I Love Lopi Lopi is yarn spun from the fleece of Icelandic sheep. Lopi fleece has two layers: the outer one is waterproof and consists of long, coarse hairs, while the inner is insulating and made up of short, soft ones. The yarn is the result of spinning both of these fibers together, which makes…
For the Love of Mittens
“I still want mittens,” my friend Anne dropped, casually, as we drove to the rink. We like to go skating together when we’re home because other exercise doesn’t allow for such easy chatting. “You made nice mittens.” This pair comes from the book Mittens from Around Norway. I dyed the green yarn myself. This pair,…
Combination Knitting
I learned to knit in third grade. I was eight, or perhaps nine, years old. I’d watched my mom knit all my life and had been to the yarn store (Kaleidoscope Yarns in Essex Jct., VT, RIP, you were the best store EVER) with her many times. Usually, I’d sit at the table and wait…
The Importance of Brick-and-Mortar Stores
Recently, I had an excuse to visit Montreal. One of my close college friends is doing graduate work at McGill, and because I was visiting my parents in Vermont for winter break, I decided to drive up for a day to see her. But, since she’s a student, she was going to be in class…
My Favorite Sweater
As someone who knits a lot of sweaters (36 in 2019 alone), people often ask, “what’s your favorite sweater?” That’s a hard question to answer. I’ve made dozens. I love them all. Even when the yarn gives me a hard time, or the colors aren’t quite what I want them to be, or the sleeves…
When in Doubt, Rip it Out…
The hardest thing for a new knitter to learn is that there are certain times when ripping out one’s work becomes inevitable. It might be that the garment or accessory you are working on won’t fit because the gauge is too loose or too tight to be worn. It may be that you have too…
Hacking It, Part I: Simple Hacks
Lots of people on Ravelry and Instagram post pictures of their patterns telling people that they “hacked” it. I figured out what that meant when I first started seeing it: you take a pattern, but there’s something about it that you want to change, for whatever reason, so you make an adjustment of some kind…
Hi!
Welcome to my blog. I learned to knit when I was eight years old. My mom taught me how to knit in the third grade and was probably shocked when I finally took up a craft with gusto. (I'm not creative in that way. Knitting is mechanical.) I knit on and off until I finished…
Barnaby Knits 