Needles & Hooks

I have a bunch of posts stored up to describe all the neat things I got and did at Stitches West, but I also want to talk about what I’m doing, so there will probably be a few double-posting days.

Last night I played with some new yarn I got at the Market. It’s a microfiber ribbon yarn from Tess’ Designer Yarns. It was a total pain to wind into a ball because it’s very slippery. Despite that, it wasn’t too challenging to knit with. However, I had visions of some sort of elongated stitch and the yarn wasn’t cooperating with that.

After an hour or so of fighting with the yarn, I managed to make this:

The loops at the top are the elongated stitches I’d made, before giving up on making another row of crosses and ripping the whole thing off the needles. The stitches in stockinette look really lovely. But I want something a little more exciting than that. So I’ll let it sit for while and ruminate.

Of course, I bought a lot of yarn. But I bought a lot of things too. A variety of notions that were just plain convenient so I snapped them up (an Addi needle gauge, some brass stitch markers without joins, a circular row counter). And I bought a few new Addi needles because the step between “oooh, it would sure be convenient to have a smaller diameter for X” and actually buying the needle was far, far too small. But I grabbed a few things just because they were neat.

My very first purchase in the market place was this:

If you can’t read the writing, it’s glow-in-the-dark yarn! And it works too! It’s fine enough that it could be knit together with a main yarn to create a hidden message. Don’t have any specific plans for it, but my bag was empty and it was just too cool to pass up.

Another thing I got was this:

That’s a Weavette mini-loom (2×2 inches) and a book of stuff to do with it. I don’t aim do to large weaving projects, but this seemed like some small fun. And I imagine I could make a bunch of squares with the bin full of tiny balls of spare yarn I have and turn them into squares for various charity projects. And save my actual knitting for larger projects.

Move over Pink Chibi, there’s a new kid in town:

I already have a green Chibi and I love the bent-tip needles. But I also like see-through things. So I bought one.

So, I didn’t have many goals for my weekend at Stitches. I wanted to go see a big yarn market. I wanted to touch some of the yarns I’d heard about. I signed up for a few classes just because I thought they might be interesting. But one thing I did want to do was to try to find a good knitting bag. Currently, I drag knitting projects around in any of a variety of Clinique Bonus Time bags. The straps are sometimes long enough to throw over my shoulder. A small zippered one sits inside, holding all my tools (gauge ruler, markers, stitch holders, Chibi, etc). No matter what I do, I end up dragging around knitting and a purse and still don’t have much space for any purchases I might make, or to bring a book, etc.

I wanted something I could take places with me. That was convenient for travelling on trains or planes. Something with lots of space and compartments. But also something that fit my style.

I was despairing of finding anything I liked at all. I saw many lined baskets that had no pockets and threatened to spill over if stored at the wrong angle. I saw a bunch of bags that screamed “Your mom would love this!!”. Aside from the fact that those also didn’t have many pockets, I naturally had to run from them.

Looking around at the other Market-goers, I wasn’t inspired. I saw many roller-bags pressed into service. I saw shopping trolleys. And every variety of hand or shoulder bag pressed into service. Many seemed functional but not practical.

Well, halfway through my first pass of the Market floor, I stumbled into Jordana Paige’s booth. Three stylish bags were displayed and all of them caught my eye. While Jordana was writing up a sale, her mom gave me a tour of the bags and their features. I was tempted by the microfiber bag and the leather bag (especially the purple one), but the tour of the Messenger Bag told me I didn’t have to look any further.

Here’s my new bag:

It’s got lots of pockets and compartments. A change purse, a ring to snap your keys onto. Slots for credit cards, knitting accessories, pens, cell phone, and other purse items.

And a funky loop inside to keep your working yarn in one safe place coming out the side of your bag:

So, Momma Paige showed me all of those neat features and I was already excited. My credit card was in hand. I was eager to have my bag. And then she showed me the inside of the flap…

That’s a pattern holder!!! No need to risk leaving it on the seat of the train or spilling a beverage on it. No fishing back into your bag when you reach a point where you have to refer to your pattern. Just flip up the flap and take a glance! This tickles me so much I can barely stand it.

UPDATE: Becky asked how big the Messenger bag is. I’d call it “generously sized”. In the last photo, you’ll note that the pattern holder is holding an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. The outside pocket held the large envelope that contained all my Stitches registration information. I could easily see putting a 3-ring binder in it. The dimensions (and more photos) are here.