#57. Circular Needle Holder

Over a year ago I saw a wall banner that could be made for hanging circular needles instead of curling the cords in a circle and stuffing them into the back pocket of my interchangeable needle case.  I have a lot of small needle circulars for knitting two at a time socks.  There are lots of cute cases out on Etsy but I really didn’t want to curl the cords during storage.

I have been hanging them over a light fixture with leftover yarn balls to try to keep kinks from developing in the cords.  But then I have to search through all of them to try to find the size needle I want.  The banner lets you sort the needles by size.

Thanks to making masks for corona virus, I finally got my sewing machine out.  So after all the masks were made, this morning I finally sewed the banner with Charlie Harper cardinal fabric I bought last year from Silk Road Textiles.  It is definitely not hard to basically sew one piece of fabric onto the other.  I used plain black fabric as the border piece made into a rectangle slightly larger than the rectangle of the cardinal fabric.  I did put iron on interface on the back of the cardinal fabric to give it some rigidity.  Then I sewed through the fabrics 2″ apart to create pockets for the needles to be threaded thru.  I put all my size 1 circulars in the top pocket, size 1 1 /2 in the second, etc.  I didn’t even realize I had circulars from size 1 to size 6, although with different cord lengths.  I ended up needing to put iron on interface on the bottom back of the border so the banner wouldn’t fold in on itself.

I’m happy with how the banner looks and especially happy to have my needles organized by size so I can quickly find the needle I need.  I picked Charlie Harper fabric because he is a famous Cincinnati artist.  His style of animal drawing is very distinct and fits my more abstract preference.  Someday I may have my friend Sandy embroidered the needle sizes on the border.  I’ll wait a bit to be sure I don’t need to change/add sizes.  The advantage of a homemade banner is that I can easily rip out and make changes!😁

#56 FibreShare

This was my first time to try FibreShare.  It is a global craft share that I heard about from a friend.  It’s a way to “regift” stash yarn as well as purchase new items for your “partner”.  You are paired with a person that is going to send you a gift and also a person that you are going to gift to.  They are not the same person.  I thought it would be fun.  It’s also a way to meet other knitters.

I did enjoy both receiving and giving.  I met two knitters, one from Connecticut (my giver) and one from San Diego (I gave to).  It was fun to find out about each other so that hopefully the package is tailored to the receiver.  My gifter did a wonderful job of sending yarns with an accompanying pattern.  She also sent me some stitch markers since I love them and peanut M&Ms since I also love snacking on them.  But I ended up keeping only one of the skeins of yarn.  The sock yarn she sent me was ok but I wasn’t excited by the colors so I passed it on in my package.  Also the cowl yarns were not colors I liked and the yarn was much thicker than I like.  I passed those on in a different stash share.  She did send me a beautiful fingering weight yarn with a lace shawl pattern that I will enjoy making.  The package I sent did probably exceed the $100 limit since I did regifting in it.   I spent $45 on new stuff then included items I already had on hand.

Truthfully, I don’t know that I’ll do it again.  It’s probably a good way to “destash”.  While the person gifting to me really tried to make me a great package, I’ve already bought so many knitting “toys” as I call them that I already had the circular needle protector she sent me and prefer the fabric ones I bought at VogueLive so it got regifted.  I already had a set of the cute yarn ball stitch markers and didn’t want a second set so it got regifted.  I do love the ity bity stitch markers she sent me.  So perfect for my sock making!!

The ladies that run the exchange do it three times a year.  I think at best I might consider doing it next year if I need to reduce some of the knitting stuff I’ve bought.  I appreciate it can be a way for knitters to connect.  But I’m happy with the knitting connections I have in Cincinnati and now in Naples.  I wasn’t looking to make new friends and the distance makes it “pen pals” at best.  But I’m glad I did it.

#55 Zoom Knitting During Quarantine

I am so lucky to be living in this digital age during a pandemic.  We have basically been semi-quarantined since 3/18.  Now the full quarantine starts.  Ohio went to full quarantine on 3/22.  Florida started today, 4/3.  We are lucky to have been in Florida.  Even without the full quarantine of Ohio, all activities have been cancelled at the condo clubhouse since March 18.  The knitting group still got together on the 19th by the tennis courts but that was the last time for the Huntington Lakes knitting group.  The North Naples knitting group I was trying to start had to stop till next year when we come back.

So thank goodness for Zoom, a video conferencing website.  My Cincinnati group, JOHNs, started video calls in place of actual meetings on 3/21.  Before the Ohio quarantine but some folks no longer felt comfortable meeting in person.  My Naples crochet group also decided to try it.  In person meetings had been cancelled since 3/17.  So had our first video meeting on 3/27.

The Zoom sessions have gone very well.  Not as good as actually being together but a pretty good second choice.  We can still “show off” our work and catch up with each other.  There is no doubt this quarantine is going to be long and boring.  It has just been extended into May.  I won’t be surprised if it’s extended till June.  Being stuck at home with only each other gets boring.  So I look forward to my Saturday morning JOHN’s session and my Friday afternoon “crochet” session (I’m the only knitter).  I’m thankful that Grocery Girls do a live webcast on Thursday at 1pm.  So that’s some knitting time for three of the seven days.  I really need something to make one day different from the other and a chance to talk to someone besides Tom!!  With the quarantine, time seems to stand still.  A week feels like a month.  It’s going to be a long month but thank goodness for Zoom!!