not your average crochet

The local public library in my new town is HUGE — I got a library card and immediately went to the knitting section too see if I could find the books some of you recommended that I check out after my last post (when I asked about double knitting).  The books suggested were not there, but I found this:

It’s a very large and heavy book written pretty recently, and it does indeed have a little section about double knitting — turns out the recommended way to cast on for double knitting is the tubular cast on, which is also good for k1p1 ribbing.  Yay answers!

The book, however, did not have a section on thrumming, which I learned about the other day and REALLY want to try.  I’d never heard of it, so I’m going to take the chance that some of you might not know and explain what it is.  Thrumming is when you work short pieces of wool into the stitches of a knitted object, such as a mitten or a hat, so that the loose ends are on the inside and provide ultimate insulation.  They usually make some sort of dotted pattern on the surface, and you don’t have to tie them off or anything because the loose wool fibers entwine on the inside and keep everything in place.  Click here for a photo example of thrummed mittens on the inside, and for a tutorial on how to do it.

Thrummed mittens would be completely unnecessary here in South Carolina (unless I decided to camp on a mountain with no fire for days on end), but I might make some anyway just for the fun of it.  If I don’t end up doing that, I’ll eventually try to make a similar pair of mittens to the ones pictured above (the pattern looks like a good one for a first pair).  You can apparently even use the thrumming technique with crochet!  Have any of you tried thrumming before?  If so, what was your experience with it?

My day did not start off well — I woke up late for something important, which was very embarrassing and did not at all look good.  Then I got my first allergy shots at my new clinic here in town.  After that was the library trip, which made the day better, then dinner at Panera Bread (it’s one of the few restaurants that’s not awkward when you go alone).  Once I’d been home for a little bit, some Mormons came knocking door to door to talk about their beliefs, and I didn’t want to be rude so I talked to them for a while (even though I’m not interested in becoming a Mormon).  They were nice but it was a little weird.

Well, that’s all for right now.  I’m off to browse through Ravelry and maybe start a knitted hat for a Christmas present.  See you next time!