A Knitted Room

If you are traveling to England sometime, you might want to check into this fabulous knitted room at the Hotel Pelirocco in Brighton. The room in question was designed and created by Kate Jenkins, who designed knitwear for Marc Jacobs.


















Check out the details.


































Knitted wallpaper, lamp, and telephone cozy, above.





















Amigurumi breakfast plate and tea, above.
































A sweet "Do Knit Disturb" sign.

You can check out more of Kate's work at her website.

Knitting Travels: Greenville, South Carolina

I traveled to Greenville, SC last week. While my S.O. was meeting with colleagues at Clemson’s Automotive Research campus to discuss advances in hydroelectric vehicles (below)….

… I hunkered down at Brew and Ewe, a delightful coffee shop that also features a gift shop where they sell various “woolens” and other handmade gifts, books, and the like. Unfortunately, “the like” did not include yarn, but this was a cozy place to do work and sneak in the occasional row of knitting.

I love love love their logo:

In the afternoon I took a break and checked out the Needle Tree, tucked away in a cute yellow cottage on a residential street.

They had a great sale corner, and such an adorable space. (Most of the yarn is in the back room, where the knitting circle was).

If you go, you can also say hello to Lola the cat and Houdini, the Bernise Mountain Dog (not pictured) who hold down the fort.

As for the yarn selection, you’ll find a nice assortment of common and not-so-common yarns, including Blue Heron Yarns, Mountain Colors, Louisa Harding, Blue Sky Alpacas, and the usual suspects (such as Malabrigo and Cascade).

Be sure to check to see what treasures are hidden in the draws and cupboards in this shop. That’s where I found this Shibui Knits sock:

Yes, it is sock yarn. It may or may not turn into socks… lately I’ve joined the shawlette trend and will have a few projects to share soon.

Knitting Travels: Philadelphia

I was in Philadelphia earlier this week for the MLA conference—a huge gathering of scholars who specialize in literature, rhetoric, and modern languages. If you read our other Knitting Travels posts, you’ll see that Katie and I both love to scout out yarn shops as a way to get to know a new city. (I guess other people use similar tactics—a guy on the panel I chaired mentioned that he looks for anarchist book stores when he travels). I had some extra time on Tuesday morning, so I walked in the blistering wind to two different stores.

First, I found Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, located in a basement on Locust St.

It was great to step out of the wind and into this cozy store, which stocks all kinds of great yarns, such as Alchemy, tons of Manos del Uruguay, the Fibre Company, Road to China, and many more. It was a little hard to figure out how the yarns were organized, but it was fun to browze through them—I almost left with a single skein of Dream in Color Classy (marked down to $12), but talked myself out of it… I have too many single skeins as it is, and would rather save up for enough to make a sweater.

Next, I walked down to South St. to Loop, where I ran into another escapee from the MLA conference (who happens to be from another university in my state).

Loop also carries a fabulous selection of yarns, especially Blue Sky Alpacas, Spud & Chloe, and Imperial Stock Ranch. I bought a book here (many of their hardcover books were on sale), but left without the Jade Sapphire (marked down to $28.99!) that I was petting longingly.

Of course, I’m regretting both of the purchases that I so self-righteously talked myself out of. (You can see the Jade Sapphire in the foreground, above). However, the Loop does have a full online shop. Hmm……..

Knitting Travels: Richmond & Alexandria, Virginia

This weekend I traveled to Alexandria with my BF to visit his family, stroll around DC and some surrounding cities, and enjoy some good food.

On the way, we stopped in Richmond for lunch and a little bit of shopping. After a lovely lunch at a French cafe, we happened across the Yarn Lounge in Carytown (a fabulous shopping area!). This store is super cozy, with a beautiful selection of great yarn: Jo Sharp, Rowan, and Malabrigo, to name a few.

Once in the DC area, I made friends with this guy at Mount Vernon:

And then stumbled upon the Fibre Space in Alexandria. Another great store! The yarn is organized by weight, which is rather helpful, and they offer many beautiful yarns, including Louet, Neighborhood Fiber Company, and Stonehedge Fiber Mill (to mention a few of the rarer ones).

Plus, the Fibre Space features an awesome retro space-age aesthetic—check out their logo, below, for an idea:

I didn’t buy a whole lot at either space (my stash is overflowing), but now I’m really coveting some of the Miss Babs “Yowza What a Skein” yarn that I saw at Fibre Space. I’m definitely going back when I can!

Knitting Travels: Brier Run Alpaca Farm

Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada

My parents and I drove through the fog and melting snow to visit Brier Run Alpaca Farm this morning.

The owners, Heather Blanchard and Norris McAuslan, opened the store for us and then gave us a tour of the processing facilities.

The store includes many kinds of yarn and roving, most of them made from a single alpaca and named after that animal (i.e. McDermot, Glen Fiddich, Tukie). Some are blended with silk for extra softness. Heather and Norris currently sell hand-knit products on their website, but soon they’ll be opening an online store for their yarn as well.

They also sell roving and raw fibre for spinning. It was fun to manhandle the bumps to compare the color and softness of each alpaca.

In the processing plant, their friendly cat showed us this wonderfully soft roving from one of the cria (baby alpacas)—it felt like air.

Later this will be spun into yarn in their machines:

They also spin lower-grade alpaca fibres around a twine core to make yarn that will be woven into rugs:

Or batting for alpaca duvets:

The alpacas were hiding out from the rain and mud, so we only got to see a few of the 75 or so that live on their farm:

Thanks to Heather and Norris for the tour! I can’t wait to get some of this yarn on my needles. Oh, and did I mention that I really really really want an alpaca of my own??? Look how cute they are!!!

Knitting Travels: London Round-Up

I knit a lot in London, because I knit a lot on public transportation, and there's a lot of public transpo in London.

There are also a lot of parks. And like our friend E.Z., I like knitting in parks. This is the park at Leicester Square.


One thing I noticed, though, was that I saw no one else knitting. Anywhere. I thought this was strange, because (unlike, say, Japan) London seems similar in culture to home. And since people knit everywhere here, I figured they would knit everywhere there, too. But they don't.

I could only find one LYS in central London, and I was excited to check it out. It sits south of the Thames, basically in the shadow of Waterloo station. But when we got there on Saturday, they were closed.


Apparently, they were co-hosting an event with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in some entirely other part of London. The husband offered to go there with me, but the timing was poor--by the time we hiked across town (and the river) to where the event was being held, we'd only have a few minutes there.

I was disappointed that the shop would be closed the only day I had to visit it.

Knitting in London!

The husband and I are taking a last-minute trip to London, and I couldn't be more excited.

The first thing I did (of COURSE) was search Ravelry for LYSs, and I found a great one: I Knit London (or IKL). Check them out online.

We're staying in Bloomsbury, a short hop from Waterloo station on the tube, where IKL is located.

I might have to go there a lot. Like, every day. (Like Jordynn and I did in Seattle. Or like Courtenay and I did in Japan.)

Pictures to follow.

Knitting Travels: Gastonia, NC, and other Crafts

I've been out of town the past few days with my husband M.A.P., visiting his parents in Gastonia.

I've been wrestling with a knitting project, that must remain secret because it's off to a magazine as a submission when it's finished. I have knit and ripped this project 5 times now, which is a lot even for a trial-and-error designer like me. I had to set it down and take a walk today, and realized as I was walking that I had a bone-crunching headache--I didn't even notice the headache because I was so caught up in the project. My sister called as I was walking and I told her about the project, and she said, That doesn't sound like fun.

So true.

Question: Is knitting always supposed to be fun? If you knit a project for weeks on end and you feel frustrated, or even miserable, shouldn't you QUIT? I'm calling this knitter's angst. Has anyone else ever experienced this? What did you do to get over it?

While I've been here, I commandeered the garage and worked on some wood. A good break from yarn. Two bed-side tables that I inherited from friends, received a refinishing.

And my M.A.P., a fabulous carpenter/cabinet-maker, built custom cabinets for the laundry room we built.

That's a link to another blog I keep, where I've tracked the DIY construction work at our home. The thing is, crafting is crafting, right? So if I rehabilitate found furniture (like this) I can talk about it here, can't I? I added sewing a few posts ago, since fabric is fiber (right?). Well wood is fibrous too, isn't it? I'm kind of tired of keeping up with two blogs. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Um, like Jordynn?

My mother-in-law offered to take me to the local yarn shop one afternoon this week. It's really a yarn corner tucked into a frame shop. I bought a ball of sock yarn and some size 3 dpns (the size recommended on the ball band) but I should have bought 2s, because that's what Cookie A. always uses in her patterns. And I got to have me some of those socks.

Here's my mother-in-law shopping in the store, Things Remembered (isn't that also the name of a chain store in shopping malls?):

They have Berroco and Cascade mostly, and a few other things.

Here's my small haul:

I'm doing well keeping to my promise to support my knitting expenditures solely with knitting earnings. The paypal account looks small right now, though. I need to launch another pattern.

Coming up:
1. Durham Centerfest, where some knitting buddies and I will be selling knitting wares. If you're local come out and find us. We're called the Durham String Thing.

2. The N.C. State Fair. I'll be entering a project in the crafts category come September. (Another secret project. I hate not being able to share WIP pics on the blog.)

Knitting Travels: Bethany Beach, DE

This week my husband and I headed up to Bethany Beach, Delaware, for a week of extended-family fun. My niece brought her knitting--she's eleven now, and I taught her to knit last year. We've knitted together and watched Star Wars (the real Star Wars)--I finished Plath, and am continuing work on Desdemona (a new pattern). She's knitting the ubiquitous garter stitch scarf. And she loves it.

Here we are on the boardwalk, and me in my Plath. (Bethany Beach just did this fabulous dune recovery/rebuilding project and there's actual sand dunes behind us, with baby sea grasses.)


I found the local yarn shop, Sea Needles, on Ravelry's store search (one of my favorite things about Ravelry). Today, my husband and I rode bikes to Sea Needles. The bike-friendliness is the greatest thing about Bethany Beach. Here's a better shot of Plath, atop the bicycle.


Half of Sea Needles is actually a needlepoint shop and a frame store (see the sign?), so although it's pretty large, the knitting schtuff is only about one-third of the store. The tall shelves and narrow aisles give it a old-fashioned feel. They have some Noro, a lot of Plymouth, and bulky yarns. They have nearly no lace yarn. In short, it's an afghan-friendly yarn store. They have a lot of things that I'm not familiar with, and if I hadn't spent my year's allowance on yarn already, it would be fun to explore some of them. The things I look for first--Cascade, laceweight, Malabrigo--were not present, but as far as LYS's go, this place does the trick. Good selection of Addi Turbos, too. I picked up Rowan 42, so gorgeous! And the lady who helped me was super-nice.



Check out the gorgeous tote bag my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday yesterday. It holds my laptop, my books, and my knitting! Perfect! (It's leaning against the wall behind the bikes.)

Knitting in Seattle

Katie and I flew into Seattle last weekend for the Rhetoric Society of America conference. Within hours of arriving, and checking into our kick ass hotel room in the Westin, (see view from our room above), what did we do? Register for the conference? Meet up with professional acquaintances? Hells no! We got our priorities in line and headed straight for So Much Yarn, a great little shop just down the street from our hotel. Katie had forgotten her size 5 needles, which she needed to work on a secret new project she's designing, so we hightailed it to the store for our first visit. We were greeted by Ginger and Teresa, who (little did they know) were about to receive daily visits from us.



The store is well stocked and organized by type of fiber--wools, cottons, etc. The dark woods make it a cozy store, and there's a nook in the back with books to consult and chairs to sit and knit in. Ginger and Teresa were super friendly and glad just to chat. I ended up buying five skeins of Araucania Patagonia Nature Cotton in a light emerald green shade, while Katie bought some gorgeous plum-colored Takhi Sierra to make Plath.

At the conference, we tried our best to live up to the Knitty Professors name. I was working mainly on a pale blue version of Plath for my sister's birthday and Dalloway, while Katie was working on her secret project, Plath, and Desdemona (pattern coming soon). One of the surprising things about knitting at the conference was the number of people who came up to talk to us. The reactions varied, but were mostly positive. One woman came and showed us a pair of bright blue and green socks she was working on. Steven Mailloux sitting next to me at a featured session mentioned that he wished he had something similar to work on--his wife is an avid knitter. Greg Wilson--my fellow panel member for our presentation on nuclear rhetorics--mentioned that he's a quilter, an equally engaging (if less portable) activity. There were a few skeptics who wondered how we could knit and concentrate on a talk at the same time, but we both replied--truthfully--that knitting actually makes it easier to listen attentively. I'm not sure what the scientific reason for this might be, but it is definitely true. I started knitting during a long series of job talks in my department last year, and while I think some of the candidates were a little unnerved at the site of someone knitting in the audience, I definitely found that I was able to follow the talk better if I had something to do with my hands.

Our second visit to So Much Yarn occurred on the second day of the conference, when Katie realized that she hadn't bought enough of the Takhi yarn for Plath. Teresa was working on a Noro Silk Garden project, and we persuaded her to check out Xylem instead--which will look gorgeous in Silk Garden. We can't wait to see how it turns out! We also showed off some of our patterns--Plath and Dalloway, namely.

All in all, it was a happy knitting conference. I took off for the San Juan Islands on Monday and brought all my knitting projects--but unfortunately my time was taken up with hiking, biking, and swimming in the freezing waters of Puget Sound. There are tons of sheep on Lopez Island (and goats and cows), and I had hoped to come across some local spinners/dyers/yarnies, but to no avail. Had I done my research, I would've come across this. Definitely a reason to go back to Seattle/Puget Sound sometime soon!

Knitting Travels

In the last few weeks, I ventured to two cities and their local yarn shops.

New Orleans

Jordynn and I traveled to NOLA for a conference, and in order to make our other lives valuable to our knitting lives, we found the nearest LYS and popped in for a spell. We both bought some Malabrigo worsted yarn. I turned mine into my Malaclapo (a version of Clapotis), and Jordynn's is still in the stash.

I made the first venture to this store, The Quarter Stitch on Chartres Street in the heart of the French Quarter, while J. was actually working. I found some pretty wool, but it had no tags or labels. Curious, I asked the store clerks about the yarn.

The two ladies working the counter--both needlepoint experts--had no idea about the yarn I was fondling. I thought it was Malabrigo, and it was soft like Malabrigo, but the colorways were different than ones I'd seen, and there were no tags. I asked if the yarn was produced by a local company, but we--the needlepointers and I--could reach no consensus. One lady said she knew the brand, but couldn't remember what it was called.

I liked the color well enough, and the variegation of what turned out to be the "Colchina" colorway assuaged most of my worries about dye lot.

On the return trip to the store, J. selected her yarn from the kettle-dyed, single-ply worsted-ish weight pile of yarn (HOW did I not instantly know this was Malabrigo?). At the counter, I said to her, "Doesn't it seem just like Malabrigo?" And suddenly one of the needlepoint ladies said, "That's the brand of that yarn!"

Sigh.

I thought I was getting some nifty local hand-spun or something. Trying to support local business and all that.

The lady said, "The store owner is really concerned about the stock's appearance when it is on display. So she removes the tags."

I bit my tongue.

As a fun game, why don't you, fair readers, post in the comment section the possible--if impolite--replies to this statement. (Dye lots jump immediately to mind.)

Bethesda, Maryland

The LYS there, Knit and Stitch, has a nice variety of yarn. The ladies were helpful if a little standoffish, which seems to be a requirement for working in an LYS. (This must change, people! No one should feel stupid when they enter a store to shop or ask questions. It's terrible knitting mojo, and I've seen it all over.)

They did have a large work table set up, where my husband could sit and open his laptop and work while I spent all the time in the world looking at things. I bought Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham, some lace blocking wires (since apparently I'm now a crazy lace knitter) and some Eucalan. I only bought one skein of yarn, because I knew I had a box from Webs sitting by my front door, and because their prices were steep. However, as LYSs go, this is a good one.

The shop is in a darling walkable area in downtown Bethesda. It sits above a noodle shop in an old building with lots of character. They carry Manos but not Malabrigo, which is a damn shame. But my only real complaint is that there are no price tags on anything in the store. Not on the excellent selection of Addi Turbos, not on the yarn. Every time I wanted to know how much something cost, I had to interrupt the knitting circle and ask one of the ladies to scan the item. It was ridiculous and no doubt contributed to the aforementioned bad mojo. I mean, even I thought I was irritating.

Here's the cute front stoop:



(What is up with my bushy hair?!)

On Knitting in Japan

Japan was a riot. A land of ironies and contradictions. I f*ing loved it. I'm homesick for Japan.

For instance, I've never seen such excellent yarn stores (Yuzawaya, Okadaya), yet I never saw anyone knitting. Ever. Not once. And when C. and I would pull our knitting out in public, folks would stare at us like we were insane. Granted, as gaijin,* we got stared at anyway, but apparently only obasan** knit in Japan. So we started rebelling, knitting in the strangest places we could think of. On the train, for example. You're not supposed to do anything on the train except whisper and send text messages.

Another thing--sex and sexuality erupt publicly in entirely different ways there. Here's a sign I often saw on the train--advertising porn. Like it's no big thing:


And here's a sign indicating that this train car is designated for women only during rush hour because of the problem of men who a**-grab on crowded trains. (Read more about that on C.'s Japan blog here.):


And everyone obeys signs. There's a sign for everything. People even line up to board the trains, following these painted stripes on the ground:


When I came back, everything seemed loud and large. Large (cars, furniture, houses) and loud (people's voices, mostly). I'm in a permanent state of annoyance. I don't leave the house.

For some FOs from Japan, go to this earlier post.

*foreigner
**old ladies

Dr. Fibersmarts in Japan

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. I have come to Japan to visit my friend Raptwithfiber and I have buried myself in yarn. I might have to buy another suitcase to carry it home in. Do I have to declare yarn? The answer is probably yes.

I have found heaven and it is called Yuzawaya.

Holy sh*t I have never seen anything like that before. I bought a 10 pack of Noro Kureyon 188 for 6800 yen, about 63 dollars or so. I like that math. I also bought a 10-pack of some Filatura mohair stuff and a 10-pack of a Japanese alpaca blend. They have this big sale bin where yarn 10-packs are all half-off. The Filatura di Crosa was $3.50, the alpaca $2.75 a skein. Since they were giving it away, I was forced to accept.

The Japanese Puppy alpaca blend was also purchased by R.W.F. and we're doing a knit-along this week to OhMyStars's Buttony sweater. We bought buttons at the second most awesome place on earth, Okadaya, a craft store in the Shinjuku neighborhood. Wherein more yarn was also purchased--Noro, Filatura ZarOne, etc. etc.

Check Ravelry for our mods of Buttony.

Pictures later.