Some Knitting, Some Crochet, Some Remodeling

Hey everyone! I missed you all this past month. I have been checking in with your blogs (at least the ones I know of) from time to time but moving is really a challenge. Still, owning a home is like the American dream, and I'm happy to be living it!

Yesterday was fun. We installed our counter top, sink, faucet, and cabinets. I never done anything like this before but my boyfriend knew roughly what we needed to do. After 12 hours of work and 3 trips to Lowes, our makeshift kitchen now looks like this:





Pretty cool, huh? I know it's not the nicest looking kitchen, but it's functional for now.

And even though we've been living out of boxes for a month now, I have still found time to knit some things.



This new project is the Felted Clogs by Fiber Trends. Clog #1 for Nathan is complete with clog #2 on the needles. I used 2 different colored balls of Cascade 220 (even though I had two skeins of each color, I was too lazy to roll those skeins up into balls). I'm going for a varigated/heathered look. Thankfully, these are just house shoes and my boyfriend does not care that much about how they look.

Anyway, so here's an update on that lacy scarf I showed you a couple weeks ago.





The scarf is about half way done, I think. I only say this because when I began I had a baseball sized ball of yarn. Now I have about a golf ball size of yarn left. The project is easy and I have been taking it with me to work. But seeing that this is a spring scarf, and Spring doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon, I'll have a lot of time to finish this up before then.

Crochet vs. Knitting

Many of you who read this blog most likely also listen to the plethora of knitting podcasts now available for download on iTunes or other parts of the Interweb. One of my favorites is the Yarn Thing podcast by Marly. If you haven't listened to this podcast, please do, it's fun and even plays regular pop music you would hear on commercial radio. On Episode 27: Men at Work, Marly talks to a crochet designer named Peter Franzi of Hooker-Bear.com. Even though I enjoyed listening to the podcast, I felt that at some parts of the interview, there was some bashing of knitters, knitting and the manner in which the needlecraft industry in America has been treating crocheters lately. I understood because both Marly and Peter are avid crocheters. And they are correct when they say many of the crochet publications do not showcase modern designs for modern crocheters. But I still felt that there was some negative energy towards knitting that was uncalled for.

Now, I'm a knitter, but I do like some crocheted things. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't need to make my hobby a political issue or have it reintergrated into mainstream American culture in order to feel excepted or valued as something worthwhile. What I'm trying to say is I felt that this episode was trying to bring up the value of crochet by dissing knitting as a whole. And I don't think that is right. I'm not saying that crochet is not long overdue it's props. There are some lovely crochet items that I wish I could make but do not have the time or inclination to learn how. However, can't we just knit and crochet without making it a political issue or controversial subject matter? Who cares if the majority of American's believe knitting is still for grannies or crochet is always done with ugly scratchy 70's acrylic. You live your life the way you want to and I shall do the same.

That's all this time folks. I would love to hear from you about this crochet vs. knitting discussion. Do you think one is better than the other? Do you think crochet should be given as much attention as knitting receives from the needlecraft industry? Does it really matter? Let me know.