What a day I had! It was peep-tastic! Yesterday was the start of the Second Annual Yarn Shop Hop sponsored by seven local knitting stores:
Amazing Threads, Maple Grove
Coldwater Collaborative, Excelsior
Needlework Unlimited, Minneapolis
A Sheepy Yarn Shoppe, White Bear Lake
3 Kittens Needle Arts, St. Paul
The Yarnery, St. Paul
Zandys Yarns
We started north and worked our way to White Bear Lake, south through St. Paul, down to Burnsville, up through Minneapolis, west to Excelsior and back north to Maple Grove. “We” consisted of several of my favorite knitting peeps: Kim (who drove — yay, Kim!), Mary, Roseanne, and Linda. We had a ton of fun. We received a small token at every stop and got to see/buy some great yarn and patterns.
Did yours truly buy anything? Mais oui, mes amies! 😉
First off, I need to back up and give a brief update on Loll. It flopped. My aforementioned peeps told me so on Thursday evening. They gave it a definite thumbs down :(. Good friends don’t let bad knitting happen. The fringes are cute but the ribbed section was not up to our stringent standards — so it must go.
I will make the fringe into a hat…maybe. With that decision made, I took the yarn back and bought this instead:
WOW! Beautiful Rowan Tapestry (70% Wool 30% Soybean Approx. 131 yds/50g Weight: DK Gauge: 5.5 sts/1in Needle: US 6) in the color Lakeland — it looks like the ocean. Sally already bought this same color. I LOVE IT!! I’m not sure yet what I will make, but it is fabulous yarn.
I also bought a couple of patterns — one for a vest and then this one for Lopi yarn:
I think I have enough Lopi in my stash to make this — it takes ten skeins. They had a shop sample knitted up and it really is a nice wearable sweater for Minnesota winters.
The other knitting update for me is that “Whisper,” which I was knitting in Kidsilk Haze Aura, is another major flop! Oh yeah! Yours truly is really cranking out the disasters. Sally is turning out FO’s like hotcakes and I can’t even get anything started :(. It looked just awful. So, I ripped out that lil sucker and started something else.
You may remember from a very early post, my mother knitted this many, many years ago:
It is in mohair, much like La Gran, with a stitch at the hems and front bands that LOOKED like seed stitch until I looked more closely. It is actually a slip stitch:
Start with an odd number of sts:
Rows 1 & 3 (RS): knit
Row 2: *k1, slip 1 as to purl with yarn at back (to the RS), repeat from * to last st, k1.
Row 4: k1, *k1, slip 1 as to purl with yarn at back, repeat from * to last 2 sts, k2.
I am going to knit a boxy jacket-style cardigan based on mom’s sweater and call it “Homage.” I started it and have this so far:
I love it. I am knitting with yarn spun from clouds. It is night and day compared to what it looked before. I thought it was ugly, and now I am in love. I am knitting with US 8’s instead of 6’s, which makes it looser and allows the light to filter through. This is a wonderful and very easy stitch. I will do about 6″ in this and then switch to stockinette, and do raglan-style sleeves.
Lyra is still a joy to work on, though I do not have the time to devote that I would like. I am on the ~ the 50-ish roundout of 180. Lots left! Had a Lyra mishap and am now back to round 40. BUMMER!!!!! I had worked on it all day yesterday, too… 🙁
I am feeling much better about my knitting prospects. Life is good!
P.S. From Sally
While Sue was out yarn hopping, I met a friend in Baltimore for lunch. I didn’t even realize that Stitches was taking place there until I drove by the venue.
I DIDN’T STOP!!!!
Aren’t you all impressed? (Don’t be. If I had been with a knitting friend I would have stopped on a dime.) I did stop at A Good Yarn. I ran in and bought yarn in less than five minutes. I’ll post about that later. I’m happy to see how Susan’s Aura is turning out since I have twenty skeins of it my own self.
Love yarn crawls! I’m hoping that someday we’ll have one of those in the Los Angeles area… I’m sure you had lots of fun – from the jaunts I take with my friends here to stores a while away (when we carpool) I like very much when someone else drives; it affords me extra knitting time!
🙂
Comment by Kyle Kunnecke — October 13, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
The same thing happened to me when I knit Loll. I loved the fringe though, I should have kept if for a hat! I ended up knitting Air from the same calmer mag. It doesn’t fit as I would like…so it may be ripped one day!
Comment by Carolyn — October 13, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
So sad! The fringe is adorable.
Wish the yarn stores over here would cooperate and arrange something like that. If I moved, it would be there or Seattle!
Comment by Marina — October 13, 2007 @ 5:34 pm
Susan- The yarn crawl sounds like a blast.
And Sally- Run that by me again- you DIDN”T STOP AT STITCHES!
OMG- totally unheard of!
Comment by Lorraine — October 13, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
That sounds wonderful! I love yarn crawls. 🙂
Comment by Romi — October 14, 2007 @ 12:46 am
Must review “Loll”… what a shame not to have something into which you could incorporate the nifty fringey bits. The rowan: gorgeous. And thank you for posting the homage pattern and photo. I can see how a more textured (and looser) pattern would work with the kidsilk… “plain” stockinette needs to be either really firm and regular, or totally loopy… and I think your size 6’s put it in kind of an unhappy middle ground. I am getting the LYS visit urge, in spite of my “knit from my stash” plans…..
Comment by PainterWoman — October 14, 2007 @ 7:52 am
Gee, you were right at Stitches and drove by….and I have been feeling guilty for not driving the four hours to go….
Comment by Nancy — October 14, 2007 @ 9:40 am
You rip more than I knit! I have a feeling there will be many FOs coming. Ahhh the very thought of knitting with yarn spun from clouds…
Comment by Carol — October 14, 2007 @ 11:23 am
Yay for yarn crawls! I’ve been to most of those shops. Haven’t made it to Maple Grove yet for Amazing Threads, and I have never been able to find Zandy’s. (The last time was pre-Mapquest. Next time I shall triumph.)
The Rowan Tapestry is gorgeous!
Comment by kmkat — October 14, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
If I read this correctly, that stitch pattern is the other side of Eye of Partridge, which I have seen called Chinese Waves. Where do they get these names? EOP doesn’t look like eye of partridge to me, and this doesn’t look like Chinese waves to me. It is very lovely, though.
Still swooning over Sally not stopping at Stitches, and at not even knowing it was happening. My SnB peeps and I plan our assault on Stitches West months in advance.
Comment by AuntieAnn — October 14, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
Homage is looks good and such a sweet idea! Lyra is just gobsmacking.
Comment by Carrie K — October 14, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
Dang Susan,
Homage was beautiful “then” and I can see it will be beautiful now. I want one in a soft pink with
2 thin pink ribbons running through the neckline and cuffs somehow. I will be swooning and praying that my skills
come up to par some day. In the mean time I am watching you.
Comment by Thomasean — October 15, 2007 @ 4:45 am
Those knitting slumps sure are frustrating. Especially when your hopes are pinned on something lovely coming from your needles. Success is around the corner…
Comment by Gale — October 15, 2007 @ 7:41 am
So I must ask. What is that stitch?
Comment by Tiny Tyrant — October 15, 2007 @ 11:53 am
Thank you Susan.
I have yet again proven my complete lack of reading comprehension. Sigh. All that physics and math must have rotted my brain.
I’m trying to come up with a nice pattern for a baby blanket for a dear friend that just found out unexpected baby # 2 is on the way. That stitch is lovely since we think it’s a girl.
Comment by Tiny Tyrant — October 15, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
Susan…. I LOVE Homage. Just gorgeous! I have ten skeins of Lopi that I’ve been saving for the perfect project. When DH’s Lopi sweater gets cast off, I’ll look into that pattern. Wonderful sleeves.
Sally… I went to Stitches on Thursday. Took a class and went to the market while I killed time before a visitor pickup at BWI. Was I the only one who wasn’t wowed by the Market Place??? Give me MD Sheep & Wool anytime.
Comment by niteowl — October 16, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
AuntieAnn I rode the Light Rail with a few worker bees (ie vendors) from Stitches East. They tell me it does not compare a smidgen to Stitches West. 🙁
Comment by niteowl — October 16, 2007 @ 5:08 pm