Sunday, October 03, 2010

Oh Bother!

I love blogging. Really, I do. That said, though, I really, really, really hate it when you have a post ready to publish and the program you’re using decides to crash. That’s what  happened earlier. I had my post ready to hit “publish” and I got that error message. You know the one.

So, now I have to remember what I wrote or start over completely. I’m starting over, trying to remember everything.

There has been knitting this week, but not really much to show. The cardigan is coming along nicely, with about 4” finished, and the first buttonhole inserted. The rows are getting shorter now; after the current pattern row, I’ll be down to about 500 stitches (from a cast on of 915). Yesterday, not much knitting happened because of a migraine (kept me in bed pretty much all day), but I did work a few rows on the Shetland Christening dress. It’s all garter stitch at this stage, so there’s no brain work involved. Perfect for those days when thinking hurts… literally.

This week also saw the growth of my stash, thanks to Ann (once more, Ann, thank you so much for thinking of me). She stopped by the shop with a bag of yarn for me, a bag that contained this…

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The yarn in the first picture is a cotton/linen blend from Denmark. I’ve never heard of the company, but I do like the feel of the yarn. One of the ladies I work with suggested a tank top or light cardigan perhaps. I’m not sure yet what the yarn wants to be, and until it tells me, it will wait in the stash. The second yarn is two 4-ounce cones of 100% wool lace weight yarn from a Canadian company, Condon’s Yarns from Charlottetown, PEI.

I’ve done a little research into the company and didn’t come up with much. I did find an article about them that was interesting; I also did a search in the extensive yarn database on Ravelry, but only came up with one hit. There were also two threads started, with one post to each thread, hardly qualifying them as discussions. To find out a little more, I’ve emailed the Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce, asking about this company.

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If/when I hear anything, I’ll pass it along here. This morning, I also took the time to knit up a swatch with the yarn. It feels rather scratchy, or raw (it even smells like wool, telling me that it has a fair bit of lanolin in it??), but it does knit up well. I wanted to see whether or not the wool would soften up after it’s washed. It’s still drying, so the jury is still out. Once it’s dry and released from the pins, I’ll post a review of the yarn, even though it’s a yarn that has (likely) been discontinued. I’m hoping it softens up quite a bit because, as I said, it really is nice to knit with.

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Ok, now it’s time to get my apple jelly going. Last week, we were given a box of apples and I made a batch of juice, which I froze because I didn’t have the time to finish making jelly. Right now, it’s thawing on the stove (low heat) and I’m forcing myself to deal with it. I also intend to make a batch of dinner buns and some bread sticks, so I’d better get moving.

6 comments:

  1. Hi, I read your blog but never commented. I also have some Condon's yarn in my stash. I'm pretty sure I bought it in the mid-late 70s but possibly in the early 80s. Please post more info if you dig some up. I think I made Aran-style sweater vests with some of it (so it would be late 70s).

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  2. Hi, you do great things with your hands really. Wonder, if I can learn how from you.

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  3. Much belated comment, but thanks for the article link for Condon's! I've used quite a bit of their 2-ply yarn over the years, mostly in weaving but also in felted knitting and crochet. Still have some in the stash plus a wee bit of the singles. Most of it is about 25-30 years old! Yikes. I'm currently sleeping under two blankets made with Condon's yarn.

    It's definitely not soft because it comes from local wool which I'm sure was obtained from mostly meat sheep. However it does soften up quite a lot when it's washed. After the company closed (not too long after that article was written I should think) there was some talk of the mill equipment coming out west (Vancouver Island perhaps?) but it never happened. No idea if it still exists somewhere or if it went for metal scrap. Sad really.

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  4. I just want to say THANK YOU for the Link to that intriguing article about CONDON Yarns! I was at a local SALLY-ANN this afternoon and came across a huge "stash" of worsted-skeins! I love it when my Yarn has a "History"!

    BTW, love your Blog too! :-D

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  5. I too have three large spools of cream colored wool by Condon's. I found it at a farm sale in Surrey, British Columbia. I understand the company was in business for about 58 years and closed down in 1989. There is some neat info if you search heritage wool mills in PEI.

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  6. I just found 10 skeins of Condon's Yarns at Value Village, in 3 shade of "2 ply Fine". Definitely NOT soft, LOL, but Canadian wool! Can't pass that up. Now to read some more of your blog and see if what you did with it :)

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