Never enough yarn

The person who releases the technology that allows us to transmit photos directly from cameras to blogs will be a millionaire in minutes. I swear, often the only reason I delay posting is that it just seems like too much effort to dig out the camera cord, upload to iPhoto, upload to Flickr, title and move to photo sets, edit sizes, etc. No, it didn't actually take me more than ten minutes. Yes, I am whining.

This has been a decent few weeks on the knitting front. I made it into London last weekend (Avenue Q! Raunchy singing puppets! Genius!) and stopped by John Lewis. I don't know if I have mentioned before the dire state of yarn shops in my neck of the woods. West Sussex is, I fear, entirely bereft, unless you count C&H Fabrics (and I don't). Sometimes I think I named this blog Knit City in an attempt to convince myself that I don't actually live smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Well, that, and all the good puns were already taken.

Anyways, John Lewis. I was overwhelmed in minutes, even though I'm sure it still has nothing on US yarn shops. The only brands they carry are Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, Noro and Sirdar, but for someone who's been limited to Internet shopping for months, it was an embarrassment of riches. I had planned on buying some Aran wool to make Snow White, but I couldn't quite bring myself to pay full price for 12-14 skeins of anything. I am ebay's bitch, I fear. I did, however, pony up the cash for a few skeins of fun yarn, as it was my birthday weekend, after all.


Once again, I must apologise for the darkness of this shot, but it was the only one that captured some of the richness of that deep red ribbon yarn. Two skeins of that will become a mini Clapotis, a perfect accent for the holiday season. The shiny copper has not yet announced what it would like to be, but I could not resist the glitter. However, I could only afford two skeins. The plan was to make a very open-weaved wrap, but I haven't found a pattern that will work for that yet. It also may end up as a decorative scarf.

Those projects must wait, however, as Trapeze is still on the needles.


Here it is, with the requisite cat tail that seems to sneak into every shot. I had some trouble with this one. I was making it in the large, but it seemed too small, so I frogged a weeks' worth of work (sob!) and started again. Unfortunately, the XL was clearly huge, so THAT got frogged and now it's back to the large, which might be a bit snug, but at least it's a rib stitch, right? It will stretch. And I'm slowly losing weight, so it might fit by the time I finish it.... Well, it was either that or swim in an XL, so I'll live in Delusionville and hope for the best.

The eternal wisp

I am, it must be said, very bored of wisp. The pattern is dreadfully easy, with no stitch more complicated than k2tog, but the fact that it is lace ensures that it still requires too much of my attention. Straight tv knitting is out, it seems.

Since I was in Glasgow for most of the last two weeks, I didn't get a lot of knitting done -- this is despite being stuck in Stansted airport for 12 hours. Curse the restrictions on knitting needles. However, I buckled down this weekend and am now about two-thirds of the way through:


A close-up:


I am trying to force myself through the last few rows, but it's not calling to me right now. This has been made worse by the yarn that followed me home from Glasgow, which is calling to me and demanding to be swatched. My friend lives mere steps from K1 Yarns, and every time we headed into town, or to the pub or cafe, I had to pass by it. I resisted as long as I could, but I am only so strong. Eventually, I gave in and let myself be seduced by 10 skeins bright red Artesano Alpaca (a much bolder red than the photo suggests).


Of course, now I'm not sure what to do with it. I was planning to knit Rhiannon with it, but I'm not convinced alpaca is the best fiber for what is essentially a tank. Of course, I didn't get enough for a proper jumper, and too much for gloves or a hat, and I am sick to death of scarves. Perhaps I will just pet it for a bit and instead try to find a use for the acid green cotton that is currently haunting my stash.

Secret Pal Contest: Oldest Yarn in Your Stash

To be fair, I've only been knitting for five months, so my stash doesn't have much of a history. Even so, as sad yarn goes, this one is a doozy. Isn't she a beauty, in all her salmon pink glory?

This is only the second skein I ever bought. The first was a chunky blue wool. I bought it with a pair of 10mm needles with the plan of making a scarf. Instead, I got ambitious, started learning stocking and rib stitch and practicing increases and decreases, and the end result was that I made something resembling a blue whale far more than a scarf.

Thrilled with my success, I ran out to my tiny local crafts shop. This shop only carries acrylics, but I didn't even know what that meant at the time. It was yarn! That was good enough, right? This one was on sale, and I was quite certain I could make something fabulous from it. Yes, only five months ago I believed I could make something beautiful from one skein of salmon pink acrylic. Ah, I was so young and naive, back in those distant days of 2006.

None of that, of course, explains the current state in which the yarn finds itself. These days, my yarn is carefully stored in one of my dressers. Three drawers of my dresser, to be exact. At that time, I stored it carefully in...plastic bags. Ahem. Now, one day, I returned home to find half of it laying on the floor, one long strand trailing behind it. I followed that strand up the stairs, to the landing, around the corner and up the rest of the stairs to a rather exhausted looking pile of pink fuzz.

Through careful investigation, I have narrowed down the potential suspects and believe I have found the culprit. Would you trust this cat?



Some day, perhaps, I will get rid of this yarn, but at the moment I have quite a soft spot for this pink mess.

What I did on my Easter holiday

1. Redesigned this page. I realise that most people read blogs through Google Reader these days, but I still wanted to do my part to prevent another eyesore from occupying valuable Internet space. Plus, I like playing with all the pretty colours. I might have used too many pretty colours, in fact, but I can't be bothered about that right now.

2. Went to Istanbul! It was fabulous, and I'd post pictures if I wasn't 99.9% certain that everyone currently reading this blog also reads my personal LJ. If I am wrong, let me know and I will happily post my Spice Market photos again. Really, I just love those photos and will take any excuse to look at them, although they do cause me to crave Turkish delight something fierce.

How about some Istanbul flowers, instead? I was there during the tulip festival, and since the tulip is the official flower of Istanbul, they were showing off their mad growing skillz. I decided that I was quite possibly a fabulous nature photographer who only remained unappreciated due to the fact that I never actually took nature photographs. I corrected that by shooting every flower I saw. Since this is a solid example of my floral photography skills, perhaps I did not miss my calling after all.

Now, I did an awful lot of shopping in Istanbul, but had no plans for stash enrichment. Then, just outside the Spice Market, I happened to notice a tiny little shop. I've had walk-in closets bigger than this shop. I wasn't about to quibble over the size, however, when the shop sold yarn. Lovely Turkish yarn, even. Now, I know my stash is already out of control, but it was a souvenir, right? And when I found out that I could buy an entire bag of 100% silk yarn for £5, I didn't even attempt self control. Shown here are two skeins, though the colour is very washed out. Imagine I shot these during the day or took the time to play with hue/saturation in Photoshop for a better sense of the colour. I bought three bags, total -- there is a gold one kicking around my room somewhere, but it seems to have wandered off. I suspect the cats.

These skeins arrived with no labels, so I have no idea how long they are or what the recommended gauge is. It seems to be approximately an Aran weight, so I'll soon be swatching as I try to figure out what I'm actually going to do with this yarn. Something pretty for summer, I'm thinking.

3. Almost finished Sahara! I had almost no time to knit while on holiday, so the work was delayed, I still need to knit the sleeves, sew the neckline and weave in the ends, but I am definitely approaching the finish line. I had a tremendous number of setbacks working the diamond rib pattern around the neckline and the hem, but that is entirely due to operator error and is not the fault of the pattern. It did slow things down a bit, though. I hope to have it completed and blocked by the end of the week.

And now, alas, my holiday is over. Only 11 weeks till summer break! Ahem. Not that I'm counting, of course.

The stash grows, exponentially

My mother is a wonderful woman. Not only did she bake cookies and read to me as a child and do all sorts of wonderful mom-type things, she has also become my yarn pimp. After all, here I am in the UK, earning those wonderful pounds that are worth so many US dollars, but I've not been able to splurge on yarn due to the exorbitant shipping costs. However, since she was visiting soon, I gave her my elann order and asked her to squeeze a few skeins into her suitcase.

A few skeins. Ha! She not only put in my requested order, she tripled it and called it a late Christmas present. When she arrived on Friday, fresh off the San Francisco-Gatwick flight, she had with her two suitcases, one of which was at least 80% yarn.

Am I not the luckiest girl in Knittyland?


Such riches! I am now the proud owner of:
1. Elann Sonata (100% cotton, and soon to be transformed into my next project, Knitty's Soleil.
2. Peruvian Highland Silk. Look at that colour. I have no idea what it is going to become, but it will be luscious.
3. Araucania Atacama, a gorgeous, GORGEOUS handpainted Peruvian alpaca. I'm not sure I want to knit with it. I may just keep it on my shelf and stroke it from time to time.
4. Peruvian chunky Highland wool. I think I'm ready for all my winter knitting already.
5. Finally, Lion Brand Wool-Ease, and lots of it. She apologised for the acrylic blend, but it's perfect to create a jumper for the boyfriend, if I ever decide to brave the sweater curse. As it is, he's going to have to wait a bit longer. I have lots of other knitting to get to, first. LOTS of knitting.