Why I find it so difficult

or even impossible.... to knit with any speed....

Gratuitous knitting prawn

ok...more awake now, after some good TeaLux Creme de la Earl Grey!

This entry is about knitting and yarn and is photo heavy, so I'm warning those of you who are so inexplicably *not* obsessed with knitting {just can't understand it; scratches her head and looks puzzled...}

First, I'm working on a very soft Oat Couture Bistro Shirt in Classic Elite Pima Cotton and Tencel blend, and here is the progress:



The pattern is from Oat Couture a small design company whose patterns are all pretty simple and classic. Here is the photo of what the Bistro Shirt looks like when finished:



As you can see, I'm making it quite a bit longer in the torso, and I may make both the sleeves and the collar just a little bit longer. I'll have wait and see what it looks like on....and, in case you noticed... there is a really unusual vintage stitch holder in each of the shoulders! I got these at the Sheep and Wool Fair last weekend. They're celluloid and from the 1930's. Here is close-up of the most unique one - it is shiny iridescent green with ruler markings along it. They don't seem at all fragile or damaged, so I thought I'd use them. There's something about actually using colourful, beautiful tools when you knit that makes the experience so sensuous.

The stitchmarker:



Also, some people e-mailed me a few questions about the yarns I bought at the Sheep and Wool Fair so I'm going to bore you with more detailed photos and descriptions of that! {bore? bore?? how could anyone be bored looking at fibers?}

Here are the dyed ones all laid out side by side like nice little sleepy lambs:



Hopefully the close-up pictures will show the beautiful variegations of the hand dyed and handpainted yarns, all done by folks like you and me, in their home businesses and farms.

All descriptions are from left to right and top row to bottom row

Upper left



2 skeins of pure linen - tank top
2 skeins of Cotswold natural white - heavy house socks
5 skeins of variegated green loopy mohair (boucle) - blanket
2 skeins blue variegated wool and tencel - T shirt
1 skein variegated blue green wool and tencel - ?
1 skein variegated green wool and tencel - ?
1 skein greens silk and rayon - 1930's bed jacket
1 skein purple/grey loopy mohair (boucle) - shrug
2 skeins silk and mohair very fine pale peach boucle - summer short sleeved sweater
4 skeins handpainted silk and mohair rusts, lavenders - Clapotis

upper right:



2 skeins of Cotswold natural white - heavy house socks
2 skeins aqua and grey silk and wool - boxers
2 skeins variegated dark blues merino sock yarn - socks
2 skeins variegated grays merino sock yarn - John socks
3 skeins very fine handpainted green/blue merino - Clapotis or other shawl
2 skeins blue variegated wool tencel - T shirt
1 slein variegated blue green wool and tencel - ?
1 skein variegated green wool and tencil - ?
1 skein variegated aqua wool - log cabin afghan
1 skein variegated dark blues wool - ditto
5 mini skeins Handpainted blue, dark blue, dark green, light green - ditto
2 skeins Pima cotton light blue - summer sweater

bottom left



5 skeins of variegated green loopy mohair (boucle) - blanket
2 skeins blue variegated wool tencel - T shirt
1 skein variegated blue green wool and tencel - ?
1 skein variegated green wool and tencel - ?
1 skein purple/grey loopy mohair (boucle) - shrug
2 skeins silk and mohair very fine pale peach boucle - short sleeved summer sweater
4 skeins handpainted silk and mohair rusts, lavenders - Clapotis
(sorry for all the repeats, but hopefully they're more visible in the close-ups)
3 skeins silk and Icelandic very fine spun lace weight natural - Russian lace shawl

bottom right:



1 skein vari aqua wool - log cabin Afghan
1 skein vari dark blues wool - ditto
5 mini skeins Handpainted blue, dark blue, dark green, light green - ditto
2 pima cotton light blue - summer sweater
1 skein dark aqua green spun angora with wool - shrug or one-skein wonder
3 skeins silk and Icelandic very fine spun lace weight natural - Russian lace shawl
1 skein Icelandic very fine spun lace weight Handpainted blues & golds - Russian lace shawl
2 skeins Icelandic very fine spun lace weight golds - Russian lace shawl
2 skeins blue and black variegated sock yarn - socks
1 (large) skein aqua greens and blues merino & silk - ?


The next time you see these yarns, they'll be in FOs or WIPs... I promise! Off into the world now. I'm having lunch in a far-away town with a male knitting friend! Obsessed with knitting? Me?

Have you any wool?

The Sheep & Wool Fair was wonderful! It has been raining so hard that there were floods and I had to drive around the back way over the mountain to be on higher ground. When I got there, the Fair grounds where it was held were a short trek over the river and through the woods, so I dutifully tucked my trousers into my boots and, parking the car in the indicated field, took off walking up the trail through the woods. There was a little wooden foot-bridge over what is usually a little brook, but now it was a rushing river wafting up over the floor-boards of the footbridge! A yellow police crime scene tape threaded through the wooden slats on the sides of the bridge: "Warning! Do Not Cross!" I was glad it was there, because otherwise I would have been tempted to go right over the edge and go wading through it, right?

In spite of the floods there were many sheep and llama and alpaca and angora farmers there and kids showing their animals (the furry folk were not very happy I'm afraid) and many fiber venders. Not as many as usual, but enough for me!

When I go to a Wool Fair, I like to buy from the small family farms that bring the fiber from sheep (or llama or alpaca or bunny) to spinning wheel to dye pot to fair all themselves. They are real artists with the love of their animals and their craft showing in the product. And I think this love spills over into my knitting.

I had marvelous luck and came home with enough yarn for 28 projects, (as well as some spun silk for my altar embroideries). Beautiful threads from farms with names that read like poetry:

Ward Brook
Maple Creek
Still Waters
Mountain View
Spirit Trail
Thyme & Ewe

and here are the photos!

This first one is the Natural spun yarn from a small farm. The woman was spinning right there while she sat and waited for people to come through. She sold this yarn at $3.50 a skein, so I bought several. My plan is to make a blanket with it....



This group shows the beautiful handspun, hand-dyed and hand-painted yarns I got. The colours are almost right, except what looks like two skeins of shiny orange in the middle, is actually lace-weight gold - a real mellow autumn gold colour. This was spun by a Russian woman who just came with a friend who had a farm booth and thought she'd bring a few skeins of mohair and silk yarn that she'd spun and dyed. I bought six skeins from her - this was lace weight so it was very very thin and very very lightweight. She was selling it for $4 an ounce and each ounce was about 200 yards, so I got enough for two shawls for $20. Other yarn here is for summer sweaters, socks for friends, a Clapotis (from Knitty.com), and the Anthropologie-inspired capelet... etc.



and here are the spun silk threads...The woman was boiling the silk cocoons (empty! enpty! its an humane process!) and showing how she spun the threads and dyed them. It was beautiful - almost as beautiful as making a real butterfly! She had "silk handkerchiefs," which is what the dyed silk is called before its spun, for only $2. {{sigh}} I only know how to spin with a drop spindle and have never done silk. This silk thread is for the embroidery on Daniel's altar-cloth and for the hair on the Princess finger-puppet. The colours are very deep and rich.

Baaaaaaa...

Tomorrow is the Sheep and Wool fair. Did you hear? Tomorrow. Sheep and Wool. SHEEP. WOOL. TOMORROW. WOOL. Wool Wool Wool Wool Wool. And Sheep. Nice soft warm wooly sweet-faced sheet. And llamas. And alpacas. And angora bunnies. Yup. Bunnies you can knit with! And wool. Handpainted wool, self-striping wool, lace weight wool, silky wool, fuzzy wool, fat wool, loopy wool, and baby wool…. Me. Sheep and Wool Fair. Tomorrow.

Arrgh! Sorry about that. Just got a little carried away for a moment!

I just talked to my sister on the phone and told her about the black blouse I’m knitting for her (Right Now) and she was really happy – so that’s good! Now I can show pictures because it’s not a surprise any more. She’s on her way to an art show and likes to talk on the phone while she’s riding the city bus. I was also doing two things at once! I was taking photos of my knitting needles for you! (aren’t you glad? Didn’t you want to know my knitting needle situation?)

Here are some very vintage ones, made from “Vegetable-matter Ivory” – a precursor of rubber, and some celluloid ones too. The tops are mostly Bakelite – crimson, garnet, blue, ebony. These celluloid needles are bendy and soft, and don’t make a satisfying clicking sound when you knit with them, but I love them all the same. They have the good old names: Nun’s, and Clark's, and Fleisher's...



Now, these are the Vintage and not-so-vintage wooden ones! Far over on the right you can see the pair with the ivory heads, and on the left, the beautiful carved rosewood ones made by Brittany that are now impossible to find. The ones in the middle with the red tops are actually painted strawberries from Russia.



Here are the Vintage coloured ones – the short green ones right in the middle are Bakelite, as are the blue ones over to the left. The blue ones have octagonal heads. Knitting with Bakelite is the best – they are so smooth and cool in your hands! I knit Karen’s Roseleaf Gloves on these green Bakelite needles. My second favorite are on the very left - if you look closely, you will see that heads are little red hearts - I love knitting with these! It's hard to see but right of center are some shorter ones that look red and white - they are actually 3-coloured! These Red, White, and Blue needles are from the 1940’s – patriotic wartime needles, when women were exhorted to “Knit Your Bit” for the War effort!



Now you know why I have so much fun knitting. Wish me luck with the sheep tomorrow - I'm off bright and early, even in the rain!

Who are you?

My Yahoo Avatar!





Thanks to my tea-friend Nadine for pointing the way to this fun self-portrait!
PS to Nadine: I love your knitting blog! {but it doesn't let me leave comments :-(