To this:
To THIS!!!
Nice hat. Really nice baby.
Showing posts with label Habu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Habu. Show all posts
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Yarn Diving Pool
Yesterday was the day for our local Knit & Crochet Guild show and I immersed myself completely and enthusiastically like diving into a cool lake in midsummer! As in past years, it was held in our biggest city, in the largest hotel in the state. Even with the crowds, I only saw two or three friends there - people came from all over!
One of the fun things about this event is that so many people actually wear their knit and crochet projects to show them off and display their technical skill and colour sense! The beautiful shawl in gradient blues in the top photo was one of my favorites. But there were many others, including a rainbow-coloured crocheted shawl (looked like Kauni yarn) that went almost to the exhibitor's knees and another vendor's, who was selling Maggi's Knits and wearing her dramatic black and white felted shawl.
As usual, there was a huge vendor room, and I have to say - sheepishly I admit - I was in full stash acquisition mode. Yarns (and related knitting and crochet tools and accessories) were overflowing all around. It was hard to have any restraint at all! The colours and textures reminded me of an enormous, somewhat untidy flower garden.
I was very focused though, at least at first, because I had a mission: To see the fabulous Miss Babs, who I had previously known only over the internet, to re-visit the Habu booth (they know me and I like to spend a lot of time there), and to get some gifts: Christmas presents for my friend Nad in Germany - unusual things she might not find over there (and I have to say, I'm pretty sure I succeeded!!)- and a nice gift for a wonderful lady who is untangling a skein of silk for me in Chicago.
I started and ended at Miss Babs's booth (she gave me permission to snap her photo for my blog). She is just as nice in person as she seems online and she had a wonderful, attentive assistant with her who gave us gorgeous samples and answered any questions quickly and accurately. And just look at the incredible colours in the yarns behind Miss Babs!
I think I spent an hour looking through all her colours. I found that some of the colours look very different in person than they do online. It's so hard for the internets to capture the depth and subtle colour changes of these beautifully dyed yarns! There were so many that I wanted to bring home with me, including A Day at the Balloon Race, and Spring Tulip, and Oyster, and Coventry, and Spring Lettuce, and Chocolate Roses and A Day at the Onyx Cave, and so many more. There was especially one that was Lichen-coloured and I wanted it so much! Unfortunately, it was only in a big lace-weight skein that was very expensive and I had to pass it up, but I regret it...and it's not on her website. I discovered that the skeins that were named "A Day at..." were unique runs that were only dyed once and wouldn't be done again. I fell hard for so many!
From back to front, these are the coveted "Frog Belly," which I plan to use for an Annis shawl, "A Day at the Windlass Shipwreck", "A Day at Muir Woods", a sample of "Green Peppercorn", a sample of "Blackbird", and a sample of "Mums". And on top of all this loveliness, Miss Babs slipped a purple and silver stitch-marker into my bag!
Not all vendors are so pleasant. There were many places where I stood for a long time with carefully chosen skeins in my hands, waiting to pay, while the shop-keeper chatted up other prospective customers who were 'just looking' or gossiped with her booth-mate. Many times, another customer would come up on the left or the right and vendor would turn and take her or his sale as though I was invisible. In all these cases, I put the yarn back and walked away without regret. A wait in line is to be expected. But, equally, I expect to be waited on when my turn comes up. I have a choice of where I shop - a LOT of choice, as it turns out - and no longer have the patience to be treated as though my custom is dispensable. I vote with my purse these days, and I feel better about myself and my choices.
My next stop was the Habu booth.
These mini visits to Habu are among my favorite experiences at this Show over the years. The Habu lady who comes each time is so nice, friendly, knowledgeable and helpful - an expert, both in textile arts and in people-skills. She remembers me and chats with me about what she's making and what I'm making. She has an artist's colour sense and can immediately see the possibilities in unusual colour combinations. When I was looking for a silk/stainless that would be right with the fine charcoal ribbon silk I was holding, she picked up a blue/black shade that wasn't just perfect - it brought the knit from a nice scarf made with elegant yarns to an artistic project. And that's Habu's foundation - art textiles. She embodies this ethic. Can you tell I just relate to the whole of Habu?
The little booth is so full of so may different fibers, yarns, textiles, and possibilities! There were also copies of the new book Ori Ami Knits available, and the stack went down very swiftly!!
As you can see from the knitted and crocheted samples on the wall, Habu is a master of the subtle neutral tones...
That oak-y, lichen-y yellow-green is one of my favorites this year (the same colour I fell in love with at Miss Babs's booth - the one that got away!), especially mixed with grey or black. I really fell for the neutral palette in the Habu booth, and ended up with shades of grey, white, black, and olive tones in my basket. There was one fiber that looked just like pussy-willows to me and someone at Habu had made it into a beautiful scarf by pairing it with a funny textured cotton. I'll be making two of these this winter with the free pattern that was slipped into my bag.
I wanted to start on them immediately when I got home, but have tasked myself with finishing things, so have to do just a few last rows on my April Showers scarf and then I'll dive into the cool clear pool of these new knits!
Monday, June 14, 2010
I have traveled around the country pretty extensively, but I do have some favorite places. One of those places is Portland, Oregon and I've been visiting there a lot lately. I spent some time in Northwest Portland a couple of weeks ago, and really wanted to stay longer. I stayed in a charming Guesthouse that spanned 3 old houses, side by side, connected by their back gardens and porches.
I was given two rooms at the top front of the end house, and had a wonderful picture window under the eaves, that was shaded by tall, leafy trees. The wide bed was incredibly comfortable, and I slept deeply - something that often doesn't happen when I'm away from home. Right across the street was a great coffee & tea shop where I spent many happy times, and we all gathered one afternoon to draw comics and talk and make plans. I had Rooibos tea, and they prepared it in a French Press.
One day, we went to the Portland river market, in search of local honey. But rather than a Farmer's Market, like we have here, this market - that stretched all along the river - was an artist's market, like a perpetual craft fair. There was no honey. But, there were some really beautiful handmade things, and I did buy some dried sweet potatoes for the dogs.
Another rainy day, we took the bus to a big paper warehouse, to get paper and supplies for books and comics (I also got some plastic sleeves for mailing my knitting zine). It seemed like a long way away, and after we left the bus, we walked through winding streets lined by warehouses and very few people. We passed by a warehouse for an auction house, and it was open, so we wandered in. It turned out that everything waiting for auction was for sale, and it was great fun sorting through boxes and bins. In some cardboard boxes under a table, we found a whole set of Jadite china. I bought Jule some soup bowls and a big mixing bowl with a handle and a pouring lip, because her Jadite mixing bowl had fallen off the counter the day before and shattered, as Jadite does.
Another day, we walked down to a local Yarn shop, Knit/ Purl, to check on my knitting zine. It turned out that it had never made it to the manager's hands - perhaps put on her desk and then buried under days of mail... So we left another and chatted with her a bit and - of course - perused the yarn.
They were having a sale on Catherine Lowe's Couture Yarns, so I picked up some skeins of the luscious extra fine merino - 400 yards each for less than the cost of a good loaf of bread.
I believe that this is the same Catherine Lowe who used to write The Ravel'd Sleeve - an antique knitting newsletter with patterns. I've never been able to get my hands on a copy, though I want to, badly...
This yarn store also has a very nice big collection of Habu Textiles. I found some unusual examples that had to come home with me:
Navy blue wrapped cotton (for a summer baby hat):
and 700 yards of some incredible silk and fiddlehead fern fiber. This is going to a lace wrap, perhaps an Ishbel:
I was also captured by the wall of Handmaiden Yarns - they do make beautiful hand dyed yarn - and splurged on Flaxen, a blend of 65% silk and 35% Linen in the colour "Smoke". Two skeins should be enough for a shrug.
My last purchase was a bright little sample of beaded silk in Blaze, a fire-red. The sample if from Planet Earth fibers, and this will probably become an edging on something fun.
I love souvenir yarn!
This trip was so fun and we all got addicted to Dominion (a role-playing game) and I made some good food for the whole group, as well as eating great food made by friends (gluten-free peanut butter cookies - Yum!!). I can't wait to go back.
I was given two rooms at the top front of the end house, and had a wonderful picture window under the eaves, that was shaded by tall, leafy trees. The wide bed was incredibly comfortable, and I slept deeply - something that often doesn't happen when I'm away from home. Right across the street was a great coffee & tea shop where I spent many happy times, and we all gathered one afternoon to draw comics and talk and make plans. I had Rooibos tea, and they prepared it in a French Press.
One day, we went to the Portland river market, in search of local honey. But rather than a Farmer's Market, like we have here, this market - that stretched all along the river - was an artist's market, like a perpetual craft fair. There was no honey. But, there were some really beautiful handmade things, and I did buy some dried sweet potatoes for the dogs.
Another rainy day, we took the bus to a big paper warehouse, to get paper and supplies for books and comics (I also got some plastic sleeves for mailing my knitting zine). It seemed like a long way away, and after we left the bus, we walked through winding streets lined by warehouses and very few people. We passed by a warehouse for an auction house, and it was open, so we wandered in. It turned out that everything waiting for auction was for sale, and it was great fun sorting through boxes and bins. In some cardboard boxes under a table, we found a whole set of Jadite china. I bought Jule some soup bowls and a big mixing bowl with a handle and a pouring lip, because her Jadite mixing bowl had fallen off the counter the day before and shattered, as Jadite does.
Another day, we walked down to a local Yarn shop, Knit/ Purl, to check on my knitting zine. It turned out that it had never made it to the manager's hands - perhaps put on her desk and then buried under days of mail... So we left another and chatted with her a bit and - of course - perused the yarn.
They were having a sale on Catherine Lowe's Couture Yarns, so I picked up some skeins of the luscious extra fine merino - 400 yards each for less than the cost of a good loaf of bread.
I believe that this is the same Catherine Lowe who used to write The Ravel'd Sleeve - an antique knitting newsletter with patterns. I've never been able to get my hands on a copy, though I want to, badly...
This yarn store also has a very nice big collection of Habu Textiles. I found some unusual examples that had to come home with me:
Navy blue wrapped cotton (for a summer baby hat):
and 700 yards of some incredible silk and fiddlehead fern fiber. This is going to a lace wrap, perhaps an Ishbel:
I was also captured by the wall of Handmaiden Yarns - they do make beautiful hand dyed yarn - and splurged on Flaxen, a blend of 65% silk and 35% Linen in the colour "Smoke". Two skeins should be enough for a shrug.
My last purchase was a bright little sample of beaded silk in Blaze, a fire-red. The sample if from Planet Earth fibers, and this will probably become an edging on something fun.
I love souvenir yarn!
This trip was so fun and we all got addicted to Dominion (a role-playing game) and I made some good food for the whole group, as well as eating great food made by friends (gluten-free peanut butter cookies - Yum!!). I can't wait to go back.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Untangling...
Yesterday, I got an a frantic call from a friend to go over to her house for an emergency unscrambling... she had taken her precious bundle of Habu pure raw silk and tried to wind it by looping it around the legs of her coffee table and pulling on the end. She thought that it would slide smoothly around and around the table while she wound it on her spooler - kind of using the coffee table like a swift, but a swift that doesn't turn around...
Okay! This sounds like a job for.....UnravelingSophia!! Hey - that name's not just for show, you know! I even have a superhero cape!
This is what I found when I arrived:
Ah, the hubris of humans when encountering the natural silks! How we love to think we've subdued the strands with our spinning and our natural dyes. Not so. These threads - these teeny tiny smaller-than-laceweight threads - were so full of sproingy static electricity that they kept leaping off my fingers and back into the tangled mass. They were wiley, those threads!
Then the bright idea part of brain decided to send me a message - Use the power of the (water) Force! it said. I asked my friend for her laundry water bottle and spritzed the silk. Immediately, it snapped to attention and obeyed. Ah, how satisfying!
Unfortunately, the tangled threads were too intertwined to find any semblance of a skein so I couldn't wind it from my own swift. I had to untangle, wind, untangle, wind, untangle, wind a little tiny bit at a time.
Once I had a hand-wound ball from the mess, I threaded the end on to the ball-winder, and made a nice center-pull ball. This was more to keep the threads from re-tangling than anything else. With a yarn this apt to escape its bounds, I recommended that she really unwind it from the outside when she actually knitted with it. And, I cut off the toe from a pair of her nylon stockings and slipped this over the now nicely-behaved ball with the end sticking out... Nice and orderly...
My job here was done and it was time for me to fade away into the sunset... "Who was that masked woman? I wanted to thank her!" (special prize for anyone who correctly identifies where that pseudo-quote came from!)
Really, this took hours and hours and was one of the most arduous yarn-untanglings I've ever attempted. There were several times when I thought I'd never succeed, and never get to the end of it! I love the Habu, but it needs to be treated, very, very gently.
In other news, my fabulous swap partner from the Vintage Swap on Ravelry sent me (along with lots of other fabulous treats) a skein of midnight Blue Indigo Moon sock yarn!! My first skein ever of this yarn - I love it!
Okay! This sounds like a job for.....UnravelingSophia!! Hey - that name's not just for show, you know! I even have a superhero cape!
This is what I found when I arrived:
Ah, the hubris of humans when encountering the natural silks! How we love to think we've subdued the strands with our spinning and our natural dyes. Not so. These threads - these teeny tiny smaller-than-laceweight threads - were so full of sproingy static electricity that they kept leaping off my fingers and back into the tangled mass. They were wiley, those threads!
Then the bright idea part of brain decided to send me a message - Use the power of the (water) Force! it said. I asked my friend for her laundry water bottle and spritzed the silk. Immediately, it snapped to attention and obeyed. Ah, how satisfying!
Unfortunately, the tangled threads were too intertwined to find any semblance of a skein so I couldn't wind it from my own swift. I had to untangle, wind, untangle, wind, untangle, wind a little tiny bit at a time.
Once I had a hand-wound ball from the mess, I threaded the end on to the ball-winder, and made a nice center-pull ball. This was more to keep the threads from re-tangling than anything else. With a yarn this apt to escape its bounds, I recommended that she really unwind it from the outside when she actually knitted with it. And, I cut off the toe from a pair of her nylon stockings and slipped this over the now nicely-behaved ball with the end sticking out... Nice and orderly...
My job here was done and it was time for me to fade away into the sunset... "Who was that masked woman? I wanted to thank her!" (special prize for anyone who correctly identifies where that pseudo-quote came from!)
Really, this took hours and hours and was one of the most arduous yarn-untanglings I've ever attempted. There were several times when I thought I'd never succeed, and never get to the end of it! I love the Habu, but it needs to be treated, very, very gently.
In other news, my fabulous swap partner from the Vintage Swap on Ravelry sent me (along with lots of other fabulous treats) a skein of midnight Blue Indigo Moon sock yarn!! My first skein ever of this yarn - I love it!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
This vest....
I have been making This...(<--- Ravelry link)
It used 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Chocolate, a deliciously soft deep brown, almost solid...but even though all three skeins were from the same dye lot, one had faint mocha stripes and the other two were the depth of a smooth bittersweet 75% cacao bar... the colour is most accurate in this photo:
I added lots of inches to the length, but otherwise followed the pattern as written (not an easy feat since it gets a bit vague around about the mid-point of the writing), even to the tiny needles - size 2 - except that I had to change the bind off. The pattern specified the Russian bind-off (knit two tog, slip resulting stitch back onto left needle, knit two tog,, repeat) and I was tempted - the name intrigued me. But it was ultimatly non-stretchy and I had to unpick it and use the sewn bind-off.
I'm sorry now that I didn't get an action shot before I sent this off in the mail as a birthday present. I was so focused on getting the colour right in the camera and showing the vintage pin that seems just perfect for this slightly vintage-y vest. This pin belonged to my oh-so-cool aunt when she was a teenager. She was so stylish - wore all the latest trends, I heard she was even a go-go girl, what-ever that is! Some kind of a dancer I think, that wore short skirts and white knee-high boots. Anyway.... this pin was hers and then mine, and now my little sister's...
I also had an addition to my knitting cupboard (er....pile-o-stuff-by-the-couch is more accurate)... a set of Habu knitting needles from Japan! Have I shown you these yet? There is a pair of every size, starting very small, and each is colour-coded by its glossy gum-ball finial. They came in the padded travel case with a sizing ruler in both Japanese and English. And...very cool...the ruler has a little 'blessing bell' on the end of it attached with it's traditional red ribbon; every time the bells chime, a prayer goes up to Buddha. I hope its a prayer for my WIPs!
It used 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Chocolate, a deliciously soft deep brown, almost solid...but even though all three skeins were from the same dye lot, one had faint mocha stripes and the other two were the depth of a smooth bittersweet 75% cacao bar... the colour is most accurate in this photo:
I added lots of inches to the length, but otherwise followed the pattern as written (not an easy feat since it gets a bit vague around about the mid-point of the writing), even to the tiny needles - size 2 - except that I had to change the bind off. The pattern specified the Russian bind-off (knit two tog, slip resulting stitch back onto left needle, knit two tog,, repeat) and I was tempted - the name intrigued me. But it was ultimatly non-stretchy and I had to unpick it and use the sewn bind-off.
I'm sorry now that I didn't get an action shot before I sent this off in the mail as a birthday present. I was so focused on getting the colour right in the camera and showing the vintage pin that seems just perfect for this slightly vintage-y vest. This pin belonged to my oh-so-cool aunt when she was a teenager. She was so stylish - wore all the latest trends, I heard she was even a go-go girl, what-ever that is! Some kind of a dancer I think, that wore short skirts and white knee-high boots. Anyway.... this pin was hers and then mine, and now my little sister's...
I also had an addition to my knitting cupboard (er....pile-o-stuff-by-the-couch is more accurate)... a set of Habu knitting needles from Japan! Have I shown you these yet? There is a pair of every size, starting very small, and each is colour-coded by its glossy gum-ball finial. They came in the padded travel case with a sizing ruler in both Japanese and English. And...very cool...the ruler has a little 'blessing bell' on the end of it attached with it's traditional red ribbon; every time the bells chime, a prayer goes up to Buddha. I hope its a prayer for my WIPs!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Habu and other pleasures
Today was my day to go to the Knit & Crochet Show at the Center of New Hampshire. I took the day off from work and my friend Lori and I got an early start. You already know that I like to arrive early and wait for the doors to open!
We were very excited, even though we hadn't been able to get into any of the classes we wanted. It is still a fun adventure to wander the vendor booths viewing yarn and accessories that you've only read about...
While we were waiting, we ran into CrochetKim (right) and her friend, both sporting her original designs:
There seemed to be fewer vendors this year - at least on Friday. I have a feeling that all of them will be showing on Saturday; they probably figure that's when the hordes will arive. And they may be right, because - after all - the Ravelry meet-up is Saturday! So why did I go on Friday? I am a quiet person, much happier in small groups than in crowds. The slower day suits me much better!
The Elegant Ewe was there, with Marci in a lovely crochet t-shirt doing her part! They were so mobbed with people, I never got to go back and say goodbye.
I also found a Yarn Dyer from Derry, Sereknity Sock Yarns, who had a line of Green Monster yarns honoring the Boston Red Socks and their monster green wall behind the open-air ball field!
We spent a good hour at the Russian Lace Knitting booth, chatting with the globe-trotting proprieter and admiring the delicate yarns and lace models. They had Quivit and Buffalo down, and cashmere cobweb-weight in a rainbow of natural colours. I didn't splurge on any of those, but didn't leave the booth empty-handed either!
We saw some interesting sights that I didn't capture on my camera, like the fashion show, but I did manage to snap the lady who was trying out the giant needles!
After that, I had to settle down with some Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn - in Butter Peeps and Lipstick Lava. This yarn really is as soft and smooshy as people say! Of course it is, it's Australian Merino!!!!
The next booth that claimed an hour of our time was the Habu vendor!
I can't help it, I love Habu. I love the teensy little folded balls that bloom into full size skeins in a myriad of harmonious shades. I love the natural and amazingly not-so-natural fibers and materials that are somehow spun into knitable threads. I love the surprising unexpectedness of it - the stainless steel mixed with silk, the pineapple fiber dyed dark blood red, the slubby silk with bits of cocoon interspersed at odd intervals... I didn't escape without major budget-breakage:
from left to right, top row:
Rosey copper Pure linen, a crinkly natural paper thin pure silk, pineapple plant fiber - blood red
from left to right, bottom row:
Light green cashmere, mid-green cashmere, red-red 100% stiff cotton (unmercerized), turquoise 100% softest cotton; goldish bamboo, gold very fine silk
My plans are to put the rosey copper linen and the crinkly natural silk together, the blood red pineapple fiber and the stiff red-red cotton together (washy towels), the gold bamboo and the gold silk with go together, and the two colours of cashmere will be opposite ends of the same lace scarf. The soft cotton will be on its own and I hope that I have enough for a little something sweet.
I am a very tired and happy knitter. <3
We were very excited, even though we hadn't been able to get into any of the classes we wanted. It is still a fun adventure to wander the vendor booths viewing yarn and accessories that you've only read about...
While we were waiting, we ran into CrochetKim (right) and her friend, both sporting her original designs:
There seemed to be fewer vendors this year - at least on Friday. I have a feeling that all of them will be showing on Saturday; they probably figure that's when the hordes will arive. And they may be right, because - after all - the Ravelry meet-up is Saturday! So why did I go on Friday? I am a quiet person, much happier in small groups than in crowds. The slower day suits me much better!
The Elegant Ewe was there, with Marci in a lovely crochet t-shirt doing her part! They were so mobbed with people, I never got to go back and say goodbye.
I also found a Yarn Dyer from Derry, Sereknity Sock Yarns, who had a line of Green Monster yarns honoring the Boston Red Socks and their monster green wall behind the open-air ball field!
We spent a good hour at the Russian Lace Knitting booth, chatting with the globe-trotting proprieter and admiring the delicate yarns and lace models. They had Quivit and Buffalo down, and cashmere cobweb-weight in a rainbow of natural colours. I didn't splurge on any of those, but didn't leave the booth empty-handed either!
We saw some interesting sights that I didn't capture on my camera, like the fashion show, but I did manage to snap the lady who was trying out the giant needles!
After that, I had to settle down with some Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn - in Butter Peeps and Lipstick Lava. This yarn really is as soft and smooshy as people say! Of course it is, it's Australian Merino!!!!
The next booth that claimed an hour of our time was the Habu vendor!
I can't help it, I love Habu. I love the teensy little folded balls that bloom into full size skeins in a myriad of harmonious shades. I love the natural and amazingly not-so-natural fibers and materials that are somehow spun into knitable threads. I love the surprising unexpectedness of it - the stainless steel mixed with silk, the pineapple fiber dyed dark blood red, the slubby silk with bits of cocoon interspersed at odd intervals... I didn't escape without major budget-breakage:
from left to right, top row:
Rosey copper Pure linen, a crinkly natural paper thin pure silk, pineapple plant fiber - blood red
from left to right, bottom row:
Light green cashmere, mid-green cashmere, red-red 100% stiff cotton (unmercerized), turquoise 100% softest cotton; goldish bamboo, gold very fine silk
My plans are to put the rosey copper linen and the crinkly natural silk together, the blood red pineapple fiber and the stiff red-red cotton together (washy towels), the gold bamboo and the gold silk with go together, and the two colours of cashmere will be opposite ends of the same lace scarf. The soft cotton will be on its own and I hope that I have enough for a little something sweet.
I am a very tired and happy knitter. <3
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