Lessons learned this weekend:

I really don't have any deep sentimental need to cook Thanksgiving dinner. We'll play it by ear next year, I'm thinking a weekend at the beach and dinner in a restaurant isn't a bad idea at all.


It's difficult to properly measure a Yorkie who wants to examine the tape measure and wants to know what you're doing. I thought I had Murphy's measurements and started a sweater for him (out of the Bartlett Yarn in the stash) and it very quickly became very obviously too big. Plus, I think the yarn is too stiff and coarse for a small garment. It has no drape. I would use it to make a sturdy sweater for full-sized human, but I think the weight of it would knock Murphy to his knees.


This was reason enough to buy some Kureyon in a more masculine colorway.


Speaking of Stiff and Coarse, someone on the Knitter's Review forum is unhappy with her Einstein, which sheds white hairs endlessly, even after washings. It's made from Lopi, the same nasty shit much praised "natural fiber" yarn I am using for my Einstein, which I have all but abandoned for the shedding issues even while I'm knitting it. Lopi, the yarn that natural fiber snobs have been telling me for years is just so wonderful. I bought it based on the comments I'd read online and in catalogs - I'm in Florida, what do I know about Lopi? I am not a natural fiber elitist and I know real crap when I touch it, and this is coarse, nasty yarn. I needed something I could wear with nice slacks and blouse to the office on a chilly day, and I am going to end up with a shedding thing that feels like I'm knitting with steel wool. If I just wanted to wear a large shedding animal I'd drape Boris around my shoulders as a fur stole, he's very, very soft and flexible, and he'd purr and massage my neck, too.


So I'm grossed out by the Lopi, but still somehow debating about whether I should finish it, so at least I can wear it to walk the dog in the pre-dawn cold, provided it doesn't itch so much I can't bear to wear it over pajamas. But I suspect it would feel as bad on the body as it does while I'm knitting it, so it's hard to put my limited spare time into knitting something that I strongly suspect will be unwearable when done. I could frog it in a fraction of the time it would take to finish it.... Color me disappointed, disgusted, and not amused, and still in search of a nice knitted coat. I shoulda spent the money on the Lamb's Pride Bulky, or even a nice acrylic blend. Lesson learned - my time is worth it and I know my taste, I need to follow my own instincts.