Expo Treasures ~

I found a few great treasures at the Sew Expo. From Roberta's store, Fibers Etc, I found this beautiful rayon metallic yarn to make my mum a clapotis scarf. There was a lovely sample there, and I think I can attempt the clapotis again!

The next treasure is merino & silk fiber from Carolina Homespun. I was so glad that they were at the Sew Expo - it was their first year, plus Morgaine taught a beginning drop spindle class (that I took!) to 4 different classes. I hope they come again next year! I fell in love with these pastel shades mixed in the creamy white... I can't wait to see how this spins!

I also found some merino & silk fiber from Vogue wholesale.

this is the same fiber that I've seen from Webs. I can't wait to spin this!

Meliae done ~

Also accomplished during Sewing Expo weekend, Ta Da! As soon as I arrived home, I took out the blocking boards and set to work.

Yes, I finished the knitting on the Meliae, out of the gorgeous Baroness colorway by Hazel Knits. Oh-so-lovely yarn, and I loved knitting every stitch!


A little scary was nearing the end of the shawl I was running very low on yarn, and ended up with a teeny tiny ball - perhaps one yard in length...enough to make me panic about perhaps needing an intervention with Annelie at my favorite yarn store! I'm glad that I can go into the store with good news of a finished project, instead of a problem!!

Knitting Squared ~

At the Sew Expo this weekend, I took a class with one of my favorite Sew Expo teachers from Fiber Ect yarn store in Tacoma. In years past we learned this and this...

Roberta taught us Knitting Squared, diagonal knitting, and it was a lot of fun. I've tried this before and have no trouble with the first square, but adding the second square never made sense to me....

so it was great to have a teacher and time to practice! Hurrah!!!

Basket for yarn ~

Did I mention that I also scored on a basket made in Uruguay - woven and beautiful! My sister and I each bought one.


Since it was the last day of Sew Expo, the basket sales were at a big discount as they didn't want to have to package them up to take them home.

Perfect place for my yarn, my spindle, and fiber too!


Lucky me!

Handspun sale ~

We were at the Sew Expo this weekend and I didn't buy any fabric. First time, ever... in the 20 years we've been going.

We took some classes, and even got lucky as "stand by" for a beginning crochet class that was sort of fun to play around with....

There were only a few booths in the entire fairgrounds that had yarn or fiber.. I do wish they would expand with more yarn. Sew Expo is the place I bought my Philosopher's Wool sweater kit several years ago, and learned to "Fair Isle Knit" with two hands from a class with Ann. I did score this handspun yarn for just $5 a skein...not bad for soft wool barber pole...

Casting off old friends ~

This is the second time I've finished this scarf, as the first time it was too short. As a horizontal scarf, it is difficult to gauge how long it will be when complete. I wore it once, and it felt like a weird collar bone cover, so I ripped it out and started again. It was the project from the 2008 Sewing Expo class with Roberta, on unique yarn ~ some out of soy, milk, crab shells, corn, bamboo and all those great experimental yarns that are fun to try.

Roberta gave us each a sampler to knit a horizontal scarf, and I had a lot of fun trying all the yarns.....

Since the weather was so beautiful today, the cat & I sat outside and I finished this scarf....

See how excited she is that I'm casting off?

Horizontal high jinx ~

This is the second time I'm knitting this Horizontal scarf pattern. The first time it was too short and looked like a collar that had fallen off its sweater....so, in an unusual move, I ripped it back and cast on twice as many stitches... and off I go again in a horizontal high jinx. These yarns, and the scarf, are from a class my sister & I took two years ago with Roberta at the Sewing Expo. She was teaching us about all the interesting & creative knitting fibers now available, and gave us samples of each one to practice with in this scarf. Examples of yarn ingredients include corn, milk, soy, metals, crab shells, wood pulp, and some other "hard to believe it can be made into yarn" materials. It was a great class, and a great way to try out these different fibers.

Although, I really should be done knitting this by now!!!!

Yarn Yoga ~

We have a great group of women that get together once a month for knitting. We call it Yarn Yoga since we seem to untangle a lot of yarn each time, and our contortions typically look like a great yoga class. Often the untangling covers an entire living room, with groups of us in each corner trying to untangle our knots so we can continue to wind the yarn.... very fun, indeed. Today we didn't have any tangled yarn to "yoga" with, so we just enjoyed each other's stories and had a lot of laughs. The highlights included an acrylic trunk show from Turkey (including the purple wrap in the first picture), and lots of great knitting. One of the questions we pondered was, since we (in the USA) get a lot of great yarn from Turkey, why is it hard to find good yarn in Turkey when you are visiting there? Why is all their yarn-for-sale acrylic? Also, why aren't there local yarn and spinning stores in Scotland, as they have a million sheep there... what happens to all that great wool? (if you know the answers to these mysteries, please let me know)

Picture #1: The Turkish Wrap, and Sawyer's sock

Picture #2: Really, these are the beginnings of toe up socks... not a bathing suit top....

Picture #3: A beautiful scarf out of many types of yarn, from a class at Sewing Expo from Roberta

Picture #4: Crocheting hot pads from stash & scrap yarn

Picture #5: a sleeve to a great jacket that was knit partially in Scotland and partially in Washington D.C.

Picture #6: an alpaca Mobieus...turning out beautiful, and able to come home on the plane from Turkey

All these projects (and the women knitting them) are so inspiring! We played with yarn for hours!

Too Excited ~

I was so excited thinking about the Red Wings game yesterday (and hanging laundry out on the line is very exciting too), I forgot to post pictures of the finished hat. Here it is, the one knit with Jo Sharp Silk Road Ultra that I found on sale at the Sewing Expo in February. The pattern is "That Chocolate's gone straight to your ribs" and I've made it several times. It works well and knits up pretty fast. I ordered more Silk Road from the Webs Sale, as it is great to knit!

Christmas knitting begins ~

Amazing at it may seem, I have begun my Christmas knitting... yes, I realize that June has just begun, so I should be able to meet all my Christmas knitting goals, right? Since this is a Christmas gift, I can't really say who the lucky recipient will be...in case they might hear through the grapevine, or read through the blog lines....I'm knitting with Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra, and so far it is wonderfully soft. I found a deal on it during the Sewing Expo in February. My fear is that it might be too big due to the gauge difference... but I'll let you know....

Birthday Gratification ~

I had forgotten that some scarves knit up fast, and do not have that "never ending" in the middle when you think you just can't continue.... this one is lacey and easy, and finished with such instant gratification that I believe I will start another one very soon! This one is Miski by Mirasol 100% llama that I bought at the Sewing Expo, at Roberta's Fiber etc., plus some deep green "flags" that H really likes. She picked the creamy Miski too ~ she is fabulous at picking out color combinations.

Birthday Knitting ~

My oldest daughter becomes even older this week, as her birthday is on Wednesday. I'm not sure where the time goes, yes ~ such a cliche, but still the years have gone by so fast it seems. We have a lot of fun together (I think) and have a lot of laughs as well. I noticed that she has been wearing my silk scarf that I dyed at the Sewing Expo (taught by Roberta), plus she wore my knitted silk scarf to school this past week....interesting turn of events to have her wearing my creations. I asked if she would like me to knit her a scarf of her own for her birthday, and I showed her some yarn that I thought she would like... she liked it, but found another one in my stash that she liked better (I'm glad I asked for her opinion!) and I cast on.... Gosh, casting on is such a magical feeling, I really needed to cast on a new project this week!!! Ahhhh, like a breath of fresh air!!!

Results are here ~

Well, if you are following along, remember that my sister and I learned to dye silk yarn and a silk scarf with natural dyes at the Sewing Expo at the end of February. We were supposed to let the silk seep with the colors, and then wash out after a week of seeping. Well, the silk has been hanging in our laundry room for over a week now, and is ready to take pictures. The colors were not as vibrant as I had hoped, but still rather pretty. I asked rockin13 she felt inspired to take pictures of my silk... and she took up the challenge, and was inspired by... shoes?

I love this! "Shoes and Silk"

Also this picture: "Flamingo's Silk Feathers"

Back in the hat groove ~

Using the Pure Luxury alpaca yarn that my sister couldn't use due to the small size, I cast on another hat from the Hats On book. This one is the Lusekofte Cap and is turning out OK, given the small yarn on size 6 needles. I knit the band of K1b P1 while on the road to and from the Sewing Expo, so I made some progress this weekend. I do hope that it works out, as it is thinner than the Cascade Cloud 9 hats I've finished. The yarn is soft and lovely, just smaller gauge....

Expo bargains ~

During the Sewing Expo, Pacific Fabrics always has major sales in their local store. My sister and I went on Friday night and came away with some great deals. My deal is 5 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad in "sky" at 30% off! It is 85% wool, 10% silk and 5% cashmere. I had never knit with this before, but used it that night practicing continental knitting and loved the twist and the feel...so I was tempted to go back to Pacific Fabrics on Saturday night and get the other colors that had only one or two balls.... but I didn't......(I probably should have....)

Reacquainted Love ~

At the Sewing Expo we also were reunited with Miski by Mirasol ~ a lovely 100% llama yarn that is so soft and melts in your hands while knitting. I knit a blueberry hat last summer out of Miski, as my sister and I found some at the Stitchin' Post in Oregon. I had not found this yarn in any of our local shops but found it at Roberta's shop (Fibers Etc in Tacoma, WA) at the Expo. I bought the creme color and the midnight blue. If you haven't knit with this yet, do yourself a favor and meet a new love.....or become reacquainted with a past love. This yarn is wonderful and the story of the shepherds in Peru that the yarn purchase is supporting makes it more lovely! I think you'll start using this yarn for all your soft and lovelies!

Continental Knitting Lesson ~

At the Sewing Expo we took a class on continental knitting by Becky at the Gita Maria shop (if you stop by her website, there is a picture of exactly what her vendor booth looked like!). The class of 30 ladies learned the knit stitch on Lantern Moon "Palm" wood, size 15 needles and we had a blast for 45 minutes! She is a patient teacher and it seemed that all of us "got it" by the end of the class. At the end of class, someone asked if she could show us the purl stitch, and she said that she is not well versed in the purl stitch, as all of her designs in her shop use only the knit stitch. Her "show special" was Lantern Moon Palm needles for $14 (with pictured instructions for continental knitting) and I think all 30 of us went back to her booth after her class so we could keep practicing! The needles are lovely and warm in one's hands while knitting, plus they are a great teaching aid for continental knitting!

Dyeing Silk ~

One of the classes we took at the Sewing Expo was dyeing with natural dyes. The teacher was Roberta from Fiber Etc and she is an amazing woman. She weaves, dyes, knits, spins and has an amazing fiber shop in Tacoma. Since there is no website for her store, here is the information:
Fibers Etc (253) 572-1859
705 Court C, #301, Tacoma, WA 98402

We took a class from her last year on knitting with unusual yarns, and she had samples of yarns out of metal, corn, soy, crab shells, milk, jade, paper and some other materials that were very creative and fun to experiment with. This year we learned to dye with natural extracts from bugs (cochineal), plants and trees. She gave us a skein of silk, a white silk scarf and a silk ribbon to practice with, and we had a blast! These pictures were taken after I "set" my colors in our microwave and now they are curing in the laundry room for a week or so before I can wash out the color. They look pretty yucky now, but I wanted a "before" picture for you.... (yuk, eh?)

Sewing Expo ~

The Sewing Expo occurred this weekend and we had a great time! My sister and I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday taking classes, checking out the new techniques and products and being inspired by all the energy at the show. Here is a picture of some of the vendor booths. The vendors do not like close up pictures in case the picture taker is trying to steal their designs. This picture is taken a distance away from the Philosopher's Wool booth, and their beautiful sweaters are hanging from the display poles, plus all along the sides of their booth. Ann and Eugene are great people and their yarn and sweaters are fabulous. Since I finished my sweater in 2008, I was excited to tell them I had finished!
More Expo news this week!

Continental Knitting Class

My sister & I are taking a Continental Knitting class at the Sewing Expo in February. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia here is some information on Continental knitting:
Knitting with the yarn in one's left hand is commonly referred to as Continental knitting, German knitting, European knitting, or left-hand knitting. Unlike English knitting, the yarn is held in the left hand; the motion of bringing the yarn forward with a needle held in the other hand is thus sometimes known as picking. Continental knitting is preferred by professional hand-knitters, as it is the more efficient method, requiring the shortest number of specific hand-motions per stitch.
Continental-style knitting, being associated with Germany, fell out of favour in English-speaking countries during World War II; its reintroduction in the United States is often credited to Elizabeth Zimmerman.

I can carry the yarn in my left hand while doing Fair Isle (taught to me by Ann Bourgeois from Philosophers Wool at the Sewing Expo a few years ago) or 2 color knitting (shown here in my hats) however I do not know how to purl this way, so I am looking forward to some hands on learning!!!