Work In Progress

United Kingdom - Day 33

We arrived in Edinburgh last night.  Today, after a meandering walk through town (read, lost) we spent the day exploring the castle. We are here during the Art Festival, but haven't found anything we "have to see" yet. We're not sure where we will be tomorrow. I'm just glad we've had two days in one place so we could get a proper rest. 

On the way into the castle... 

On the way home I explored the lovely little knit shop, K1Yarns, with the "weekend girl" Rebecca, playing the wonderful hostess. I even picked up a couple Scottish spun and dyed yarns! Peeyore and Beeyore got a bit coy.  The shop is so light and it's just very relaxing to wander around. There is an abundance of Scottish yarns, which I loved. 

We stepped into a pub in an attempt to let the rains slack. Unfortunately, they only increased, but it was fun to have a bit of cider and try the Edinburgh Festival Ale. 

And Partner was able to watch some Prem during the opening weekend! New to the Prem, Southhampton! 

United Kingdom - Day 4

Day 4 was a foot walk to Loop, a yarn/wool shop in North London.

The only way it was possible was with my trusty A-Z(ed) guide!  I got lost both ways, but my guide got me back on track.

Crossing into Islington on Shaftesbury Ave.

A quiet tree-lined Rosebury St

Finally! I found my target! 

Through the door for yarny delights! 

The first floor is lovely with lace, fingering, sport and DK weight yarns.

Upstairs is the heavier weight yarns in another, open and bright room.  Upstairs I found the three less ubiquitous yarns - Alice Yarns, Uncommon Thread and Shiladair. They also have an amazing selection of Wollmeise yarns.

The staff was lovely and ever so helpful, even when I asked pretty dumb questions - I couldn't remember if sportweight and DK were the same or not. I took this snap on my way back down the stairs. 

I did not walk away empty-handed - some natural dyed Shiladair - a luxury lambswool, cashmere, camel and angora that is dyed with lac and logwood! - and a shawl pin. 

Then it was time to travel back.  I saw this on a side street. 

And passed through a mad-cap Piccadilly Circus. 

Sock Stash

I started this post over a week ago but I never could quite finish it. I hope you find it was worth waiting for!

So, Thursday night the market place was open for students only.  The line was a bit long... apparently extending into classrooms at the other end of the market place. 
I've done the line at Stitches West.  No thanks.  So I ate the rest of my Thai food that I'd picked up at a cart.  I will say, I noticed the people in line at Sock Summit were nicer than those waiting at Stiches West.  My only guess is that Stitches is almost exclusively about buying while Sock Summit includes classes.  Are we more cerebral? Or are people just afraid to cut off someone that may end up being in their classes the next day?

But I doubt you're here for my thoughts on line etiquette!

My goal on Thursday was to walk through the entire market place without buying any yarn.  Money is tight right now (Sock Summit itself being a poorly-timed event, pocket-wise) and I have an enormous stash already so it seems silly to buy too much.

I made it almost two rows before I broke that promise.

But there is a perfectly reasonable explanation (nods her head).

Enough yarn for socks, a little mini skein (should I ever do colorwork), a couple stitch markers, various natural lotions and creams inspired for knitters, two free patterns (afghan - kind of blah; mittens - hurray).

I'm really not sure which yarn is in the picture above.  I put two tags there because they were loose in the bag.  Story book yarn or Happy Fuzzy yarn, maybe. But it also looks like Pico Accuardi yarn. Mystery yarn.

But, the real reason (wink, nudge) is that included in the packet was a number for a drawing for a free iPad. About six months ago, almost immediately after finally getting a computer to replace mine that died a year ago, I managed to tip an entire mug of coffee on Partner's MacBook.  Ruined. And we're back to one computer again. I didn't win.  But I had to try.  And I got yarn.

Two more rows and I found a great booth.  As you may know, I try not to buy anything from China and so I always try to find the source for the indie dyer's base yarn. I'd just had a mildly annoying experience with a booth operator that told me that it was a big trade secret where someone's yarn comes from.  I told her I wanted to know china/not china not the name of the mill.  She was a bit suspicious and said I'd have to wait and talk to the dyer who might tell me. I'm going to pretend she didn't quite understand my intentions.

But I walked into this next booth and asked where her yarn came from.  And her response (paraphrased)?

"I don't know! But the person I get my yarn from is over there and you can go ask them.  Tell them it's me and they can tell you which base yarn it is and where it comes from."

I guess someone forgot to tell her about the secret.

I found out her yarn doesn't come from China. And, since this colorway kept selling, and she'd been so sweet, I just could help but [justify as completely rationale and within my guideline to] buy yarn.

Wonderland Dyeworks, Ocean Cliff colorway. Isn't that a perfect name?

A couple rows later I met Karin from the Periwinkle Sheep. After chatting with her, I only made it half way before the market place closed - I guess two hours isn't enough time for me!

Friday was the day of my migraine and the thought of completing a transaction was too much.

So Saturday and I had only bought three skeins of yarn!  A bit addled from my Lithuanian heels and toes class, I still managed to finally finish the second half of the market place.  Working my way back through, I found this great little company, Hanks in the Hood (or Etsy). The cost is exceptional because they have a mill and so have lower costs.

As an aside, I've spent too much time in cities - I assumed it was a dying team from the inner city (hood), but it's actually because they are near Mt Hood. Of course.

I saw this yarn, saw the name - Starry Night - and thought it was a perfect capture of Vincent Van Gogh's colors.  Ironically, when I mentioned it to the dyer, she seemed very confused and admitted it wasn't her inspiration at all.  Ha!

I also bought some mohair/cashmere/merino mill ends for my sister-in-law's birthday.  They are already gifted and I forgot to get a picture.  Again, time flew past and the market place closed before I could get back to Karin's booth.

Sunday.  I discovered in class that the market place was closing before our class was over in the afternoon.  What?! Lunch time I'm at Karin's booth and ready to buy.  I'd spied this little guy the first night:

tree frog

And then I spy that Karin is having a sale.  Buy 2, get 1 free.  Perfect! I'm going to make a much larger shawl out of some of her yarn!

Oxblood Lily - I love the way the orange radiates from under the purple.

I'm ready to check out and waiting in line when I spy a sample sweater.  I remembered when Karin had started a little KAL with her yarn to make Mythos. Frankly, at the time I thought the sweater was interesting but not that attractive.  But worked up in Sweet Plum, it looked wonderful.  Three skeins and I'd have a sweater.

But what is a girl to do? Put back the Tree Frog and do the sweater in 3 skeins of Oxblood Lily? Or ignore the sweater and buy what I intended? Or, just buy the 4th skein?

Ugh! Decisions.  Back to class I went and thought about it.

Some of us snuck away for a break from knitting to shop. Two women from my class beat me to Karin's and were buying yarn, which made me extremely happy.

I am helpless to resist yarn and sweet people. Karin is sweet too - she was rocking my yarn while I was hemming and hawing - it was very cute. There was only one thing to do...

And then round out the purchases with two more... Because, if you're going to buy one more, you might as well buy 2 more and get another free skein.  Right??

on the left - Suits Him and right, Crack in the Sidewalk

To prove I wasn't the only city dweller at the marketplace, one of Karin's helpers (from Portland) thought the colorway was Crack on the Sidewalk.

Here are all my lovelies from Karin's booth. Don't you want some too?

What's that you say? You see a seventh skein?  Ah, well, the sweet Karin snuck an extra skein of Sweet Plum into my bag after I bought the yarn.  I have plans for that sweet gift....

A wonderful and nearly  almost   kind-of reasonable haul from four days of yarn shopping. Now, does anyone know where I can buy some free time to knit it all???

 

Yarn Tourism: Katoomba

Hello all!

A quick post, continuing my Australian adventure.  After a stop in Canberra, where I was able to visit my friend, but not find yarn, I was off to Katoomba.  Katoomba is a wonderful town in the Blue Ridge Mountains NW of Sydney.  Folks basically come to Katoomba to hike.  It was a huge retreat for the social set of Sydney in the early 1900's and I stayed in the hotel of that time, though now it is a youth hostel.  Katoomba, and it's wonderful hiking trails, deserve - and will get - a post in there own right.  There are far fewer yarn shops in Katoomba than Melbourne.  As in one.  However, the LYS, owned by Jan and her husband David is lovely.

A warm and bright shop, they have gone through a tough year with a city rehab of the shopping plaza - you have to be determined to get there!  In the next two shots, you'll notice the barriers outside the door - little mazes for customers to run between the shops.  In fact, I knew where it was and almost missed it.

Both Jan and David are delightful and she carries all the Australian brands as well as the known English yarns - Patons, Heirloom, Cleckheaton, Sidhar.  She carries other brands as well, but of course, they escape me.  My only surprise was that she carried no indie dyers, as she as concerned about liability if the lot was bad.  I guess I can understand that, but I was disappointed as I'd hoped to pick up some local yarn there.  The local farmer's market - where I might have found local yarn - isn't being held until the shopping center is renovated.

So, in addition to the lovely yarn I gave away for my one year blogiversary, I also picked up a few other items (so shocking, right?)

This is where I saw some wonderful yarn I was going to turn into a Koolhaas last year.  I don't know what it will be now, but I wasn't going to miss a second opportunity.  I love these colors together.

For almost a year, I've been looking for the perfect bulky yarn for a particular project.  I thought I'd found the perfect yarn at the Guild in Melbourne, but they didn't have enough yarn for the project I have in mind.  This yarn - Cleckheaton Countrywide - is advertised as a 14 ply (super bulky) but really looks and knits-up like a 12 ply (bulky).  After much consultation with Partner on color, I went out of my normal comfort zone.  I bought 16 skeins of this:

The astute among you may notice that there are only 10 balls in the picture above.  I may have to admit to a bit of unfaithfulness to my poor forgotten Mountain View cardigan.  I may have thrown it over for Christmas knitting.  And by Christmas knitting, I meana present for myself.  I've made a bit of progress since the above picture was taken.  Here's a peak (though the color is more accurate in the picture above):

The other place to buy yarn in Katoomba is the thrift stores!  Not quite the ambience, range of colors, selection or knowledge that you get with Jan!  I've heard people tell me for years that you can get amazing deals at thrift stores, but all I normally find are sad little balls of acrylic that aren't enough for a baby hat. 

Last year in Katoomba I was woefully unprepared for the cold mountain nights or rain (it had been a last minute decision to go there).  I found an intricate cabled sweater in 100% wool for $2.00.  I'd thought it too snug for me and was thinking I'd just reuse the yarn.  But I didn't have the heart to tear out such wonderful work.  I'm also slowly coming to terms with my actual size, and not the size I believe I am.  The sweater actually fits, it's just that most of my sweaters are wwwway too big. But this isn't a blog entry about my body image issues, but about yarn!

At the thrift store this year, I found a really neat yarn:

Jumbuk wool is a lightly processed yarn from Australia.  Ravelry says it's 175 yards and worsted weight.  I think it's spun more like lace weight and has the thickness of DK weight.  I see this as a very rustic shawl.  And three skeins was the exhorbinant price of $1.50 total.  A few (hundred) more skeins at that price, and the price-per-skein ratio of my stash will seem a lot more reasonable. 

I leave you with this true story: I went into the thrift store two different days.  I decided to look for DPNs at the last minute because I was working on the Through the Loop Mystery Socks (and rav).  I don't have a lot of 0s and 1s DPNs and I wanted to do both socks at once.  In this massive jumble are needles and the box is marked, "$1 a pair." So, I find 5 0s in a bundle.  I go to check out and afterwards, realize that the lady has charged me $2.  I go back and ask and she says, "they are $1 a pair."

"But you need 5 DPNs to do anything."

"Don't worry, I didn't charge you for the 5th needle."

"Blink, blink."

Okay, it's a good deal, it's a thrift store, let it go.

When I get back to the hostel and use my own needle sizer, I realize I have 1s, not 0s.

The next day I go back (by now I'm also shopping for another bag for all my yarn loot).  I find 0s.  I decide I'm going to get 6 since they bend and, after all, they are $1 a pair.  When I go up to the register with my new bag and needles, the older gentleman says, "what are these?"

"They are DPNs, it's for making socks and stuff."

[he proceeds to start wrapping them and I say not to bother, I'll just put them in my bag.]

"Oh no, can't do that, they are sharps.  It's the law that they must be wrapped."

I'm a bit taken aback, but go with it.

Then he gives me my total.

"But you didn't charge me for my knitting needles, they are $1 a pair."

"Oh yes, but that's for proper knitting needles, not these.  I'll just give them to you."

True story.

Don't worry, I put the money in the donation tin.  I know they are proper knitting needles.

The Lovely Ladies of SnB Melbourne

Don't forget about my giveaway! Leave your comments by Wednesday. 

I understand that some folks are having trouble leaving comments (so sad as I love reading your thoughts). If this is you, just send me an email at bigblueice(at)yahoo(dot)com.  I doubt, given the upcoming holiday and my normal state of disorganization, that I will get Typepad to fix this before Wednesday.

Partner is now requesting "Awww count" updates. hehehe

I'd be remiss if, when recounting my Australia adventures, I didn't talk about the lovely ladies of SnB Melbourne.

Kind of at the last moment, I had the brilliant (obvious) idea, to suggest a get together with all the ladies that had helped me with my Melbourne yarn crawl.  Happily, the ladies were up to a "special" Friday night meet-up at Kojo Brown.

SnB Melbourne meets in the suburb/neighborhood of Richmond in Melbourne.

So, I jumped on a tram and off I went.

the U.S. could learn a lot from the Melbourne public transport - timely and inexpensive

Can I just say wow?  Okay, first we have Kojo Brown.  A bar with enough lighting to knit!  Swoon. And greek-inspired cuisine, including the rare lamb salad I had.  Yum. 

the bar at Kojo Brown

I thought that a few women might show up, a la my own (nearly defunct) knitting group.  I showed up a little before 6:30 and pulled out my knitting.  I think it's the universal invitation for knitters to join you.

I became so engrossed in conversation, that unfortunately I didn't start taking pictures until after a few ladies left.  Thank you ladies for indulging me whilst I was snap-happy.

But, at the height, I counted 11 knitters.  Awesome.  A lot of the girls were knitting with Jitterbug.  I've admired it occasionally, but never purchased.  But wow, the parade of colors I saw that night has me coveting some of it.

I brought my knitting, but not surprisingly, spent more time talking than knitting.

With the help of Padma and Pommiechick's cheat sheet (all will link to ravelry pages), here are

The Lovely Ladies of SnB Melbourne:

of course, Padma and Pommiechick, the list makers. :)
 
(L-R) Sonia, me, equine Padma, Newdknit, Susanne9

 
(L-R) DrBones, Susanne9, Padma, Sonia, me, equine, Newdknit

 
(L-R) Pommiechick, Padma, DrBones, Sonia, equine, Pransell, Newdknit

In attendance, but missing from the picture capture were Itsagift and sugarhiccup.  And many thanks to Katinspace, who provided a lot of advice, but couldn't make it to the meet-up.

Pransell and Newdknit (playing shy)

On my way to the meet up, I had to hop on/off the same tram line.  When I was first on, I actually saw Pransell.  Well, her sweater first.  And I thought, "I wonder if she is going to the meet up? Did she knit that sweater."

She was and she did.

Sonia modeling her lovely wig that was used for her office wig party.  Genius. :)
She's the unofficial hostess for the Richmond group

I finally had to leave around 11:00 pm.  My night with SnB Melbourne is one of the highlights of my trip!

Thanks again, I hope I can host some of you soon.  I'm serious, if the AUS dollar is still putting us to shame, you ought to fly in for Stitches West!