Needles & hooks

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I like to buy older knitting magazines. They’re like little time capsules. Today I got a batch of old issues of Knitters.

That’s one angry cat.

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Consumerism that shines (Stitches West market, part 5)

In my final post about Stitches West (sniff), I’ll show you a few other things that were on sale in the market. There was plenty of yarn, plenty of yarn-related products (patterns, books, needles, other miscellany). There were also a lot of neat buttons (to fasten those sweaters with). And there was a lot of jewelry.

I spent a bunch of time at a booth run by Harlan. A lovable, friendly guy, he took a shine to me right away. He also had amazing glass beads. I’ve seen a lot of lamp-worked beads and his technique blew me away. I saw two matched beads on a rod and knew I had to have them as earrings. He made them for me while I was standing there:

Take a look at his website linked above. The gallery is amazing.

This is a necklace I got from Harlan too:

The other bead maker that we visited quite a bit was Oak Grove Studio. She had a lot of amazing glass, most of it quite large. The best was these spirals. I helped several people buy them:

So, now I’ve been back for a week. I’ve shown you everything. Of course, my trip there has spawned collateral projects and purchases. Plenty to give me lots to talk about here, that’s for sure!

Comments: 2 — Posted under: Stitches West 2006

Sick time

I came down with some sort of ear/throat cold this weekend and spent a good chunk of time on the couch trying to recover. Here’s some of what I did…

My 6-inch Weavette arrived on Saturday morning. The Spinning Wheel Yarn Shop was super speedy and included a very cute sheepy thank you card. Not to mention, they also had free shipping. If you want a Weavette, order from them.

Anyway, I first made a square with it:

And I learned that winding tension is extremely important. Emy had said in comments that it looked like making the squares was pretty time-consuming. It wasn’t with the small squares (except for the ones where I was experimenting with fancy things). This one was, because the tension of the cross strands made it very difficult to push the needle through. And the resulting square is very stiff. I’ll be trying again much more loosely.

Next, I started a mystery project. Here’s the first part, can you guess what it is? (If you’ve been in my office and have inside knowledge, you aren’t allowed to guess):

I also made some good progress on Mermaid. I’ve made it past the halfway point on the body. I also charted out the sleeves. So if you’ve been using the spreadsheet from me and didn’t get an update dated 2/26, send me an e-mail.

Finally, I finished the prototype for my new Whirligig Hat:

It’s blocking right now. I wrote up the pattern and will be test knitting it shortly before I unleash it on all of you.

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Letting it loose (Stitches West classes, part 2)

I’m no stranger to dropped stitches, having completed 3 Clapotis and designing a matching hat. Further, I’d been thinking about other uses for dropped sittches and have a few ideas in mind to play with (that I might show you someday). So when I saw the list of classes at Stitches West, it was the Deliberate Drops class by Chris Byslma that caused me to book a flight.

We had a few homework swatches to prepare. The first was a simple stockinette swatch. It was to get us used to the idea of dropping. Because this is just a square Clapotis, I was flying right along. But hey, what’s that on the side? Fringe made from dropped stitches!

The second swatch was an exercise in seeing how dropped stitches can offset cables. The class sample that was posted when I signed up featured this and was what really encouraged me to join. The cables you see are just random ones I grabbed out of Vogue Knitting. But I like the way they get offset by the drops. With a little planning, you can do something quite stellar.

This third swatch we made in class. It uses limited-run drops. I like it very, very much. And I’ve already sketched out a few thigns to do with it.

Finally, we made a funny horizontal ribbed swatch that combined a few different techniques. And when we were done, we sewed it all together and made a cute little hat! Mine will only fit a small baby doll.

I found this class to be well worth it. It validated a few ideas I was already thinking about. And it gave me a few new ones. I’ve already got a larger project in mind for the Blue Moon Breast Cancer Challenge. But you probably won’t see that one for a while.

You can see more of Chris’ work on her website She was wearing a bright pink Chutes and Ladders cardigan in class that was stunning. My understanding is that she doesn’t sell patterns directly from her website, but there is a list of online vendors you can order from.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Stitches West 2006

Consumerism that Rocks (Stitches West market, part 4)

Today we cover my 3 passes through the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. They are the folks that make Socks that Rock. And they were swamped with people grabbing it like there was no tomorrow. Everytime I passed by, there was something different on that wall.

First up, I bought a skein of StR in Hot Flash, their special breast cancer colorway. I walked the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk (60 miles in 3 days) last October in Tampa, FL. I’m thinking about doing another walk this year, so this yarn will probably become some sort of donation incentive. They are having a special Breast Cancer Challenge where you can sumbit your designs using their yarns for prizes. Of course, the card announcing the challenge was attached to an emergency skein of Hot Flash StR (hey, maybe that will be the incentive!):

In addition, I bought a few other colorways.

This is Lagoon. It’s got navy blue, olive, some indigo/purple, and grey:

This is Tanzanite, which is a variety of purple shades:

And I bought several skeins of Atomic #6 in the heavyweight variety. It’s closer to a DK/sportweight and I’ll probably make a top out of it. Shades of dark burgundy and navy blue:

And believe it or not, although I couldn’t bring a kitten home with me, all my purchases did fit in my suitcase!

Comments: 2 — Posted under: Stitches West 2006

Consumerism Gone Wild (Stitches West market, part 3)

So, I really haven’t shown you any yarn. Now, I didn’t plan to buy a lot of yarn. I figured that most things I’d see I’d be able to order and I was hoping not to have to ship anything home (although the convention center had a UPS Store located right outside the Market). But I don’t think any self-respecting knitter could leave that hall without a few skeins of something. I was no exception. But I was rather restrained.

First up, a skein of wool/tencel sock yarn from Ellen’s Half-Pint Farm. I really liked the red/grey colorway:

Next up is my take from Tess’ Designer Yarns. Tess’ booth is a riot of color. They have amazing saturated colors and their 4-slot booth was organized by color with skeins of yarn piled up on the tables. But I found it very off-putting. Most of the yarn came in loose hanks that were all tossed together in a huge pile. You had to dig through to find things. Which meant that most of the hanks were sadly manhandled. My friend K joined me on Friday afternoon and I wanted to get something to make her a gift. She was drawn to the colors but we couldn’t find much I’d be happy buying. Even if the yarn was salvagable, I had no idea how I’d be able to wind it without making a scary mess.

Anyway, at the front of their booth, they featured their Microfiber Ribbon yarn. A sleek shiny yarn that knits up into very interesting fabric. Color saturation like silk. In the end, I decided to give this one a try. At least I won’t have to worry about felted knots.

So I got these:

The first two are for K. I had a scarf pattern in mind for her. A nice fashion item in her favorite colors. However, my dropped stitches class gave me some new ideas. I’ll be swatching stuff up to show her and see what she likes. However, as you saw, my first attempt at a swatch went horribly awry.

The other two are for our friend M, who will be having knee surgery after a skiing incident. I wanted to make her something nice and pretty. And while socks might actually be snuggly, I imagine she’ll find it hard to put them on after the surgery!

Next up, I succumb to the Blue Moon booth…

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Weaving Along

I played around with my Weavette a little more. I’m to the point where I’m able to weave the basic square without looking at the instructions. And I’ve taken it a couple steps beyond.

At first I made a handful of squares in some acrylic sport weight pastel yarn I had left over from long ago:

After making several, I thought about a way I might join them while making a new one. So I used some white yarn for contrast to see what I was doing, and joined two pastel squares on sides:

Unfortunately, as a joining technique, it was painfully slow and not all that elegant-looking. The way the Weavette works is that you simply wrap yarn around the pegs in 3 directions (vertically, horizontally, vertically) and then you weave in the last direction (horizontally), locking all the yarn in place before popping it off the loom. By joining the other squares, I had to make a stitch each time I wrapped around pegs, which slowed me down a lot.

I had also heard that if you use variegated yarn, that you end up with plaid. I decided that the sport weight stuff I’d used might have too long a color run, so I tried with a small remnant of Koigu KPPPM I had left over from Charlotte’s Web. The pink and purples stood out clearly, but I think the 2-inch square is a little too small to really see anything.

However, given the thin weight of the Koigu, I decided to try doubling it. But I’d already done the first weave, so I simply rewove again in all directions. It was a little tedious, but it looks really neat. I used up this ball of Koigu, so I’ll need to dig out another to try it the easier way of holding two at the same time.

Next I tried it with some worsted weight yarn to see how that worked and whether I could get a tighter weave with only one strand. This worsted was on the lighter side, so it’s still somewhat looser than I expected. However, it (and the double-strand Koigu) showed me the challenge of weaving without splitting strands. On a larger loom, you can offset warp threads from each other to run a shuttle through without difficulty. And switch the offset to return. With this loom, you have to use the needle/shuttle to wind over and under threads. And they naturally want to not go where you want them to. I think having a slight bend in the tip (like a Chibi needle) would help the weaving process be more accurate. I sent Buxton Brook an e-mail suggesting it.

Finally, I got thinking about how I might incorporate beads. I realized I had to add them to the yarn before I started winding. I couldn’t add them after I was weaving. So I did a little counting and a little math and I strung up a bunch of beads on some sport weight. It was definitely fussy, but had a neat result:

However, I strung one too many in one direction, so it doesn’t line up nicely at one end (the top). It’s hard to see in this photo because my camera refused to focus on the shine:

So, Julie asked me if it was fun and if she should get one. Clearly, I’m having a good time experimenting with it. I’m not sure what I’d actually do with the squares yet. I don’t think the 2-inch ones are all that useful, so I ordered a 6-inch loom today (from Spinning Wheel Yarn Shop — free shipping!). I’m sure you’ll see more photos of weaving projects here in the future.

MAILBAG
Jocelyn suggested using a toilet paper tube to wind the microfiber ribbon yarn. I’ll have to save one and try that. I was just using my handy Wool Winder and that wasn’t very happy.

Comments: 3 — Posted under: Weavette

More Consumerism (Stitches West market, part 2)

In my last Market post, I didn’t really show you any projects. Today, that’s all you get.

First up, the adorable cat toy kits I got from Knit Kits.

This one makes little felted catnip mice. Nip and bells included:

This one makes little felted catnip satchels:

The catnip was very enticing to the cats living at my “hotel” (aka, my best friend K’s house). Here’s Tori (7 months old) trying to climb into my suitcase with the kit:

Unfortunately, K kept a close eye on Tori, so she didn’t get to come home with me.

The first day of the Market was also good for getting assorted freebies. I signed up for Knit Kits e-mailing list and I got a free felted bracelet:

Next up, a beaded necklace/bracelet kit from Swallow Hill Creations:

Of course, I chose the purple kit. Comes with a ton of purple beads, some fine-gauge purple rayon cord, awesome magnetic claps, a flexi-beading needle to string all the beads on, and a Band-Aid. Why a Band-Aid? Because size 000 Addis can damage you!

Finally, I got the Myrna pattern from White Lies Designs. They’re known for their tailored shapes and lingerie patterns. It was great to see all the samples in their booth. I’d like to think I got this pattern for the sillouette, but more likely it was the purple sample. Hmm, maybe I should have gotten a kit…

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Stitches West 2006

Taking Yarn in Different Directions

Last night I played with the Weavette loom I bought at Stitches. Without too much work, I made 3 little squares with some scrap yarn.

It’s satisfying to “finish” something so quickly. But I have to join a bunch together before I really have a finished product. I have some ideas for joining squares together while weaving a new one, so I’ll give that a try tonight. It only takes about 2 yards to make a square on this tiny loom, so I can blast through my stash of random small balls in short order. Maybe there’s a charity for Barbie afghans?

After a little time with the loom, I worked on the hat I’m designing to go with the Whirlygig Scarf. I’m hoping to finish it tonight. I’ve got a few episodes of Project Runway on my Tivo to help me along. They’re designing, I’m designing, it’s all good.

Here’s what it looks like now:

MAILBAG
Nancy suggests that the Tess Microfiber Ribbon yarn might make nice cables. I was intending to try those when I decide to play with it again.

Janice wanted to know how the Ribbon yarn stands up to being frogged and re-knit. It frogged easily. And looks pretty good. I haven’t tried re-knitting yet, but I can’t imagine it won’t hold up.

Maryann wanted to know how I liked the yarns I used to make my Clapotis projects. Between the Lorna’s Laces Lion & Lamb and the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, I think I preferred the Shepherd Worsted. The L&L has a fuzzy look to it now (with very few wearings) and while it is soft, so was the Shepherd. I don’t think the silk content in the L&L gives it enough sheen to make a difference. However, after seeing the Brooks Farm Four Play knit up at Stitches, I think I’d give that a try for another one.

Comments: 2 — Posted under: Knitting, Whirlygig

Thinking Outside the Box (Stitches West, classes part 1)

On Saturday, I took “Engineering with Entrelac”, taught by Joan Schrouder. It was my first attempt at it, but I picked it up really quickly. More than just an introduction to Entrelac, the class was geared towards showing how you can use the natural shape of the squares to accomplish a number of things in a garment. For one thing, it lends itself naturally to knitting in the round, so with a little thought, a pattern doesn’t have to be made in pieces and seamed.

She also showed us how we can design garments from scratch using a few calculations with our gauge and how to best attempt using up small amounts of yarn with the technique. She also included instructions on knitting backwards, which I attempted for a few rows. I’d need to play around with technique a little, but I don’t mind turning my work a lot, so maybe I won’t.

In class, we started a little 3-square diameter tube. After the first round with an 8×16 footprint (the cream), we decreased to a 6×12 footprint and continued. I’m generally happy with my first attempt. There’s some holes at the joins that I think could be corrected with tighter stitches. And I was knitting fast and dirty, so it’s a little sloppy overall. Here it is (note: it’s sitting on a 20oz Pepsi bottle, so you can see how small it is):

There were two striking garments that she showed us.

One was a sweater she made in two different types of yarns in the same variegated colorway. The look of the garment was a uniform color, but the two different yarns created interest with the different textures.

The other was a hat that came from a Meg Swanson pattern in an old newsletter. It was several rows of entrelac in the round, and the crown was 8 squares joined together in a slightly different way. I want that pattern! Because it would look stunning with the Danica scarf from Knitty.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Stitches West 2006