Why, thank you for your generous comments about The Hiking Moose (crochet) Cowl, you lovely lot. Having published the knitted version as well as the crochet version, I was wondering more than usual how many of you are knitters, how many are hookers, and how many are bicraftual. Would you do me the honour of answering this quick one-question poll, please? Just click one of the following circles and then hit the ‘vote’ button…
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Thank you.
Meanwhile, tomorrow (Saturday) is Yarn Shop Day, at least here in the UK. If you’re free in the afternoon, and you’re near Abingdon in Oxfordshire (yeah, I know, that’s a long-shot), and you want to come and laugh at a yarn-blogger/psychologist looking socially awkward, then do come down to Masons in Abingdon – the yarn-selling branch of Masons that’s on Stert Street.
I’ll be there from 2pm, so do come and say hello. Rather more enticing is the fact that Masons are offering 10% off all yarn all day, and there’s going to be a muchly generous raffle of bags of Stylecraft yarns (including in some cases the Head Over Heels sock yarn that I used for the hiking moose/reindeer cowl).
And if you’re in the UK, but just not this particular bit of the UK, I know that many of my fellow Stylecraft Blogstars are making appearances at various yarn shops tomorrow, and they’d all be delighted for you to go and chat yarn with them, too.
Finally, some of you will already have seen from this blog’s Facebook page, but my wise and yarny friend Alice has published a blog post on the startling similarities between crochet and coding: it’s definitely worth a read. (And I’d be saying that even if she wasn’t my friend.)
Right, have we covered everything on the agenda? Is it time to slump lower on the sofa and get on with some particularly mindless knitting, perhaps with a glass of wine on the go? It is? Oh good. 🙂
Happy Friday night yarnery, my friends.
Disappointing that your mum hasn’t voted yet!
She has now!
Two comments: firstly, as a Canadian, I am filled with wonder at how well you captured a moose against the setting sun. I have only seen moose once at dawn but in my mind changing the light, you really hit the mark. Secondly, I now have to decide whether to knit or crochet. Leaning toward knitting as I have been going to town on Lucy at Attic24 blankets. Well done, you! Great fun. Thank you.
congrats on the pattern
I can’t say that I am a knitter or crocheter mainly. I guess I am transitional..For instance, i was crocheting mainly for three years after being a beginning knitter for 40 where I picked up needles for about 2 years with 10 year hiatuses. And then I met Crochet which I was actively loyal to for three years until I crocheted 3 pairs of socks and started coveting the look of friends’ knitted socks. I am now busy at all hours knitting socks and my sock yarn stash keeps growing ahead of my sock completions. I hope this clearly explains what you wanted in your enquiry.
I’m multicraftual as I’ll happily spend my time knitting, crocheting, sewing, embroidering, toy making, crafting in general as I need to keep creating things to stay sane. My mental health is really helped by my crafting and if I just want to be calm and serene a pair of knitting needles or a crochet hook in my hands works wonders. Have started to knit your cowl as a Christmas present for a friend and am enjoying it although I get fed up with constantly untangling the two colours! Love your blog posts and hope you have a very enjoyable afternoon in your local yarn shop x
I love knitting but untangling those pesky stands is a nuisance, I thought a glass of red would help but it just made it worse, so don’t try that. No helpful tips I’m afraid
Ha, well! I predominantly knit, crochet and sew but I dabble/have dabbled in every craft going as far as I know – but there are sure to be one or two I’ve missed waiting for me out there.
Some I’d like to get back to but I’m rather itching to do a bit more batik so that might be on the cards soon.
I feel I should clarify…I do mostly knit. The socks travel easy, or take my alone time when I’ve first woken up and have a cup of coffee or two getting into my system(some patterns, many of them, in knitting, require alertness). However, I also quilt and sew clothes(much less as my nieces have become teens), still a fiber craft, just its own form of insanely great ideas that leave you wondering, how/why did I get myself into this…I think that’s what I love about this blog…it’s okay to get yourself so wrapped up in a project you wish to be treasured but also used until it falls apart and you have hopefully caught up enough on that list in your head to make more progress…now to cut some strips and find the old mess I made;-).
I thought to claim to be your Mum just to confuse things a bit, but I didn’t. I did C&G creative embroidery a few moons agon in Abingdon and Masons was brilliant, but then mostly sold fabric. Enjoy your day.
I love reading your news and have gained more knowledge for my knitting style. I find the Twisted yarn educational, amusing and friendly, thank you.
I’m a knitter and a crocheter, but I’ll probably make the knitted version of the cowl as my skills are stronger with knitting.
By the way. My husband saw your facebook post about the project (I had liked it) and brought it over to show me how cool it was and ask how it was done. He was very impressed with the pattern.
Found it tricky to answer so clicked ‘other’ which means I now feel the need to explain this, if only to myself. I can crochet but I love to knit.If you want to consider other yarny activities in your poll then I also dabble a bit with spinning and weaving. Like a couple of other blog readers I sew as well and have tried, and still do, several other non-yarn crafts. So much to enjoy and not enough time!
We need to have a Yarn Shop Day on this side of the world, too. I wonder who I’d talk with to get that sorted?
I knit and crochet, and which one I choose has some to do with how much yarn I have and how it looks both ways. One gets more fabric from knitting than crocheting, which fits my budget better, but with too much knitting I get a hole in my first finger which forces me into a spell of crocheting as it heals. Both are usually relaxing. All that being said, I’ll likely make the knitted version of the hiking moose, and with steeks so I can knit in the round then cut and frame it for the wall. I’m giving crazy thought to doing that with two, and knitting a scarf in-between for the one kid I share a passion for sunsets with. (Because doing it with steeks sounds easier than teaching myself how to do colorwork backwards. I can knit backwards, but colorwork?) (But it’s still 7 months until Christmas, so there’s time.)
Like so many above, I am multicraftual. I concur with Sarah from Hampshire. It is far more about my sanity and travel requirements (quilts do not travel well) than about a particular craft.
I also confess I love a good oxy acetylene torch and welding is a favorite skill (of mine), which made answering your survey a giggle, if not a dilemma.
FYI, Laurel, in my experience, the key to doing color work both ways is a mixture of patience and stubbornness. Knitting in both directions helps because you never have to turn the work. But be ready to exercise your vocabulary. If you can knit and crochet, you’ll make it. (No, I’m not good at it.) You can do it!!
I am able to both knit and crochet, but crocheting seems to bother my hands much more, so I tend to knit almost exclusively. Still, I really like your crocheted cowl. I wonder if the colors would seem as bright on the knitted one if it also had black borders. The black edges really make the crocheted one “pop.”
I’m bicraftual (brilliant word, by the way) and ticked that box but I SO wanted to tick one of the others!