While setting up the Bloomin booth on Friday, my eye kept sneaking over to the Knitting Notions booth where Catherine and her daughter were busy setting up.
In the past year, I have had an increasing appreciation for the nostepinne (acquired at MSWF last May from the WoodChuck booth, primarily because he was going out of business) and darning egg (acquired from The Loopy Ewe) already in my collection. But using those tools gave me some ideas of what I liked and disliked about them.
So I kept eyeing the collection of darning eggs and nostepinnes decorating the shelves of the Knitting Notions booth. And when I returned on Sunday, guess what my first stop was?
This darning egg is Walnut. It’s smaller than the holly egg I already have. It’s just slightly larger than a real egg, and I can almost span it with my puny Quinn hands. A human with regular-sized hands could probably hold it comfortably :-)
As an added bonus, it has some really cool detail on the handle
Haven’t used this yet, but I think it’s going to be a wonderful addition to my collection of gadgets.
My original nostepinne was purchased in Maryland and I had no clue what I was doing. I’d never used a nostepinne, I was just feeding my woodwork habit.
I’ve used that tool multiple times, and while it’s good for small projects, it’s tapered a little too sharply to keep a ball of any significant size in place until you’re finished.
I used this walnut/cherry beauty tonight to wind my January 09 Rockin’ Sock Club shipment (I am totally knot-free, but wanted to wind it by hand so I could make that statement with confidence. There’s nowhere to hide when you’re winding by hand.)
It’s about 10.5” long, the join between the woods are seamless, and the “working portion” of the tool is about 5.75” and so gently tapered you’d never notice. It handled 360 yards of fingering weight without breaking a sweat, and I will most certainly use it a great deal.
At that point, walking away from the Booth of Doom with six skeins of merino worsted, a darning egg and a nostepinne, I thought I was done. But there was one more siren song I still had to answer.
It was nearing the end of the day, and I had finished all of my shopping, and I just couldn’t resist.
I went back.
In-progress Cloning Anemones sock from Tide Pool, Sept. 08 RSC.Catherine had a beautiful bowl she was using to display her sock-in-progress and their brilliant Sock Keepers. (I bought a Sock Keeper last year). And she had one similar bowl for sale.
Mahogany again. 2” deep. 16.5” circumference. 5.25” diameter. Perfect size for a sock yarn cake. It’s been in use since the minute I got it home and I really love it.
6 comments:
Oh my, that bowl is really excellent.
Oh man - I am struggeling staying on a yarn diet and a fabric dite - not sure I should start a potential new addiction of wooden knitty things but those are loverly......
I'm a sucker for woodwork, too. Especially wooden bowls. Your new one is beautiful!
Oh so pretty! I can see why you couldn't leave without all of them. I mean, there are gadgets, and then there are gadgets that double as art!
don't you just love her stuff? i love it. last year, i bought one of the cherrywood swifts (which i LOVE), and this year i bought a nostepinne. i don't darn, so i didn't buy a darning egg, but they are sooo tactile and satisfying to hold. i wish i used dpns so i could justify buying the little sock keepers, because they are SO cool. hers is one of teh booths i seek out. and she can't get into maryland—isn't that a travesty??
Life has gotten in the way and I just read your ravelry post. I missed all the hullaballoo. There is no place for hate like that in my life. I love the quote from the American President, and agree with it. I'll add "I might not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it".
I had to look up nostepinne to see how they worked. How cool is that? I love the darning egg. I used to have one. I learned to sew and darn when I was in school. I've been looking for one and yours is beautiful.
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