I wanna Real Man

Since the guy who works opposite shifts from me will come into work and 90% of the time will find me knitting, he decided that he would treat me to a knitting video. He found Real Men Knit on DVD at the local library last weekend and brought it to work for me to watch on my next shift.

While I don't want to give this production two thumbs down, I felt that it lacked in a few places. Any topic that was discussed was only briefly mentioned. I was hoping for something with a bit more meat of the matter. The movie talked briefly about how, historically hand knitting was a male dominated occupation. That is, until the knitting machine made hand knitting no longer financial feasible so the task was handed off to women. (Sounds familiar!!!)


Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and and host of average Joes were interviewed. It turns out that both men and myself knit for the same reasons: texture, colour, to alleviate boredom, stress relief, to make something for a loved one, because it's fun...... These are all reasons (plus several more) why I pick up the sticks and string.

From Jocks to stressed out tech geeks and everyone in between were featured on this video.

Now before I go any further, I want to make it perfectly clear that I know knitters come in all shapes and sizes and have a wide assortment of appearances from formal to very casual. A few of the knitting guys were visibly pierced and I don't have a problem with that, at all (honestly).

However...........watching a guy stick a cable needle through the piercing in his nose (because that's where you can keep it so it doesn't get lost) and then hold the tip of it in his mouth is something no one should have to see.

But I digress.....


Knitting is a craft that is so versatile that it can appeal to every different type of person. What I love about knitting could be different for someone else, but it doesn't matter. I get excited about cables and they might drive the person next to me to the frog pond. I can't stand knitting mittens and someone else could live for making them. It's all wonderful as there is room in this craft for everything and everyone.


So to use a South African saying from Brandon Mably.....when it comes to knitting "what lifts your skirts?"

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

I Have a Problem

I like to knit socks.....that's not my problem!
I like to travel.....that's not my problem!
I like to buy sock yarn when I travel as a type of souvenir.....that's not my problem!

Here is the sock yarn that I've purchase during the last three trips.



Not a lot but so far I've only knit 2 pairs of socks from my small collection of souvenir sock stash.

Maybe it has something to do with this:





Or maybe it has something to do with this:




Yeah I think that it has something to do with my entire collection of regular stash sock yarn (there's enough for 43 pairs of socks in this picture). I tried to give full disclosure but found that 6 balls of sock yarn did not make it into the picture nor did the 7 skeins of bare sock yarn from Knit Picks.


I'm a weak woman with a problem. I enter a yarn store/wool shop and head straight for the sock yarn section. I stand amazed at all the beautiful colours. I touch, fondle and caress, then I am hooked and I can't leave the store without at least one ball or skein. Even with all the sock yarn at my finger tips I can't wait until my next fix. Eventually the urge will be so strong and I won't be able to control myself. I'll have to find a way to satisfy this urge growing deep inside and the only way to do that is to add to the stash......


I'm a Fibreholic and sock yarn is my drug of choice. I make no apologises but I think that I'll have to divide the stash again and hide it all before DH gets home tonight......just in case!!!!

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

I should have known

Sigh....there is a lot of effort going into this. Probably much more then she'll ever realize, but it was inevitable. Once the blanket started to take shape she saw the possibility and potential of this thing. She became enamored and declared the blanket hers. I don't blame her though, if I were my teen, I'd probably do the same.

On the recommendation of Taph, I've decided not to publicly beg for leftovers of sock yarn. However being the ....ahem....the collector.....of sock yarn that I am, I'll never lack materials for this blanket. When you have your own stash that you are trying to control there is no need to add to the chaos with the help of other. I am doing a good job of it all on my own.

As with many mother/daughter relationships we have discovered that we are at an impasse in our opinion of the construction of this blanket. I see a great sock yarn and think about the wonderful socks. She sees the same yarn and wants it to go immediately into the blanket. She not quite there yet on the concept of leftovers yet...that....and patience. Since I am the one knitting this project, she has realized that she must resign herself to waiting for the finished product for however long it takes. It's a life lesson that she's not too thrilled about.

So without further ado, here is an update of my mitered square, leftover sock yarn blanket.

Until next time

Yours in Yarn,

The Fibreholic

On the Road to Rhinebeck

I've made a decision.

Many of you will not be surprised, in the least, by this decision.

It is in no way life altering or the answer to world peace.

I've decided, that each year, I should take some kind of yarn/knitting/stash enhancement trip.

This year's S.E.X.(y) trip is none other than a visit to New York's famous wool and sheep festival in Rhinebeck.Ever since I've moved to the area, I've been wanting to go, so the trip has been on my TO DO list for some time. When Mad Mad wrote about her trip to Rhinebeck last year, I knew that it was time to go.

Now for me, planning a trip is actually part of the fun of actually going on the trip. So the earlier I get to plan and the more I get to plan, the more fun I'll have with my pre-trip. Please don't get me wrong, when I eventually go to a place I've been known to throw out the planning/schedule out the window and follow my nose to the great unknown. I've seen some neat things and encountered some amazing people this way.

For the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival, there is little to plan out. Show up and take in all there is to offer: book signings, fleece auction, livestock show etc.....and lots of shopping!!!! But there were a few things that I had to consider: how to get there and where to stay. Rhinebeck is several hours away and I didn't want to waste all that valuable knitting time by driving myself there. Also since people didn't start to discuss sharing rides to Rhinebeck, on Ravelry, until the beginning of September, I didn't want to wait until then to firm up any plans.

In February, I attended the local Spin-In and wouldn't you know it, my answer was there. A member of a spinning guild from NY was there trying to get additional people to sign up for their bus trip to Rhinebeck. I jumped on the offer faster than you can say "cashmere is my friend". The group has also booked a block of rooms in a nearby motel so I was able to get a reduced rate as well.

Since that trip is nicely wrapped up with a ribbon and a tag that says TO: The Fibreholic, I tried to sneak in a second S.E.X.(y) trip. DH wants to go away for a weekend, for our 20th anniversary. Yes, Virginia, I have been married for almost 20 years. Well, it just so happens that the Sock Summit is happening around that time....heh heh heh.

Sigh....DH caught on and has put his foot down and has declared that we are not going anywhere near Oregon during that time. There was something about how the trip was supposed to be about us and spending time together. ARRRGGGGHHH how that man can be unreasonable!!!!!! I'll just have to make sure that the route we take, to where ever we go has yarny/wooly type shops along the way.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Here, there be sick people....

I've had and interesting few days.....too say the least.

On Wednesday I woke up feeling out of sorts but figured that it would eventually pass. When I got to work the feeling escalated into pain. I managed to hang on for a few hours but eventually, I had to call it quits. There is nothing like working with a bunch of guys and telling them that your pain is located in your ''female'' parts.

I called DH at work and he came immediately as he works only a short express bus ride from where I work. Off to the hospital we go. After a three hour wait I'm in an emerg room with a doctor who examines me. As he leaves the room, to order x-rays, he tells me that I won't get anything to eat or drink in case they need to operate. At this point he suspects that it's my appendix.

Off to the x-ray....one nurse wheels me off to imaging and leaves. An orderly wheels in an elderly man and parks him right in front of me. I don't want to be rude and have this man think that I am starring at him, so I lower my eyes. EEEEEWWWWW is that what I think it is? I'm now starring at his urine collection bag. This is gross on just so many levels. I do the only thing I can, I turn my wheelchair around so I'm looking down the hallway.

When I get my x-ray, I realize that I've sunk to a new low. The first two require me to stand up. There on the display is my name, my ID number, the fact that I'm female and my age (and not the one that I tell everybody that I am...the real one). I am currently in a hospital gown and my back side is exposed. I am experiencing humiliation from the front and the back.

I return to my emerg room where the doctor tells me that nothing on the x-rays can explain my pain but that he would do something to help me manage the pain. At this point I am on IV so in goes the gravol then the morphine......1....2....3.....4....5......WHOA!!!!!! that stuff works fast. DH is with me and enjoying the fact that I am now stoned out of my mind.

The doctor returns and this time he brings reinforcements.....the surgeon, who after poking and prodding me so much that I want to clock him because IT STILL HURTS, decides that it's not worth it to open me....yet. The doctor returns to tell me that he would like me to stay overnight. I'm still high and still in pain, so I agree. However the pain stops a few hours later and I ask to go home. Let's face it, watching an old guy walk back and forth in the hallway, in his pyjamas, is not my idea of entertainment.

My family doctor, a cautious man, enters the scene, scares DH with all the things that could happen to me still, in the middle of the night so that is why I should stay. I sent DH home with a list of things I need and get the doctor to allow me something to drink. He puts a midnight deadline on the liquids and I'm in a real room.

The next morning I get an ultrasound. This tells the doctor what all the fuss was about the day before. His best guess was an ovarian cyst bursting.

So what have I learnt from this experience? While I found the sensation of being stoned on morphine unique, I am in no hurry to repeat it, as it made knitting virtually impossible.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Adventures in Babysitting

There are tonnes of perks to my babysitting job. Babysitting a building that is....

First of all buildings don't :

1. cry in the middle of the night
2. need diaper changing
3. insist that you take them to the park for the 50th time where you have to pretend to enjoy yourself
4. turn their noses up at a meal you just made even though last week it was their favorite
5. talk back to you
6. fight with a sibling
7. start running away when, you tell them, that its time to go home so you are forced to chase, with a younger sibling in tow, while everyone around you is laughing because they are all thinking..."better her than me"

For the most part, buildings sit quietly minding their P's and Q's. But best of all, many times they are open 24/7, so the majority of the time I am babysitting during silent hours when this building contains only a handful of people.

Do you have any idea how much knitting you can get done during a 12 hour shift? I even bought myself a laptop with a DVD player to watch movies while I'm at work.

This is me getting ready for a silent hour shift.....uniform?...check.....food?...check.....book to read?...check...movies to watch?...check...knitting project?...CHECK.....

There is a downside, believe it or not. Now that I'm earning more money than I've done in a LONG time, my yarn budget has grown considerably. While on the surface, this may not appear to be a problem, it is in fact, a big problem. I can buy yarn much quicker than I can knit so eventually my stash may overwhelm me or worse....DH will notice it.

I'm off to find more hiding places......

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Head over Heels

I'm in love and that is all there is to it. At first I wasn't but then....little by little my resolve was broken down and now I am head over heels in love. But before I go any further let me remind you of this journey I've taken to get to this point off utter romantic bliss.

At first there was the brilliant colour change.
I was smitten but then I realized I was in way over my head and I backed off.


I decided to try again....something was pulling me back....I had an irresistible urge to try again.

But not even the thought of a sock held my heart for very long. Soon my attentions were elsewhere and I decided that it really wasn't love after all....merely something similar to adolescent infatuation.

I put the project on the shelf and promptly forgot about it. I'm only human and there is so much out there to catch my eye and seize my knitting senses. This yarn, however, was not ready to go down without a fight and be so easily put aside like some bad date. Eventually this poor lonely yarn cried out to me in such agony begging for another chance that I couldn't say no. This merino/silk blend tugged on my heart strings and I couldn't help myself.

I was hooked from the moment I started the stitch pattern. Such passion I now had for this sock yarn that I couldn't help myself. I worked exclusively on these socks and soon this yarn was what it was always meant to be....



My heart is yours....forever and ever......sigh.....so this is what true love feel like. Ahhhhh such peaceful contentment.

But wait a minute....what are these that have just fallen off my needles??? My..... aren't they lovely??? What do they call you???? Monkey Socks????? What a lovely name. If I may....could I just please slip my feet into you, even if only for a moment?



I should probably feel bad or guilty for this sock infidelity.....but I don't.....life is too short for such things and you should see the socks I have on the go right now.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic