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kniteracyOr maybe it is a big surprise at this point. I just realised I haven't posted a public knitting update (not counting the 'please buy some silk!' post) since May 23. It's because that writing project has eaten my brain.
C'mon, Harper! Forget the book! We know you really want to yammer on about knitting!
OK, OK-- but only because you begged! ;-)
A couple of days ago, I got two packages from different places. One was from ThreadBear Fiberarts, whom I discovered through the Black Dog Blog, which is more than just a vehicle for the shop. I already knew I liked Lorna's Laces; I got some last summer from Main Street, the shop where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
niquildrvr teaches things like sock knitting and lace, but I hadn't so much as swatched it. Lately, my hankering for things yellow and green and purple (it's like Mardi Gras all year round! ;>) led me to looking for new and exciting sock yarns, and ThreadBear actually happened to have a one-off colourway called Mardi Gras that had all these colours in it. Beautiful. And it feels wonderful. I took it to the Singapore knitstitch group on Saturday, probably the last chance I'll have to see this group of creative, talented and just plain fun women before we head back to London sometime in the amorphous next 2-3 weeks or so.
I also received the last of my Angel Yarns order; they seem to be living up to their reputation as nice but not particularly well-organised. I'll probably continue to buy from them: some of my best friends are nice but not particularly well-organised. The bit that was missing was the Sirdar sock yarn in the Harlequin colourway. I was really excited about this yarn and quite disappointed when it didn't arrive with the rest of my order. However, I have to say that after painstakingly winding it into a centre-pull ball and swatching it on a couple of size needles on Saturday at the knitting group meeting, I'm not so sure. The yarn in the skein was so stuck together it was almost like it was very old yarn that had been rubbing around for a long time and had felted in the skein. It took ages to untangle the stuff, and although it's got similar yardage to Regia or Fortissima Colori and a similar fibre content, the yarn seemed, I don't know, limp. It also split when I swatched it, but that may have been because of all the work I had to do to pick the knots out of middle of that skein. The sock pattern Sirdar supplies with the yarn calls for 2.5mm needles (US 2s), but while it was knittable with that size needle, I really preferred the 2.0mm needles, as usual-- but this time for a different reason. On the 2.0s, the yarn compressed so much that I really have to worry how a sock made on 2.5s from this yarn will hold u8p. I had visions of it catching on everything, pilling like crazy, and just being a big mess. It's a pity: the colourway is really beautiful. I will probably go ahead and knit a pair of socks from this stuff, but I can't promise they'll be on the first-tier project list.
Anyway, here's a photo of the new yarn.
In other news, I know I never followed-up on the sari silk yarn post. Having done the math, I have to reluctantly announce that I can't possibly sell them for less than £10/hank, or $20US. Sometimes, I guess things look like a better deal than they say they are. In the end, it was the shipping that killed me; they shipped air at the last minute when they could have shipped regular mail and it would have gotten here just fine. That bumped the price up by a pretty penny. A pretty ugly penny. This has really discouraged me from doing any yarn buying/importing/exporting that I was thinking would be fun and maybe even a little lucrative to do, from here or anywhere. I may end up having to unload this stuff for less than what I paid for it just to recoup some expenses, but if you want some and can afford it, please don't wait 'til then. It's first quality silk, better quality than the stuff I bought at Nease's for $16/skein perhaps a year ago. The colours are beautiful. Here's a photo:
My projects are coming along slowly, mostly because askitanzi suggested when she saw me online earlier for the first time in awhile, "the book has eaten [my] brain." Hard to knit and type at the same time. But, just so you know they're coming along, here is a photo of the two socks I'm working on now. One of them is bardling's second sock; if you look closely, you can see the gusset markers-- those are stitch markers from Angel Yarns, which they sent to apologise for the mixup in my order. They're beautiful, aren't they? And they're made with a round loop that attaches to the pretty beads, so the markers fall smoothly onto the knitting. I still love otherdeb's markers, but I like this design, too. The other sock, the one that's in the muted yellows and grey-blues and stuff, is the one made from the Opal silk/wool blend. The stuff is a joy to knit with, and the patterns are so nice, even on tiny 2.0mm needles. Yum. If I'm done with bardling's socks by the time we leave, maybe I'll make this my plane project. Pretty, pretty, pretty.
So while I'm trying to knit a little bit every day, it's mostly happening in the evenings, because I can knit and talk to family and enjoy time together at the same time. Writing is a little more demanding of the whole brain.
Oh-- Chibis, in both pink and green, are plentiful and cheap here. Would any of my UK knitting friends like me to bring one or more home for them?
C'mon, Harper! Forget the book! We know you really want to yammer on about knitting!
OK, OK-- but only because you begged! ;-)
A couple of days ago, I got two packages from different places. One was from ThreadBear Fiberarts, whom I discovered through the Black Dog Blog, which is more than just a vehicle for the shop. I already knew I liked Lorna's Laces; I got some last summer from Main Street, the shop where
niquildrvr teaches things like sock knitting and lace, but I hadn't so much as swatched it. Lately, my hankering for things yellow and green and purple (it's like Mardi Gras all year round! ;>) led me to looking for new and exciting sock yarns, and ThreadBear actually happened to have a one-off colourway called Mardi Gras that had all these colours in it. Beautiful. And it feels wonderful. I took it to the Singapore knitstitch group on Saturday, probably the last chance I'll have to see this group of creative, talented and just plain fun women before we head back to London sometime in the amorphous next 2-3 weeks or so.I also received the last of my Angel Yarns order; they seem to be living up to their reputation as nice but not particularly well-organised. I'll probably continue to buy from them: some of my best friends are nice but not particularly well-organised. The bit that was missing was the Sirdar sock yarn in the Harlequin colourway. I was really excited about this yarn and quite disappointed when it didn't arrive with the rest of my order. However, I have to say that after painstakingly winding it into a centre-pull ball and swatching it on a couple of size needles on Saturday at the knitting group meeting, I'm not so sure. The yarn in the skein was so stuck together it was almost like it was very old yarn that had been rubbing around for a long time and had felted in the skein. It took ages to untangle the stuff, and although it's got similar yardage to Regia or Fortissima Colori and a similar fibre content, the yarn seemed, I don't know, limp. It also split when I swatched it, but that may have been because of all the work I had to do to pick the knots out of middle of that skein. The sock pattern Sirdar supplies with the yarn calls for 2.5mm needles (US 2s), but while it was knittable with that size needle, I really preferred the 2.0mm needles, as usual-- but this time for a different reason. On the 2.0s, the yarn compressed so much that I really have to worry how a sock made on 2.5s from this yarn will hold u8p. I had visions of it catching on everything, pilling like crazy, and just being a big mess. It's a pity: the colourway is really beautiful. I will probably go ahead and knit a pair of socks from this stuff, but I can't promise they'll be on the first-tier project list.
Anyway, here's a photo of the new yarn.
In other news, I know I never followed-up on the sari silk yarn post. Having done the math, I have to reluctantly announce that I can't possibly sell them for less than £10/hank, or $20US. Sometimes, I guess things look like a better deal than they say they are. In the end, it was the shipping that killed me; they shipped air at the last minute when they could have shipped regular mail and it would have gotten here just fine. That bumped the price up by a pretty penny. A pretty ugly penny. This has really discouraged me from doing any yarn buying/importing/exporting that I was thinking would be fun and maybe even a little lucrative to do, from here or anywhere. I may end up having to unload this stuff for less than what I paid for it just to recoup some expenses, but if you want some and can afford it, please don't wait 'til then. It's first quality silk, better quality than the stuff I bought at Nease's for $16/skein perhaps a year ago. The colours are beautiful. Here's a photo:
My projects are coming along slowly, mostly because as
kitanzi suggested when she saw me online earlier for the first time in awhile, "the book has eaten [my] brain." Hard to knit and type at the same time. But, just so you know they're coming along, here is a photo of the two socks I'm working on now. One of them is bardling's second sock; if you look closely, you can see the gusset markers-- those are stitch markers from Angel Yarns, which they sent to apologise for the mixup in my order. They're beautiful, aren't they? And they're made with a round loop that attaches to the pretty beads, so the markers fall smoothly onto the knitting. I still love otherdeb's markers, but I like this design, too. The other sock, the one that's in the muted yellows and grey-blues and stuff, is the one made from the Opal silk/wool blend. The stuff is a joy to knit with, and the patterns are so nice, even on tiny 2.0mm needles. Yum. If I'm done with bardling's socks by the time we leave, maybe I'll make this my plane project. Pretty, pretty, pretty.So while I'm trying to knit a little bit every day, it's mostly happening in the evenings, because I can knit and talk to family and enjoy time together at the same time. Writing is a little more demanding of the whole brain.
Oh-- Chibis, in both pink and green, are plentiful and cheap here. Would any of my UK knitting friends like me to bring one or more home for them?
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 09:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 11:58 am (UTC)Everything OK over there honey? I have this strange feeling I might have somehow hurt your feelings with one of my replies today....
no subject
Date: 2005-06-07 03:17 am (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-06 04:16 pm (UTC)hi Gwen
Date: 2005-06-16 06:41 am (UTC)Lois fr sg knit group. =)
Re: hi Gwen
Date: 2005-06-16 08:11 am (UTC)Note that I am quite prolific in the friends journal, and I talk about, er, all *kinds* of things.
Re: hi Gwen
Date: 2005-06-16 08:12 am (UTC)