Hobbii is out of 34 of their 56 colours for their Friends Wool Medium It’s been so for weeks and they don’t even have basic neutrals such as white or navy left. I looked up how much wool I would need for a weight 3 wool here. Based upon this, I thought I was being generous by buying 10 skeins for a size L sweater), but alas, I’m a mere half-skein shor . For the full story and my previous evaluation of Friends Wool Medium by Hobbii, read my update here. Have you also encountered restocking issues wih Hobbii ? Was it with yarn from their own brands? Let me know in the comments! When you’re kni ..read more

Scandinavia has a rich knitting tradition, but this tradition doesn’t date back to the Viking age (roughly end of 8th century-mid 11th century). Vikings didn’t knit. Therefore it makes no sense to publish books with titles such as Viking knits or Viking Patterns for knitting, etc. It’s a pity, really. Vikings had lovely sheep and were so good at spinning their fleece and weaving it into huge sails, you’d think they could have used some of it to knit some warm garments too. But they didn’t. They did a little sprang and quite a bit of nalebinding (naalbinding). In fact, the tradition of naalbind ..read more

These last months, I’ve been experimenting with AI. Quite naturally, I decided to test available free AI tools to see whether artificial intelligence knows anything about knitting. Over these last 20 years, knitting bloggers have written thousands of posts about their knitting experience. Surely, enough content to train AI on, so what’s the result ? Quite good indeed! I’ve experimented with Bard, ChatGPT (free version), Copilot + Perplexity AI. Perplexity AI and Copilot I found pretty much useless. The only thing that’s good about them is that they give you their references. But it remains rea ..read more

Maybe it’s just me and old age setting in, but I’ve got a number of swatches that I have kept…without labeling them. If I look up on my notes on Ravelry or my bullet journal, I’ve got a fair chance of recalling what yarn it was and even its colourway. But not the size needle I knitted it with, nor – more importantly – whether this swatch has been blocked or not. And let’s face it, I’m not very consistent with my note-taking. I’ve been known to scribble a little something on any odd bit of paper (the margin of a newspaper, a used envelope, etc) and then not remembering to note this information ..read more

I am being inundated with adverts for Temu. I awatched a few youtube videos of Temu yarn hauls. I know that China has its own wool production and that some of the wool comes from the fleece of breeds specific to China, such as the fine-wool Gansu breed. .I also know that there is a Chinese sheep breed called Chinese Merino, as well as another one, created in 2016 that is called the Alpine Merino sheep. So plenty of reasons to wonder if I might find some interesting (and cheap) wool on Temu. China is the the world’s number one wool exporter and where almost all the wool processing is done. As w ..read more

I followed through with my plan of experimenting knitting with inexpensive non superwash wool. I waited for black Friday to get a deal, but having visited Hobbii’s website more often, I realise I needn’t have bothered. This wool is almost always on some sort of sale, especially when you are buying pullover quantities. As of today, Hobbii’s Friends Wool Medium is at 2.65 euros per 50g. I live in Switzerland, which my IP address indicates. I’m unsure if people elsewhere encounter different (lower !) pricing, but it wouldn’t surprise me much if they did. I I purchased 10 skeins of Friends Wool Me ..read more

We put a lot of work and love into our knittings. We wish that the recipients of our creations will take good care of them and wear them often. But with wear comes tear and sometimes (heartbreakingly) moths! All is not lost. A little darning can go a long way. Provided….you have the right wool for it! And that’s why providing some extra wool in a small plastic bag alongside our homemade creations is a thoughtful gesture. In the same way expensive clothes come with one extra button, I suggest our knits could come with some extra wool. If you are knitting for customers, offering that little extr ..read more

I am knitting socks for my dad for Christmas – plain and simple socks, using some of my stash of fingering weight yarn, made of the usual blend for sock yarn ( 25 % nylon, 75 % superwash merino wool). I am NOT enjoying it. As I knit, I am ruminating on all the pollution that was caused during its processing, particularly the creation of persistent organic pollutants through the chlorination of the superwash merino. These pollutants will still be there decades after his death and mine! The damage can’t be unraveled, so here I go, knitting my dad a pair of socks. Last year, I knitted him socks ..read more

For far too long, I was feeling self-conscious as I gave away my handknitted Christmas gifts. I would say something around the lines “I’m broke so I could only afford to knit you a little something”. These days are gone as I have realised how mistaken I was! I was evaluating the value of my knitted items based only on the value of the yarn I had bought. Exactly as if I had bought these gifts ready-made in a store. And as if you could in fact buy such hand-knitted or crocheteted items in a store. So first big mistake was not taking into account my working time, even at a minimal wage rate. Seco ..read more

I really like the Russian bind off as it makes it so easy to control your tension compared to traditional bind off. When you use the traditional bind off, it’s very easy to end up with a bind off edge that is less wide than the rest of your fabric. This can be a problem, especially when knitting a gauge swatch, as it compromises your measurements by pulling in the fabric.. With the Russian bind off, this isn’t the case. Your bind off edge is as large as the row (or round) below it. Yet this is sometimes a disadvantage, as when you need a snug fit, as in fingerless mittens. I’ve just finished s ..read more