cosmicpluto knits!

an out of town gig

On Saturday I hopped a Greyhound and headed out to New Hamburg, ON (halfway between Kitchener and Stratford) to teach a class at Shall We Knit?

Timing was a bit tight what with the bus getting into Kitchener (very sketchy bus stop, that Sportsworld) at 11:30 and the class starting at 12, but everything worked out. We did a top-down mini sock with a short row heel with Magic Loop. All the students were great, although the conference room we were in was a bit tight for 11 people!

After the class I wandered about the shop, which is really lovely – bright, lots of beautiful yarn, lots of interesting stuff (“giftware”). I picked up quite a pile of yarn!

Some Debbie Bliss Chunky Tweed for a sweatercoat:

There wasn’t quite enough of the brown, so I got a bit of blue for a contrast colour.

Some super duper soft Mirasol bamboo/alpaca for a slouchy hat:

And some gorgeous little bits of loveliness – Koigu mill ends! I love the colours all together. I’m thinking either a colourwork cowl or maybe the yoke of a sweater. I do have quite a bit of other bits and pieces of Koigu so there’d be a bunch to choose from!

One other thing I picked up at the shop, non-yarn:

It’s a V&A printed vacuum flask. I’m not sure what I’ll put in it, probably just water (since that’s what I drink mostly!) although it might be a bit of hassle what with there being two lids, the cup and the vacuum seal. At any rate, it’s awesomely pretty.

Then I got a ride back to Kitchener to get on the bus and come home. I may not have left the shop with much money after picking up all this yummy yarn, and I may have spent over three hours on various forms of transit that day, but it was really fun. And if Shall We Knit was closer I’d totally shop there!

a spinner is born

So back at Rhinebeck,my travel buddies Cheryl and Andrea both decided on Sunday afternoon that it was high time to look for a spindle and some roving and get spinning! Obviously I was rather pleased, having both of them turned by the wool fumes…buahaha.

With that goal and a tight budget for this whole spinning lark, we set out to find some inexpensive spindles (a bit challenging) and some pretty roving (not nearly as challenging) and I got ‘em spindling on our last night at our Rhinebeck house.

Fast forward a month, and both of them have finished their very first handspuns! I didn’t take a photo of Cheryl’s (I should’ve though, it was awesome) but I did take some photos of Andrea on Wednesday night at knit night!

Plying…which is my favourite part;

Stephanie helping Andrea with Andean plying;

And Andrea’s very first plied mini-skein! She ended up with about 100 yards or so. (From pretty Ashland Bay merino, in case anyone’s wondering!)

Awesome. I love seeing spinners being born.

I’ve been spinning a little bit myself, too – here’s some gorgeous 2ply worsted-ish weight that I spun up from merino/silk batts that I got at Rhinebeck. I haven’t counted up the yardage yet, and there’s another bobbin full that I haven’t wound off yet.

I’ve also finally managed to get a few woven scarves up in my Etsy shop. I’d wanted to get more done for this update, but I figure I’ll just add as I go – lots more to come, and you can always contact me if you have a request!

rhinebeck spoils

It’s late and I’m dying to go to bed, but I wanted to post all the yummy stuff I got at Rhinebeck! So it might have to be point form if I’m going to get through writing this…

L: Teal laceweight cashmere, over 1600 yards, from the Skaska booth. Mmm!
C: Black fingering weight cashmere, 1200 yards (score!) from the Skaska booth as well. A woman at the booth was a little disappointed that Andrea and I bought up all the black cashmere!
R: DK weight wool/silk from Brooks Farm, 1 skein. Probably destined for something like a swallowtail shawl for a gift.

L: a sweater’s worth of pillowy, squishy natural coloured DK-weight merino from Greenwood Hill Farm (I think?). Sort of knits up tweedy – I totally got sucked in by the knitted up samples at the booth!
C: three skeins of sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm in a gorgeous plum. Seriously, the camera did not want to capture the true luminescence of this yarn.
R: two skeins of yak down/cormo DK-weight yarn from Bijou Basin. This yarn is irregularly spun, cushy, and I love it! I’ve got 300 yards, and I’m thinking something with cables…

And finally, in spinning fibres (do you sense a colour theme here?) -

L: batts from twitchystitches.com – crazy awesome teal/green/shiny goodness. About 180g.
C: smokey grey corriedale mix from Spinner’s Hill – 5 oz.
R: one lone braid of Ashland Bay merino in Cranberry – 4 oz.

I also came home with a heck of a lot of raw milk cheese and a couple bars of soap, too! I actually had a bit of trouble shopping on the Saturday since it was so darn busy, I just wasn’t really able to concentrate properly! I more than made up for it on Sunday though

In not-unrelated news, I have a pair of Fluevog Marians, red, in size 7.5 that I want to sell to a good home. After I twisted my ankle, it’s decided to be a bit…reconfigured. So they don’t fit quite right anymore! I’ve only worn them a few times (maybe 3 times) so they’re in like new condition. Yours for the same price I paid, $165 (USD or CDN is fine with me, despite the now rather significant difference!) and I’ll include the shipping. Email me if you’d like some new shoes!
Taken!

the yarn…and a first!

I bought a lot of yarn while I was away. A lot. I only bought one piece of clothing (an expensive but amazing, made-in-France skirt) and the one pair of shoes (which, by the way, are Doc Martens for anyone who asked), but I bought a hell of a lot of yarn. I hadn’t really intended to, but whatever. Yarn makes a great souvenir!

I got some at k1 in Edinburgh, some at Le Bon Marche in Paris, but most of it came from iknit day.

In the top left, there’s cashmere from Devon Fine Fibres, some for presents and some for me – they raise their own flock, and have a very limited supply of yarn, but it’s sooo beautiful. And inexpensive, for sure.

Top right is organic merino from ColdHarbour Mill, a working mill and textile museum! They had 100g skeins of the undyed organic merino on for 5 pounds, and I bought a sweater’s worth of the 4ply plus some others for gifts.

Bottom left is two skeins of Bowmont wool from Devon Fine Fibres, a new rare cross breed. It’s a mix of merino and shetland, and is really soft in a still-wooly way! They didn’t have much left when we got there (I blame erqsome, she bought a sweater’s worth of the grey) so I just got the two skeins. Now, what to make?

And in the bottom right, not yarn of course, it’s fabric from Liberty. Expensive, but sooo pretty. I’m going to have to make a few more practice skirts before I commit to cutting this up!

And the first?

Last night I held my book for the first time – a box came into the store just when I was starting to work last night. And I sold my first book, to my friend Jeff (I’m sure books have sold so far, but this was the first one *I* sold!). And I signed my first book.

Whew.

i made it!

A horrendously boring 2-hour wait in a nearly-closed airport (the duty free shops even closed at midnight) and a 7-hour flight later, I’m here in Edinburgh! Ysolda’s a great hostess – and she’s got a fantastic flat. The delay on the flight actually put me on a pretty good schedule, because I slept a few hours, woke up, and landed in the middle of the day here (and was tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable time in the evening).

Yesterday we went for a decent length walk around, I took photos like the tourist I am, especially of the buildings and curvy streets!

Today we did some errands, went to a gallery (had lunch there too, which was really yummy) and went to the yarn store where Ysolda works, k1. I of course bought some pretty yarn – sock yarn from Old Maiden Aunt and merino/silk laceweight from Fyberspates.

And shoes! Yes, we bought the same shoes again (in different colours).

We’re off to London on Thursday!

oh, that new project smell!

I think I was feeling really lost about my knitting projects because I was just so bored with doing the same ones for so long! Cast on for something new and it just speeds along – the 5.5 mm needles probably help, too.

Friday morning…

Saturday morning…

And this, well, afternoon since I got up so late…

It’s just a simple top-down cardigan – it’s going to be short, because I’m light on yarn, but I’ve got an idea for the shape that I’m hoping will work out. We’ll see – I wanted to do the sleeves first so I could use up every last scrap of yarn for the body! I’m now done that second sleeve and I’m moving on the body.

I love the yarn, too – it’s Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran, and while I know it isn’t going to wear very well, it’s awfully soft! Mmmmm.

In other yarn news,

Socks that Rock lightweight in our very own “lettuce knit” colourway is in at the store! A pretty decent amount of yarn came, but it’s going fast – if you want one by mail order, give me a call (number’s on the website) and I’ll see what I can do!