The Great Acrylic Invasion of 2008

I am a fiber snob. After one too many cute little outfits invaded my childhood, polyester will not darken my door. I own no itchy acrylic sweaters. When I can get away with it, I rip the acetate linings out of jackets. And I'm looking for a good source of silk stockings to replace nylons.

It should go without saying that I do most of my knitting with natural fibers. I once made an acrylic hat for a baby, but that was because my LYS didn't have any wool baby yarn in black - and I left the extra yarn in the charity pile as soon as I could get it out of my house. Generally, I stick with as natural as I can, even accepting darning as a small price to pay to avoid the loss of warmth one gets when blending nylon into sock yarn.

Somehow, all that has changed in the last week or so. Four skeins of mostly-acrylic yarn have crossed my threshold, all with my permission. And with my money - I bought them, on purpose.

Everything you see here is destined to be a gift for someone else. I'm making a Sushi Roll Toilet Paper Cozy for a friend, a Thorpe hat for my mother, and Calorimetry for my mail carrier. For all of them, I chose to buy the acrylic yarn because it's easy to care for. Well, I also didn't want to use the good stuff for something that sits on the back of the toilet, but for the most part I'm thinking of the recipient's needs.

I've cast on everything at once for two reasons. First, it's the easiest way to make sure I bring along all the needles and yarn I need - I can't forget them if they're attached to each other. Second, today's my last chance to freely cast on new projects. I'm cutting back starting tomorrow. So this is sort of the knitting equivalent of a bachelor party.

This is the last project I started tonight - a fourth Wavy Gravy hat. This one is going to be a gift for a specific person - as opposed to the other two, which may become gifts if I figure out who needs them. Starting tomorrow, I'll be finishing projects, not starting them. And I hope I'll finish a lot of projects before Christmas.