Light Reading and Sheepy Humor

Can you believe that I am going on two straight picture free days? I have been making a little progress on my Chai top -- hopefully after I post here, I'll be able to bind off the ruffle on the front piece, then I'll be on to a little blocking and assembly adventure before I deal with the sleeve caps.

One thing I treated myself to over the weekend was a copy of the latest SpinOff. I really should just subscribe to this magazine, because for the past year or so I've found it to be a lot more informative and interesting than the knitting focused magazines that I buy. I think I have avoided the subscription committment so far because of the title. I don't think of myself as a spinner (a wanna learn to spinner, perhaps) and thus in some odd way I don't have the creds to subscribe.

I'm not sure why I like this magazine better than some of the others I've picked up. I think because it doesn't have to feature as many projects, it can feature ones with better quality overall. And I enjoy the focus on different kinds of fibers, how they are processed and what their natural behaviors are. And generally speaking, they have good technical articles (at least good enough to teach me something).

What did I like this month?

Well, the reason that I bought the mag was the article from the woman who taught my knitted doll making class last year. She didn't say much that she didn't say in class, but I think her dolls are wonderful. I do wish they'd put some of the pictures in of her knitted fish. I was so impressed with them when I saw them in person. They were clever and fun and artistic all at the same time.

Also of significant interest to me was the short article on lucetting. I have my lovely lucet, but haven't had such a good time getting started with it. The article on lucetting, combined with the article on Bosnian crochet, went a long way towards helping me understand why I might be fighting my own thread or yarn. And now I need to go out and find out exactly what Z and S twists are....

And if you're into felting/fulling, there's a lovely little pattern for knitted containers. They had an earlier issue that featured fulled bowls created by knitting with roving.

And speaking of roving.... click this link to see the pre-cursor to roving roving in a very unusual way. (Link found by my hubster who just loves poke some humor into my fibery ways). Happy Tuedsay!