Tag Archives: How-to

Review: Two New Books for New Knitters

Review: Two New Books for New Knitters post image

Both of these books arrived on my doorstep at almost the same time and since they seemed to compliment each other so well, they’re sharing a review.


First, the facts:

Title: All About Knitting

Author: (None given)

Published by: Martingale Press, 2013

Pages: 191

Type: How-to and Patterns

The In-Depth Look:

This review copy was kindly donated by Martingale Press. Thank you!


First, the facts:

Title: Learn to Knit, Love to Knit

Author: Anna Wilkinson

Published by: Potter Craft, 2013

Pages: 144

Type: How-to and Patterns

This review copy was kindly donated by Potter Craft. Thank you!


Both these books are remarkably similar.

  • They’re both how-to books for new knitters.
  • They both give basic instructions about techniques ranging from casting-on through color-work and cables.
  • They both supplement the instructions with patterns for projects–bags, hats, sweaters, gloves, and so on.
  • They both have project patterns that are simple–not too scary for a new knitter–but interesting enough to challenge them with the new techniques learned along the way.
  • They both have good illustrations for the techniques as well as photographs of the projects.

Really–remarkably similar. “Learn to Knit, Love to Knit” interweaves the how-to throughout the book so that you could theoretically work your way through from page one until the end, learning as you go. “All About Knitting,” on the other hand, front-loads all the technique instruction at the beginning of the book and groups the patterns together later on. It also includes a small stitch gallery of 40 stitch patterns at the end.

Both books seem to have well-written instructions and are clearly designed by people who enjoy knitting and want to share it (though only “Learn to Knit, Love to Knit” comes with an author’s name on it).

Review: The Art of Seamless Knitting

Post image for Review: The Art of Seamless Knitting

artseamless_0001

First, the facts:

Title: The Art of Seamless Knitting

Author: Simona Merchant-Dest and Faina Goberstein

Published by: Interweave Press, 2013

Pages: 183

Type: Patterns and How-to

Chapters:

1. All About Seamless Knitting
2. Make it Fit!
3. Lace Patterns
4. Cable Patterns
5. Textured Stitch Patterns

KS: Art of Seamless Knitting

The In-Depth Look:

So many knitters hate sewing seams. There are lots of reasons for that. They might not enjoy it, they might only be interested in doing the actual knitting part, they might not have the time to sit and carefully piece together pieces of their garments. They might simply not be very good at it. So, for them, seamless knitting is ideal–but it’s not just for knitters who dislike sewing. Knitting a sweater in one piece can give you the chance to try it on as you go, checking fit and length while you still have time to fix things.

This isn’t the first book, of course, focused on seamless knits, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one. It comes with lots of useful information about adapting patterns into seamless knits, tips and tricks to make it all work–not just a page or two, but dozens of them–and in between are the patterns for (mostly) sweaters knit with nary a seam in sight. Lace, cables, textures … they’re all in here.

All in all, this is an attractive and useful book with some really nice patterns and even better how-to kind of instructions. Well worth checking out.

This book can be found at Amazon.com.

Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by Interweave Press. Thank you!

My Gush: Useful and attractive.

Review: Vintage Design Workshop

Post image for Review: Vintage Design Workshop

vintageworkshop_0001

First, the facts:

Title: Vintage Design Workshop: Knitting Techniques for Modern Style

Author: Geraldine Warner

Published by: Interweave Press, 2013

Pages: 175

Type: How-to

Chapters:

UPDATING VINTAGE PATTERNS
1. Preparation
2. Substituting Yarns
3. Adjusting Vintage Sizes

RETRO-STYLING MODERN PATTERNS
4. Adjusting Sizes
5. Patterns for Vintage Elements
6. Adding Elements to Patterns

KS: Vintage Design Workshop

The In-Depth Look:

The scholar part of me is in love with this unique and useful book. Useful, at least, if you have a penchant for vintage knitting patterns.

Unlike other “vintage knitting” books that have come out over the years (many of which I also love), this is NOT a book filled with vintage-inspired patterns. It’s not even patterns that have been adapted from vintage patterns.

No, this book tells you how to adapt them yourself.

This is so useful and such a wonderful idea, I only wonder why nobody’s thought to do it before–but luckily, that’s moot point now, because Geraldine Warner has taken care of this. She writes, “If you’ve picked this book up I’m going to assume you’re a knitter who finds yourself drawn to vintage patterns and fashions, but are worried about how to approach and adapt them. … This book is written in the spirit of experimentation–mistakes will be made but, armed with patience and determination, lessons will be learned, your confidence will grow, and eventually the world will become your knitted oyster.”

The book is divided into two main parts. The first tell you how to take an old pattern–one that might not specify gauge, or provide a schematic, or specify a type of yarn (all things we’re used to with modern patterns)–and then work out the details you need to knit it here in the 21st century. It helps you determine your own measurements, too, so that you have a working understanding on how to adapt patterns for sweaters that were designed for a time when, say, armholes were smaller and sweater lengths shorter, not to mention adjusting things like neckline or sleeve shapes.

The second part of the book (much shorter) is made up of actual patterns for things like darts or puffed sleeve caps and peter pan collars that you could add to any current pattern to get a retroactive vintage feel.

Like I said, this book isn’t about patterns. There is nothing that spells out exactly what you need to do to recreate any of the sweaters pictured in the book. It’s all about the experience of adapting vintage patterns for yourself. Helping you find the right yarn, the right color combinations, to get a vintage sweater that works for you here in 2013.

Totally unique–and brilliant.

You can get your copy at Amazon or any local yarn or book shop.

Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by Interweave Press. Thank you!

My Gush: Unique and useful–my favorite combination.

How We Made our Wedding Invitations (and how you can too)

Our wedding invitations all went out this week–which means a week ago Brock and I spent a lot of time putting them together. We’re throwing this wedding on a super tight budget, so every bit of money saved is a good thing. We discussed what we wanted to do a little bit, and spent a lot of time browsing etsy debating whether we should buy a downloadable, printable package or find a local artist to design them for us. We even debated making them completely from scratch ourselves. In the end we compromised a little bit. I was able to score the base of the invitations themselves in a clearance at Michael’s. Finding them was complete serendipity, but I was able to get all the stationary and stickers for the whole shebang in one day for a fraction of what you would pay a printer. Plus, we were able to include some very specific information for our guests regarding the pot-luck dinner and food allergies with no added costs.

The outside of the invitation, which, I think, was meant to be a birthday invitation, is fun and kind of quirky. The bright yellow envelop sets a cheerful mood and the elephant balancing on a ball is the perfect metaphor for putting on a wedding, but in a fun way, because he’s wearing a party hat! Plus, Circus. The inside, however, was completely blank. Stark white invitations are no fun at all, so I gathered my supplies and with a little design help from Brock, we were able to put the invitations together in one afternoon and evening.

makingtheinvitations

A little colored paper, a glue stick, some free fonts, a little time writing, and some funky scissors were all we used.

Here’s the whole experience from start to finish, just imagine the detritus of making them isn’t there.

weddinginvitationenvelope

weddinginvitations

invitation open

weddinginvitation

We glued the actual invitation into the card and included three inserts: a note concerning gifts and explaining why the wedding is gluten free, the call to action with the URL for RSVPs, and a label for whatever food dish they choose to bring listing common food allergens outside gluten so there’s no guessing and no accidental sickness.

My favorite part was probably going through the sticker book that matched the stationary. There are some creepy stickers in there.

creepy mustache sticker
What’s that all about?

So here’s what you really want to know, how much did all this cost and can you do it yourself? The cost breakdown is below and you can absolutely do this yourself.

Stationary: $15.00 (for 10 sets of 6)
Stickers: $3.00
Ticket-Edge Scissors: $1.99
Colored Paper: $15.00
Shipping Labels: $2.00 (estimate because I purchased a giant package of printable shipping labels ages ago)
Stamps: $20.70 (About 1/3 of our invitations have been hand delivered)
Fonts: Free (from here)
Design and Labor: Time

Total: $57.69*

All that, and the invitations are exactly how I want them to look. It’s pretty brilliant.

*I did not include the cost of ink in my accounting, because we have a laser printer, and the toner it takes for a job like this is negligible. However, if you are doing a project that involves color, please do not disregard the cost of printer ink.

Review: Knitting Pattern Essentials

Post image for Review: Knitting Pattern Essentials

patternessentials_016

First, the facts:

Title: Knitting Pattern Essentials: Adapting and Drafting Knitting Patterns for Great Knitwear

Author: Sally Melville

Published by: Potter Craft, 2013

Pages: 224

Type: Instructional, with patterns

Chapters:

1. Preparing to Draft
2. Basic Shapes
3. Shoulder Shaping, Back and Front Neck Shaping
4. Hem Alternatives
5. Side Shaping
6. Sleeve Alternatives
7. Cardigans
8. Fabrics, Finishes, and Fixes
9. Patterns

KS: Knitting Pattern Essentials

The In-Depth Look:

There are more and more books these days about how to design your own sweaters, but there are always niches left open, gaps to fill, and that’s what Sally Melville did here. She saw that there were plenty of books on design, but not on drafting and stepped forward to fill the need.

She writes in the introduction, “We don’t love what we don’t understand. As newer knitters, we often follow published patterns without question–patterns that may not be well written, patterns that may not be appropriate to our skill level, patterns for garments that bear no resemblance to the clothes we actually wear. We finish the garment … or not … and it looks okay … or not. In the latter case, we’re not quite sure what’s wrong but–without breaking stride–we’re off to the yarn shop for more yarn. (Knitters are unfailingly optimistic!)

What follows is basically a detailed explanation on how to knit the shapes you want. Well, no, that sounds simplistic. What follows is an analysis of the different shapes that go into a sweater (body, sleeves, necklines, and so on). She provides a chart for what combinations work together, and then plunges into details on how to do, well, everything.

Not the knitting part, mind you. The book assumes you already know the basics of actually knitting a pattern. Nor does she discuss colors and drape and fibers … that, she says has been well covered elsewhere (specifically mentioning Deborah Newton’s excellent Designing Knitwear).

No, what she does here is tell you what you need to know to get from point A to point B.

She explains, “This is not a design book. Design is different from drafting, and this book is about the latter–the mechanics and support material that bring your vision to life. Design is about finding that vision–where to look for inspiration, how to choose yarns, what colors work together, how to envision stitch patterns in combination and so on. … Throughout the book, you are the designer, and my job is to offer the know-how that makes your design become a garment.”

Still not clear? Without wanting to frighten anyone, think back to the geometry you learned in high school–the angles of triangles and steepness of curves and how there were certain mathematical requirements to make them work. (“If the slope of line A is half that of line B, how steep will line C be?”) Or, think about the pixels that make up your computer screen–when you zoom in ultra-close, things get “pixelated” and curves suddenly become choppy as you see the building blocks that go into each one … much like a series of knitting stitches being decreased at an armhole.

Now, if you’ve got the vision of a fantastic sweater in your head–you’ve got the yarn and the colors and the stitch patterns all clear in your head, but math and spatial reasoning isn’t your strong suit–this is the kind of book you need. Sally Melville walks you through each step and all you need to do is plug in numbers. (Stitch gauge is this, row gauge is this, neck will be this wide at bottom, this wide at the top, and this deep … how and when do I increase?)

She says specifically, “You will need to ‘do the math’ to draft a pattern. I know some of you don’t love the subject of math, but here’s what I would say by way of encouragement. Read the following to make sure you understand basic terminology and symbols. Then read about fudging, so weird results don’t scare you. … Above all, know that with a positive mind-set, and moving as slowly as you need to, it will all become familiar and comfortable very soon–and you’ll wonder why you ever thought it mysterious!

See? There’s a LOT of information in here, as she walks you through drafting a pattern from an existing sweater to start, and then letting your imagination go as you crunch the numbers for as many more as you want. (She even specifically says that if this means you never buy another of her patterns every again, she’s okay with that.) As a reward for learning/honing your new drafting skills, there are even 8 new patterns included in the book. All sweaters, because the book is devoted solely to drafting sweater patterns (not gloves, not hats, not shawls).

Really, it’s a wonderful book. Chock-full of information, presented in a helpful and appealing way. The tone is readable and pleasant (even when talking about math), and the information is top-notch.

This book can be found at Amazon.com.

Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by Potter Craft. Thank you!

My Gush: Helpful and informative.

Other posts for this author:

How to Plan Your Christmas Knitting*

Like most years, I am doing a little bit of Christmas knitting, though I am getting a late start on it because of the sickness I have been suffering from. I am doing much better, thank you for asking, just a bit of a cough left is all.

I meant to start my Christmas knitting just after Thanksgiving, but there is so much more to Christmas knitting than simply gathering yarn and needles. It takes planning–a careful handle on time management to get it all done and still sleep in the week leading up to the actual holiday. Here’s my guide to getting it all done right.

First, clean the house and rummage through closets to make space for the Christmas decorations and later for all of the Christmas presents that are going to come in. If you are like me you will likely find a set of needles or two that might come in handy for the actual knitting part–or yarn you forgot you had. How handy! Aren’t you glad you did that?

Then decorate the tree.

Try to be tastefully spare, if you can.

Next, it is imperative to try out a new Gingerbread Cookie recipe.

I find that Gingerbread Monsters go very well with a bit of Earl Grey–good way to cozy down to knitting a pair of mittens.

Then of course comes the most difficult part of Christmas Knitting: putting away all of the projects you really want to work on until you get through the stuff you have to do for everybody else.

Then get distracted and start a new project!



Finally, you are ready to cast on.

Make sure to do the most luscious project first. This one is 45% silk!

*Alternatively, The Procrastinator’s Guide to Christmas Knitting

Tutorial: DIY Pompom

Tutorial: Blocking Your Knitted/Crocheted Items

Fractal 3-ply: A “gradient spin”

When I think of gradient spinning, I think of starting with “gradient-dyed fiber” such as Fiber Optics’ gradient collection. Sadly, I have not yet gotten my hands on on of them yet. However, a fractal 3-ply attempt last year gave me the push to try a kind of gradient spinning.

I got a great batt from Fiber Stash back in April at the Wild and Woolly Weekend in Vermont. The 3.7 oz batt is 98% Corriedale, 2% twinkle, in a blue-purple, light blue, and black – here it is, unrolled:

The first step was to divide it into three sections, for a 3-ply, so that each section had each of the three colors. I then split 2 of the sections into even thirds, based on the colors, and the last section was split into sixths based on colors. I split the sections based on weight.

The idea is a fractal ply, but because I am doing a 3-ply, I will do it so that 2 of the sections are the same color, and a third is changing. The middle is the part divided into six:

I finally finished spinning, plying, skeining and washing, and here’s what the finished result looks like:

I think a shawl is in order to show off the lovely and subtle color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way, and will knit with all of it to make a good-sized shawl.

Fractal 3-ply: A “gradient spin”

It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, condom I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, information pills this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

After
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, condom I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, information pills this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

After
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, order I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, find this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, condom I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, information pills this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

After
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, order I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, find this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, more about I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, condom I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, information pills this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

After
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, order I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, find this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, more about I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
Buenos Aires has a span of a few blocks, hospital not too far from the Malabia metro station* where there are many yarn shops, phthisiatrician I counted 15, and went into 11 of them before I had to stop. The shops are on Ave. Scalabrini Ortiz just southwest of Ave. Cordoba, towards Ave. Correintes. The Malabia metro station is on the corner of Correintes and Scalabrini Ortiz, which is 1 km away from the corner of Cordoba and Corrientes, and about half that until you see your first yarn shop. There was a small bit of yarn bombing between two of the stores:

Yarn shopping in Buenos Aires is quite different from what I’m used to in the States. The stores all look like this:

The yarn is beautiful, and well-organized, but there’s no signs as to what the yarn is made up of, how much it costs nor the gauge of the yarn. In addition, you’re not supposed to take the yarn out of the bins. If you look at the bottom right of that picture, you’ll see some white yarn and blue yarn that is actually sitting on top of a counter. That counter separates you from the wall, and there are people behind the counter who can help you get what you want.

So it’s very different from the experience I’m used to. I got the feeling that a lot of people knew exactly what they wanted to buy, or walked in and would say “do you have anything made of wool?” I was feeling a bit shy due to the language barrier, so I picked up a Spanish phrase: “solamente mirando” – it means “Just looking”. The people are friendly and willing to help, but I like the yarn buying process to be a solo activity.

There were 2 exceptions to the fact that most stores don’t give any information about their items.: Milana hilados and Yanabey. Milana hilados had tags like this near most of their yarn:

Note that that’s in Argentinian pesos, and at the time, this was less than USD $10 per 100g. Another thing to note is the price is per 100g, not per hank of yarn. You’d ask a sales associate to take the yarn down for you and they’d weigh it and ask you if that was OK (kind of like at the deli counter). Then they give you a slip of paper and you take it to a cash register, where you’re usually helped by someone else. Another interesting thing is that the stores seemed to be staffed by about half men, half women, which is very different from yarn stores in the States, which are probably about 90% staffed by women.

I bought 3 hanks of yarn there, for about $25:

Yanabey had signs like this:

These prices are still in Argentinian pesos, but they’re in kilos. So these prices are $171 for 1 kilo, which is $17.10 for 100g. This is a wall of “seda vegetal”, or “vegetable silk“. By the way, that’s about USD $35 per kilo. So I bought 6 skeins, which was just over a kilo, because the tree which this comes from (ceiba speciosa, or “silk floss tree”) is native to South America, and I haven’t seen “vegetable silk” in the US.

A lot of the stores have the recycled t-shirt yarn, and I bought some at Arte Natural:

BUTTONS!!!

I was thinking I might make a purse from the yarn, like this:

That purse is crocheted, but I’m sure I can come up with a knitted version.

Here’s what I bought from that store:

Here’s a Spanish primer for some important words:
cachemira – cashmere
acrílico – acrylic
lana – wool
seda – silk
alpaca – alpaca
hilo – yarn (plural: hilados)
Also, I found out that cashmerillo is just an acrylic yarn that’s very soft. Don’t be fooled by price, some of the acrylic yarns are *very* expensive, even more expensive than the wool.

I was very excited by the prospect of all these yarn stores, and after these three purchases I was done, and passed by 4 other yarn stores that I didn’t even walk into. In addition, there were at least 2 weaving stores, and another 2 fabric stores. Only one of the yarn stores had fiber to spin, and it looked like combed top, and was somewhat expensive (by US standards).

All in all, I was extremely satisfied by taking a few hours to shop for yarn, but I found the experience quite different from what I’m used to.

* I was instructed by a friend who had visited Buenos Aires to take a taxi to the corner of X and Y. However, I enjoy walking around and public transit, so I noticed the subway stop was not far, and decided to walk a few blocks. To those who are considering what to do, a taxi would have cost about 20 pesos (about USD $5) each way. The subway costs $5 for two rides, but of course is not door to door. Another thing to note about the subway is that it is not the most modern system:

And you will get plenty of people trying to make money – some play music, which you may be used to from other subway systems. Others will go around a subway car, handing out products, and then go around and either collect the product back or collect money. I was handed tissues and Disney books – or at least, they attempted to hand stuff to me, and I refused. It helped that I had knitting in my hands, but I saw them just place stuff on people’s laps if their hands were busy, so don’t just look away, make sure you actually refuse by shaking your head.

Note: I hope this article is helpful! Due to spam reasons, all articles on this site have comments disabled after a short time. If you want to leave feedback, you can tweet @sheeri or e-mail me at awfief at gmail dot com. (replace “at” with @ and
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of both it and the woven scarf before long.
It was very important that I write my previous post when I did – Wed 25 July – because the very next day, of the fun I had, but I’d also like to highlight the knitting I did.

I started knitting a Color Affection shawl, in some Novita Polku that I bought in Finland in May. I started the shawl the first day, which was mostly lounging around while we were in the port of Boston (where we all embarked) and then while the cruise ship was traveling. I continued the shawl on Friday 27 July, and then on Saturday 28 July we landed in the port of St. John’s, New Brunswick. I chose to take a bus to Fredericton, to see the city hall, learn some history, and visit Yarns on York to meet local knitters and take a class on Newfoundland Mittens, aka “Newfie Mitts”. I got a bit done, but I believe I will rip out what I’ve done, make it smaller, and do the “windows” in the multicolored black and the background/wrists in the green. Still, here’s the progress shot, even though this will be frogged later:

On Sunday, I chose to do one of the two classes offered at The Loop in Halifax. The class I chose was one on how to do thrummed mittens, and the instructor Mimi was amazing. I did not take the class for the Bermuda Scarf/shawl, but I heard that the 2nd class was not as great, probably due to the first class running very late and Mimi running out of steam (teaching 2 classes in one day is tough, and who knows if she even had time to eat!). Given that, I’m glad I did not stay for the 2nd class (I did buy the pattern and yarn for it, so I can make the shawl), and instead did a 10-mile bicycle tour of Halifax. At any rate, I did enjoy working on the thrummed mittens, and here is my progress (I haven’t done anything with it since that weekend):

And the inside looks like this:

I learned lots of great tips from Mimi, like using a wool with a lot of lanolin in it, so it’s “sticky” and holds the thrums in better.

There was a lot of knitting that weekend, and in the few weeks that followed. This past week I finished knitting Tony’s scarf, after having to spin more yarn and buy more on Cape Cod while helping a friend do the Pan-Mass Challenge at the beginning of August. I still have to finish the scarf by weaving in the ends and blocking it, but it’s finally the right length, and Tony will be able to use it this coming fall/winter.

I also finished the scarf I was weaving (the June Spunky Eclectic weaving club), but I still need to block it before taking a picture of it. A new weaving club for August is on its way, so I’ll have something new to warp soon.

I am not going on a plane until the end of September, and my next travel is scheduled for mid-September, around Rosh Hashanah – I will be going to the New York City area for 2 weekends (coming back to Boston for a wedding in between). I hope to finish the Color Affection Shawl soon, and get pictures of
So, online I mentioned in the last post that I had finished 2 objects – side effects and the June Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club, which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend. Folded over a towel bar it’d make a very long kitchen or guest towel, I guess?

Any ideas?
So, , which I opted to do a table runner. It was my first experience with using a pick-up stick. I’m happy with how both came out (especially after ironing the scarf…I don’t even iron clothes!).

Crooked Little Tony scarf

Pick-up-sticks table runner

I’m thrilled with how drapey the table runner is. My only problem is that I have no idea what to do with it – it’s 33 inches by 22 inches. It’s too short for a scarf, but I don’t have an appropriate table to use it on. It’s a superwash merino/bamboo/viscose blend.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, gonorrhea I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, condom I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, information pills this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

After
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, order I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, find this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
I am so excited about tonight’s Common Cod Fiber Guild Meeting featuring Pam Parmal of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts talking about the collection strategy for textiles and fashion. And since I last wrote, more about I have finished a few objects…..

The first is another Hoot Cardigan, this time made out of Universal Yarns Supreme Cotton Batik, that I picked up in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier this year. I love the Supreme Cotton line from Universal yarns, because it is super soft. Unfortunately, I have only been able to find it in LYS in North Carolina….I hear that is changing soon, though! Here’s the cardigan, made for a friend of mine who just had his first son:

And then there’s the August Weaving Club from Spunky Eclectic – cotton dishcloths! I did not follow the pattern; instead I tried out a herringbone/pinwheel pattern. It came out wonderfully!

I ended up making 2 towels, one a bit shorter because I ran out of warp, but here’s the shorter one hanging from a peg next to our sink (please excuse the dirty dishes and Guinness cans to be rinsed).

The bigger one is in constant use as Tony’s “potato cozy”. That’s not a euphemism, Tony eats a baked potato like one would eat an apple, whole and uncut. Because it’s hot, he uses a towel wrapped around it to hold it.

And finally, the pièce de résistance. This is a Color Affection Shawl that I made from 3 different skeins of Novita’s Polku yarn, which I acquired in Finland earlier this year.

Here’s a close-up shot of the ‘center’ of this assymmetrical shawl:

And a little zoomed out:

Here’s the full-size shot:

I also spun up a “fractal 3-ply” which I will write about next time.
Buenos Aires has a span of a few blocks, hospital not too far from the Malabia metro station* where there are many yarn shops, phthisiatrician I counted 15, and went into 11 of them before I had to stop. The shops are on Ave. Scalabrini Ortiz just southwest of Ave. Cordoba, towards Ave. Correintes. The Malabia metro station is on the corner of Correintes and Scalabrini Ortiz, which is 1 km away from the corner of Cordoba and Corrientes, and about half that until you see your first yarn shop. There was a small bit of yarn bombing between two of the stores:

Yarn shopping in Buenos Aires is quite different from what I’m used to in the States. The stores all look like this:

The yarn is beautiful, and well-organized, but there’s no signs as to what the yarn is made up of, how much it costs nor the gauge of the yarn. In addition, you’re not supposed to take the yarn out of the bins. If you look at the bottom right of that picture, you’ll see some white yarn and blue yarn that is actually sitting on top of a counter. That counter separates you from the wall, and there are people behind the counter who can help you get what you want.

So it’s very different from the experience I’m used to. I got the feeling that a lot of people knew exactly what they wanted to buy, or walked in and would say “do you have anything made of wool?” I was feeling a bit shy due to the language barrier, so I picked up a Spanish phrase: “solamente mirando” – it means “Just looking”. The people are friendly and willing to help, but I like the yarn buying process to be a solo activity.

There were 2 exceptions to the fact that most stores don’t give any information about their items.: Milana hilados and Yanabey. Milana hilados had tags like this near most of their yarn:

Note that that’s in Argentinian pesos, and at the time, this was less than USD $10 per 100g. Another thing to note is the price is per 100g, not per hank of yarn. You’d ask a sales associate to take the yarn down for you and they’d weigh it and ask you if that was OK (kind of like at the deli counter). Then they give you a slip of paper and you take it to a cash register, where you’re usually helped by someone else. Another interesting thing is that the stores seemed to be staffed by about half men, half women, which is very different from yarn stores in the States, which are probably about 90% staffed by women.

I bought 3 hanks of yarn there, for about $25:

Yanabey had signs like this:

These prices are still in Argentinian pesos, but they’re in kilos. So these prices are $171 for 1 kilo, which is $17.10 for 100g. This is a wall of “seda vegetal”, or “vegetable silk“. By the way, that’s about USD $35 per kilo. So I bought 6 skeins, which was just over a kilo, because the tree which this comes from (ceiba speciosa, or “silk floss tree”) is native to South America, and I haven’t seen “vegetable silk” in the US.

A lot of the stores have the recycled t-shirt yarn, and I bought some at Arte Natural:

BUTTONS!!!

I was thinking I might make a purse from the yarn, like this:

That purse is crocheted, but I’m sure I can come up with a knitted version.

Here’s what I bought from that store:

Here’s a Spanish primer for some important words:
cachemira – cashmere
acrílico – acrylic
lana – wool
seda – silk
alpaca – alpaca
hilo – yarn (plural: hilados)
Also, I found out that cashmerillo is just an acrylic yarn that’s very soft. Don’t be fooled by price, some of the acrylic yarns are *very* expensive, even more expensive than the wool.

I was very excited by the prospect of all these yarn stores, and after these three purchases I was done, and passed by 4 other yarn stores that I didn’t even walk into. In addition, there were at least 2 weaving stores, and another 2 fabric stores. Only one of the yarn stores had fiber to spin, and it looked like combed top, and was somewhat expensive (by US standards).

All in all, I was extremely satisfied by taking a few hours to shop for yarn, but I found the experience quite different from what I’m used to.

* I was instructed by a friend who had visited Buenos Aires to take a taxi to the corner of X and Y. However, I enjoy walking around and public transit, so I noticed the subway stop was not far, and decided to walk a few blocks. To those who are considering what to do, a taxi would have cost about 20 pesos (about USD $5) each way. The subway costs $5 for two rides, but of course is not door to door. Another thing to note about the subway is that it is not the most modern system:

And you will get plenty of people trying to make money – some play music, which you may be used to from other subway systems. Others will go around a subway car, handing out products, and then go around and either collect the product back or collect money. I was handed tissues and Disney books – or at least, they attempted to hand stuff to me, and I refused. It helped that I had knitting in my hands, but I saw them just place stuff on people’s laps if their hands were busy, so don’t just look away, make sure you actually refuse by shaking your head.

Note: I hope this article is helpful! Due to spam reasons, all articles on this site have comments disabled after a short time. If you want to leave feedback, you can tweet @sheeri or e-mail me at awfief at gmail dot com. (replace “at” with @ and
When I think of gradient spinning, visit I think of starting with “gradient-dyed fiber” such as Fiber Optics’ gradient collection. Sadly, I have not yet gotten my hands on on of them yet. However, a fractal 3-ply attempt last year gave me the push to try a kind of gradient spinning.

I got a great batt from Fiber Stash back in April at the Wild and Woolly Weekend in Vermont. The 3.7 oz batt is 98% Corriedale, 2% twinkle, in a blue-purple, light blue, and black – here it is, unrolled:

The first step was to divide it into three sections, for a 3-ply, so that each section had each of the three colors. I then split 2 of the sections into even thirds, based on the colors, and the last section was split into sixths based on colors. I split the sections based on weight.

The idea is a fractal ply, but because I am doing a 3-ply, I will do it so that 2 of the sections are the same color, and a third is changing. The middle is the part divided into six:

I finally finished spinning, plying, skeining and washing, and here’s what the finished result looks like:

I think a shawl is in order to show off the lovely and subtle color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way, and will knit with all of it to make a good-sized shawl.