Expensive Trash

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

Trends in knitting and other fiber arts come and go. Remember when fun-fur was all the rage? The new trend seems to be knitting blankets, hats, and all manner of projects using un-spun roving. I cannot help but think how incredibly disappointed anyone who makes these items will be with them after using them just one or two times. Aside from the fact that even a hat would probably use 8 ounces or more of wool, making it ridiculously heavy for that kind of item, there are a multitude of other problems with using un-spun roving as a knitting yarn and at the top of the list is durability, or the lack thereof. If you think you have a problem with pilling on your items knitted with actual yarn, imagine how bad it would be with a “yarn” that hasn’t bee spun at all. Good luck washing these items too, and you know that sooner or later, these things are going to need to be cleaned. I guarantee they won’t look the same after just one washing, no matter how gentle it may be, let alone several.

Expensive trash wasn’t a term I came up with. A friend had commented with that term on Facebook yesterday. The post was a video of something being knitted (arm knitting, to be exact) with un-dyed white Merino roving. That stuff isn’t cheap. If you’re making a hat it might not seem very expensive, but to do an entire blanket could take several pounds of the stuff. I can think of much better things to do with several pounds of roving. Namely, spin some real yarn and make something with it that will last considerably longer. So, to say that I’ll be glad when this trend is over is a HUGE understatement.

This morning we are off to the Hillsdale General Store for a cooking class with Bruce Weinstein, author of “Knits Men Want” and “Boyfriend Sweaters”, and his partner Mark Scarbrough. Together they have authored over two dozen cookbooks covering a variety of topics including ice cream, goat meat, slow cookers and pressure cookers, vegetarian diner parties, and so much more. They have an incredibly entertaining and informative podcast, write columns for several different food publications, and often appear locally on WAMC’s Food Friday program. The focus of this class is curry which we enjoy eating, but admittedly have zero knowledge of how to make at home.

If you haven’t completely blown your fiber budget at Rhinebeck you have one last chance this weekend at the Fiber Festival of New England. I’ll be there on Sunday with my friends Susan and Jim in the Susan’s Spinning Bunny booth. Weather is irrelevant as this fiber festival is held indoors in one of the buildings on the fairgrounds. I have been fortunate to be able to attend this last fiber festival of the season for the last couple of years and I’m looking forward to being there again this year.

That’s it for this morning. I am off to spin for a bit before we have to leave. In the next week I will have a little recap of our cooking class with Bruce and Mark, as well as a book review for a new title from Interweave.

Have a great weekend!