Good weekend

How do you know that you had a good weekend? You definitely had a great one if you spend it looking at these:


And playing with these:

I will write a separate post about books and magazines (I got most of them in Toronto) but here is a closer look at my new stash addition.

Here is my first tenсel yarn:


After a bit of research I found out on this website that:

"Tencel ® is the brand name for a fiber called lyocell. Lyocell is a cellulosic fiber made from wood through a proprietary TENCEL® production process. TENCEL® is a man-made fiber but natural in origin. This means it is very comfortable to wear because it is breathable and absorbent, like other natural fibers. TENCEL® is durable and this means that the clothes last."

I can not wait to try knitting with it. I think those colours would look great in a lacy shawl or stole.

And here is a beautiful German wool-based sock yarn called "Strumpfwolle".


Although I have a lot of sock yarn and not enough time to knit it all up I obsessively check out the sock yarn section in every stores. This yarn comes from a cute boutique "Les Laines Saute-Mouton", located in Saint-Lambert (one of the small cities, or should I say boroughs, constituting the South Shore). I really like the way colours change from one to another creating subtle, yet impressive, palette. One of the projects I have in mind for this yarn is a pair of gloves or maybe fingerless mittens.


And finally a skein of Noro, bought at "Les Laines Saute-Mouton" simply because it is Noro and it is pretty.

The first time ....

Although I am far from an experience knitter I managed to learn a thing or two during my 4-months knitting career. I am afraid that with time I would either forget some of them or I would start taking them for granted, this is why I decided to make a little list of advice for a novice knitter/crocheter. These are the things that would have helped me if I knew them before starting to knit, however it does not mean that these are the rules set in stones. They might work for some and they might be completely useless for others, so at the end, they are just my thoughts on

Knitting for the first time.
Part I

Image from A Good Yarn website

1. Knitting does not require as much patience as you think ....
It is always surprising to me when people say: "I can't knit 'cuz I am not patient enough". I have been trying to figure out where this misconception comes from and I think (it’s just a hypothesis) that people are envisioning a huge blanket in a simple garter or stockinette stitch when thinking of knitting. Yes, it is true, a row of ‘purl’s and a row of ‘knit’s is quite unexciting, but knitting is much more than that. Once you start knitting socks, sweaters, or lace, you learn that knitting keeps you on your toes with the stitch count, knitting entertains you with cable knitting, knitting excites you with ‘yarn over’s and ‘ssk’s. And I am not even talking about knitting with colours. Knitting is anything but boring!

2. Scarf might not be the best “first project”
It is almost a given that a new knitter would start his/her knitting with a scarf. I have done it, my friend has done it, and I am sure you have done it too. It might work for 99% of the people but I still think that the scarf is not the ideal first project. The beginners’ scarf is usually something very simple and thus extremely repetitive. Unless you are making a skinny scarf or a short version of a scarf you have to make the same repetition of knits and purls over, and over, and over again. I will agree that it is a great learning experience, however here comes the second problem: since the novice knitter is learning, his/her knitting is far from being perfect and it will result in a scarf with uneven stitches and crooked edging. I am certain that most of the knitters would still proudly wear that scarf but sometimes (and I am talking solely from my personal experience) the final scarf is SO uneven that you do not want to be seen wearing it and yes, it would be quite obvious that you are the one who knitted it.
What would make a good first project? Anything small and not too complicated would give a novice knitter a happy experience of starting and finishing the project and yet allow him/her to learn some tricks and techniques. My personal favorites are dishcloths, kitchen towels, and coasters. Not only they are fast to knit, but one can use them even if they are not perfectly made.

3. Use bigger needles
Novice knitters tend to knit too tight. I remember scratching my fingers to blood, trying to pick up the thread. Using bigger needles forces one to knit looser. It also allows the knitter to change for smaller needles if the stitches become too tight.
A friend of mine says that relaxing her hands helped her to “learn” how to knit looser.


Have a great knitting weekend everyone!

Blobs

I am back to civilization and knitting. Sorry for leaving abruptly but I was hiding in Toronto for over a week and since people from whom I was hiding tend to read my blog I had to stop posting for a while.... These people are the reason why I could not show my crocheted project until now.
Here is the last picture of "almost finished" secret project:


And here are all the balls and arms assembled into 2 "blobs":


Same blobs but with the hand-made card:


These are modified Doug and Gordo from Crochet Me book. They do not look much like the original ones (I hope Kim Werker would forgive me for that) - I used a completely different size of yarn and had to improvise with the eyes and "costumes". I wanted them to look more like a girl and a boy, since they were part of the wedding gift for my two wonderful friends.

Forgiving

I usually do not stay mad for a long time. I "cool down" relatively fast, do not keep grudges, and tend to forgive (or at least to forget). So even if my arm is still hurting I can not be upset with these cuties for long. And I do not think it is fair, since it was mostly my fault. At the beginning of the evening the table was perfectly clean:

Then one of them "appeared":

Couple (should I say 4?) of hours later I made the second one:

I felt very obsessive and continued crocheting. Before I knew I had a third one ready:


And then the fourth one:


Any level-headed crocheter/knitter who has as little practice as me, would stop at that point. But being who I am, I felt obliged to continue and came up with these:


Today I have no one to blame but myself. And as a punishment I would ignore the fact that Mouline Yarns have a great summer sale!

Enough is enough

How do you know that you have been crocheting A LOT (or that you are an itsy-bit obsessive)?


Yeah, these are my hands. I have been crocheting so much that my right hand is sore and I have to wrap it tightly to prevent some irritating movements.
What should be blamed for my injury? These guys, right here:


I know they look cute and innocent but they are the soly reason for my pain!

Twist Collective

It is the first day of August. I decided that this month calls for some changes and as a result my blog has a new colour palette. I like blue-brown colour combo and even though I do not have anything blue-brown in the "real" life it is a nice combination for my virtual "home".

Knitting news: Twist Collective is out! I know, I know you all are aware of it, you actually knew about this Canadian project for a while (I found out about it this morning, thanks to Lin), some of you submitted patterns, others were posting sneak peaks on Ravelry, and those who were completely oblivious to it read Yarn Harlot's blog post. But hey, I am a bit slow these days.
I had no clue that Twist Collective existed until early this morning and I had no time to post about it because I was running late to my driving lesson (told you, I am slow, I do not know how to drive, at my age!). So even if you have heard about it already, hear once again, and go check it out!


Have a great knitting weekend, everyone!

Good yarn

Take a look at these gorgeous knitting images. They are part of "A good yarn" project - a yarn store that has more than just yarn.
I was not sure which image to choose for the last-day-of-July post but this one is too funny.

Useful

My collection of favorite knitting blogs is growing - take a look at the right-side bar!!!
One of them, is Lime & Violet a great resource ran by 2 great women (Miss Lime and Miss Violet). In their blog (which is only a tiny part of the whole project) they post useful and interesting knitting-related information. Today it was this:

As it turns out they found the chart on Label-free blog - another useful resource, this time for those who like to sew. Go and check both blogs and do not forget to get Lime & Violet button.

Knitters'

No knitting pictures today. I am a very very slow knitter these days. However I picked up a copy of Knitters' magazine couple of days ago.

They have shawl patterns as well as an article by my favorite Cat Bordhi about sock knitting (what else). The issue also features several nice summer tops and since I am too chicken to knit a big sweater, a nice top or cardigan could be a fun project.
Here are some of my favorite designs. I will appreciate any suggestion and colour changes:





To see all the designs from this issue of Knitters' click here. You can also browse through past issues to find a model you like.

And I can not not show you a beautiful sock pattern by Cat Bordhi:

They are called "Spring Thaw Socks" and it seems like they are made of snow, first spring leaves, and snowdrops.

It is quite obvious that all the images in this post are taken from Knitters' website.

Contest

I LOVE knitting community (all those people behind blogs and Ravelry profiles). It seems to be a very friendly, helpful, and entertaining bunch full of stories, photographs, FOs, stash, yarn give-aways, and contests. Just today I left a comment with a question on Monika's blog and got a detailed answer via email in a matter of minutes!

Yarn contests seem to be big in the knitting world. No wonder - who can resist an addition to the stash collection? For the yarn-addicts here is a contest from Knit Witch and Amia yarn store:

Just click on the image or HERE to read the instructions.

Good luck to all of you!