knitabit

Cute Little Poncho

I made a stop at Hobby Lobby the other day. I feel I must offer a disclaimer here. Shopping at Hobby Lobby is as distasteful to me as shopping at Wal-Mart. I feel like I should be supporting my LYS, but when you need cheap acrylic, whatya gonna do? And to digress a bit further, our town is in the throes of a Super Wal-Mart controversy. My opinion on the evilness of Wal-Mart depends, I admit, on who I last talked to and what kind of a good price I might be able to get on whatever widget I might need at the moment. Do I support low prices? Do I support better jobs? Do I stand up against corporate bullies?

I am a conflicted consumer.

It reminds of the conflict I feel at the grocery store when they ask "paper or plastic?" And I think to myself, what kind of environmental damage am I in the mood for today; clogged landfills or deforestation?

ANYWAY...she picked some TLC Amore yarn, made by Red Heart. And you know what, it's a pretty nice yarn! It's a chenille - 80% acrylic and 20% nylon. It seems very sturdy and is much more dense and probably much more durable than the Colinette stuff I made scarves with for Christmas last year. The Colinette was mostly rayon, I think, and it tended to shed and fall apart pretty easily.

I used the poncho generator as a starting point, but quickly deviated from it when it started to not make sense. Too bad, she's go a nifty little program there but the pattern is not very clearly written. This photo gives you a little idea about what the neckline and the center front shaping looks like.

I'm going to alternate between solid and variegated to make wide stripes. And I'm also going to have to take back all the terrible things I said about Denise's Interchangeable Needles. They are enormously handy for a knit-in-the-round project that's growing steadily with each round.

Comments

What pretty colors.

I have some respect for the fact that Hobby Lobby closes on Sundays and, in some ways, it seems a little less disagreeable than Michael's - just imho. WRT WalMart, recently we had a sister here who works with others in third world countries, where people are outraged when they hear about WalMart boycotts. They are delighted to have work and, relative to their economies, consider themselves well paid. I go to WalMart maybe once a year, but there is a woman we both know who is damn happy to have a job again -- and it's there.

It makes me flinch to think of myself as such a snobby consumer and my head spins looking at all the various sides of this. So here I go, dizzy and off to the hamster wheel now. Thanks a bunch, Karen ;-)

Posted by: Patricia Tryon at August 25, 2004 04:47 PM

I love me some TLC Amore. I think there is some fun to be had with some cheap yarns. And Denise Needles....aah. My knitting in the round projects would take so much longer without them, especially when I want to try something on!

Can't wait to see the stripes!

Posted by: Carrie at August 25, 2004 10:51 PM