Waiting Well

I am sitting in the Vancouver airport, waiting for my next flight, and knitting silk hankies into pretty mittens. 

I’m enjoying doing so in front of ordinary people, many who are perplexed and interested, watching me pull a single cocoon layer off  the hankies, peering while I draft and knit, then looking away quickly when I look up. The woman in the seat next to me all the way here was out of her mind with curiosity, but couldn’t bring herself to ask. 

I didn’t tell her.  They really need to take the first step before I go all missionary on them.

What are you doing?

308 thoughts on “Waiting Well

  1. It always throws people if it LOOKS like knitting but isn’t being done the way they expect. I’m still knitting afghan squares. I’ll be knitting them forever and ever and ever while my hands turn blue (denim yarn)!

  2. I so excited to see this post because earlier this week the class schedule was posted for Madrona and i’m going to sign up for your Knitting with Mawata class. I so hope I get in!! Yeah for silk hankies!!

  3. I’m madly trying to do laundry, wash the breakfast dishes, fix my swift so I can wind yarn for the mushrooms I’ve got stewing out on the deck before they go all moldy and weird, wrap and mail my granddaughters birthday present ( birthday tomorrow 1000 miles away, why panic? I work well under pressure in my dreams ) and be ready to leave for the mountains by 11:30. OMG Kill me now. Failure to plan is planning to fail? Muzzle the self righteous SOB who coined that phrase.

  4. I am reading your blog before my politics class starts, When i get home I plan to work on a project. As to which project I will work on, I havent quite decided. Then later on tonight my husband and I are celebrating our 2 year weding anniversary! What you are doing? LOL

  5. Could you give those of us who don’t know what that’s even called, a little more information about how that’s done? Very beautiful and, silk….. More info please?

  6. Wait. What? Silk Hankies into mittens? I’m peering at the photo and wishing I could blow it up all big like so I could see what you are talking about. Need to know about this. They look so lovely! I love knitting while people peer curiously.

  7. That is amazing. I hope someone works up the courage to inquire about that technique and leaves more informed about the incredible world of knitting than before.

  8. And then you completely confuse the observers some more by posing your silk hankie–>mitten knitting for pictures on the seat in the airport waiting area.

  9. Wow, I’m very interested and would love to try that. I just made everyone at work blink as I rolled a center-pull-ball of yarn… not sure it was because i was making the ball or because I used a cylindrical bottle of hand sanitizer foam…
    🙂

  10. Welcome to the west coast. I am spinning a lovely Lisa Souza silk/wool blend and will weave cotton huck lace place mats later today…this is my fiber-all-day-long day (which does includes reading fiber blogs).

  11. Those mittens are pretty awesome. I bet they’d feel amazing on the hands. Currently I’m working on a scarf and watching an absurd amount of tv on Hulu. I really should be doing dishes. *sigh*

  12. OMG! You are the funniest woman/missionary alive! Why aren’t you ever in airports when I am?

  13. Supposed to snow here Friday. Revving up the needles to finish current socks and begin a nice warm mobius scarf.

  14. I’m seconding the question about asking how it’s done! I have some old silk hankies that could really do with salvaging and this may just be the ticket!!! 😀

  15. I am sitting at my desk reading this and stifling my laughter because my husband is talking to a client in the other part of the office and I need to look at least partly professional. Too funny. I never offer any information until asked either. I love to drive them nuts!

  16. Right now–RIGHT now??
    I’m racking my brain to think of where I might have put the silk hankies I have in my stash and wondering how much silk would it take to . . .

  17. Well, I *should* be working on my dissertation, or grading. What I’m actually doing is working on a Pretty Thing for my sister – it’s my first lace project!

  18. Right now? Listening to my 2 granddaughters play “Mom and Sister”. The younger one (nearly 3) just said, “I’m the Mom, so I go to work.”… 21st century children…Otherwise, waiting for bread to rise and knitting socks for my brother. It’s a good day 🙂

  19. We had a light homeschool day today, so I’m reading blogs during lunch (instead of calling out spelling words as usual) and planning on a fibery afternoon! I think the past two days have justified a bit of a ‘break’ for today.

  20. Lovely, lovely mittens – my hands are envious! At work I’m dealing with mountains of tedium today (apparently not well since I’m blog reading instead). On the knitting front I’m working on two Christmas stockings (one moose, one bear, both very cute) for two little boys born last year. Need to have both done by Thanksgiving (USA) so wish I was home working on them!
    Enjoy the rest of your trip!

  21. I just finished my first little section of Fair Isle knitting on a hat! Two-fisted knitting! Woohoo!

  22. I’m procrastinating looking for jobs (there are none – very depressing) and thinking fond and lovely thoughts about the quivit shawl that deserves my attention…..
    I do hope that if Mrs. Curious-face said word one about what the heck are you knitting and how, you’d evangelize her until you were blue in the face. Right?

  23. Awesome – I need to give that a go with some of my homegrown hankies! I finished Siofra from the last silk retreat, but I think it’s too small, even for a tiniest one.
    I’m now printing out patterns for the basket of fingerless mittens I think I’m going to knit for the 9 teenaged cousins we’ll see at the holidaze. I’m preparing for a flight from DC to San Diego on Friday and a weeklong work conference. Also trying to convince myself I have time to sew on a ribbon/reinforcement to a button band before I leave. How long does that actually take, assuming I have the requisite supplies?
    Have fun at the silk retreat! You folks sure know how to throw a great party (sigh).

  24. With the holidays rapidly approaching (shoot me now for reminding you) I am furiously knitting socks, hand warmers, and a Christmas stocking (as soon as that Jamieson’s Spendrift Shetland gets here). I’m dreaming about January when I can knit whatever my fickle fancy desires.

  25. Why, reading your post and laughing, of course! People are so funny. They forget that it’s okay to have a sense of curiosity–out loud, even, like a little kid, and that it’s charming to be asked about one’s great interests being displayed right under their noses.

  26. I get similar quizzical looks when spinning silk hankies – people get very wierded out. Even more so than normal spinning.
    So, inquiring minds want to know – how many ounces of hankies did you consume in the making? I’m still not in love with knitting straight from the hankies, but this might get me more excited about it.

  27. OMG!!! what idiots!!! I would have totally jumped on it and asked you!!! and when I knew it was you, I STILL would have asked, even if I knew what you were doing.

  28. Just got done leading a knitting group. Nine ladies all at such different levels. As I repaired the border on one nasty “fun” yarn baby blanket, I wondered why I do this.
    Well, maybe to move them beyond acryllic?

  29. Such fun, having the near by stumped at another phase of knitting..I just get the biggest,impish feeling when I sit in an airport, with all eyes on what I’m doing..so comical..

  30. Would you consider posting more of the knitting haiku? I laughed so hard that my children came into the room to investigate. What a wonderful thing art is!

  31. Well, I certainly wouldn’t have been shy about asking you . . .
    I finished a first sock and am well into the second. But it’s being put aside for the moment, as I need to do more organizing in my New and Improved knitting area. Your renovated knitting nook has inspired me — I now have cabinets for most of my yarn and am in the process of categorizing my patterns. However, that may take a while, as I have more than one knitter should rightly own.

  32. heh. I am busy reading about knitting instead of doing the knitting I’ve pledged for Christmas. Oh, and also complaining about being behind in my Christmas knitting with a cat under one hand and a book in the other. hmmmm….

  33. At the last football game we went to, the little boy in front of us spent more time watching me knit than watching the game. But he tried really hard not to let me (or his dad) catch him at it.

  34. I am making pom pom snowballs for the windows, “whats that knitting lady doing now!”
    You are way too brave and clever. Safe Travels.

  35. I just put you in the new Scholastic Children’s Dictionary at the definition of ‘knit.’ (Not right this second; it’s actually in stores now.)
    No, really, I did.
    The example sentence is, “For Christmas, Stephanie knitted a pair of socks for everyone in the family.”
    Unfortunately, they had to cut it for space. The original sentence was, “For Christmas, Stephanie drank heavily, skipped the laundry, ignored her family, tore her hair out, and knitted a pair of socks for everyone in the family.”

  36. What am I doing? Reading your blog instead of working. I do that way too much. At least as far as my boss is concerned if he knew. 🙂

  37. I’m wishing I was going to Port Ludlow tomorrow, as well as admiring your restraint in not going all knitting evangelical on her.
    I attribute the latter to your early wake up call this morning.

  38. Well, believe me, you wouldn’t have to wait very long for me to ask a question! I’m curious and not shy at all so it is quite common for me to pipe up and ask a question to someone completely unknown to me.
    As for what am I doing–I just put down my work for a quick potty and food break–I am developing a houndstooth check sock pattern and knitting the first sock as I go.

  39. I’m also smiling, remembering how great I felt at the last Silk Retreat when you told my group that we didn’t suck as much as you thought we would.

  40. Other than wanting to figure out how you’re doing that, I’m washing windows. Nice out for the first time in awhile.

  41. Sadly, I’m at work with no yarn in sight, but I’m thinking of the baby things I’m going to knit for a friend who I just found out is 5 weeks pregnant. Wheeeeee!

  42. I have some silk hankies and I can not for the life of me figure them out. I’m not a spinner and I am having a hard time pulling, drafting?, and then knitting. If you have any insights, I would love to hear more about it. Thanks.

  43. What a lovely use for silk hankies! I’ll hop on the bandwagon and ask for more of an explanation of how it’s done. So neat!

  44. Yep, that’s officially the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while. If I saw you doing that in an airport, I promise I would come up and say “What’cha doin’ and where can I learn how to do it too?” That’s after I Kinneared you, of course…

  45. What am I doing? Reading your blog while I should be working, of course! Knitting mittens out of silk hankies…so neat. 🙂 I worked a couple of rows on a lacy scarf for my birthday swap partner @ lunchtime. Tonight I have knitting group and a plethora of unfinished (Christmas and other deadline) items to pick from.
    Happy Traveling!

  46. I’m marking time before I pick my daughter up from school. Making lists of things I SHOULD be doing, but am reading your blog instead. Heh. Your blog is MUCH more fun than my obligations. And I would probably be staring in stupefaction at you if I saw you knitting from a hankie as well.
    (though, I would ask)

  47. gorgeous mittens! I was knitting on a sock on my way to Chicago a while back and the drunk guy across the aisle from me actually tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to take my ear buds out so he could ask me what I was doing. I had no hopes of recruiting him to our team, so it was slightly annoying. Especially when he kept trying to continue the uncomfortable conversation.
    I wish I were knitting, but I am at work and currently folding 200 Thanksgiving cards and stuffing envelopes. (I’ve already signed my bosses’ names to them. So thankful, huh?)

  48. Oh, I’d ask, not shy when it comes to asking someone what and how they’re doing something. Love your blog!

  49. What am I doing? I’m thinking I need to try this as soon as I get home with the hankies that have been languishing in my spinning supplies.

  50. I’m at work, surreptitiously reading your blog, thank you for asking. Great looking mittens… you do realize you need to give a bit more info (and a close up) of “pull of a cocoon, draft and knit.”

  51. Sneaking a peek at your blog during work hours and planning Christmas knitting while I write up boring meeting minutes!
    Btb that looks so cool how can they resist asking?

  52. I’m working at a desk. I check your posts mostly daily. I’ll be knitting green variegated socks on a car trip to Portland, starting tomorrow. 🙂
    I’m going to try a new pattern from Blue Moon Fibers, something about Razzle Dazzle, I think, from last year.

  53. I was gifted some hankies and haven’t had time to knit them, but after watching a video on how to spin them I TOTALLY get how you could just knit from them! Love the idea and may have to skip the spinning part altogether!

  54. I just finished my Haruni shawl- now off to block it… but now that I’ve seen you knitting straight off silk hankies, I simply must drop everything and try it! That is so cool!

  55. We need a button set to wear on our jackets or knitting bags:
    “I’m knitting and I’d love to tell you about it!” for public easy knitting
    and
    “Please do not disturb, I’m counting hundreds of tiny stitches!” for public lace knitting.

  56. I’m waiting for the pest control guys to set out the rat bait stations in my backyard. Why do you ask?

  57. Too funny!
    I’m hogging the sunny corner in the coffee shop trying to ignore the loud people behind me.

  58. I am at work wishing I was at home working on my Boing! (pattern by Anne Hanson) scarf. I love that pattern!

  59. How funny that everyone’s pretending not to be watching! That’s really nice–they must be trying to be polite. I had given up on people in public having that as a goal–I’m delighted to hear that some still do!

  60. I’m just back from watching my 9-month granddaughter and her 3-year hellion of a (boy) cousin. I’m about to have some tea and cookies and try to forget this morning while I spin! Yes please, tell us more about knitting with hankies, never tried it but would lurve to.

  61. super cool. I can’t be alone in thinking that this would be a good knitting party trick, right?

  62. I’m sitting at work wishing I could be sitting at the airport in Vancouver knitting mittens.
    How do you do your blog posts on the go, by the way? Do you use your laptop and camera or a mobile device? I am curious!

  63. Oooo! I hope we get to do that at your workshop in NYC this January! I am finishing up a pair of warm wooly socks in anticipation of the first real snow of the year here in Denver. Gotta finish tonight!

  64. I had to Google to figure out what you where doing and what a silk hankie is. It looks like fun. But will the mittens be warm enough?

  65. Well, I spent the afternoon in Romni’s basement trying to find just the right cotton yarn. Now a moment to look at the computer, then pick my daughter up from school.

  66. Looking out my window from work and thinking you are lucky you are flying into PDX today and not yesterday. Yesterday was a never ending rainy grey slog.
    Slip off to go see the Japanese garden if you have time; they’re very pretty right now, although a little beyond the peak.

  67. Andrea @ 3:27, I love it! I always wish people would talk to me about my knitting in public, some buttons would definitely do the trick. So far, the only person to ask has been an adorable 3 yr old who proclaimed she could do it too. My fave knitting button, “will knit for coffee”. Combining two of my true loves.

  68. I am about to take my Master’s thesis to campus to turn it in. Then I think I will pull my stash out of the underbed bins and roll around in it, fantasizing about what I’ll do with all the extra lovely knitting (and spindling & weaving) time. Somebody very wicked gave me YAK DOWN as a congratulations present.
    Then I’ll start looking for a job.

  69. Just in from the year’s last paid gardening, preparing to go teach the haibun, a form entirely appropriate to your gadding ways.

  70. What am I doing? Planting bulbs, raking leaves, wearing my new Baktus Scarf, making tea. A perfect late fall day here in Kingston. Better than being in an airport!

  71. Hello from melbourne, 7.21 am, I’m reading your blog on my iPhone in bed, having just woken up, and knowing I need to get showered, dressed, get the kids to school, and myself to work. No knitting for me today! Chuckling about the ‘ going missionary’….

  72. Seriously? I can knit straight from the drafted hankies without spinning first. That just makes the batches (upon batches) of solar-dyed caps from the long hot summer so much more attractive!

  73. Wow – I know I’m not the first person to ask but it has to be done – HOW? – I need lots more information please I’m dying to have a go……
    x

  74. I’m taking a break from the endless garter stitch on the back of the Ayako Jacket. It is a fun knit, but it just takes patience to get through 20 inches of garter stitch. I have about 4 inches. It is for my mom so I am motivated to finish. Happy Knitting!

  75. I’m reading your blog, & avoiding actually working. that’s what I’m doing. What the heck is that? Something like a sock blank or a roll of unspun yarn? Looks pretty cool to me. I’d have no trouble coming over to ask about that, but then again, I’m a knitter too.

  76. Definitely–keep them guessing. Wouldn’t you love to know what they are thinking, and the stories they’ll go off and tell people? I’m working on scarves for my pre-teen nieces…

  77. Oh, the thought of those pretty silk mittens is making me a bit weak. So… unspun, eh? Just draft and go? No doubt the staple is plenty long!
    How many grams of hankies do you think that you will need for the finished pair? Drafted to ~DK, or worsted wt? I’ll have to be off and have a rootle-round my silk bin to see how much I’ve got in dyed hankies 😉

  78. Like Aleda, I am working on a pretty thing! My sixth for the Christmas season, leaving me two more to go!! Now to get them all blocked! and I have NO idea of what you are doing or how you are doing it! have never worked with silk!

  79. Too bad you can’t leave the airport, it’s a really really nice day in Vancouver today. Sunshiny and beautiful. It’ll probably be back to dumping rain when you’re passing through on your way home.

  80. What am I doing? I’m sitting here wondering what the hell is “knitting silk hankies into pretty mittens”?!?
    Embiggen! Embiggen!

  81. I’m at work wondering where I can get myself a pair of mittens that look like that. And now I’m reminding myself that I have quite a collection of yarn to choose from if I can find a good pattern – of course I have the BEST books so there shouldn’t be a problem there….but the needles…WAIT I have those. So I’m wondering what my excuse is for not having a new pair of lovely mittens.

  82. I’m working on report cards for all the lovely students in my 4th grade class while my hands twitch with yearning to knit the lovely purple fingerless gloves in my backpack!!!

  83. I am waiting for work to end so I can start my 4 day weekend! I’m also trying to pick out a pattern to use for my first pair of socks I’ve ever knit. I’m kind of scared.

  84. If I were there, I think I’d be bold enough to ask! How are you doing that? I believe your next post needs to be an explanation of that technique :-).

  85. Well as it takes me about a year to get over second sock syndrome – I am 2/3 through the second sock of a pair I started a little over two years ago. Oddly enough I have several socks ready at any time for a second – but usually almost always over a year old. It does make the path to a pair of socks seem short. Before anyone thinks it is a good idea I should mention my socks do not usually match – the time lapse makes me forget my pattern tweaks.

  86. As many others who have responded, I’m at work on my lunch hour reading your blog, wishing I were home knitting. At least, we have tomorrow off for Veteran’s Day, when I hope to finish both a baby hat and a weaver’s shawl, and to pick up again the toddler Christmas dress for my granddaughter that got set aside a while ago. Counting down the number of Xmas projects still to complete, I may make it, if I don’t distracted again by, oh, silk hankies or some other such lovely temptation… Have a great time in Port Ludlow this weekend, best, randomknitter

  87. The mittens look wonderful and soft. I promise that if I saw you doing this I would ask a question. It might be as fan girlish as “can I have your autograph?” or as thoughtful as “Can they make silk hankies that aren’t 100% silk, like silk and cashmere hankies?”
    Hmm, silk and cashmere.

  88. Washing down walls with TSP so I can paint the living room a new color. (I’m on break at the moment.)

  89. Packing to go to Knot Hysteria. Leaving tomorrow morning. I had no idea a spinning wheel would take up an entire suitcase. I considered putting a note on the wheel in case TSA went all crazy on me!

  90. Knitting a poppy for myself as they don’t sell them down here and I think it’s a classy way of honoring Veterans Day/Remembrance Day.

  91. Cutting parts for making wool felt dolls for Christmas gifts. Surprisingly entertaining considering it isn’t knitting. 🙂

  92. I am spinning on my Turkish Spindle that I got at SOAR.
    And OMG, I so totally want to know how you turn a silk hankie into mittens, I can hardly breathe. PUHLEEZE give instructions….? Is it on YouTube yet? (If not, perhaps you may wish to correct that oversight?)

  93. It’s just after 9pm and I’m drinking a lovely glass of red wine, knitting a little Jubilee Cardigan for my littlest niece. Thinking about going to bed early.
    I agree with you on waiting for people to ask before chatting them up about my knitting. I forget I’m doing it, especially stood waiting for a train at Peckham Rye, and sometimes wonder why people are looking furtively in my direction – then I remember not everyone is a knitter.
    Enjoy your trip – I hope you have some airline status with all thus work travel!

  94. I would be looking at you also! When I read you were making “silk hankies” at the retreat, I thought it was ever so slightly odd that you were making handkerchiefs. Apparently you were not. Pray tell, what’s the scoop?
    And me? I’m knitting Jared Flood’s Quincy hat with Artful Yarns Vineyard in a very pretty colorway and getting malware off a computer.

  95. I spent years on the New York City subway line doing patchwork and knitting. NO ONE ever asked. They looked, but never spoke. Too weird.
    So, what are you doing with those fuzzy hankies?

  96. I’m waiting for my train conductor(s) to ask if it’s *their* sweater i’m knitting. at each stop (and every day) that each walks by me after checking my rail pass, i know they want to ask but they haven’t. yet.
    p.s. it’s my husband’s birthday sweater. his b-day was in february. my goal is to finish it before chanukah. 😉

  97. I wish I was sitting next to you – I would have no problem asking about what you were doing and how – I think it is fasinating!

  98. hi:) would u share the mitten patt?
    i want to do some charity mittens for kids from grades kindergarten to 5th grade, boys & girls…
    any tips for sizing?
    thanx
    peace&blessings
    mary~

  99. just LOOKING at the pic, I can FEEL the softness of those mittens! they must be delightful!

  100. I just googled “silk hankies knitting” and got a bunch of hits, because there’s no way I could wait for you to explain. Very cool!

  101. Frogging a project that I don’t have enough yarn for. I would be upset but that means I can start a new project! Maybe some silk hankies…yea…

  102. simultaneously applying heat & ice to my right shoulder, elbow & hand. : ( I’ve got tendonitis and I think it was brewing under the surface & then I started golfing ~~ 2 months ago and it flared like a wildfire. I’m off knitting for a few days & off golfing for weeks. I’m having a little pity party…until beer o’clock when I’ll have some for medicinal pruposes only.

  103. I’m spinning merino into lace weight singles, on a support spindle I make from a button & a chopstick. Wish I’d been sitting next to you! I’d have pestered you with all sorts of questons. I had no idea that could be done. Next time you’re searching for a blog topic, could you show us how to do this? Lots of pictures, please?

  104. Wondering how in the heck you got the needles past security? Lovely mittens, btw.
    I’m also currently working on a Rectangular Crow’s Waltz while intermittently oogling at all the great pie, cake and cookie photos in bon appetit’s Desserts.

  105. Ooooo…..OOOOO….OOOOOO…..can that be my silk hankie project at the retreat?? Fun!
    Tamara

  106. I’m looking at shelf upon shelf of yarn contemplating my next project… but the beer Kim L-H mentioned above sounds better than starting something new right now. hmmm

  107. I’m doing things for Three Fates Yarns, updating my linkedin page (not connected), procrastinating writing a job application, eating English Toffee I bought at the farmers’ office and am dreaming about Christmas.

  108. Once again I think you’ve solved my Christmas knitting issue. Last year it was Pretty Thing. I made 9 for all the women in the family. This year silk mittens would be so wonderful! Please tell us more…how much is required for a pair of mittens…what’s a good source for the hankies…what gage/needle size etc. I’ll bet they feel so nice on the hands.

  109. Please give more information on how that is done? I bought some of those hankies last year, just because of the pretty colors they had been dyed. Would love to actually be able to use them instead of fondle and caress them now and again..

  110. What a clever idea! The silk hankie looks like a pearlescent white. Lovely mittens.
    As for what I am doing today, alas, I have to work, but making up for it by knitting a scarf on breaks and lunches.

  111. Why, thanks for asking! I’m not doing anything as exciting as that. I wish I was. However I’m reading your blog whilst waiting for a conference call with Australia to start.
    The hold music is less than groovy. I wish I was knitting.

  112. What am I doing? I am waiting..tomorrow I go into Ottawa to pick up my spinning wheel. who knew?? It never would have occurred to me to even try it until you had Tuesdays are for spinning…and I started wondering why and how, and what?
    Its a slippery slope after that..I got a little push from this person, then that person..and you know where it goes from there. However the silk thing that you are doing, I can’t seem to picture how that works.
    Thankyou for yesterdays post. I read the whole thing to my husband Kevin, and he finally Gets IT!
    The haiku relating to William Shatner did him in totally and he swallowed his mouthwash..LOL He is a big Shatner fan..while I listen and have a baffled look on my face.
    But thankyou for everything, the knitting, the spinning and putting your words out there so that non knitters get what you are trying to say..
    As always..talking too much..

  113. I hope you’ll explain. I’ve tried and tho the result is lovely, it catches on every little rough spot on my hands. How do you overcome that? I’m hankering to try this!

  114. I just got back from a cruise with DH (no, not THAT one)where I finished knitting my new niece a blanket. People from all over the world on the cruise stopped to ask about the project I was knitting! I was having a bout of PPD (post project depression) since finishing the blanket, until I found the PERFECT purple yarn this morning so I am about to start on my sweater!

  115. NO WAY! This is so awesome! I was cleaning out my studio earlier this month and found some silk hankies I had dyed to use in a collage. I used just a wee bit, and the rest has been tucked away forever — I was wondering what in heaven’s name I was going to do with them. So, are you going to dish the secret of how to do this, or shall I just pack them up and send them to you for your stash?

  116. At the Denver airport knitting a lace scarf from very skinny hand dyed silk yarn (and perusing a variety of blogs)

  117. Drinking wine, knitting husband’s christmas socks, watching news, drinking wine…. Hope your trip went well and you’re getting stuck into retreat!

  118. Please add me to the list of people wanting details of the mittens. How many silk hankies do you need to knit mittens? Enquiring minds want/need to know…vbg. I would sooooo have asked what you were doing and how you were doing it. I couldn’t have walked away from you without all the details – it would have bugged me for days afterwards. Does that make me weird I wonder or just normal?

  119. Where can one purchase the silk hankies? Awhile back, I received a beautiful set of circular needles from Wanda and Ed Jenkins in Oregon. They came wrapped in a silk hanky, which I then proceeded to try to knit with. I didn’t have too much luck, as the silk seemed to want to stick to my fingers. I did manage to knit a little square. But where do I get more hankies? Those mittens are beautiful. Oh. What am I doing? Recovering from a day of teaching with practically no voice. (the worst case of laryngitis I’ve ever had.)

  120. Wondering if missionary + knitting wouldn’t be a good combination to kill 2 birds with 1 stone…. 😉
    Just kidding. I’m actually procrastinating binding off my Mary Mary Quite Contrary shawl and wishing I was going to a knitting retreat. How cool to combine work with your passion. My hat’s off to you!

  121. Wow! I would have been all over the questions if I had run across someone doing that. It looks fascinating!

  122. A while ago someone gave me one of those hanky things. Until now I had no clue what to do with it.
    I have time-traveled back to the city of Sumer, where the First Knitter is showing me his superfast combined-knitting technique. All right, really I am reading blogs as a form of work procrastination, but I didn’t want to win a prize for dullest answer.

  123. I’d like to think I’d just ask, but I’d know it was you. And then I wouldn’t, because I am a coward.
    Looks really cool, though. 🙂

  124. I am hoping that the former boyfriend sweater will knit itself while I am outside planting tulip bulbs in my garden, in the warm 10 degree temps here in Toronto.

  125. I hope I run into you at an airport one day…I will Totally ask you what you are making..even though it drives me crazy when people stare…

  126. Dear Stephanie,
    I’m about to leave you a crazy comment. It’s my first comment on your blog, and I guess it’s about time. The crazy part is that, though I’ve never met you, I love you. I even love your whole family and all your friends. I’ve been going through a terrible heart break, and the most soothing part of my day is the time I take to read your blog. I’ve read (and reread in parts) your entire blog. Yep, all the archive. (crazy?) Thank you for being you and for sharing so much of yourself with us knitters. I like rereading your books, too. Then next time you ever encounter anything mean, I hope you keep in mind the huge way that you have helped me and made my life better. Thank you.
    Love,
    Meg 🙂

  127. O.k. I’ll take that step! What on earth is a silk hanky? I have the distinct feeling that when I say hankie and when you say (in this blog) hankie, we’re not saying the same thing! Having said that, and living in a place which rarely goes below freezing, those silk mittens look absolutely warm and wonderful. (I used to live where a lot of time was spent well below freezing. I wouldn’t go back to it, not even for those mittens!)

  128. What am I doing??? Reading your blog and loving it!
    Since I started following your blog, my occasional attempts at knitting have become I-gotta-have-a-knitting-project-all-the-time or I feel like the world’s off its axis.
    Thanks for all the inspiration!

  129. I am baking. One of my kids is an avid reader and with school cutbacks, he said “Let’s have a Bake Sale and raise money for the school library.” Great idea. He is helping me bake and then I am sending the kids out to sell to the neighbors. Homemade Granola, Pumpkin Butter, Beer Bread, Choc Chip and Snickerdodle Cookies. I’d rather be knitting, but I guess this counts as community service since it’s for a good cause.

  130. Right now? I’m wishing I could sit next to you in the airport because I would totally start the conversation and find out how to knit right from the hankies.

  131. Whatever I’m doing, it isn’t nearly as interesting as what you were doing in the airport. Seriously awesome and extremely interesting.

  132. Me? I too amd reading the blogs I ‘follow’…and wondering how you get unspun silk fine enough to knit mittens with it. No spinning at all, right? I have some silk hankies somewhere…and might just try this (Okay. I’ll at least add it to the list of things I want to try.) Travelling mercies! 🙂

  133. Hmmmm…. Well, I’m avoiding working on the baby blanket that I have started for a coworker. I mean seriously, the baby’s not due till January and she’s planning to work all the way till her due date. So I’ve got plenty of time, right? Loads! I’ve already got 10 of 96 granny squares done. Easy peasy….
    I’m also avoiding The Sweater. It’s a spring sweater. 80/20 cotton wool blend. It’s celery green and kinda pretty. I like it well enough, but right now it’s all stockinette in the round and I’m bored to tears with it. But I have to push through this part because in a few more inches, I’ll be able to switch to the lace body of the sweater. It’s gonna be pretty. For now, though, it’s all stockinette.

  134. I am wondering why I’m typing instead of going to bed when I’m this tired. I can understand the appeal of grading and ironing seams on a half-finished handbag (done now), but commenting…
    (And I’m probably going to go look at Ysolda’s blog before I move. Stupid me. I know I’m going to regret this tomorrow, and yet, the internet has pretty yarn pictures I haven’t seen.)

  135. Gee whiz I so wish the lady had asked you about your knitting and then hear how you would explain it to a pure novice .I’m slowly knitting on a plain scarf for now,also the first of a plain sock.

  136. I’m checkin’ your blog before I log off and drive home. And thinking about getting a pretty silk hankie to knit into a pair of mittens… that’s a brilliant idea for taking on a plane — the yarn can’t roll away on you.

  137. Me? I’m reading your blog and snorting about what the yarn harlot “going missionary” would sound like. Dinner soon and then starting my heel flap for socks for my niece. Thanks for asking!

  138. Hey, Steph–right now I’m reading parts of your blog to my partner, who for some reason doesn’t understand how an blog about knitting could be so entertaining!!! If he only knew…

  139. I cast off Mara last night, made in madelintosh worsted in “cherry”. The pleated bottom is very handsome! I’m not allowed to knit until 10pm tonight because I have exams to grade and I spent last evening casting off the shawl. But the bigger question is what to do with 72 4 oz 250 yd skeins of fingering wt wool spun from my wether “Bob”. The box just arrived today. Looking at it makes my fingers twitch. I had washed and saved up several years of Bob’s fleeces (a white romney). I sent it all to a small mill because I cannot spin that finely very well and am way way behind in spinning up fleeces.
    Your silk project looks very cool! Hope you post photos of the workshop for us, please!

  140. I’m enjoying another day with my granddaughter, who will be one month old tomorrow — and getting excited about spending a weekend with you, Tina. Judith and 44 other wonderful fiber artists. I know I am going to learn so much. The more I learn the more I realize there is yet to learn.
    This afternoon I’m binding off on a circular feather and fan shawl.
    Myrna, in Ballard until early Friday afternoon when I will be on my way to Port Ludlow for a wonderful weekend.

  141. I play the same game with my cats. Dangle a little string and wait for them to pounce……. or not.

  142. I so agree! The interest, and first words, needs to come from the interested party first.
    As for me, I am knitting a pair of white wool socks for my husband who wears size 13EE, which, if you count the stitches, is roughly the same as knitting a football stadium cozy.
    Thanks for asking.

  143. That looks magical – I’d like to know what you are doing too, please! Doesn’t the silk break when you pull it off? – and where are the hankies to be obtained?
    And as for what I am doing, I have just found out that a wonderful person on Ravelry has actually posted the written instructions for the Aeolian Shawl! I enrolled in Lace knitting classes earlier this year, and still I could not decipher the charts – wrong sort of brain. Now I am going to be able to finish it!!!
    I have been knitting for 58 years now, and my brain has not stretched in the right direction, obviously.

  144. I am knitting a beret! The people in Vancouver must be pretty well desensitized, because down here where I live, dpns are enough to make people stare.
    How come the Vancouver airport looks so clean?

  145. Sitting in the airport on Long Island…knitting a sock, and trying to figure out whether there will be enought time between now and Christmas to finish all the knitting projects I have committed to for Christmas gifts this year. I know…I’ll just call in to work and tell them that I have a yarn emergency. Yeah, that will do it, for sure. My boss will fall for it, no? 🙂

  146. That sounds so very cool! I’ll have some time to knit tomorrow, and trying to decide whether to start something new or finish what’s already on the needles.

  147. i’m knitting my third swatch for a new sweater… and washing it. ugh. first swatch felted. taught me a lesson about the yarn, lemme tell ya!

  148. I’m sitting on a very shakey bus, reading your blog on my cellphone instead of weaving in the ends on the mitten I just finished since I’m a little afraid I’ll jab myself with the needle. I really hope there’s video of how to knit silk like that on youTube because you have me all curious now.

  149. I have like two pounds of silk hankies sitting here. And now I know what to do with a small portion of them. AWESOME!!!

  150. I have just finished painting the LAST set of bookcases I ever plan on owning, got all my books in, and decided that what I have always wanted was to have my nonfictions dewey decimalled, so I have been looking up all my NF books online and putting little tiny labels on them. Of course there is this pile of 26 books that are unowned by any library, only by me! Plan B: see if I can get my local librarians to help find the numbers. That’s what I’m doing.

  151. You’re so funny. I would not be able to resist noticing the looks and commenting on them. You show real character by not giving in. haaha I always get into conversations about knitting while flying. Everyone knows someone who knows how to knit and they enjoy telling about it.
    I’m working on a throw for a little girl who is enamored with the one I made for my living room. Little does she know she’s getting her very own. When she’s at my house, she is constantly wrapped up in it.
    Finished a shawl for friend in Nebraska – she’s going to freeze being lately living in California. So, I plan to keep her warm.
    Working on a wool sweater for myself as well in Fisherman’s wool.

  152. I’m fascinated and intrigued. Please do tell more. How? Are these old hankies? New hankies? Waiting with anticipation!

  153. Reading your blog! Before that trying to find a store that carries 24 inch, size 1.5 (2.5mm) Addi Lace circs. (And has them in stock!)
    Also, knitting a hat for a woman who is the guiding light behind Hats for Sailors. She was trying to put together enough hats for all the sailors on the ship her daughter commands, and received so many she has almost enough to outfit all the sailors on a second ship. If you love to knit hats and are a speedy knitter, google Hats for Sailors and sign up quick! :o)

  154. I’m resting by reading the blog and laughing after teaching semi-advanced knitting techniques all morning to a class that had 9 out of 13 students present. Next week the others will want to catch up! One more week—but I do love doing it.

  155. I’m not scared to ask. I’ve only been kniting for a few years and I love learning new techniques. So what exactly are you doing with the silk hankies and how do you do it?
    Oh, and I’m watching “Hell’s Kitchen” and knitting my first cardigan.

  156. I have never heard of pulling silk off hankies & knitting with them. I am currently knitting a scarf for my sister & recovering from surgery. Now if you will excuse me, I have to GOOGLE silk hankies & knitting!!

  157. I just finished a cheese sandwich while reading your blog in preparation for my evening-before-a-random-government-holiday planning (almost makes up for being a Tool of the Man). I’ll be battling carpet beetles tomorrow if all goes according to plan (living in a pocket-sized apartment poses problems in the war) and quite possibly working on a Baby Yours for my favorite little man.
    I learned about knitting silk hankies and LOVED it, but I haven’t gotten around to doing more with it. Now that I know mittens are an option, however….

  158. I cannot believe I have made it this many years in my knitting life with never hearing about this. I had no idea! I would have literally attacked you with shock and awe in YVR if I had seen this (well, and you I suppose). Unbelievable. I feel so out of the loop, or like knitting has been lying to me or something….

  159. I spent a part of my day looking up my favorite Harlot on youtube and caught a glimpse of your knitting style. I was so blown away by the speed that I thought perhaps I had settled on continental knitting as the most rapid method too quickly. I decided to humble myself and give your method a shot.
    One question: how long do I have to work at this before the needle I’m clamping in my arm pit stops chaffing, and do you have a callus under your arm from the needle?

  160. That project looks both exciting and intimidating. (I still haven’t worked out that whole spinning thing…)
    But they look beautiful. And I believe that we can only truly tell someone about knitting if they are genuinely interested.

  161. What am I doing right now? I’m working on a some kind of round and pointy dishcloth for my mom, but really fixin to go to bed with my bottle of Nyquil. I really hate head colds. Wishing you safe travel!

  162. what a great day to travel to the PNW! SUN! Have a great
    retreat at Port Ludlow. I am knitting a ribbed hat…..and reading
    your blog.

  163. I was watching some Zumba! (most fun exercise ever!) contest videos, but now I’m thinking about pulling out the beautiful orangy/red/pinkish/golden dyed silk hankies I have stashed away, and starting a pair of mittens!

  164. Well, in the “ordinary people’s” defense, I can safely say I’ve never seen anyone knit directly from the silk hankies. Of course I know it’s theoretically possible, but still – seeing cocoons turn into mittens like magic is pretty awesome.
    I spent the day fascinating the uniknitiated (those who do not knit) by making socks on four dpns. More than one wondered why I wasn’t poking my eyes out.
    Oh, and working for no pay. That was fun.

  165. Not knitting and before that is construed as a bad thing, I have spent the day making fudge, chocolate chip cookies, key lime pie, and rice crispy treats. (and I will probably sneak in a few rows before bed)

  166. I’m so glad I spend the time scrolling and searching for Presbytera’s and Rams’ comments, especially today.

  167. Casting on Winnow socks from Knitty… frogging Laminaria for the second time. Ever since I saw you start it… it’s had a strange hold on me. I can’t shake it. I told myself it was too much to start with Christmas looming; then I told myself that it could be a Christmas present for my mother… Then I told myself that I was insane. I could do it… if it was something that I could bring out in the open. I think it will be for Mother’s Day.

  168. My second comment: UNCLE! I give up. I just had to google silk hankies and finally went and ordered a beginner spinning kit with a drop spindle. I can no longer stand the deprivation of not knowing how to spin.

  169. Why can’t people just bring themselves to ask!? I’d be dying to know what you were doing. And I’m a knitter. But then, there you go. I’m a knitter. I’d ask.

  170. What a cool idea!! I just learned (taught myself via youtube) how to spin silk hankies, but never thought to just knit the roving! So, I guess I’m going to try it 🙂
    I’m with you on making the on-lookers come to me. I was spindling in the lawn section of a concert, and only drunk men actually came up and asked me what I was doing, although many folks were staring. Interesting, that. 🙂

  171. I just got back from knitting at the local beading circle meeting (because 3 of the beaders are knitters too) where I finished a narrow scarf and worked on a Thorpe hat for a friend’s daughter.

  172. I just finished spinning silk hankies! I have now come to the realization that if you don’t have skin as soft and smooth as silk, it will snag on each and every skin cell you have. I now am banging my head against my computer (which is covered in a thin veil of silk) because I had no Idea that I could just knit with the frimmikin’ stuff. I’ll just have to wait a cotton flickn’ minute and seriously moisturize before I attempt what I have just now read.

  173. I learned how to Navajo Ply today and also how to ply more efficiently. I’m so excited. I feel I can do so much more with my spinning now.

  174. Well, how kind of you to ask.
    I have just finished a writing project (the kind that people actually pay me to do), and am about to start on a book to help my son understand that when Mom and Dad leave for Italy (eeeeeee! I’m so excited!!!!) that even if we turn into sots who drink way too much wine and eat whack-o amounts of amazing food and catch up on 14 years worth of interrupted sleep, we’ll come back. And even though he’ll miss us and we’ll miss him, its all good.
    And THEN i have to figure out what knitting projects to bring. That’s a LONG flight! I could get all kinds of stuff done!!! And THEN I have to start packing.

  175. I haven’t heard of what you’re doing there (still a novice), but those mittens look ridiculously soft! If you’re taking requests on blog topics, could you explain what happens between the cocoon and mittens? 🙂

  176. I’m crocheting a shrug for my mom. She’s tiny and gets very cold. Your silk mittens are much nicer than my mom’s cotton shrug, probably not nearly so heavy either. This thing may break her back.

  177. More information please…..I would be right there asking how you do this and where do I get the silk hankie to start. The mittens looks fantastic.

  178. That airport DOES look clean. Interesting carpet. I could totally knit that pattern. It would make a really nice felted handbag.

  179. Well, Steph, I was going to forward your airport photo and a note with a request to the Vancouver airport folks, suggesting to them that they get someone over there with a camera and a question or three … “EXCUSE ME, MA’AM, BUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE FLUFFBALL AND THE POINTY THINGS AND THE MITTENS?!” but you neglected to mention whether you were at VANCOUVER BC or the airport in VANCOUVER WASHINGTON and I decided that triggering some kind of international incident with security cops and the TSA and “dangerous weapons” like dpn sock needles with silk would not really be a good idea for you or any of us.
    You’re welcome. Please post update ASAP so we don’t have to initiate some kind of security crisis wondering if you made it through customs with your un-dangerous mittens and stuff …..
    [hugs]
    p.s. It’s snowing here in Montana, too … 🙁

  180. Right now (after I finish reading the comments on your entry for today, that is), I am knitting what feels like the 876th swatch from about 15 yarny candidates for Alice Starmore’s Inishmore. I offered to knit a sweater for my sister, and she chose Inishmore. Who knew that I, once a very tight knitter, have apparently become a very loose knitter? and that I cannot get gauge in any aran weight yarn at 22 sts/10 cm., both called for by the pattern. My knitting groups are tired of hearing about it. I would go to a 20 sts/10 cm yarn, but said sister wants this to be a very heavy winter sweater, and so I carry on. I may make an afghan out of all these swatches, and give that to her instead. 🙂
    Meanwhile, this past Sunday one of my knitting groups enjoyed bewildering the muggles by setting up my swift and ball winder on a coffee shop table and winding 11 skeins of yarn. One little girl was completely enchanted. There is a purpose to all this, after all.

  181. I’m scouting locations for a restaurant my husband and I plan to open in a few months. If you’re in Astoria, Oregon, next spring, I’ll comp you.
    And finishing the last rayon top of the summer, even though I’m moving to a cooler climate and could use more wool sweaters.

  182. Still can’t believe I was doing this before you. Anyway at the time you posted I was outside putting the garden to bed and raking all the leaves and bean pods. Then I had knitting group where we are knitting afghan squares for Warm Up America (at least I think that’s the group). We should be finished next week and then we’ll start on a round of hats for a local shelter. Personal knitting is AVFKW shawl kit designed by Stephan West. Have fun at the retreat. Give everyone hugs from me.

  183. I’m up after a night sweat. What more entertaining thing to do than to read The Blog during insomnia? Too tired to knit rationally. Doncha love messing with people’s minds? LOL. Have a lovely time!

  184. Since I couldn’t share my haiku before, I’ll reiterate:
    Don’t like to cast on
    Waste yarn sits and waits for me
    Bind off twice instead

  185. I was frogging a too small baby sweater on the train yesterday on my way home. The man across from me was pretending to sleep, but when I glanced up I could see him staring trying to figure out what on earth I was doing…..all he has to do is ask!

  186. I am spinning mulberry silk, knitting it into a very lacy circle (with an opening in the centre) on 5 dpn, blocking it without casting off (eeep) then using it to make a soft ground etching tomorrow. The printmaking lecturer is perplexed. Fingers crossed it works.

  187. What am I doing?
    I’m working on a skinny cabled scarf for myself. With 100m of 2 ply home spun alpaca yarn that I bought at The Royal. A total treat for me 🙂
    Was at The Royal because I was lucky enough to win a trip to the National 4-H Leaders Conference. Got off the plane, out of the airport and said “I’m in the same city as The Yarn Harlot!”. And the lady standing beside me (total stranger) said “it’s a good thing, isn’t it?” LOL 🙂

  188. Sooo funny! The same thing happened to me last weekend at a theatre while waiting for the musical to start. I was spindling away in the front row. Everyone around me was staring, but no one would approach to quench their curiosity. Finally, right before the lights went down, an older gentleman asked me if he could see what I was doing. He held my spindle so gently, and asked good questions.

  189. I’m writing a report which shows study publications by scientific advisory board approval year. Then having lunch. This morning I cast off the outer part of a purple moss stitch clutch bag for someone’s xmas present on the platform at Salford Crescent.
    So far I have seen one other person knitting on my train line. I tried to attract her attention but as she probably couldn’t see *my* knitting she almost certainly thought I was a nutter (rather than a knitter). Considered Kinnearing her for twitter, but that felt too intrusive & I was in her line of sight so again with the trying not to be too much of a nutter…

  190. I am hoping, REALLY HOPING, you post more on the whole I can turn a silk hankie into as mitten thing you got going on. More info needed.
    OH, and I am up at 4am, and headed to my nursing job. The only thing that makes a 4am wake up time bearable is reading your blog with coffee before I leave.

  191. I’d like to think she was too shy to ask, or trying to give you some space rather than taking advantage of the forced proximity of the flight.
    Me, I’d have asked you if you made the hankies and probably how

  192. Oooh! Oooh! So cool!!!
    I bought silk hankies this summer with absolutely NOOOOOOOOOO idea what to do with them or how to knit with them. I suppose I could take them to my LYS and ask for help, but I didn’t buy them there (they don’t sell them – purchased at a fair). So I’m with Aurora – I hope you post more on the process of turning a silk hankie into a mitten … or hat… or scarf… or…

  193. That’s seriously cool! You’re going to do a detailed tutorial on that, right? I have tried spinning silk hankies and discovered I really don’t like it. Directly knitting with them may change my mind completely!

  194. I’m knitting on a double-knit hat for my father-in-law for Christmas. Double layered handspun BFL for the win!

  195. I knit up a poppy last night to wear for Veteran’s Day and finally finally finished a baby blanket (Dawn Brocco’s Flower Baby Blanket). Now I am knitting accessories for Christmas gifts! 8 )

  196. Love it! I have never had so many people stare at me in the airport as when I was spindle spinning. Only a couple people managed to ask me what I was doing, but a LOT of out and out staring.
    Now I am going to go see if there’s any information on the good old internets about how to do that!

  197. I’m sure I could figure it out for myself but I’m really want to know. What pattern are you using? I really think my wife NEEDS a pair of these.

  198. I just purchased enough Euroflax in Gypsy to do up the shawl that is on the cover of the summer Vogue knitting mag. Off to Italy on Tuesday for 3 weeks so needed something to keep me busy. Can’t wait to see how the linen fibre is going to turn out. First time knitting with it but the sales lady tells me that it has a really nice drape. It occured to me as I was in the yarn shop in Winnipeg that I spend more time planning my knitting projects for traveling than I spend packing. I figure that Florence has stores and I have credit cards. I bet they have yarn and fabric too.

  199. I’m knitting in my room in Kandahar, (stationed with the Canadian troops). An alpaca sweater from The Mirosol Collection Book One that I bought on a trip to Salt Spring Island two years ago. I read your blog every day and I also read it out to my room mate who loves it too. She doesn’t knit but she yarn friendly.

  200. I just saw your tweet about Red Dwarf — I have never, not in my whole life, ever been able to explain RD without sounding completely ridiculous. Even harder — trying to explain how this show made a hilarious and interesting episode regarding the assassination of JFK.

  201. NOT working on my doctoral comp questions. Which I took off the day to do.
    Is there some knitting around that can distract me? hummmmmmmmmmmmm.

  202. I crochet on the bus all the time. I see many people looking at me, some of whom want to say something but don’t. One afternoon a young girl, maybe ten or so, was staring at my hands and the yarn. I looked at her and said “I’m crocheting a scarf.” She just smiled. I then said, “I love telling people what I’m doing, talk about the item and the yarn.” Her grandmother came over by us (they’d separated when sitting down) and she told me that her grand-daughter wanted to learn to do that (crochet). I just smiled at the young girl and kept working away.
    I always talk about what I’m working on when someone asks.

  203. I just cast on for socks two at a time (on the eL[Chicago here]) from toe up(gotta do 2@ a time to be done by Christmas) and realized that I cast on so one sock is inside out… trying feverishly to figure out a way to fix it so that I don’t have to frog and re-cast. Thank goodness I have “knitting Lunch” today so I can confer with my cronies.

  204. I started a pair of Musica fingerless mitts in black and white Sugar Rush – lovely stuff. I promised myself I wouldn’t start them until I finished at least one of my shawls. But the yarn was just SITTING there!

  205. Oh, I do love the imagery of the stunned curiousity being enhanced by the action of taking out a camera, in the airport, and photographing said mittens. (Wouldn’t it be great if they said, “Look! She Kinneared some mittens!”)

  206. I’m having a latte in a coffeeshop in Bethesda Maryland, reading your blog instead of doing my work=) And reflecting on how I also feel like you’re a friend of mine, even though we’ve never met and I seldom comment. Which I hope isn’t too weird.
    I like it when people go ahead and ask what I’m knitting, although once a woman approached me, ostensibly to compliment my scarf in progress, but really to reassure me that I needn’t knit so tight. Harumph.

  207. I’m sitting home with pneumonia, both me and the 8yo.
    I have tons of silk hankies and have knit with them before, but I’ve always drafted out the entire ‘group’ of hankies rather than seperate them… curious minds would like to know why you seperate and knit with just one at a time? Also curious about how many oz/grams of hankies your using for that pair of mittens? And lastly, the dyer in me wants to know if you plan to dye them after you knit them or leave them in the natural lovely cream color? Ok, off to take my meds now.

  208. Knitting on mittens for my grandsons at the dentist’s office this morning. They know me so well that the second question after “how are you” is “what are you working on today?” I usually draw a crowd. One of the hygenists ran out to her car to bring in the hat and scarf that a friend knitted as a gift for her son. It’s always fun to perform magic for the Muggles.

  209. I’m at work, reading your blog… shhh don’t tell! and I have silk hankies that I was going to draft out and knit a scarf out of, but now I’m rethinking that plan!

  210. Very interesting process to watch, I’m sure – I didn’t know silk came that way.
    As for what I’m doing? Watching Dune, looking for Sting to make his appearance. (eating home-mad toffee)

  211. gorgeous mittens 🙂
    I’m contemplating updating my blog while rotating between projects (I have mittens, socks, and a couple of other projects in progress… I should probably get the buttons sewn on the BSJ I finished last month and get it over to the FO pile…) and supervising my boys doing their chores…

  212. envy is a bad habit and one which I possess! Love the mittens and would like to learn details (like most who have posted).
    This morning I am baking cookies and reading, then down to sew boxers for my boys. No knitting right now as tendinitis has reared its ugly head in my elbow yet again! (What, the broken wrist last year was not enough punishment!!!)

  213. I’m taking a break from cleaning the kid’s bedroom to watch Avatar with her and reknit the ribbing on Orangina (all 11″ of it). I had knit too much lace, ripped it apart to rip it back in hopes of then grafting it back together and, well, such was not to be. But yay! More knitting!

  214. OMG What a great idea!! I have dozens of hankies sitting around.
    What size needles are you using?
    I do wonder why folks don’t just ask. It opens such a great dialog.
    Meanwhile I am wishing I was working on my newest sock design but alas, need to pack up the shop to be able to pack up the Uhaul to be able to drive it to Rochester to unpack the Uhaul and set up my booth at the Lake Country Fiber Festival this Saturday.

  215. I also love the mittens from silk hankies. Currently, I’m knitting a beaded scarf, started another a different beaded scarf, 2 pairs of socks, and spinning on 2 wheels. I got most of the housework and laundry done this morning while I had an energy burst. 🙂
    My knitting guild meeting is this evening which includes a “Freedom from the Cable Needle” lesson. I have wanted to learn that for a while now and it happens to be needed in one of the sock patterns I’m doing.

  216. Took younger DD to Accident and Medical yesterday (this ER with sock this time – put it down to experience), 60 yo typist from radiology picked-up my magic loop, toe-up sock (I am up to the leg)in variegated yarn, and said, “Oh they aren’t knit like bootees are they!”, she was fascinated. Variegated yarn,
    toe-up,
    circular needle,
    sock that knits up to look like a sock with no sewing together
    – magic (well I thought so, she didn’t say so).

  217. Sadly, I am going into a meeting on faculty governance and won’t be able to bring my knitting with me. Which I couldn’t do, even if I could, because I have nothing on the needles at the moment. I just finished my first pair of toe-up socks and now must 1. buy shoes to wear with them and 2. pick another project to knit.
    I think it’s going to be toe-up two at a time socks. 🙂

  218. I’m knitting a baby blanket ( forever). I made up the pattern for it, which is a first for me, and of course I was inspired by “Knitting Rules” to love the yarn then gauge, then measure, then knit. I have made the darn thing sooo wide that I think I’ll stop when it resembles a blanket shape. If I do the number of reps that I intended, the kid will be able to take it to his college dorm, and have it cover the bed. It might make for an interesting conversation piece, seeing as it is baby pastel variegated!! ( The other thing which is nearly done is a superchunky hand paint cowl from Vogue knitting, but really from “cowl girls”– this I could make a dozen of)

  219. Working up the courage to knit Christmas stockings – have you knit any?
    A little late –
    Yay! It’s the last stitch
    Finally done casting off
    Another F O

  220. I entered a design challenge last year that included silk hankies. I had no idea how to use it, so when it came to adding that to my design I was so lost. Not to mention it’s hot pink. Haha, if I were in that airport I would definitely come over and ask you how many shots of whiskey it took before you figured it out, and would you mind dearly if I just sat and stared at your movements for a little while, until I thought I got it? Way to go!

  221. I’m wondering how it is that here we are well into the second week of November and there has been no whisper of a holyCRAPchristmasiscoming freak-out. Has the self-imposed sock club really made so much difference?

  222. I just had to share my quick-look-away story from lunch today. The grocery store near my office has a great sit-down area, delicious soups and hearty sandwiches. There were 4 masculine construction workers sitting at tables. I felt someone staring at me while I stopped knitting to figure out the m1 purl. I looked over and one of the Mr. Muscles quickly turned his head to look out the window. Funny!!

  223. I am writing a paper in theology. My head is about to explode and I am experiencing serious brain fog as I now save the document, glance over at your blog with the intention of hunting down my own sock in progress and continuing to knit in an attempt to soothe my weary brain! Aaaahhh, several more days in the writing and I’ll be done! Then I can move on to the second sock, start Christmas baking, think about shopping, and decorating while writing cards, along with all the rest of what needs be done before the family starts arriving back here for the holidays. Oh my gosh …. the writing of a term paper in peace, silence, and solitude is beginning to sound less stressful! Happy knitting!

  224. One day… one day… it’s going to be ME! who catches sight of you knitting in an airport or on a bus, or somewhere out in public, and then I am going to rush right over and introduce myself and ask you all about whatever it is you are making. Try not to flinch.

  225. I’m inspired! What a fabulous use for all those pretty silk hankies I got cos I just had to have them cos they were so pretty and well you know how THAT goes and now I know I can just yank-draft-knit them without doing the whole yank-draft-spinning thing… cor blimey, thanks!

  226. I made a wonderful but unexpected trip last week when my 1 and only child called from Calgary and asked me to go on a trip with her. So, I jumped on a flight from Detroit (closer and cheaper than Toronto from where we are on Lake Huron)and flew to Los Angeles. I packed lots of yarn for the flight, and couldn’t knit a stitch on the flight out, as I was jammed into a middle seat, and just didn’t feel that was fair to the people on either side. How do you manage to knit on flights – do you always get an aisle seat?
    Coming back today was better as the configuration was 2-3-2, and I had a window.
    I may not have gotten much knitting done, but I had a wonderful week driving around and seeing southern California with my daughter, who normally lives in the Yukon. And that is a compromise I am willing to make any day!

  227. Wait, WHAT?! You just knit… right off the hanky??? Would love to see a post explaining this a little more. Fascinating!

  228. Mittens! Brilliant! How many ounces/grams of hankies for a pair? I haven’t finished my bonnet yet. Still suffering from acute dishpan hands. . . but I bet your olive oil concoction would help.

  229. Knitting mittens out of silk hankies?
    Where does one get silk hankies?
    As for the rest – instructions on how to do it, please!

  230. What am I doing? I am again knitting a sock. Not so exciting? Well it is when you have been on a self imposed knit stoppage for two months due to wrist pain. My mental health is more important.

  231. I am not too shy. Please, please explain what you are doing! (Or link to a tutorial?) It looks like you are knitting mittens from clouds, or smoke.
    Re what I am doing- I am hoping that my 1 year old daughter would like to drop off to sleep. She is saying hello to her teddies. I think she will win.

  232. I am in Christmas Hat mode. The last issue of Piecework have me looking at silk for a pair of mittens, (only it doesn’t call for the type you are doing) (which is really cool, by the way).
    I get “walk-by” comments at college when I am waiting for my class to start, but no takers yet.

  233. I don’t think your silk hankies and my silk hankies are the same thing. Could you explain the difference?

  234. I can’t tell you how many times someone has approached me at the end of a flight (seems to be unrelated to gender or age) and said something on the order of “I am so glad you finished that sock/mitten/hat — I was watching you knit and hoping I could see it finished.” I usually smile but do not tell them that it was planned — I take projects I can finish on a particular flight!
    I am currently working on a pair of socks, but plan to extend an existing sweater tonight!

  235. That looks like fun. I have a ton of hankies just waiting for a project and the mittens look lovely. Care to share the pattern?

  236. I am tucking my kiddies into bed in a couple of mins (in the UK). Then working on my bird-in-hand mittens until I get too tired, then swapping to the Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf – a Christmas present.

  237. this post reminds me my favorite response from people who watch me knit , who are by the way sitting at the same kid activity or airport lounge or wherever I happen to be wasting time, is ” I would love to knit, but I just don’t have the time” Really?

  238. I like when people watch me knit/tat/crochet, and I like it even better when they ask about it. I don’t like it when they offer stupid comments, however. Like the jerk who said: “I bet they make a machine that could make that for you, then you wouldn’t have to waste so much time.” This, from a numbskull co-worker addicted to texting wife and kids during meetings.

  239. How do you like my airport? Isn’t it the loveliest?
    You’ve been in far many more airports than I ever have.

  240. Teach me! Teach me!
    Oh, I’m just lying in my bed, avoiding all my bio homework and the 40+ pairs of bloomers I must sew.

  241. I spent the day trying to sort out all of my projects to work on while I recover from surgery on Wednesday this week.
    In between knitting on the Winter Wonderland Coat by Michelle Rose Orne.
    Love the idea of making gloves with silk hankies…wondering if I have enough hankies here to make some….

  242. I have spun the silk Hankies but I didn’t know or rather it never crossed my mind to knit from them without spinning. I will have to check that out. Awesome picture and yes,,some people just can’t bring themselves to ask what you were doing. Maybe they had to go look it up on the internet..

  243. I am soooo looking forward to taking your class at Madrona in Feb! This post got me there but I might not be able to wait until then to try it…

  244. You can knit straight from the hanky??? WTF? Why have I been *trying* to spin them?
    I think I need to google a how-to!

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