Favorite Things...

Everybody has a few favorite things...those things we treasure and hold on to, choose to use over something else, and simply do not want to share with anyone, for fear something dreadful may happen to it. At work, I have a most favorite pen, just a simple pen, but it writes very smoothly, and has a fine point. It doesn't leave my finger's all ink-y, and has one of thos cushiony doo-hinkies to make it more comfy on my finger. I don't share this pen with anyone...I have a couple share-worthy pens with gawdy rubber bands around them and no caps to prevent them from being swiped off my desk and tucked into a purse or pocket.

I also have a favorite cup to drink from, its an insulated cup with straw and keeps my water cold for a couple hours. I'm thinking of crocheting a snuggy for it, just to give it a touch of personality.

In my kitchen, I have a couple favorite utensils - my wooden spoon and my metal spatula. My favorite frying pan is cast iron and I use it for most all my cooking. I have different sizes, and treasure all of them the same. Most are several years old, ones my mom used when I was a kid. I don't allow anyone else to clean them...they require special cleaning that does not use soap.

For my crochet, my most favorite thing is my Jimbo crochet hook. I also have a couple Turn-of-the-Century hooks I really like, but my most favorite is my Jimbo. Its an I in size, and is very comfy to hold and work with. The TOC hooks I have are G & H in size. Tied with my Jimbo Hook is my Yarn Winder.  
My crochet cave is one end of our reclining love seat, and is right next to a built in book shelf. I am hoping to budget in later this spring a new Jimbo hook in a size L or M for a 2-strand flannelghan I'd like to make. I don't think I could pull it off with a 
metal hook I have in my not-so-favorites collection. They are all just too heavy.

So, what are your most favorite things??

Yarnies


Whats a yarnie you ask?? I'm a yarnie.  Its very simple....I like yarn.  Doesn't matter the textures, the colors, the fiber, the thickness, or even the quantity.  I just like it all.   It doesn't really matter to me where it comes from, all sources are good ones:  a specialty yarn shop (aka LYS, Local Yarn Shop), a craft store, a general store, an online shop such, a yarn weaver, a thrift shop, a yard sale, a basket at mom's house, or even the mail box.  In fact, the mail box is my most favorite place to find yarn because there, it's usually gifted, swapped, or RAOK'd from another yarnie.  (RAOK'd = Random Act Of Kindness) 
Us Yarnies are a community of people all our own...other people just don't get it.  We are the ones found lurking in the yarn section of any given store with even the smallest of yarn inventory; touching it, feeling it, looking at it with dreamy eyes, wondering what it could possible become once you've purchased it.  And yes, we need what's also known as a yarn fix. Sometimes you can get your yarn fix by doing any one or more of the above things, but sometimes more extreme measures are taken for more severe fixes...that only a yarn purchase can cure.  Yarn fixes can come on you in a blink of an eye....did you see a scarf made with soft-as-silk fiber, or in a color you just have to have added to your stash? Maybe you have a project and need special yarn to make it, or maybe, for no real reason at all, you just have to get some yarn to get your creative mo-jo going.  Or maybe, just maybe, you have stumbled upon a yarn sale that you just can't pass up.  Whatever the reason, yarn fixes are hard to resist. 
Lets back up...What's a stash you say??  Well, I haven't met a yarnie yet who doesn't have a yarn stash - anything from a basket or bag, to a hidden box, to a closet or even a whole room filled with yarn that's not being used, but patiently waiting to be picked for something beautiful to be created from it. Stash usually consists of new yarns, partly used yarns, and barely any left yarns.  My stash, by the way, is in several places: the attic tucked away in a cubby hole, under the window seat bench, a basket full sits on the enclosed porch, and in 2 under bed boxes in one bedroom, and in 1 under bed box in our bedroom.  And that doesn't count the yarns that are with my WIPs baskets. (Work In Progress) 
Yarnies are usually a creative people.  We crochet, knit, braid, and embellish with our yarn.  There is a whole blog-land of people that do creative things with their yarn.  There's even one website dedicated to organizing yourself with yarn - projects, stash, patterns, and there's oodles and oodles of groups you can join to talk about your yarn!!  
Yep, talking about Ravelry.  Which is where I recently found a yarn I was in search of that has been discontinued by the manufacturer.  Its a varigated yarn, and was purchased over 2 years ago from the LYS near me when I lived in Virginia. I had bought it to add to my stash, for a yet-to-be-decided project.  I picked it with other coordinating colors to make an afghan for my Mother In Law. I was able to search other Ravelry users' stash and found 2 skeins of it.  Yipppppppeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Both ladies were kind enough to send me what they had and I was able to find 1 lonely skein at a LYS. (how can anybody leave just 1 skein of yarn on a shelf??)  This gives me plenty of the otherwise unavailable yarn to finish this: 

Its so nice to be in the company of other yarnies...we are a connected group.  If you can't find a particular yarn, somebody, somewhere, has it in their stash, or knows somebody else that does!!  
I have met many yarnies over the past couple years, mostly on the internet, at Crochetville, Ravelry, and in blog land.  I've even stumbled into them (literally!!) in the yarn section of the local craft store.