The Yarn Harlot Comes to Town

Yes, her visit was a week and a half ago. But my father was in town (and agreed to be dragged along - lucky for me, as he had his tourist camera on him, and I had forgotten mine at home) and so it's taken me a while to process my pictures and find the time to write even this short note.

I was afraid Third Place would run out of chairs, so we got there about half an hour early. (It didn't, but there were a few hundred people there to see her). It's a lovely venue which endeavors to be a community gathering spot - the bookstore is only part of it - so we had a bite to eat before the show started. My partner and father then wandered the bookstore while I sat down with my shawl and listened.

Man, the cameras went crazy when she did her standard shots of the crowd with the traveling sock. Of course, I was one of them:



Stephanie talked with us for a while, and was witty, funny, and enjoyable. She made me swell with knitterly pride. I'm not sure if it actually was a book reading - I've read the book and didn't recognize her piece as being from it - but her talk belongs in print, IMHO. Beyond the humor, one point that stayed with me, and impressed my father, was: 100 years ago, it was considered a waste of money to buy something that you could make. Now, it's considered a waste of time to make something you can buy. I'm quite pleased to be part of the movement that is taking back the value of making.

I tried to take some pictures while she was talking, but the lighting was poor. Here's the best I managed:


Pretty awful, huh?

With family in tow and a big crowd, I didn't stay for the book signing. But I did hover around the stacks to get a better picture of her in person:


I love that she's wearing Birkenstocks, because I was wearing my own pair that night.

Shawl update: I took Stephanie's message to represent for knitters to heart (although frankly would have done this whether or not I had made it to see her) and took my shawl to a two-day training I attended for work last week. I completed almost a full repeat and a half in two days and the training was much more enjoyable. And I've churned out another repeat since then! I've now finished 11 repeats, which is 45% done! With autumn upon us in earnest, I am eager to be able to wear the shawl soon.

Kimono Shawl

Lovely Kimono Shawl,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. You are my first lace project, and I'm learning so very much. Like the correct way to do SSKs. How yarnovers and decreases go together like peas in a pod. That purling Continental style is a breeze. Why it is important to pay attention on the purl-back rows. How to fix missed yarnovers, and how to fix mis-placed yarnovers four (count'em, four!) rows down. The value of lifelines, even though I haven't needed to use one yet.



2. You are being knitted in such a lovely yarn. (Knit Picks Gloss in the burgundy colorway). You have all the elasticity and warmth of your 70% merino side and the sheen and softness of your 30% silk side. Your color is a beautiful deep red that doesn't want to be photographed despite my many attempts. And you smell yummy too.



3. You are rectangular, so I don't have to worry about increasing to make a triangle or shaped for shoulders. (The next project or two, perhaps).



4. Your pattern looks like leaves and petals and feathers all at once. You are gorgeous.



5. I love you more with each repeat I knit. And I've finished seven now! (Of twenty-five.) I can't wait until you are done and I can wear you all the time!

Knitted Utility Bags

I finished these some time ago, but since I've been using them, I hadn't gotten around to photographing them until over this past weekend.


A sunglasses case, a radio face plate case, and a little camera bag. I was inspired by this gorgeous bag (without knowing she had made the pattern available online - I had only seen the picture on Flickr). Of course, the yarn I wanted to use was much bigger.

I knit them in the round on US size 9 DPNs with a three-way bind off. I used three strands of Silk City Perle 3/2 Cotton in different blue-purple colors, knit tripled. I love the way the three strands of yarn make a beautiful heathered fabric. (It kind of reminds me of the Artfibers Coat that Amy R. Singer is knitting, except of course the fibers are very different.)


Sunglasses case: I lost my sunglasses case, so knit myself one. It's a little big for the glasses and the things that go over your ears (what are they called?) have a tendency to get stuck, but I lurve it. I stuck a couple yarnovers a few rows down from the cast-on edge to run the drawstring through.


Face plate case: I got a new radio for my car, which came without a face plate case. So I took half of the old one (which had fallen apart) and knit a little bag to fit around the whole contraption.


Camera case: I began with some ribbing, but it totally failed in the cotton yarn and size 9 needles. When closed, I tie the strap around the end to hide the terrible ribbing. (I started this bag about 7 times, so was unwilling to frog and try again.)


Each project only took a couple of hours, but I only knit them when I wasn't interested in knitting anything else, which was rare, so it took a while to finish them.

I used the yarn from the cabled baby blanket that I frogged, and still have a small yarn cake left over.

Ravelry

I got my invite last week. I've started to post things to my account, potentialofyarn. I've also gone through my blogroll and tried to add as many of you as possible. Feel free to leave me your Ravelry user name if you have one. (FYI, if you are still waiting, the latest info on their blog is that invites will be going out much faster within a week or two).

Now for the eye candy:





These beautiful cotton scarves were woven by my knitting mentor as a fundraiser for the Seattle AIDS Walk. He also hand painted the multi-colored yarn. I'm taking pictures for him because he's thinking of setting up an Etsy shop. They are gorgeous and I really hope he does. They deserve a wider audience.

WIP Updates

I've been on vacation this last week, at home, doing projects around the house - painting the home office (which left me without internet for almost a week) and making jam. Plus an emergency root canal, oh joy. And, of course, some time for knitting. So here's the update on my two main projects:



I'm 28 inches into the Chevron Scarf. Which means I still have 7-10 inches to go to be halfway through, depending on how long I end up making it. The lime is a little more lime - vibrant lime - than the picture shows, and it's pooling a little more than I'd like - despite the yarn changes, the pattern of the lime is very noticeable. But I can think of several people who would really love this scarf, and I expect to be making one of them happy come the holidays.

This is a great knitting project to take with me when I'm out and about, and I'm looking forward to trying it in some of the other yarns I have - which is partially why I'm leaning towards a 70, not 77, inch final scarf. I'm also happy to report that I'm doing a lot of Continental knitting on the scarf - pretty much everything except the k2tog and kfb rows. (I've found the knit front and back to be very hard to do left-handed.) This is making the tendinitis in my right arm happy.



Almost done with the third repeat of the Kimono Shawl. I put a lifeline in after the second repeat. Luckily, I haven't had to use it, but I have had another instance or two of tinking a few rows. When I do the purl rows back, I have a tendency to somehow drop the yarnovers. I have to be much more vigilant with lace than I'm used to. Despite that, I'm still passionately in love with this shawl.

Knitting Classes

In the last week, I took two knitting classes. First, a Continental Knitting ("picking" rather than "throwing") class at one of my favorite local yarn shops, Acorn Street Shop. Once I got the hang of it, I really liked knitting this way (so efficient! so easy to switch from knit to purl! puts the left-hand to work, giving my right a break!). I'm pretty pleased with how the swatch I knit in class looks - the tension is mostly nice and even, although the ribbing looks pretty bad:



Despite my fondness for the above swatch, I have been a little too scared to try picking with any of my works in progress because I'm afraid my tension may be very different than what I've already knit. Perhaps I can pull out the blanket square that I put aside several weeks back and give that a try. Hmm, or start a new square altogether.

There were only three of us in the class and we progressed so quickly that we were able to try some two-color knitting by the end of the class. I'd never knit with more than one color in a row before - dang, I'm going to want to try Fair Isle now.

Then, I took a morning off work on a lovely sunny Seattle summer day, and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to take a class at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. What a fabulous yarn shop! It's fairly large with big windows in front, cozy places to knit, an excellent selection of yarn, and serves and sells tea. Although my commute there was about two hours (drove to work, parked, bus to the ferry, ferry across the Sound, walked up to the shop), I am so in love with the place that I'm sure I'll be back. (I think that they will host tea parties - perhaps for my birthday?) I got there a little early and they let me in to fondle and purchase yarn before the class started.


Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn (70% Silk, 30% Seacell) yarn, which I think is fingering weight? The skeins above are in what I think is the "Lily Pond" colorway, but it wasn't labeled, so I'm not sure.

I've been wanting to knit with Sea Silk yarn for some time, and the opportunity finally arose: a class on how to knit the Tuscany Shawl. Although I'm in the middle of a lace project right now, I'd never knit a triangular shawl before, and since the designer herself, Amy R. Singer, was teaching, I jumped on the opportunity. Amy was quite friendly and fun in person and taught us lots of cool tricks to make the knitting easier - shortcuts so that we wouldn't need the pattern, a way to rip back without things falling all apart (I've already tried this one), and my favorite: a way to loosen then tighten the decreases so that the stitches lay flat. Very cool trick!


The first twenty rows or so of the shawl, which I knit in the class.

Unfortunately, my counts are off right now, and I think I'm going to have to rip back some more...

Travel Knitting

I recently traveled for about a week and a half. I made progress on the Chevron Scarf:


13 inches in. That's somewhere between one-fifth and one-sixth done, depending on how long it ends up being.

After knitting and blocking the swatch while traveling, I finally cast on the Kimono Shawl:



I'm almost done with the first repeat. I was actually a few rows closer when I realized that I missed a yarn over - 4 rows back. Aarggh! I hadn't put a lifeline in, because I was planning to finish the first repeat first.

I attempted to fix it by dropping four stitches back the four rows, but that made it worse. I tabled it until the trip was over and brought it to my knitting mentor. His verdict was: tink the four rows. I did this last night, but after purling a row to get me all caught up and clean, I found - a missing yarn over! So, one more row of tinking to fix that, and then I'll be ready to move forward again.

Oh, well, it's my first lace project. I didn't expect to be an expert!

Gift Yarn

My parents recently took a trip to eastern Turkey. They lived and worked in Turkey almost 40 years ago, but had never been to eastern Turkey. They still have some friends they are in touch with, who they got to see again. I am very happy they are enjoying their retirement well.


Sheep and Big Mountain, 6/8/2007

My mother took this picture in Turkey, so I'm afraid I'm not sure which mountain this is. I think the picture is gorgeous, and of course, the sweet sheep appeal to the fiber lover that I have become. Speaking of fiber, before they left on their trip, they asked me what I wanted them to get me as a gift. I thought about the gorgeous Turkish rugs that are made there, and the yarn I have that is made in Turkey, so I asked for yarn.

They brought me this:

They were told it was Angora Goat Mohair. It's natural, no dyes.

And also this:

Silk thread used for weaving. It's multiple strands, so I'm not sure it's something I can ever use - but pretty cool, eh?

They also gave me this:

A simple drawstring cotton bag with Turkish block print. I immediately filled it with my gift yarn, so it has become a new knitting bag. The design is of Hittite origin!

Knit Picks Score

More yarn arrived.


Gloss fingering weight yarn, 70% merino and 30% silk, in Burgundy


Alpaca Cloud lace weight yarn, 100% alpaca, in Iris Heather


Shadow lace weight 100% merino in Vineyard and Sunset Heathers

I balled up four skeins of the Burgandy. This may sound weird, but it smells good. I think it's the silk.



I love my ball winder.

I cast on and knit a swatch.


Kimono Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. If this looks familiar, that's because I tried it once already in a different yarn - only to realize I did not have near enough of the gray alpaca to make a shawl.

I knit the upper half in US size 6 needles, the lower half in US size 5 needles. I'm not sure I can see the difference, but I'd love opinions on which size needles to use.

Socks that Rock Score

My yarn arrived.


Socks That Rock mediumweight 100% merino wool in Nodding Violet, Thistle, Lagoon, and Rolling Stone colorways

I took a lot of pictures.


Thistle and Nodding Violet


Rolling Stone and Lagoon

(This is really just the tip of the iceberg. See more pics on my Flickr.

I wound up some balls with my new ball winder and swift set.


Nodding Violet and Thistle


Lagoon and Rolling Stone

I cast on and started knitting.


Chevron Scarf from Joelle Holverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts, knit in STR Nodding Violet and Thistle



Dreamy.