Travelling Yarn Gifts

There's not much to post here. I'm still working on a Christmas gift. It's taking a while, but it's a lot of fun to knit, so there's that. I'll chat about it after it's been gifted.

To prepare for life without Christmas knitting, I feel like I'm bringing an overabundance of yarn with me to Rhode Island for the holiday. Granted, I'll be there for a good week and a half with not much else to do but knit, I still feel like I'm bringing too much. Here's the list:

• I've got yarn to knit another cowl out of (the light blue one is awesome, but it doesn't match my hat!).
• Yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts for me (my hands keep getting cold!)
• Yarn to finish the Christmas project

Once I get to Rhody, I'm going to have to pick up an aran weight yarn to knit a pair of fingerless mitts for my brother's fiancee's mother. She's cool and will actually wear them. You know, looking at that list, I'm not actually sure I did pack too much yarn. Maybe it's the christmas gifts in my backpack that are taking up all the space. I totally should have mailed them instead of bringing them. Maybe I'll mail them once I get to work.

I should send out a public huge thank you to blogless NanLam. She gave me the coolest bit of yarn:


It's Dream in Color Knitosophy in the Superhero color way. It's a really great blend of colors. Kalajoki (RavLink) popped up when I did a search and I knew that the two were meant to be together. I'm stuck now though. Because this yarn would be perfect to tout around Comic Con and use for Yarn365. While I want to cast on RIGHT NOW for those socks, I should wait. I'll have to come up with something else in the meantime.

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Today's Yarn365 shot is of a centerpiece of knitting needles. In order to get this shot, I pulled a bunch of knitting needles out of the tin I keep all of my needles in. I seem to have a ton of needles I'll never actually use ever again. I think 2010 for me is the year of getting rid of clutter for me - liquidating material things that don't need to be around etc. I'll post a list of the needle type, size etc. once I get back from Rhode Island and y'all can see if there's anything you need. I figure I should just donate them somewhere to charity after that. Anyone know of any charities that accept knitting needles?

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I want to post about my visit to La Casita Yarn Shop yesterday, but I've REALLY got to get this damn gift finished!

Christmas Gift #1 and Gotham Fine Yarn

Christmas gift #1 is finished! I've got 2 1/2 to go! The half a project is a pair of mitts I told my brother's fiancee's mother I'd make for her. I don't really think it needs to be done by Christmas, but if I can finish them before Christmas and have them count, I think that'd be nifty.

I held 3 strands of Lacey Lamb together and had a tough time with that. They kept getting tangled and the insides of the balls liked to get knotted. It wasn't really a fun project, but I think the recipient will like it.

I finished weaving the ends in while visiting Gotham Fine Yarn in the lower east side. I kinda fell in love with this store. She had some really great yarns. Quite a bit of Louisa Harding, which is interesting and different, I think, for the city. She's got Noro and Lamb's Pride and Malabrigo (for a really great price!) and Madelinetosh (which i completely fell in love with!). She has a knit and wine night every other Friday, which I think I'll have to take part in more often. The knitters there were super friendly and working on some pretty interesting projects (including a Tea Leaf cardigan that's on my queue!). I can't wait to go back to that shop! Click here to get a look at what her shelves look like from Yarn365. I took quite a few photos there, so you'll end up seeing some more of her store on the Yarn365 blog soon. But anyway, just go there, it's so much better in person!

Oh, ad I'll leave you with a photo of the pretty Madelinetosh I picked up there. The colorway is called Logwood.

Yarn 365 Is A Month Old!

That's the most recent yarn photo which looks way better on the Yarn 365 Blog. I want to thank Illanna for helping me out with the project the week I was in London. I think the photos I've been taking of yarn have gotten better recently because of the constant practice. Hopefully that will be helpful with regards to other aspects of photography.

If anyone else is interested in photography like I am, I just found this awesome group on Ravelry: Yarnographers. They have photo assignments every now and again, and I might be taking part in some of them to keep myself challenged while doing the Yarn365 project

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Oh, and just one other thing: I'm loving that the yarnharlot's 365 calendar that Beth gave me last year for Christmas has a note for a Nonknitter Who Loves a Knitter up today. I know it's recycled from a book, but it's the most thoughtful thing ever. Also, since it's written like a note, it's perfect to leave lying around *someone's* house. You could even make copies of it and leave it lying around multiple houses! :-o

I'm noticing that there are a ton of 2010 kntiting/yarny calendars out there. I might have to review them at some point.

I Think It's Time

Firstly, I didn't realize when I started writing this post that it was going to be so critical. Even so, I'm still going to post it because I think these things need to be thought through more. I understand that there were several different issues going out this season (another sore spot), but Interweave Knits' track record has made me expect more from them.

Yes, it's time to say goodbye to Interweave Knits. I've stuck by them for the past four years. They were the first knitting magazine subscription I've had (actually, so far, the only). Remember that summer issue one year that had all those winter sweaters and hats in it? I subscribed to it. Remember the old style with the patterns following right after the main images? I was there for that. Remember when Eunny took over? I was there for that too. Now, I know I'm not anything close to a "long-time subscriber," but I've been around for the most recent changes, and I've believed in a good many of them as they seemed to be logical.

Some of the most current changes, also seem to be logical. I find one especially confusing. But here's my list of what critiques for the Winter issue:

• If you're an editor for a magazine that makes such an intense stylistic change, freaking announce it in your letter to your subscribers
• There's no need for 2 mastheads. I really don't think that the company information needs to be in the magazine, and we're crafters. For crying out loud, we know what other magazines you do! If not, we can always hop on the google.
• That brings me to another point: stop being so pushy. We get it. We know you have an online thing. We know you want subscribers to both of these different places, but geez, there's no need to advertise it 13 times (I counted the ads, ad that's not even counting the blow in cards).
• The articles seem to be a little out of date. Also, wasn't there an article about Cowichan sweaters earlier this year? Why is there another one? If there's an article about a sweater style, I feel like there should be a pattern describing that sweater style. But there's no Modern Cowichan sweater in the magazine...
• Artist Spotlight: I don't want to discount the work that Mark Newport has done. I actually think it's really cool. I feel like this article is redundant considering they profiled him in 2005, and I think there have to be other knit artists out there to profile that we haven't seen before.
• The knitting needles on the top left corner of every page are throwing me for a loop. They make me think I marked the page for some reason.
• mtfyed?! When did that become an acronym? Aren't acronyms capitalized? Also, sorry for not adding this to the advertisement piece, because it doesn't really try to give you inspiration to make time for yarn every day. It just points you to one of their Knitting Daily TV episodes (heavy handed much?).
• It seems like they made a compromise with their style and what their readers wanted, and they put the patterns after the editorial sections in the magazine. While this is a valiant effort, really, it's quite confusing.
• That hat on p. 51: I can barely tell what the cable is, and it's pretty small. Why wasn't it just put on the model who's rummaging through her purse for something? Then you might have been able to see it.

So, if it were just this issue, I'd say fine. Leave it at that, and maybe continue subscribing. But it's not just that stuff. The major one of those reasons I'm discontinuing is the pushy bit. You may be thinking "but in this economic climate, you can't be too pushy as a business..." I totally disagree with that. I do think that you have to be more aware of things, and certainly, you have to have an online presence as a magazine in this day in age and a way for folks to digitally get your patterns. But there's nothing out there that says you need to club your consumers with a 2x4. While we're at it...normally, if someone subscribes to a magazine they get every issue. That's the point of subscribing to the magazine. While I'm glad that I didn't get the Accessories edition of IK (it was all re-runs from other issues!), I still kinda think it should be something they at least give you an option of adding to your subscription.

The third main reason is that after having read Yarn Forward from the UK and even Vogue Knitting, I feel like I get an idea as to where the knitting events are taking place, what kinds of notions are newish, and more of a who's who of today's knitting world than IK has been providing me with over the past 8 issues.

I used to really look forward to getting IK because the articles and profiles were really cool and awesome and the patterns were stunning and things I wanted to knit. There were maybe 2 patterns in this issue I wanted to knit, and nothing I felt the need to cast on for right away. I wasn't excited to get this issue. And I don't think I have been for quite a while. There's a lot of competition out there, though. And it's not the only fish in the sea. I still love you, IK. I'm just not in love with you. :(

Glass Needles!

OMG. I LOVE the glass needles I bought at Yarn Diva & More a couple of weeks ago. They're not only beautiful, but also they're quite pointy and slippery and, to me, the perfect needles. The Yarn Diva gets her needles from Michael & Sheila Ernst. But look what happened:


My needle broke! I was on the couch lying on my back talking to Stan on the phone and went to roll over to grab something from the coffee table and I heard it snap! :( They were my favoritest needles!

But not to worry, I emailed with Michael and Sheila Ernst. They have a warranty on their needles and will fix them for just the shipping costs! I'm so excited, I can't wait to get them in the mail on Monday!

Getting Warmer

So, I found my cowl. It was in my hooping bag from last week!

I still want to make another one with the Scrumptious yarn (no really, that's the name of it, it's made by a company called Fiberspates) I picked up in London.

Getting Chilly

I'm wearing grey pants and a white shirt today. My black, purple and kahki scarf wasn't going to look right today. So I decided I'd wear the cowl I knit last year.

But I totally can't find it. it wasn't anywhere in my apartment I'd think to put it. There's only one pile of clothes it might still be in, but I'm not hopeful. This kinda bums me out because it was the softest thing ever. And also is somewhat annoying as now I totally have to knit a new cowl pronto while I'm in the middle of Christmas knitting. :( Hopefully I'll whip this one Christmas project out during Thanksgiving so I can just quickly knit a cowl before getting back to the other Christmas project I've got to finish before the big day.