Useless

Knitting is a fairly useful craft. Sweaters, socks, even lace shawls – they are all fairly functional. Crochet, not so much. I have a crocheted snood that I wear on a regular basis, and some crocheted socks that are quite comfy, but most crochet is relegated to decorative function only.

Tatting – now I haven’t quite figured out what is is useful for. At least it is easy! It is also quite cheap. High-quality mercerized cotton thread for tatting and crochet generally doesn’t run more than a few dollars a ball (this is what initially attracted me to thread crochet as well) and basic tools are fairly inexpensive as well, although antique and vintage tatting shuttles can go for quite a bit. Yep, you guessed it: I spent my weekend learning to tat.

Speaking of thread crochet – a few weeks ago I picked up a Japanese book full of thread crochet patterns, mostly doilies. The book have so little English that I’m not even sure what the title is, although I can tell that the designer’s name is Ondori. I can tell you that the international crochet chart symbols are everything they’re cracked up to be. The patterns are beautiful and the charts wonderfully easy to read! It is the kind of book that makes one want to sit around and make doilies all day.

I’m also on something of a spinning kick. I’ve spun quite a bit here and there, mostly sampling the different types of fibers available, but not generally enough of anything to do a project with. A few nights ago, however, I finished and skeined about 200 yards of heavy two-ply laceweight in a 50/50 merino-tussah silk blend that I bought from Lynn’s Texas Fibers while at Kid ‘N Ewe last fall. The fiber is lovely and silky, and as you can see from the photo I’ve spun and plied it quite loosely in order to preserve that lofty silkiness.

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Lest anyone think I’ve been slacking off in the knitting department, I also have to show Attempt #3 at making a shawl out of my Habu bamboo laceweight. My first and second pattern selections refused to play nicely with the yarn, so now I am seeing how it goes with the Hidcote Garden Shawl. So far, so good… which is what I said regarding the first two projects… I really do like the yarn. Knit up, it has a drape and flow that is like nothing so much as water, and should make a nice shawl for hot summer days.

I’m also on another pair of socks, of course, even though we are well out of sock-wearing season. This pattern is out of the Holiday 07 Interweave Knits. This is my second project out of that issue, which was quite good and sold out very fast. I guard my copy very carefully, and intend to make a few more things from it still.

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Seen from my bike:

A hang gliding class! You can’t tell from the photo, but they are at the top of a nice hill. I’ve seen this class a few times now, either standing at the top of the hill, or hauling the glider back up from the bottom. One of these days maybe I’ll actually see someone in flight!