You've Reached Uncle Stashley's Knitting (and rarely but sometimes Crochet) Blog

Ah, for the days of yore, when my biggest worries were how to pick up stitches, remembering to move the yarn toward me for purling, and how to continue in pattern when the next bit would be "knit 2 together" but you only have 1 stitch at that point (still don't have an answer for that yet!) But last week, as I contemplated my ball of white, white yarn, in public, at my neighbourhood knitting group, and saw the smear of curry across the bottom, I knew those days were long gone. I learned a valuable lesson--don't leave your precious new balls of yarn in the back of your car, not if you might also put the leftovers from that new Indian restaurant in the same vicinity, and if the leftovers migh

I hope you're sitting, because I'm about to shock you: yes, it's another actually useful post from Uncle Stashley. I know, I know, it's been a while. So: when you are knitting in the round, you're essentially knitting in a spiral (it's true!) which is both (a) kind of a fun, and (b) not so great for lining up stripes. Maybe this is why people invented seamed sweaters, just to get those darned stripes to line up. So, because it's a spiral, when you change to a new colour (regardless of whether you're doing tiny stripes or big blocks of colour), well, it shows: And you can't help it, not really, because when you change colour you're knitting the new colour in right next to the old one. It's

Four years ago I began knitting, and oh, how my life has changed: I know how to knit now, and can characterize myself as a knitter. I have more (and more exciting) hats now than before (although none of them have the earflaps I like, since my one attempt yielded a baby-sized hat. I should really try again, since I know better now that when you're compensating for changing the specified yarn weight you sort of mathematically do the opposite of what you thought you were doing ... and knit a swatch, of course). I have more (and more exciting) vests now than before. I have a much nicer Christmas stocking, as do a niece and nephew. I've met wonderful people who have become friends or friendly acq

I have finished a hat. It's a lovely hat, based on the Coppe pattern by Kylie McDonnell-Wade, and it's made out of a one-of-a-kind yarn lovingly created by The Spinnacle Fiber Arts. I can safely say I am the Only Person In the World with a Hat Like This, and isn't that a fun, smug feeling to have? I can express my individuality, assert my distinctiveness, revel in what makes me such a special snowflake, including wearing garments that no one else gets to have, neener neener. But then I got to thinking ... what if I weren't such a contrarian? What if, gasp, I tried to fit in ... to conform ... to do what the cool kids are doing, and be, yes, popular? So I turned to that beloved web site, Ra

So I was sitting on my stash, picking up skeins, chortling with avaricious glee, and letting them slip through my fingers back onto the pile (as one does), when I received an email from a reader who noticed we have some yarn in common! We both had acquired the National Park series yarn (only mine is in the pre-project stage (where, like 95% of my stash, it will likely stay), but hers is definitely in the post-project stage, and how pretty it is!) It's a Reyna shawl made by Victoria Knitter's Guild member Anne, and she's certainly lavished some significant love upon it, including copious amounts of beading. And what a difference the beading makes. I'm going to quote her, because the shawl c

Let's start with an analogy, because everybody loves analogies (at least Uncle Stashley himself does, and it is, after all, my blog!) Picture if you will: dinnertime, in the average family home (here in Vancouver, that means a 3 million dollar single family home, but so long as it has a kitchen, the analogy will hold). You start to prepare dinner, perhaps a Beef Stroganoff. You've set the water to boil, the noodles are ready, you're searing the beef ... and you get a strange, unexpected yen for chicken instead. So the seared beef goes in a tupperware container, you pour the water down the sink, set the noodles aside, and broil your chicken. In the midst of frying some mushrooms, you real