Main St. and Wool

Yesterday we went up to Main St. I grew up in that neighbourhood and we lived right on Main and 12th in a crappy, infested apartment for two years a few years back, so it holds a special place in my heart. However, these days, the main purpose of visiting the area is the wool shops. My favorite wool place is Three Bags Full, between 28th and 29th Avenues. It's a cozy place with a great selection of wool (including Cascade 220 and all sorts of Noro).

I bought quite a large quantity of Drops Alpaca - 4 balls of ruddy cinnamon, and 10 balls of a medium gray. My plan is to one day knit the Still Light Tunic, a wonderful, simple tunic with front pockets. It looks easy, and best of all, really comfortable to wear.

Veera is a genius for making up this pattern. It's beautiful!

My First Sweater - Finished

About a month ago I first started this sweater, the Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. Today, it is finished! To be honest, it was a bit of a struggle, because at times I had no idea what I was doing and what Ms. Zimmermann was talking about in her vague knitting 'recipe'! But the trick was to just plunge in, I think. As most people have noted, the tricky bit is when you start the shoulder saddle and move on to the back; but I found out that you more or less figure it out as you go along.

The sweater turned out a little too short, eventhough I was determined not to make this mistake as a lot of others seemed to have made (sigh...). But I'm hoping to change this by washing and blocking it (it is blocking & drying right now --- these pictures are pre-blocking, which is pretty good, no?). It fits Shane really well, and he seems to like it.

I learned alot while making this sweater (like provisional cast on, knitting from cast on edge, kitchener stitch...heck, everything!), and I know that my next version will be so much better than this one. There are a lot of little mistakes I made while knitting this sweater, but I think only someone with a good knitting eye would notice (um...like my mom). In the end, knitting a sweater was a lot easier than I thought.

Heh.

I'm pretty damn proud of myself.

The Seamless Hybrid

Yes, I am attempting my first sweater. It's a bold move to go from scarves, hats, and baby's things, but I was bowled over by Brooklyn Tweed's version. The pattern is of course, the inimitable Elizabeth Zimmerman, from her book Knitting Without Tears. It's a little scary, because her patterns are guidelines rather than detailed instructions. I'm just working on the easy part--body and sleeves. Who knows what disaster will ensue when I get to the shoulder shaping?

Ack.

Christmas Knitting!

The pre-Christmas time hasn't been too stressful for me, partly because I started knitting my presents over the summer! It seemed a little absurd to be knitting in August, but it sure has paid off. It's brilliant--we haven't fought crowds at shopping malls or stressed about what to get everybody.

This is a little peak at the scarves I knitted as presents. I hope people like them!

February Baby Sweater

Those of you not into knitting may not know Elizabeth Zimmerman. But for many knitters, both beginners and experts, Elizabeth Zimmerman is something akin to a knitting God. She was a very instinctive and intuitive knitter, and taught a lot of students to be so. She wrote a great number of books, among them Knitting Without Tears, Knitter's Almanac, and The Opinionated Knitter, all of which can be found here.

One of her most popular patterns is the February Baby Sweater, from Knitter's Almanac. There are so many beautiful examples of it that can be seen here. The pattern takes up just 2 paragraphs, so there was quite a bit to decipher. To be honest, I don't even know if I knitted the sweater the right way (alas, I added buttonholes after the yoke, not during like I was supposed to--but then again, Elizabeth doesn't mention buttonholes until it was too late). I'm not around babies, so I had no idea how long to make the body and the sleeves.

It turned out quite a bit bigger than I expected, but then this is mainly because I used a US7 needle size. The little girl that it's for, a friend's daughter named Charlotte, will have to grow into it. Hopefully it doesn't fit her in a freakish way....

Squishy & Red

A few days ago I finished this red scarf made from the hand-spun, kettle dyed Manos yarn that I bought last weekend. The pattern is called the "One Row Handspun Scarf" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, found here. It's a simple pattern, and a joy to knit. Reversible and very quick too!

This one's a Christmas present....

We Love Sheep

Over the weekend I went over to Main St and visited Three Bags Full, a wool shop. I hadn't intended on getting too much, but I ended up getting a big bag full!

Cat, Mat, Nap.

This is Pique. She is always trying to sleep on my knitting, though thankfully she doesn't like to play with yarn. So I made her a garter-stitch knitted blanket of her own with some leftover yarn from Mr. Blue Bear.

It's not pretty and it's already been stratched up, but she seems to like it.

A Little Knitting

I haven't posted a while about knitting, but I've got my hands full! Again, another scarf, but this time it's with very thin, fingerling blend of wool/silk. It will be a long go. Sometimes I wonder why I take on impossible projects like this!

Rustic Noro Scarf

Another scarf, using my leftovers from the first Noro (from Brooklyn Tweed) and a couple of new Noro Silk Garden balls of yarn. I enjoyed the 1x1 rib of the first Noro, but wanted to knit something even more simple and mindless; plus I do enjoy the garter stitch tremendously, like going back to your old toy box and playing with legos once again.

The beauty, colours, and the texture of Silk Garden does all the work. It’s just row upon row of garter stitches, but the end result is a fuzzy, artisanal, colourful creation.

The Keep Yourself Warm Scarf

A few days ago we had a couple of friends over for lunch. They had just returned from a year in South Africa and were preparing to do a post-doc in Nova Scotia, so this was their going away meal. On the menu was:

- Mushroom and vermicelli soup (featuring Cloud Ear, Shitake, Enoki, King Oyster and Oyster type mushrooms in a clear chicken broth)

- Turkey meatballs (flavored with Bai Krapow, or Thai Holy Basil, Ginger, Garlic, Shallots, and Nam Pla, or Fish Sauce)

- Thai red curry (with Kabocha squash, button mushrooms, zucchini, and snap peas)

- Cucumber, Tomato and Mint salad

- Steamed Thai Jasmine rice

- Marlborough Apple Pie

- Lemon Pound cake (they had brought this from Solly’s Bagelry in Kits)

I hadn’t cooked this much food in a long time, so it was pretty good to exercise those culinary muscles. Everything turned out well. I especially like the addition of the squash to the curry, because it lent the spicy sauce a mellow sweetness. And while the Bai Krapow is usually used stir-fried with a meat (like Pad Krapow, a really popular Thai dish), it worked well in the meatballs. I just wish the Bai Krapow is more readily available in the Van area!

For our friends' going away presents I gave them two wool scarves, as they were heading east to harsher winters. T. got the Noro scarf, M. got a blue-green scarf that I had just finished knitting that very day (so no blocking for this one).

Details:

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca (50% Super Fine Alpaca, 50% Peruvian Highland Wool) This one is soft and thick and easy on the hands. Very durable too—I must have done this scarf 2-3 times over. The scarf look 1 ¼ balls, so I have enough left over for a hat or something….

Pattern: This is a really good stitch with beautiful drape. Slip first stitch, yo & k2tog, repeat, knit last stitch. It creates a uniform mesh-like pattern with lots of movement and drape.

Result: A soft scarf to wrap yourself in on cold blustery days. I would recommend garter stitch ends as the bottom part ended up curling a bit. I made a huge mistake in this one (a BIG hole in the stitch), but I used extra wool to patch it up when I was done.

Waffle Dishcloths

Sometimes there's nothing better than sitting at home and knitting, while you're watching 30 Rock or something. One the weekend I bought some Bernat Cotton yarn (5 balls @ around $1.50 each), and knitted 4 dish cloths. The first one was a slow-go, but by the 3^rd one I could knit these with my eyes closed. The pattern makes a deliciously squishy and textured cloth (good for scrubbing). I don’t know whether to keep ‘em and use them myself or give them as gifts. Hmmm. Better make some more….stripeys? [Update: I've now made eight of the lil' suckers.]

Pattern: Waffle Dishcloth by Deb from Homespun Living (you can buy these from her too, if you’re too lazy or knitting incapable). What a great, easy pattern! All knits and purls, no complicated stuff. I added the crochet loop on mine for practical purposes.

Yarn : Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (I know, Lion Brand is better but sometimes it's just a matter of convenience...and price. One dishcloth takes about 2/3 a 50g ball. I used 4.00mm needles.

Result: Wonderful, practical dishcloths. Actually makes you want to wash dishes. Plus, it’s a very addictive and fast knit.

The only problem: I'm afraid of using them now!

My Knitting Story

When I was little my mom knitted a lot; in particular she made my brother and I sweaters. My brother still remembers his favorite sweater from when he was 10 years old, a navy blue zipped up sweater with red and white zigzag patterns (he still reminisces about it now, 25+ years later!). My favorite sweater was a dark pink long coat with a hoodie and pom poms. I remember hating the colour pink when I was a little girl, but oh, did I love that sweater.

Over the years my mom tried to teach me knitting, but I wasn’t an enthusiastic learner, so did things half-heartedly. When I wanted to knit something my mom would cast on for me, show me the stitch, I’d knit, she’d do the difficult bits and fix my mistakes, and cast off for me. It worked out pretty well on my end. However, I got the impression that knitting was hard. But the good thing about that is that I was always amazed when I met anyone who knitted.

A few months ago (inspired by wonderful, talented bloggers) I thought to myself: I want to learn knitting, really, really. So I bought Stitch n' Bitch: A Knitters Handbook, and looked up you tube tutorials. Knitted a few washcloths. Heck, I even joined Revelry!

So I discovered a few truths about knitting: 1) Knitting is not hard, it takes effort and persistence 2) Real wool is really expensive! 3) The Noro Scarf is legendary 4) Elizabeth Zimmermann is even more legendary 5) Knitting makes TV watching ‘productive time’ not ‘wasteful, brain-dead time’!

Let me just say that I’m not a talented knitter. I get confused by patterns and I’m REALLY bad at counting stitches. Plus, I’m the kind of knitter who when she notices a mistake a few rows down WON’T undo and re-knit. Just too lazy!

My first project was a baby blanket made by Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton, fat garter knit stripes in 5 colours. I’ve already given it to my pregnant friend, so no pictures. Maybe I’ll get a shot of it with the little one down the road.

Now, on to scarves:

The legendary Noro scarf, made famous by Jared of Brooklyn Tweed:

I bought some Noro Silk Garden (sold in 50g balls) from Three Bags Full on Main St., and at around $11/ball, it was quite an investment. I loved Jared’s scarf colours, I wanted to unoriginally recreate it, but I couldn’t find the exact colours, so I chose one colour that was darker, in the green/blue/grey/black range and another that was quite a bit brighter with all sorts of colours.

Yarn impressions: I wasn’t too impressed initially with Noro Silk Garden. I one ball I had a few knots (some knots tied together two entirely different colours (i.e. black…lime green!). The balls were dispersed with plant fibres, that to be honest, felt more like thorns than anything else. It was tedious pulling out every rough bit of plant matter. It wasn’t soft as I’d expected (however, I hear I softens very prettily after a first wash). That all being said, the colours are spectacular—I love especially the reds and blues—the yarn has such a concentrated, vivid colour that it’s hard to believe anything can be such a shade.

Pattern: a very easy and basic knit one, purl one pattern. I only screwed this up once. I was confused about slipping of each end on Jared’s site (my fault, not his), so I just slipped the first stitch of each row. I used a total that amounted to 3 balls of yarn, unlike the 4 that Jared used. That means I have the beginnings of another Noro scarf!

Result: Love it. It’s at times subtle, with lots of bright bits. The 1x1 rib makes it look like stockinette stitch, and it’s thick and squishy. It will make someone very warm!

Suddenly I was obsessed with stripes. I had these 4 balls of Cascade 220 that I’d bought for these baby booties, but I’d made the baby blanket instead so what to do with these yarns? Another stripey scarf, of course.

Yarn: Cascade 220: 1 hank of white(100 grams / 220 yards), and half a hank of turquoise and red yarns each (50 grams / 110 yards).

Pattern: As with the Noro scarf, a 1x1 rib pattern of knit 1, purl 1. The white had 2 row stripes and the blue and red have only 1 row-stripes. I slipped the first stitch.

Result: I didn’t love it just looking at it (and my husband called it a ‘Christmas Scarf’ even though there is no green to speak of), but when he or I tried it on, suddenly our faces got brighter and our skins became vibrant. It’s a picker-upper, a transforming scarf! I was genuinely surprised and delighted.