Fun yarns are supposed to add tons of extra joy to knitting.
It’s not that I don’t think they do – the finished product usually looks amazing – but it’s working with the damn stuff that can make you want to fling down your needles and grab the peanut butter.
I fell in love with a furry little shawl on display in WoolWorld last week, and the assistant assured me she’d knitted it herself “chop-chop” with just 3 balls of Elle Sensual and a fat pair of needles.
The shawl should have had a warning pinned to it: Extreme knitting! Do not attempt to make this at home!
The woman lied. Through her teeth. There is no chop-chop about knitting with this stuff, it’s like strings of limp hairy seaweed that knots just from being looked at, and if you don’t pay 120% attention and drop a stitch, then you are well and truly …well, you know what you are! I’d better not start swearing on this blog otherwise I’ll never stop. (Sheep wanted to get involved so I had to swaddle him up to keep him out of the way.)
I’ve finished the $%^& thing now, much to my relief, but battled to get a decent photo this morning. This will have to do.
And just in case you have some suggestions as to what it may resemble and feel tempted to share them with me? – please don’t. All I can hope is that it will look better on.
And FYI – Elle Sensual has been discontinued. Gosh, I wonder why!!!
Moving on – you will notice that I included my WeighLess binder in a photo above. This is because I have an update for you : I have lost 2 kgs, and Rob has lost 7 kgs. I got a gold star at yesterday’s weigh-in, and Rob got a big yellow smiley sticker. It hasn’t always been easy but it hasn’t been horribly hard either. It’s really all about common-sense eating habits and trying to make healthier food choices. Every day. Or for as much a part of every day as you can manage. Sometimes the Milo bars all break into song when I’m in the fresh fruit aisle (pick me tra la la pick me la la), and then it’s hard to resist them because they sing so seductively. Sometimes I think, Mmmmm healthy veggie and barley soup, how disciplined I am to just have 1 bowl for supper, but then some fresh rye bread falls into the toaster and butters itself and before you know it…
Back soon x
Nice piece of work 
Very well done to you and Rob losing all that weight. Probably some of your weight loss was due to the irritation with the shawl because your teeth were gritted so no milo bars were able to force their way into your mouth. Hope you surviving our hectic storms.
Going to lose more weight today by jumping up and down a lot to keep warm :-) xxx
Ok Jill, I’m convinced. I promise that I won’t attempt the furry shawl. Hahahahaha. And well done on the gold star. x
Jane, I can honestly say that if I ever see you holding a pair of knitting needles, I will eat my hat. Hats. Shawl. Sheep. :-)
Bet you were covered in fluff afterwards too. I remember trying some bobbly/hairy wool when I just end started to crochet and had very little wool to play with, it was impossible because I couldn’t see where to put my hook. And it was left over from a jumper my Grandma knitted for me – don’t know how she coped!! Well done on the weight loss, just keep going and you’ll get there despite the singing ;)
It’s a slow process. I love food :(
Very slow here too. A bit off… A bit on….
Love this post. It made me smile. I am glad you didn’t want our suggestions :-)
Well done for persevering!
Thank you :-)
Haven’t laughed this much in ages, thank you! Shawl looks amazing however frustrating it was to knit. Well worth each if your 120%!!! Hope sheep is ok?!
That sheep lives in the lap of luxury, he’s the last thing you ever need to worry about. You need to worry about my mental health.
HaHa. Yes I know the type of bleeped yarn that knots just by being looked at! Well done losing those kilos.
Thanks. What is it with weight anyway? The stuff just keeps coming back…
It’s cause you ‘lose’ it; the universe is very helpful that way; returns things you thought were lost forever . . . :-) Maybe you just need to ‘give it away’ . . .
Never thought of it like that. Um…so, would you like a bit?
Novelty yarns should be outlawed! I love what you were able to complete, but I feel your pain. They look all innocent in the bin at your LYS but then you get it home, try it out, and BAM you are feeling nearly homicidal (or a little stabby at the least). Then you get about a year away from the frustration and you see a new kind of innocent looking fancy colorful bit of fluff and think, ‘how bad could it be, let’s give this one a shot’. But don’t give in to the temptation! Re-read your post!
PS ~ Congrats to you and Rob! Celebratory carrots sticks for all!! :)
You are so right – when I was knitting this thing, I suddenly remembered that I’d made something similar for Alex a few years ago in black. Must be like childbirth…it’s amazing what you forget (until the next time).
oh you are wonderful! just to read you is to brighten up this very grey freezing cold white with hail……..day! thank you!and well done for sticking to the knitting and the weigh less!xxx
Just to try and keep it up now that it’s so freezing cold, hey!? I am swaddled in just about anything I can find… ;-)
Congrats on your weight loss! I have to say I literally LOL’d reading this post! Good job working that yarn! :)
Thank you. 2 down, 4 to go …
OH my gosh Jill! You crack me up. I’m rolling on the floor with your explanation of knitting your easy furry shawl. I bet you are’nt going to be selling that any time soon, right? Or you could but the person would have to pay a gazillion dollars! Oh by the way congratulations on the weight loss, great job! The bread here always manages to jump into my toaster and then butters itself too. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Love and Hugs, Tamara
This shawl will never be sold! I have already included instructions in my will that I am to be wrapped in it for eternity. Although it’s a bit small and won’t cover much, now that I think about it, so they’ll have to wrap the rest of me in Doreen’s blankets :-)
You make me laugh!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
I made one like that, back when I worked at Lewiscraft. And I have a big partly-done (like all my projects, or most of them anyway) one that I found just this morning in a big cloth bag. What worked for me was to use a simple pattern and go by the feel of the base thread, ignoring the hairy whatevers that want to confuse you into thinking they are the real deal.
Yes, good going with the weight loss. I’m back at it again, thanks to Mrs. Saving For Travel’s challenge. We must all have related bread brands; mine will sacrifice itself in the toaster fires for me anyday! At least I finally got it trained not to butter itself and to only use a teaspoon of jam . . .
Hmmmmm . . . ‘name that shawl’ . . . thoughts come to mind . . . but I gotta go now.
Lucky for me, eh?
hairy whatevers! rofl! I have to say that I KNEW if I stopped the shawl to start making something else, I would never ever get back to it – so I hope that doesn’t happen to you with your furry hairball. The pattern couldn’t have been simpler – cast on 5, garter stitch throughout, inc 2 each end every alt row.
The butter and jam is all Alex’s fault. I don’t usually keep butter or jam in the fridge at all, but she’s developed a taste for it so I have no choice. And if I don’t buy it, she will! Same goes for nutella and salticrax.
Congrats on your weight loss! :-) it happens to me too that my bread puts butter on itself! ;-) now about that shawl, you said you don’t comments about it right? ;-) Hope you will have a great week! :-)
Thanks for not commenting. :-)
:-) you make me laugh!
It takes talent to knit with “limp hairy seaweed”. ;)
That coat looks like something you will see on The Red Carpet, it’s that chic, and I’m not kidding…
Well, i wore it last night and, thanks to your comment, I felt like Susan Sarandon !!!!!!!
it’s all in the mind :-)
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Well it looks fabulous! I won’t ask you to make me one though ;)
Thank you….. :-)