Flat Feet Yarn!

Flat Feet Yarn!
Originally uploaded by designatedknitter

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Wow. I so did not get that sleeve done last night as planned. And I have no idea if I'll have it done by the party tonight. Of course, blocking it is out. Hmm, I don't think I should give a one-year-old a sweater with the sharp pointy needles in it... maybe I could put the stitches on some waste yarn.....

Anyway. I was at Knitting Off Broadway twice in the last week. The first time, I noticed several panels (like the one pictured) hanging with the sock yarn. I was curious, and stopped to look, but I couldn't figure out HOW ON EARTH someone could dye yarn that would knit up to look like that. The gauge would have to be incredibly exact to get everything to line up for the patterns....they even had some that looked like random drops of dye on a background color. I looked around for skeins that might have been used to knit these samples, but I didn't see anything. Oh well. Moved on to what I was looking for.

Then I went back on Saturday with Libertine Knits and I heard people talking about them, and then it clicked. These are not knitted samples of yarn. This is Flat Feet Yarn - skeins of yarn that you knit from! They are machine knit panels with waste yarn on the edges, not bound off. Then the PANELS are hand-dyed. When you are ready to knit, you simply start unraveling the panel, and knit with the yarn. Some of the designs are basically stripes, or diagonal stripes, or other simple type patterns. The panels that I bought are from a limited edition series of special graphics. (There is another identical panel underneath this - you get two panels joined together with waste yarn. If you want to knit your socks "two at a time" you just cut the panels apart at the waste yarn, and unravel from both!)

I simply would have never conceived of such a thing! It's just quirky enough to make me fork over the extra $6 beyond my "most I will pay for yarn for a pair of socks" limit. I am DYING to cast on, but alas, I really have to finish a Tulips cardigan. And a "Must Have Cardigan." And..... you get the idea.

So, keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)