Yeah… Nablowhatever and I parted ways about when I got busy for the holidays. It happens. Anyway, I’ll do a mega update after this post maybe tomorrow. So on to the fun stuff, the contest. We had three people enter and thus three prizes so everyone is a winner. Everyone got a similar prize. There were two gift certs to loopy and one to Knitpicks since I have to say I loathe going to the post office. So now on to what people said.
OK, if money were no object, I’d be more of a process knitter than I am even now. I think I’d get a wheel and a friend who owns sheep so that I could create my own yarn from scratch. If not a wheel, then a wider collection of spindles. Anyway, I’d be happy to dye my own yarn and spin it myself while at the same time sampling other yarns to try to emulate them. Yeah, I’d love to knit a cashmere sweater someday, but it would mean more to me if I’m the one that spun the cashmere. That way it’s more “check me out, I was confident enough to spin cashmere fiber into a yarn for this project” than “check me out, I can afford a sweater’s worth of cashmere”. It’s probably along the lines of that “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime” saying. The money invested in learning to spin that yarn would cost more than a sweater’s worth of cashmere at first, but then I could do a lot more with those skills. And besides, ever since I saw that $90 skein of crap yarn in the LYS that closed after 6 months in Cincinnati, I’ve been less likely to believe that expensive yarn is automatically quality yarn.
This was an awesome question!
If money were no limit… there wouldn’t be any acrylic in my stash.
(well… there wouldn’t be since I know what good yarns are now).Most of my yarn stash would be filled with nice handdyed sock yarns
and rovings. Heck… if money weren’t a limit I’d also probably have
a scary amount of fiber tools as well, like another wheel or two, a
loom and a drum carder… I’d probably also have purchased all sorts
of dyeing supplies so that I could just make the yarn/roving colors I
REALLY want.
If money were no object, would it change my knitting? Well, short answer,
yes.I wouldn’t knit cashmere sweaters per se, because of the bad things I’ve
read about the demand for it. (In fact I haven’t bought any yarn with
even the smallest cashmere content for months, and have been destashing
some of the stuff I already had.) But I think I’d try to knit more
“green,” since organic stuff is almost as costly as the luxury stuff,
though organic prices are coming down, while the luxury yarns are going
up.I suppose in some cases I would be more relaxed about knitting. If
something wasn’t working, I could destash it for cheap (since I don’t need
the money), and go work on something else that caught my fancy. I don’t
think I would do that often, with the perfectionist in me, but it’s
something to think about.
Now for my answer. I’m not sure it would change how I craft. Oh maybe I’d buy more expensive yarn for certain projects like a sweaters worth of sundara or something but I am not really sure I would. My favorite yarn yet is fairly inexpensive at 7 something for over 200 yards (ultra alpaca by berroco) I hate paying full price, I always have so I would probably be as much a sale shopper as I am now. The one thing I believe in is buying good quality tools. Even if I have to save for them and do without them for the moment I have never regretted buying any of my high end kitchen gear because I know it will last me a lot longer than something that isn’t as well constructed. However I always still try and find a good deal. That’s why even though I wasn’t 100% sure I’d totally be into spinning on the wheel I still got a majacraft. I figured if I didn’t love it I can always resell it and if I did in a year or two I wouldn’t be going but now I want a new wheel, had I bought a babe or something less versatile. As for the cashmere question I actually own a cashmere sweater (11 bucks at tjmaxx) and I never wear it. Its way too warm for this climate. However I wear the hell out of my cheapo thin merino cardis. Even though I consider myself a process knitter, my goals with crafting/knitting are to create items I would buy if I saw them in stores. The only thing I am completely sure would change if I was more flush (actually it would change even if we had a larger home) is that I would have my own studio. For all my crafting pursuits with lots of space, light, a comfy chair, a desk, a sink and heat source for dyeing. Sometimes on the weekend when Justin is playing a game there is nothing I want more than a place where the sound of said game is not permeating the air. So for now I go into the living room but it would be nice to have my own room. Someday I’ll get it. Actually I thought of something else that would change, I would knit more. Instead of feeling guilty about the housework I’d just hire a cleaning service and then I could knit more.
Ha! Love the answers, especially yours. The idea of an alone crafty room sounds fantastic.
The idea of having all kinds crafting tools at your disposal is nice too (the thought occurred to me that I’d love to take up weaving). And Sarkasmo’s answer about being involved in nearly every part of making one sweater (sheep/goat to sweater) is awe inspiring.
And squee! (Off to visit the Loopy Ewe.)