Knitopolis

Gossamer Stars

There was a somewhat primitive look about Gossamer Stars that appealed to me when I first saw it.  Turns out that it may have been due to the wrong side being featured in Interweave Knits, according to the designer, Kat Coyle.

No matter.  I still like it.  I needed something easy to take on my commute and I need some silky scarves to help sheild myself from the sun this summer (Knitspot Anne has a ton of great lacy scarves I've been considering).

To compliment this primitive look, I chose a color that is completely out of character for me--a tea-stained looking color of Tilli Tomas "Fil de la Mer" called "Parchment".

This is my first time with the heavier weight version of the silk/seacell blends.   I don't especially care for the construction of the this particular yarn.   Because I could not resist the color, I picked up a couple of skeins of Tilli Tomas "Soie de la Mer" in "Caribbean." 

I like it better--it's spun rather than plied.

Sheesh.  I can't believe I'm taking more stash pics.  I really need to let up on the lace yarn purchases--the stash is growing out of control while I continue my usual slow pace of knitting. 

Shopping on the Intertubes is great--one can find so many interesting things that you'll just never find at the nearest megamall.  Even if they had these things, you wouldn't know to look for them.

Three cool internet purchases I've made in the past 30 days.  And they're all vaguely knitting related.

An original artwork:

By this artist Susie Ghahremani, purchased from this gallery.  It's very tiny--maybe 2'X3"?--that's about all the original artwork I can afford.  Susie has a lot of great stuff for sale at her online shop--she even has notepads with a similar kitty/ball of yarn motif. 

Shoes for summer:

Fabulous artist Camilla Engman's version of Converse All Stars low-tops purchased here.  Camilla is, of course, renowned also for her unique crocheted animals.  Alright, that's crochet-related, not knitting, but still...

A set of photographic prints:

purchased from knitblogger (and knitwear model) sixoneseven (purchased here).

Bonus cool purchase:

Yes, more Handmaiden Sea Silk.  This color is called "Ireland" (purchased here).  Purdy.

New and Old Yarn Loves

My new yarn love is Shibui.  It is delightful--gorgeous color and texture.  I have three skeins of sock yarn (Peony, Chinese Red, and Pagoda, l to r) and one skein of Silk Cloud (Chinese Red).  I've been looking forward to starting and pair of Transition Gloves, but was delayed a bit because I was sent a skein of Pagoda rather than the Peony which I ordered.  The folks at Knit/Purl offered to make a very convenient and reasonable swap, but when there was a slight shipping delay on their part, they told me to keep both skeins!  Knitting peoples are good peoples.

I still loves me some Rowan Cork, though.  This is the aforementioned "Pete" from the Cork Collection in "Plunge"--a gorgeous deep navy blue with flecks of ultramarine.  There were several lots of Cork on eBay recently.  I resisted the urge, but instead of being proud of myself, I'm feeling regretful!  Need.  More.  Cork!

 

Pr0n 4 U

This summer we've had over 35 days with temps over 90 degrees, including today.  We certainly picked a terrible summer to make a move, but at least we are finished with the hauling, schlepping, etc.  The downstairs is crammed with boxes, bags, unplaced furniture, with little paths carved out for us to reach the kitchen and laundry room.  It will take months to unpack everything, but I really love the house, so it'll all be worth the effort.

At least the upstairs is livable as we try to figure out what we want to do.  We're using the second bedroom as a den and last weekend I organized my yarn.  I have mucho yarn, as you can see.   These bins are an improvement over my previous system--random bags and boxes in a pile.

I've actually managed to do a bit of stash enhancing during this heck-ish month (priorities!).  The theme appears to be skeins with both warm and cool greens. 

First, Handmaiden Mini-Maiden in "Peridot" (from Knitty Knoddy).  This "Peridot" is quite different from the Sea Silk I used for Tuscany.  I love the earthy green with the blue greens (and a touch of lavender)

Next, Habu Silk Mohair hand-dyed Kasuri (from pureknits).  I love how the grassy green is combined with olive-y greens.  Unusual.  Habu should do more handpaints, I think.

Kaalund Classic II in "Moss" (also from pureknits).  Again, blue-greens and yellow-greens.  I want to make a "Bee Fields" shawl from this.  I even took some time to cast on--you know, just to see.  I think I'm going to really enjoy knitting with this yarn--I love the sproinginess.

Take a look at this stunner:

This yarn blows me away.  The color is unbelievable.  This is 2-ply silk from Piece of Beauty in "Ocean Minerals".  I originally bought a single skein, but had to order another--yarn this beautiful deserves to be used on a major project.  This photo doesn't do it justice--you can't see all the beautiful variations of green--yes, even this yarn has some olive green.

Actual knitting?  "Sarcelle" continues. 

I am still doing most of the knitting on my bus-to-subway commute.  I found a half-finished sleeve to Grace in the bottom of my purse.  It's been so knocked around, I'm probably going to have to start it over.  I don't even know where my poor Swallowtail is hiding.

Slowly, though, life will normalize, I hope.  With autumn around the corner, the pleasures of knitting with wool will beckon.

ps--the SKIF patterns have arrived!  More about that tomorrow.

The Silas Marner of Rowan Cork

The Quest continues.

I have alluded to my exponentially growing Rowan Cork stash.  I had amassed enough Cork for sweaters in "Chilly", "Vapor", "Horizon", "Plush", "Dawn", and "Sour", plus I have a few onesie/twosies in "Snuggle", "Pleasure", "Delight", and "Heather".  Shockingly, I admit this with little shame.

I think I'm only missing "Mouse", "Sable", and "Very Berry" from this color card, but I have "Dawn" which is an even older color (bottom row of the pile, second from the right).   The color card is a scan, but I'd love to get my hands on a real one--but that's just my collector instinct coming out.

This was a problem for me: 

Rowan Cork, color #036 "Plunge".

Ooh, Plunge.  A beautiful deep blue with flecks of ultramarine. 

I was able to put together 7 skeins from 3 different sources, but I needed 3 more to make a pullover for Mr. Sweetie (dyelots, be damned!).

A few online shops indicated that they had the color in stock, but inevitably, after ordering I would receive an email explaining that--oops--so sorry, they didn't have the yarn after all.  I think that happened four times.

There were two recent eBay auctions of Cork "Plunge".  One for 10 skeins and another for 8.  I bid on the latter and realized at some point that the auction would end while we were on the road to the beach.  I had made what I thought was a fairly healthy initial bid, but I intended to increase it for extra security before we left.  However, in all the hubbub, I neglected to do so and ended up losing the auction by one measly dollar.  $1.00!!!  Talk about heartbreaking.  Ruined my day, it did.

I feared that the reserves of Cork "Plunge" had run dry for good.

Then I found another online shop claiming to have "Plunge" in stock.  This particular shop had not surfaced before in my many, many previous searches.  As if it were preserved in amber from a past when Cork was plentiful and roamed the world in large packs, there was a whole list of apparently available colors.  I ordered.  The order was confirmed.  But was it real?  I have received "confirmations" in the past that turned out to be bogus.

But that's not all.  I ordered the skeins of "Plunge" so quickly that I neglected to fully comprehend that there was another color in the shop.  I only thought of it later and rushed back to look.  There is was.  The Holy Grail of Cork.  Color Number #043, aka, "Ivy"...arglgerlglghehrg...

I have never seen this color, either online or in person; never seen a photo of a WIP or FO.  Did it even exist?   Needless to say, I placed an order.

This morning, I received an email--the shop did not have the four skeins of "Plunge" I ordered.  No, they only had three--they were so sorry.  Woo-hoo!  I only needed three, the fourth was just an extra!  And they have the "Ivy" ready to ship!  And, so, what the hey, I ordered a couple of skeins in "Earthy" and "Very Berry," while I was at it.

After this latest binge, I think I'm ready to give up trying to corner the market on the remaining world reserves of this most wonderful wool.   I think I can safely say, "I have more than enough, thank you."   Perhaps I can leave a little for others out there who have yet to discover Cork.  Perhaps.

Knitting, yes; blogging, not so much...

 

I've had an array of connection/camera/computer problems for the past several weeks, plus I was off on my annual pre-Memorial Day beach trip, and, oh, yeah, we bought a house (yikes!).  Let's say I've been a bit distracted.  Still,  I've managed to keep up with some knitting.  I worked on Tuscany at the beach and finished all but the cast-off which I completed the first night back.   Here it is all blocked and finished.

Tuscany is from "No Sheep for You" and knitted with Handmaiden Sea Silk in "Peridot".  Perfect springtime mid-Atlantic beachy colors.

No sooner did I finish that I cast on another shawl, a Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style.

This is my second Shetland Triangle.  I finished one a year ago as a wedding present for a friend.  This one is for myself and I'm knitting it with Tilli Tomas Voile de la Mer (color:  "Atmosphere"), similar to Sea Silk, but a tad weightier and the silk/seacell split is 60/40 rather than 70/30.

There's not much to show so far, so I won't bother, but I'm still trying to figure out what to knit with my Pureknits Bamboo Lace.   Sarcelle is the latest candidate (I've ran through a few already).  Maybe I'll have something to show next week.  Unlike Voile de la Mer and Sea Silk, this stuff is very, very fine and therein lays my problem.   My experiments with Sarcelle, thus far, have suggested that the key to being able to knit with such a fine yarn is to use a small needle.  It's much easier to knit with a US2 than a US4.

Finally,  aren't these beeyootiful?  These were a very nice surprise from Kris as a thank you for helping her out with some Kid Silk Haze a little while back which resulted in one of the most gorgeous cardis ever seen on the Internets.

Crime and Punishment

This naughty project is going to the corner for awhile.

See why?

Somehow, I guess, a stitch marker was moved (who moved it?--surelynot me!).  I didn't notice it until I had divided the sleeves of this future pullover hoodie from Knitting Pure & Simple (with Cascade 220 yarn in "Aqua").  This is nice mindless knitting, but I guess I took the "mindless" part a little too much to heart.  It's going to be too warm for wool, soon.  Things aren't looking too good for little hoodie.  I'm very annoyed. 

So much so that I cast on some lace. I enhanced my Handmaiden Sea Silk stash recently simply because this new color was irresistible.  Peridot.

I practically swoon every time I look at it.  I'm making "Tuscany" from No Sheep For You.

It looks to be an elongated triangle of my beloved leaf lace (perhaps with the extra lateral width, I will avoid what Mason-Dixon Kay memorably refers to Jemima Puddle-Duck Syndrome).

I finished "Stevie" (from, It's a Tape Thing).

t's cute.

I still need to find a brooch closure of some sort.  Jillian found these--pretty nice.

Oh, and I think I have enough yellow/green cardigans for now. 

I still have a surfeit of Rowan Cotton Tape in several colors (although it is dwarved by the burgeoning Cork reserves I've been quietly amassing--bwah-ha-ha-ha!).  I'm not sure how I ended up with so much.  Oh, well, the weather is warming up, it knits up fast, and there are several nice vintage patterns for it by La Kim.

And, "Wicked"?  It wasn't naughtly, but it got put in the corner, too.  Limbo still exists for knitting projects.

The Green I Wore Yesterday

Well, I wore it in my lap mostly. Siena, from IK Fall 2006, knit with Blue Sky Cotton (Lemongrass--I can't seem to get a photo that shows the intensity of the color). I finished knitting the pieces several months ago, but put them away to work on more cold weather knits. I nearly forgot about it.

Anyway, once I finally got it, it took all of Friday evening, all day yesterday, and part of this morning to do the finishing. Ugh. I don't know why it took so long. I suppose having to redo the collar because I didn't read the instructions carefully contributed. Also, I had to reknit the left button band because I knitted it on the right the first time. Being an idiot really slows thing down.

This Blue Sky Cotton is awfully fluffy. There are little flurfs and fibers everywhere. I washed the pieces before finishing, but perhaps another washing will help. It's nice yarn, I guess, but (surprisingly) woolen Cork is softer and more comfortable to wear. Still, I'm planning to knit something else this spring with another color I have in the stash.

Here's another green beauty I started winding yesterday.

Sundara Silk Lace (Green Over Yellow). This stuff is gorgeous and feels great. Again, I just can't get the color. This is an intense grass green. Now I'm torn between using this or my beautiful pureknits bamboo for my next big lace project.

And look what Sundara included in the package:

Sock yarn in "Forestry". Just because of a small mix-up. Wasn't that nice? I haven't knitted any socks in awhile, I may need to get started on a pair right away.

Finally, if you haven't tried Good Soapworks of Athens from Knitopolis friend Megan, I highly recommend it. Not only does she make great soap (the "Earth Spirit" is amazing), they look great, too. The packaging is excellent. A totally professional presentation. These would, as they say, make great gifts.

Now, back to Wicked!

Greetings from Baltimore

Mr. Sweetie and I took a little trip last weekend to Baltimore--sort of a partial Christmas giftie to each other.  We visited Fell's Point where, out of curiosity, we tried a "coddie" at Theresa's Diner in the Broadway Market (--uh, it's a round fish stick). Then we went to the Inner Harbor, ho hum--the National Aquarium was cool (love the dophins)--but the highlight was the Hamden neighborhood (think John Waters) and the fabulous excess of the 700 block of 34th Street.  Row houses on both sides of the block are decorated to the max, some to the point of absurdity.  Photos don't capture it.  Ya hadda be there.  There was music playing, tons of people, and several of the residents had open house with long lines of neighbors and tourists filing through their homes.

Lucy was impressed, too.

Earlier in the day, I was charmed by this Hamden shop's window display (the shop being "In Watermelon Sugar", yes, like the Richard Brautigan novella).  I feel compelled to mention without comment that all these cute items were made in China.  I bought one of the little gnomes who has since taken up residence in the Christmas tree.

I got some souvenir Malabrigo at Lovely Yarns.  They were kind enough to wind it in a ball for me, but then I ran off without the label, so I'm not sure what color this is.

In other stash news, I received this from Loop last week:

A. L. Sauveterre "Estelle" cashmere.  The color is called "Nuclear Hobbit".  I've been admiring Axelle's yarns for a long time and just finally broke down a bought a little bon-bon for myself.  It feels so lovely on my face that I think it should become a lacey cowl of some sort.

With the backdrop of asphalt, the mittens that are to being sent to Kentucky.  I was on my way to the post office when I snapped a last look.

The red stripes are from a bunch of Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool leftover from last Christmas and the purple ones are made from my stash of sadly discontinued Rowan Cork.

Finally, as if it isn't bad enough that Target forces me to spend an average of $75 on stuff I don't need everytime I go there, but today, just as I'm experiencing a serious case of earworm with that Goldfrapp song they're using in one of their current commercials, I have my first subway tunnel advertising experience--a Target ad, natch. What really burns my cookies is that I totally had this very idea back in the early 90s! That's what I get for not following through. Of course, I envisioned animated art in the tunnels, not ads.

We have achieved sockage...

A small FO:

These are knit with Snitches self-striping yarn (color: Beardsley) on a US2 circular. Just a generic top-down sock with a picot edge. I removed a few yards of yarn from the ball after picking up the heel stitches so that I wouldn't have a thick black stripe at that point.

Obligatory shoe photo:

It's always nice to have an easy project lying around for mindless knitting and self-striping socks are perfect.

I've been on such a spendy binge lately: cleaned out Target on Tord Boontje stuff, scored an armload of DVDs at Tower Records going-out-of-business sale (all b&w), and I've been buying lots and lots of yarn. Clearly, I've got issues. I'm just not sure what they are.

This is just the sock yarn:

Well, most of it. There are a couple of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Colortweeds (#1001--the reds--and #1004--the blue-greens); a skein of Regia Canadian Colors (#4732); more stripey Sknitches (Elm Street); Sundara Yarns in Leaf Peepers; and finally, Yarntini in Lime Twist.

Of course, if this were true stash pr0n, I would close in on the Yarntini's naughtly bits--it's a really gorgeous semi-solid in my favorite color--and the beautiful variegations in Sundara's yarn. Both are so beautiful.

Never mind that it would take me a year to actually knit 6 pairs of socks. I'm prepared for hard times should they come. Maybe when I'm 90 years old, I'll still want to knit and be grateful for my stash.

Finally, as I was taking these photos out on the balcony, I realized that, somehow, I like my view a lot better than I did a couple of weeks ago.

I'll like it even better January 20 3, 2007 (edit--thx, Nora!)