

Oh boy do I have a tip for you guys.   I don't know how Vicki finds these wonderful little tid bits but here you go!   A tip for winding your yarn into a ball where you can pull from the center and NOT get a rats or birds nest.   Oh its so clever and one of those things that it deserves the comment "why didn't I come up with that!"    So here is the link to your own center pull ball of yarn.  How To Wind Your Yarn

In case this link won't open for you, the idea is to take an old pill bottle with a pop cap and put put the tail of the yarn inside and put the cap back on, next you begin to wind your yarn around the pill bottle.  When finished you can just pop that pill bottle out from the center of your ball and your yarn will pull out with ease.






Also you will be happy to know that there will be probably TWO new group projects that will begin around Superball and Valentines days.   Both are wearables, both are EASY and both are quite different so you will most likely want to do both of them.   You will have to stay tuned for an update on these patterns, the date we will begin, the yarns and the fun.
Keep warm!

When you are bored! Start another project.....

 This is what happens to me when I am bored, I begin to surf and find myself in the land of ideas.

Some of the people who create these fun sockie creations make me realize what a small fish bowl I live in.  I have just now begun to knit a pair of socks with two cable needles.   Boy this is much easier than 4 dpn's.     

Isn't this a sweet idea to put a cotton crochet trim around the top of some nice wool socks.

 This was posted under Shark Week,  that really takes some imagination to come up with the idea let alone to actually see the idea become a sock.   I don't have the image of the other sock but the shark is going the other direction and the toes are sticking out of his mouth..Knit toes!

 This is a free pattern on Ravelry, its called Owl socks.  See the little beads in the owl's eyes.   I have not found the right yarn to make these yet or the beads for the eyes. I really want a solid color so the pattern shows up nice, but I am thinking this white is pretty fanciful!

 I love this little anklet, its so sweet with the button!   What a great way for left over yarns, you could do the cuff and the heel  and toe in different colors too and again, using a great button to make it special really is sweet.  Now if you look close they didn't just sew a button, which I am sure you could, but there it a little flap that lets you tighten the anklet - so would love to have this pattern.

 Hey, I have someone in mind who would love to have this pattern which of course in searching is no longer available.   I love the little sheep in the field and the fence  that runs along the bottom of the sock to keep them all corralled in.  Clever people.

 Another adorable anklet which would knit up so fast and use leftover yarn.   Nice summer knock around the house treats for the feet.

 OK, these are just WAY odd looking, but don't you really miss wearing your summer foot wear in the winter.  This pretty much addresses the issue of socks for sandles.

So delicate I had to include these in the little footie selections.  These look like cotton, and the soft delicate lace work I bet is pretty easy with maybe only 4 or 5 repeat rows on just the top. 

What's in your yarn bag! 

Have a great holiday and hope to see ya at the knitting table where as you all know - OddBalls, where everyone knows your skein.

Knit Picks has a Contest

By entering your wish list you have a chance to win if you publish your list in different areas, each time its an extra chance to win.   SO, I wished BIG!  Wishing BIG

Hope everyone has a great holiday, safe and warm, lots of missed faces at knitting with weather and social butterfly events.   Keep the yarn flowing!
Sally

What Do You Want for Christmas?

 When you get asked what you want for Christmas, why not a gift that keeps on giving!  Like a magazine subscription that you an drool over and thumb through for years.   Not only that as your skills improve and your courage takes that mighty leap you can begin to work on some of the things that you thought you never would be able to knit.

There are literally every type of knitting magazine imaginable, but here are a few of my favorite ones.   You do notice Harry Potter is at the top of that list!   Who would not love to indulge in a nimbus 2000 set of knitting needles!   They fly you know!

Some of these magazines are hard copies and some I think are also offered as digital format.  As with real books, there is nothing that can compare to a  beautiful magazine full of inspiration, patterns, tips and techniques.   Hope Santa is good to you!

Boot Cuffs are SO Sweet

 Tues night at Odd Balls is always inspirational.  I was really happy to meet two new people both seasoned yarnies, one a knitter and the other crochet.    So glad you found our corner of play!

I am bringing up the boot cuffs since holidays are so close and this could be a quick gift to make up.   Our new crochet  person who as yet does not have a handle or nickname, was working on a pair of boot cuffs that were really appealing.  I should have snapped a photo. 

Anyway back to this boot cuff thingie - it seems there is just no end to the variations and delightful  ornamentation you can use on them.   A great use of scrap and left over yarn from previous projects also.

Be sure to check out Ravelry for free patterns and ideas!  

Here is a little Ravelry project for you.  The shop has a BUNCH of yarn in called Classic Shades by Universal Yarn.   If you log onto Ravelry.com and click the tab "yarn", you can type in this yarn and find that there are 2,747 projects in the works and finished using this yarn.  You can see how the colors knit up and use this as a great tool in your cyber knitting box. - At the bottom is one of the colors called Foliage - have fun!

A Shawl Experience

 Not much to write about today but I just felt like posting something even if its about nothing.   So I thought some eye candy would be fun and wondering how you all sort your yarn, store it and play with ideas for your next projects.   I loved the little sugar canisters to hold balls while you knit, very clever knitters are.

So I mentioned a shawl experience, and I am still experiencing it with great delight - they are warm and comfie on my achie shoulders.  I think they will have to become part of my daily winter attire.   They are so fashionable and fun.  I know you all have mentioned how cold the restaurants are and so I tried this out last week and I didn't need more than this little wrap around my shoulders and neck to keep me quite comfortable.
Arms are free to move around, nothing extremely hot and cumbersome.   Well, now that I have discovered this revelation that has been known for ages, I will have to make more!

 The daylight savings is due to change, and wanted to remind everyone that while Tues night knitting so far is still a GO, there is also Friday Morning from 10 to Noon so you can still come and sit and plot your next knitting adventure.

I spied a new knitting magazine at the shop yesterday, it looks like its just Christmas knitting, but the projects in it are some of the nicest I have seen in awhile.  One cowl really caught my eye in a winter white with beads! 

Next week some of us are on vacation, company coming and other things that might keep us from our gathering time but don't let that stop you from coming and enjoying all there is to offer.