107 Turning Tubes & Taming To-Dos

Listen here.

Grande: I finished Miriam Felton's Gable Mitts and I am very happy with them! They fit snugly and I can drive, knit or do almost anything else while wearing them. 

Latte: I'm closing in on the end of the Tribute Socks, and I'm anxious to finish them so that I can start…

Brewing: Dalya's Skull Hat. The pattern is charted, and I want to cast this on, but I need to finish something first (self imposed rule!). 

Brewing idea: Do you want to join a Learn-Along? A big project that we can investigate and learn about together? I'm open to your suggestions. 

 I muse a bit about the meditative and other healing qualities of knitting, and reference a talk by Stephanie Pearl McPhee called This is Your Brain on Knitting.  You can read a gloss of the talk here. 

Double Steal/Purloined/Flavor of the Day: I talk about what knitwear I have actually been wearing, as well as considering what I can learn from what gets worn and what does not get worn. What are you wearing? I'm particularly fond of wearing my Vine Yoke Cardigan and my Cassidy, as well as many, many hand knit socks. As a scarf, I've found the Clapotis to be very versatile. 

Taste: I review The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam, a beautiful book that can teach you many, many sewing techniques while you make spectacular bags. 

Tip Jar: Turn narrow sewn tubes using the technique used by cloth doll makers. You can see it demonstrated here. It is very different than the usual technique of pulling the fabric either through a tube or back on itself. With this technique, you put very little stress on your fabric tube, and it turns quite easily. Be careful not to use the tubes as they are demonstrated here. Remember, roll the fabric gently up the "stick" to turn it, don't pull!

Second tip: Make your daily To-Do list no more than three items long. Try it and see how much more you get done.