Frazzled

Work is crazy, but that's part of the reason I didn't post much last week. I'm trying not to let it stop me this week.

Weekend Fiber Activity
While swatching and accidentally starting a shawl, I got a chance to sit in front of a nice fire.



I also used this blaze to destroy a bunch of documents with personal financial information on them, since I don't have a home shredder. It was fun burning all that stuff.

During the times when I wasn't knitting or spinning (not very much spinning occurred), I decided to use my initial quilt block mistakes, and try to make pillows.



I'm thinking that I will use these two blocks and make miniature quilts, with a backing from fabric that I don't care much about. Then I will use the mini-quilt as the top of a pillow. I figure this will give me a little bit of experience with the quilting part of the process.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Via e-mail, Leslie asks, "I am wondering if you could direct me to some resources to understanding how to substitute yarns, I understand gauge and weight but I am wondering more about durability for instance Weekend Knits calls for classic elite montera to make seat cushions p32. Patterns don't seem to give much information about why (if there is a reason) a certain yarn is chosen...is montera better for this project than say, manos, or lamb's pride or lopi?"

This is an excellent question, and I have to say, I don't know of any good way, other than swatching and comparing possible substitute yarns. Using on-line yarn databases, you would be able to try and most closely match the attributes of a specific yarn, or read how others have used it.

If you look at the database entry on WiseNeedle for Montera, you'll note some of the substitutes others have used. Another example is on Yarndex. If you try to find other yarns that are the same weight, fiber content and ply, you might be able to