Latest Happenings in the Yarn World

The problem with my knitting being year-long projects and a secret test knit is there is not much to show despite all that I am making. Today I am going to talk about a couple of things that happened in the yarn world this weekend. One sad and one disrespectful but both reflective of the yarn industry.

Let’s start with the sad news. Stranded Dyeworks has announced that he is closing the business. This is at the same time surprising and not surprising. Not surprising because I reckon that most dye businesses last about 10 years and they have been in business for 8 years and surprising because they are a single person and this is their livelihood. Coincidently, last week, before Stranded made this announcement, a friend was destashing yarn including four skeins of Stranded Dyeworks and I was tempted. But I am not buying yarn unless it will be used straight away. In this way I hope I can avoid the FOMO that will come when Stranded announce their last shop update. I wish Jude all the best in whatever his future holds.

The other thing I saw over the weekend also involved an independent dyer. They had been asked to enter a business relationship which they did not like so they declined. End of story. I’m afraid not. They posted about it on their website without naming names but with enough information to start people guessing with only one name coming up. The dyer, who is a business, has taken exception to the fact that the person who approached them has a monetized account. What? So she (the dyer) is allowed to make money but other people can’t? The dyer’s success is thanks to the internet and Ravelry. This goes back to my post in December where I said that picking on YouTubers is a popular hobby and this was a good example because the way she wrote it was obvious she thought that herself and other dyers were superior to people who use their products.

WIPing Wednesday 2024

I was going to write this last week as the year had just started and I was going to tell you about all my WIPs. But with Monday being a holiday my week was off and WIPing Wednesday passed by.

Although I said that I did not want to cast on all the things this year, this might not have been the case as there have been five cast ons – one for each category

Socks:- I am test knitting a pattern and cannot show it until the pattern is published. There is a deadline in February to finish one sock but I would like to get the pair finished by the end of the month. Crochet:- with some yarn I was given when someone moved (not the big destash) I decided to crochet a blanket. Today I frogged all the way back to the foundation chain and shortened it as I realized the blanket would be long and skinny. (I might have been sorting that out instead of working on the socks.) Easy:- I cast on a hat, in fingering weight yarn, the rib is never ending! Concentrate:- I started a blanket where a square pattern will be released each month. This may move into the year-long category if I catch up and finish before the end of the month as I didn’t start this until the 7^th. Year-long:- currently I have two socks (same pair) on the needles. I will be working a section a month from a 12 skein Advent set.

I note that I did not mention the projects I started the year with. Partly because I am sort of ignoring them. I started with five projects but two of those are long term blanket projects and one is the project that stays in the car. And I really should frog one project. Which leaves the one project that I could work on, but I cast on the hat instead. Already planning for the WIP knitalong so I can finish it and frog the other project!

And It's 2024

Although I have started the New Year casting on all the things, this year I really want to try not to have numerous WIPs on the go at any one time. There are two main reasons for the number of projects in progress to increase without finishes. Firstly there is the easy project that then requires some concentration so another easy project has to be started. Secondly I have been starting things just to get them on the needles even if I have plenty of other projects to work on and if the new project gets started and then put aside while I work on other things. This relatively new habit has to stop. When an easy project becomes one that requires concentration then I will treat this as a priority so that it can go back to being an easy project and I don't need to start anything new or it becomes a finished object which is always a good thing.

I have decided this year to have five categories in which my yarn crafts fit and I can only have one project on the go in each category with one exception. The categories are socks, crochet, easy, concentrate, year-long. This last category is the one where I can have multiple projects.

My general plans for the year are to knit socks along with the Sock Knitters Anonymous group if the challenge fits a project I already own, use old yarn, knit a blanket square each month in a knit along, finish all the mitred squares, use the minis I got in December.

I hope by having written this out I will be finishing projects throughout the year and not a mad dash finish all the things at the end of the year.