Tag Archives: dyeing

Dyeing, Dyeing, And Even More Dyeing!

A little while ago I received several large boxes full of Juniper Moon Farm Share Yarn. This is always super exciting for me because it’s my first peek at the actual finished product pulled off the backs of the sheep we know and love.

09.30.14a

My craft room overfloweth! (and my living room, and my garage…..)

09.30.14b

Can’t you just smell that sheepy, wooly goodness?

The Cormo feels divine, and I adore it in its natural state.

BUT.

I get to have fun playing with colors!

Susan gave me some suggestions for color idea this year, and combined with that and a look at previous year’s colors (to be sure I didn’t repeat anything too recent), I started playing around with the dyes.  I wanted colors that were rich but not overbearing, and I wanted to use colorways that I could get consistency from.  Since we dye in smaller batches I didn’t want each batch to be wildly different than the one before it. Reds are notoriously difficult (in my experience) with this, but after some experimentation I found one that worked.  The blue I loved immediately, and the purple gave enough variety in shading to be fun without looking blotchy.

09.30.14c

I am really pleased with the results.  I also love how nicely the yarn blooms out after a bath.

The dyeing will begin in earnest once everyone who bought a share indicates their color choice, and then it will be shipped out the very instant it is dry.

I hope everyone loves this fiber as much as I do!

Sock Club 2014: January

SockClubJan7

If you haven’t received your sock club shipment yet and want January’s colorway to be a surprise, don’t read any further. Go do something boring because I’m about to show you some pretty yarn!

This January brought with it the so-called Polar Vortex – icy winds that typically cyclone over the north pole headed south into much of the Eastern US, breaking record low-temps – including in Virginia. Although we’re grateful that the morning’s chores did not include this, like it did when the farm was in NY…

Why I moved to from NY to VA

The underground hose still was frozen, even after the temps rose above freezing. Amy started to drive water down to the flock in the tractor twice a day.

01-04-13e

Even last week when the temps were above freezing, the section of the hose that was buried underground to protect it from being run over by the tractor was still frozen. (Amy dug it out, and after some time in the sun it started working again.)

So it’s no wonder that for January I saw icy blue and white yarn. And it’s why I named January’s colorway Polar Vortex.

SockClubJan1

As people who had to be out in the cold we were a bit miserable, but as farmers, we’re thrilled that it got so cold. Why? Because a hard freeze kills off parasites that lie dormant in the pasture during the cold months and that we have to work so hard to fight against in the summer months. This freezing, deeply-penetrating cold is going to leave us with a cleaner pasture – with fewer parasites – for the spring, when we’re due to have lambs and new mothers who are immune-compromised and would have a more difficult time fighting off parasites.

SockClubJan2

So these ice cold winds are a blessing, even if it means driving water down or digging up frozen hoses. I’d take it any day over losing animals to parasites. (Of course that’s easy to say when Amy has to do the hard work of the water duty.)

Because we dyed some of the yarn in Virginia with Tanya and Cris’s help, but I was shipping it from Massachusetts, half of my suitcase looked like this:

SockClubJan6

The other half held February’s yarn, but you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks before you can see that. I don’t mind telling you how anxious I was waiting for the suitcase to come off the conveyor belt at the airport!

While Julie and my mom were putting labels on tags and then putting the tags on the yarn, my friend Rachel was hand-stamping each bag, carefully comparing it to the previous bag for quality control purposes…

SockClubJan4

Then each month was hand-written by yours truly…

SockClubJan5

And then the bag tops had to be folded, holes punched into the top, the yarn paced inside, and then the package was tied at the top.

DSC_0056

Julie helped me package things up while I printed shipping labels:

DSC_0091

It was a relief when all the packages were lined up and ready to go to the post office! It took five days, and about 7 people helping (we expanded the number of club members due to popular demand), but the yarn went out right on time.

DSC_0093

Although I was happy to see it go, Polar Vortex holds a special place in my heart as a color. And as a parasite killer.

SockClubJan3

If you missed out on being a club member and want to know when memberships will open up again for next quarter, you can sign up to receive an email.

Result of a day of Dyeing

 

We’re dyeing at Amy’s house, as she’s got a great back porch set up that’s perfect for dyeing and drying yarn. Yesterday, Susie was on her way to a meeting in DC, so I put the rest of the house to work after school was over. Oona has become my little shadow and a changed little being since I last saw her in January:DSC_0999

Amy is making the doofiest face here, but she’s going to have to live with it being on the blog because she knew I was taking a picture…

DSC_1001

When we were finished and I went into the bathroom, I took a good look at myself and saw that I was filthy with soot and dye. This is after Neve’s special hand soak and it much improved from when I first came in:

DSC_1013

Fortunately, a shower and some good scrubbing has cleared away most of the dye and soot, although it’s still clinging to around my nail bed. When all this is over, I’m going to pamper my hands. Don’t worry, I’ll share MY special recipe for soft, clean hands!

Come back this afternoon for to see which favorite older pattern we’re releasing digitally for the first time and giving away for FREE!

Creative Bug

As a way to keep me from being bored while Susie is in Scotland (ha, ha!), Susie got me a subscription to Creative Bug. I’ve only been knitting since 2009 when SuzyQ taught me late one night while sitting on Susie’s couch. One thing I love about knitting is that there is always so much to learn! I’m constantly being engaged by learning something new, whether it’s a trying out a new construction or technique or even just playing with different stitches.

So tonight I had a little fun exploring the Creative Bug workshops in order to see what else I could learn. Melanie Falick’s Kool-Aid Dyed Yarn workshop caught my eye, since Susie’s dyed last month’s sock club yarn with Kool Aid solarly. I’ve done a little kool aid dyeing myself, so I thought I’d see what the workshop had to teach me.

This workshop is an introduction to Kool Aid dyeing and will give you all the basics to dye at home. It mostly shows you the stove top method, but it does also briefly touch on solar dyeing, which I know some Ravelry group members had an interest in after seeing the sock club yarn.

Solar Kool-Aid Dyed YarnJMF Kool Aid Solar Dyed Sock Club Yarn

One thing I love about dyeing with Kool Aid or Wilton’s Icing dye is that it’s safe to use your regular cooking pots and utensils. Acid dyes require special dye-only utensils and pots because they shouldn’t be ingested. But Kool Aid is safe to consume (even if you wouldn’t want to!) so you can dye with your kids and then cook pasta for dinner in the same pot.

Since I have a subscription, I’ll be able to watch as many workshops as I’d like for one flat fee. There are subscriptions in one, three, and six month options so you can plan to craft for as little or as long as you’d like. If you don’t want to commit to a specific time period, Creative Bug also offers an a la carte option where you only pay for the classes you want to take.

I’ve already got my eye on several more workshops including the color theory workshop and the double knitting workshop to see if I can sharpen my skills. And I haven’t even started to explore the other categories!

Creative Video Workshops on Creativebug.com

What Creative Bug workshops do you think I should take?

JMF will receive a percentage of the sales made on Creative Bug through our site and we’ll be putting it into the 2013 Heifer fund.

More Dyeing….and FINALLY. Clay.

This past weekend was the long awaited two day dye workshop that I had arranged for our guild.  Julie Hodge, a professor at UMW led the course.  And we were so fortunate to be able to use the school's dye studio!  All the tools at our fingertips.





Prereduced Indigo.  A magical thing.  Starting from scratch to create an indigo dye vat is a long and touchy business.  With the prereduced you just mix in water, add soda ash and the Thiourea Dioxide.  No messing with that nasty lye and no need to even heat it up!

And the results are a quick amazing blue!
(Taken from the second floor window because I was too busy to run down closer!)



Julie demonstrating the color wheel project we worked on on the second day.




Color mixing, starting with only the three primaries.  Who needs to buy a bunch of fancy colors!



And finally on Monday (yesterday) it was back to clay.  I organized the shelves well enough to jump in.  It was a little touch and go to start out.  I haven't thrown on my elevated wheel for over a year!

But 24 pots in a couple of hours doesn't seem to be too bad for me. 








Today I wore my weaving hat.  
Tomorrow? 

 I trim bowls!



All the Pretty Colors!

Last weekend was Maryland Sheep and Wool.  The fiber lovers' version of Woodstock.  But better since it is an annual event!

My plan was to be very controlled.  But the birthday money burning a hole in my pocket (and God help me the bright colors) meant this is what came home with me!


To make the day even better I finally was able to meet up with a couple of friends known only to me via Ravelry!  If you had told me 10 years ago (I originally typed 20 but then realized the internet is really not that old!!) that I would be making such wonderful friends over the internet I would have told you you were crazy.



As if that was not enough, Kristen, second from the right and of Gilead Fiber Farm for whom I made these cups, made an extra trip down to Fredericksburg to hang out and have a dye day!  And until MDSW we had never even met in person.

So dye day.





Kristen, shepherd and dyer extraordinaire....



"Seymour" from Gilead Fiber Farm.  Finn lamb and kid mohair





 My new screen porch turned dye studio!  I was very careful (this time anyway) to keep from dripping dye on the new concrete floor...
The colors are SO much more vibrant then these photos.  But pretty here nonetheless I think.


The above picture and the picture below is a product of the same dye pot.  The wool/mohair blend on the left was a light brown, while the wool/mohair on the right was a natural cream.  Both came from RJ in Oklahoma.






Above and below center is named "Veritek" and is a blend from Gilead.  I think it is coopworth and mohair if I remember correctly.  It was a last minute gift as Kristen left to start her drive north....she left at 2:30 but I was still waiting on my last pot of goodies after dark!



Cormo.

The ironic thing is that I have planned a series of dye workshops for our local fiber guild to be taught by a local University professor for this Summer.

I think I am warmed up and ready!

Latvian Mittens! Fastest Living Thing! (Zone of Repugnance, don’t worry, no creepies here)

Or a single mini-mitt, and not quite finished…

A friend and I went down to Portland for a class in making Latvian Mittens. They are quite the art form and have a rich and interesting history, like much knitting.

Here are some photos of everybody’s mittens,
latvian mitts (6)

latvian mitts (3)

Compare mine in orange/purple in the body (red fringe) and another person’s in purple/orange (green fringe). They look so different! She used orange for pattern and purple for contrast, and I did vice-versa.

I yanked some more on the fringe on mine when I got home, and now it’s better!
latvian mitts (14)

Mistakes (shhh!).
latvian mitts (16)

All good, though, as I learned how to make that fringe, and the braid. I’m still a tad fuzzy on the finger end of the mitten… how the decreases and color work to make those ridges of color. But I’ll figure it out.

Latvian Mittens by Lisbeth Upitis. Now I need this!

… and….

Treasure!

Books and dyed yarn samples from Sam Ristich, via his daughter Ruthie. I didn’t know what was in this bag and box until after I got home from the mitten class.
treasure 015

These are fabulous books and I’m so grateful to have them.
treasure 020

And there are loads and loads of dyed yarn samples. I’ve just started to sort them out.
treasure 032

Ruthie gave a talk yesterday for the Maine Mycological Society about fungal spores. It was really interesting, and she did a great job… even used living people to demonstrate fungal spore anatomy!

Most interesting to me was the bit about the fastest living thing on earth, a fungus called Pilobolus (just like the dance company). It lives on horse dung, in what is known as The Zone of Repugnance.

…I must work that phrase into conversation at least once a day…

The spores must get out of the Zone of Repugnance, but because they are so small, air is very viscous to them. So, to get out of the Zone of Repugnance, they have to move really, really quickly.

It looks like they just disappear… but they shoot their spore caps (asci) off so quickly (20,000 G!) that we can’t see it happen. There one moment, gone the next.

More about the fastest living thing and the Zone of Repugnance,

stuff that comes to our house… knitting the sky!

Stuff that arrived here last week

The boy had been begging for this, and so spent some xmas $$ to get it. He says shenanigans will ensue.
horse mask (1)

DH keeps showing it to the girls, because they were (understandably) rather freaked out by it at first,
horse mask (3)

My mama clearly loves me,
heart (1) heart (2)

Riveting book…
mycology book (1)
(not). There aren’t any pictures!

Beads for the sky shawl when I thought I was going to use only the laceweight,
artbeads
They came packaged so nicely!

knitting the sky!

I joined a KAL (knit-a-long) over at LSG (Lazy, Stupid, and Godless) in Ravelry. We’re all riding a geek high knitting the Celestarium shawl. When I first saw the pattern, I thought “eh, it’s nice enough, but I dunno”, and then I saw that it is a shawl that shows the star chart of the northern hemisphere.

A star chart of the northern hemisphere!

And I knew I had to make this. I’m using that laceweight alpaca that I dyed with the black food coloring. It wasn’t working up quite how I liked with just the single strand, so I am running another strand of laceweight merino (in black) with it.

It is totally addictive. I don’t have any good pictures of it, because it droops while on the needles and it’s hard to capture the color.

The new, too small, beads (I may work these into a lacy border somehow)
sky shawl (2)

Working away on the E charts (there are 4 to get around the circle). There are six charts for F…
sky shawl (3)

I’m looking for a lacy border for this, something that is reminiscent of feathers (but not that feather and fan, no, no, no, not that) or a raven’s wing. I have some old pattern books… we’ll see what I find. I have some time before I’m ready for that.

The cool thing? I can recognize some of the constellations as I do this!

The funny thought? Years from now, archeologists will discover these knitted shawls and think WTF, why are people navigating from a shawl? Didn’t they have GPS and fancy technical stuff???

more maine morning mitts

I only made 2 pair of these to ship out at xmas… special request from a year ago. I still love this pattern for a mindless knit, but I haven’t made many of them this year. The green ones are from my handspun.
Photo 6 - 2012-12-30 Photo 8 - 2012-12-30

Christmas Highlights

I should have posted this a while back, eh?

Zuzu was sniffing around the tree early, and she discovered a toy wrapped for her. She started dragging it out, ready to open it. We said “Hey, you, we need to wait for the teenager“.

Photo 9 - 2012-12-25

We managed a posed pic of the girls,
Photo 10 - 2012-12-25
Zuzu has her paw in the air… it’s her “I want something” pose.

Teenager got up around 8:30.
Photo 8 - 2012-12-25

Gravy immediately caught some excitement, ran over to the tree, and randomly grabbed some package and started opening it. “Hey, you, wait a minute, that’s not yours“. But she got to help open all the gifts, and had the best time opening Don’s.

Photo 3 - 2012-12-25

Even though he’s 17 now, the boy still enjoys the packaging too…
Photo 5 - 2012-12-25

And clearly loves his fleecy socks,
Photo 6 - 2012-12-25

Don loves the hat I made him… from leftover yarn from that striped mushroom sweater. He’s goofing off here, but he does like it,
Photo 1 - 2012-12-25 Photo 2 - 2012-12-25

Photo 1 - 2012-12-26

It’s the Cathedral Hat from Bill Huntington at Hope Spinnery. Project details on my Ravelry project page.

I’ve started knitting the sky, but I think that needs its own blog post!

Been a While….

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.

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.

When I think of gradient spinning, buy more about 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. 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 color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way

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.

When I think of gradient spinning, buy more about 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. 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 color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way

Edited October 29, medicine 2012 – Unfortunately, ampoule Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, troche the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.

I taught this at FiberCamp this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http://bit.ly/sweettomheel. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.

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.

When I think of gradient spinning, buy more about 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. 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 color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way

Edited October 29, medicine 2012 – Unfortunately, ampoule Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, troche the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.

I taught this at FiberCamp this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http://bit.ly/sweettomheel. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.

I taught this at FiberCamp this past weekend, view and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http://bit.ly/sweettomheel. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.

You can download the PDF of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
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.

When I think of gradient spinning, buy more about 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. 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 color changes. This produced 284 yards of yarn at 12 wpi. I have an identical batt which I will spin the same way

Edited October 29, medicine 2012 – Unfortunately, ampoule Cat Bordhi has asked me to take the PDF instructions down. However, troche the same exact information is at the video I link to below, so you can still find the information you need.

I taught this at FiberCamp this past weekend, and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http://bit.ly/sweettomheel. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.

I taught this at FiberCamp this past weekend, view and since I made a handout I figured why not share it with you?

I made the handout based on what I learned from Cat Bordhi’s own video at http://bit.ly/sweettomheel. I bought Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks: an ebook after making the instructions – I bought the book because I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and even though I already know how to do it, the book currently has 63 pages (62 plus a title page) and right now has 9 patterns – there will be 11 total, and folks who purchase the book get the updates, so whenever those last 2 patterns come out you will get them. The book also has great troubleshooting information and a few versions of the Sweet Tomato Heel, like the padded sweet tomato heel.

Buying the book was my way of saying “Thanks, Cat!” I understand that not everyone can do this, and that’s OK. I feel it’s OK to share this information because Cat herself shares it in a free YouTube video. I waited until after I wrote up the instructions so I wasn’t tempted to use the same language Cat did in the book, and thus plagiarize. If there is a problem, please definitely contact me, and I will change or take down whatever material is objectionable.

You can download the PDF of the instructions I wrote up for how to do Cat Bordhi‘s Sweet Tomato Heel.
It’s been a while since I last wrote. 2 months and 2 weeks, not at all! There has been a lot of travel, and not a ton of knitting…..but there has been some.

The first adventure I had after the last post was completely unexpected. I was at a conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I was reading a blog post by Stephanie Pearl McPhee where she mentioned flying from California to Minnesota. At first I thought “how cool, soon I’ll be flying from St. Paul to California!” and then I wondered, “will we overlap in the Twin Cities?” (If you don’t know, those cities border each other.)

The answer, my friends, is yes, and this happened at Steven Be:
Stephanie blesses my sock

Steven was absolutely fabulous and was in full force that day. The yarn shop has yarn and knitted things everywhere. I loved it from a chaotic good perspective. I bought some sock yarn and some sock needles, and immediately started in on a sock. And I had Stephanie sign some books, of course.

The next adventure I had was when I found the Mass Ave Knit Shop in Indianapolis. It was about half a mile from the hotel I was staying at, and I spent several hours there on a Saturday before leaving for the airport. I picked up some plain white yarn (purpose to be revealed later) and knit for several hours….though at this point I cannot remember what I was knitting! For arguments’ sake, let’s say I was knitting a pattern from Jeri, a fellow Common Cod Fiber Guild member, which she showed at Show and Tell during our September meeting. The pattern is called “Vestboro”, and this is how far I got as of mid-October, so it’s a pretty good bet to say that’s what I was working on:

Vestboro center

The knit shop was large, and had tons of yarn! Due to all my travel this year, I have not been knitting and spinning as much as I used to. Last November I stopped being able to keep up with my monthly fiber club, and I stayed behind all year. Suffice it to say, I am overflowing with yarn and fiber….and so is my fiber room. So I am limiting my souvenir yarn…for now.

The knit shop was full of women knitting, and wonderful local donuts, and instead of souvenir yarn I bought myself an accordion-type box to store my dpns in by size. It was a great place to spend several hours knitting.

I attended Rhinebeck aka NY Sheep & Wool, where I acquired a Bernina 1230 sewing machine, circa 1989–1998. I haven’t yet started playing with it, as I have been WAY too busy with other things – Halloween crafts, holiday gift knitting, and test knitting! At Rhinebeck I took 2 classes – a spinning class with Abby Franquemont (I can cross that off the bucket list now!) and a dyeing class with Gail Callahan, the Kangaroo Dyer, in which I learned a ton about dyeing and made this beautiful rainbow:

my rainbow of dyeing

I did not knit for much of September and October because I was doing other crafty things – specifically, I was hand-sewing my Halloween costume – Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas. It came out better than I expected, which was great, because it was for an awesome wedding:

Julia as a nurse and me as Sally, from the Nightmare Before Christmas

And yes, I also knit the wig.

In November I was test knitting. And test knitting. And test knitting. I will show you pictures once they are public, but for now, things remain secret.

I took a mitten class at Mind’s Eye Yarns and still have not finished knitting the first mitten, much less the second mitten. But I learned a few good tips along the way and am excited to use them.

Remember that white yarn I bought in Indianapolis? It was for some classes with Lucy Neatby, who is chock-full of amazing tips and tricks for knitting. I filled out a wishlist with stuff I want, from patterns to DVDs. Lucy is fun, smart and easy to learn from. I took three classes with her – buttonholes, finishing, and socks. Her handouts are invaluable. I took time off work and spent a pretty penny to learn from Lucy, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. She’s THAT good.

And then it was December…..the test knitting was finally finished, and then it was time to knit gifts! I knit hats for my brother-in-law and his wife (in grey and red Ushya yarn), and I did not, sadly, take any pictures of those hats. I also knit a hat for my mother-in-law in green, and again, no pictures. I do have pictures of the tiny slightly felted purse I made for my aunt-in-law (using handspun Portuguese Merino in the “A Bug’s Life” colorway) and the DNA scarf I made for my father-in-law out of Kauni (that I bought while in Halifax on my knitting cruise in July):

Felted wallet

DNA Scarf

And then during and after Christmas I knit 2 chemo caps for a cousin-in-law – one was brown and one was black with sequins (so she’d have “evening hair”) – here’s a pic of me modeling the brown one:

fun fur hat in brown

So with all that done, I have started spinning again….although I find I cannot spin for hours like I used to. I’ll have to work up to that again. In the meantime, I’ve been spinning an hour or two at a time in the evenings, and yesterday I took a break to knit myself the Mind’s Eye Yarns free Waffle Stitch Hat pattern, so I could finally have a hat for myself:

my hat!

It was super-quick to knit, and I love it!