Sock yarn and August 2009

I am fairly busy these days because of the project that has nothing to do with knitting. It takes a good deal of my free time preventing me not only from blogging but from knitting as well. As soon as more of it is ready I will share all the details with you.
Today I do not have any exciting FO's or even WIP's to show you, here are some pictures of my yarn. These are 2 skeins of Regia sock yarn I got a while ago.

First is Regia Nordic sock yarn #5517. It is light and monochrome - I am thinking of making a fairly complex lacy socks with it.


And this one is Regia Nordic #5517. It has very nice green-purple modulations but it is not too bright. Given the unusual colour I would prefer to knit it with a more simple stitch. Maybe a bit of texture would create an interesting but not overwhelming sock.


Speaking of socks, what are your plans for August 2009? Do not know yet? Let me help you: Sock Summit 2009 - a great project organized by a team of well-known knitters ( Tina Newton, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi, Leslie Cumming, JCBriar, Debbi Stone, and Claire Scott) will take place on August 6-9, 2009 at the Oregon Convention Center (Portland, Oregon). You can read more about it in the latest Yarn Harlot's blog post.

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.

Addition to my stash

July has been busy .... busy with work, trip to Toronto, meeting friends, and knitting. It was also busy with discovering new yarn stores and getting additions to my stash. If you are looking for a place to get a lot of different yarn you have to go to Toronto's Romni Wools.

I have read several reviews about the store. I also seen this picture on their website. I was expecting a big place but felt like it would be more of a warehouse and that I would not like it there. One thing for sure, the place is HUGE. It is the biggest yarn store I have seen so far. And yes, it has a bit of a warehouse-ish ambiance, but hey, they have SO much yarn that it is hard not to look like a warehouse. By the way, apart form different yarn they also carry a great selection of needles and hooks by different producers.

Seeing this colour/texture explosion I almost broke down in tears (now I know how my sister feels when she walks into an art-supply store, and why Urgwen becomes "not quite her usual self" in the bead stores). I felt overwhelmed by the beauty and shear amount of yarn. I could have not walked out without purchasing at least something, so here is my small addition to the stash:


This is a beautiful sock yarn from Araucania. I will admit that the colour combination is not my first choice but since I have been stuck on blues recently I let my sister pick the colour and she fell for this one. I doubt I would be making socks with this, I can envision a beautiful scarf or maybe a pair of warm mittens. The colour of this yarn is 501 and here you can see all the subtle details of it.

Romni Wools has the greatest selection of sock yarn. I wanted some darker and earthy colours and found this:


I am struggling to figure out the name of this one. I know it is German but would like to know how it is called.

And finally, I could have not walked away from the gorgeous Fleece Artist Suri Blue (the colourway is called Dandelion). It will be definitely turned into a shawl some time soon.


If you want to see other colours Fleece Artist makes this site has a beautiful collection with all the names.

Don't you wish you slipperS WERE hot like mine?

I finally have a finished project to share with you. Now I have 2 sexy slippers – “woot woot woot” - like my sister would say.


It took me a while to finish the second slipper, probably because I was dreading the knitting of ties. Remember, I made a mistake when knitting the ties of the first slipper and it made my knitting life so much more difficult. I did not want the second slipper look any different so I purposefully knitted the ties in a wrong fashion. But now, all of this is behind and I am enjoying my super-warm Twinkletoes.


There are a couple of mistakes (they are all on the sole so it would not be noticeable), also the second slipper is slightly looser at the back – this is what happens when you wait too long before completing the project.


And what would look nice with these slippers? A pair of matching socks. Here is a beginning of “Cablenet” in Regia #5769. I am very excited to attempt this rather difficult pattern. I would not stress myself with knitting it fast – it would be one of those “knit a bit when feel like it” projects.


Since I am sharing my progress here is how the felted purse looks like:


It is growing pretty fast and I am excited about felting it. By the way, is it me or felting is super popular today? While in Toronto I saw Toronto Outdoors Art Expo and was amazed to see several stands with felted purses. I also noticed felted items in different clothes/accessories stores. I better hurry up to learn this technique if I want to stay “cool”.

How far is Toronto?

Here is Palette on my way there:


And this is what I brought home last night:


I did not knit all the time while on the bus but I am happy with the progress made.
The pattern for Palette comes from one of back-issues of Knitty. I decided to experiment with yarn and used a skein of Noro(S185) sock-yarn I've picked up at Mouline Yarns.

The picture comes from THIS German website.
And HERE you can find another gorgeous picture of the yarn

Originally I was thinking of making socks, something like this beauty by The Loopy Ewe. At the same time I wanted a fun project that would be easy enough to knit on the bus, yet challenging to prevent me from dozing off. This lacy scarf proved to be ideal.

Mouline Yarns, bonsai, and a new project.

After getting sock yarn at “La Tricoteuse” I was excited about discovering more Montreal’s yarn stores. A fast Google search revealed a list of at least 10 stores spread all over the city, from East End and Plateau to the West Island. The closest ones to my house were “Ariadne” and “Mouline Yarns” located at a walking distance from the Lionel Groulx metro station. I decided to start my explorations with “Mouline Yarns”. The reason was purely materialistic – they were having a big Spring sale and who can pass discounted yarn?

The first thing that surprised me was the amount and the selection of yarn. It seemed like each corner of the store was holding more and more surprises. Loyal to the advertisement, most of yarns were reduced, some to as much as 50% and 60%.

The shelves were stacked with yarns and topped with different garments knitted with the presented yarn selections. Scarves and shawls, socks and mittens, baby sweaters and full-sized adult tops decorated every surface of the store. It is nice to be able not only to see the yarn, but to touch the final item, to know how the colors would look like once the sample is knitted.

Apart from yarns, the store also carries the greatest selection of knitting and crocheting books and magazines – this was the place where I spotted the first North American issue of "Verena" magazine.

I asked the owner (Svetlana, yes she speaks Russian, as well as fluent English and French) about lace-weight yarn and showed her the pattern from “Knit1” magazine. As it turned out “Mouline Yarns” had exactly what I needed: sea silk in different vibrant colors. Unfortunately it was a bit pricey for me and I asked for any acceptable alternatives. Svetlana offered several yarn varieties and explained how many skeins I would need and why one type would be better than another. I chose beautiful Baby Alpaca yarn (from Misti Alpaca) that was very affordable and picked two skeins of a nice "Blue Mist Melange" color (CD 42).

I also picked up a pair of Addi Turbo lace needles that Svetalana recommended. Sensing my “newness” to the whole knitting business not only she explained to me that the yarn had to be rolled into balls before knitting but let me use the yarn winder, patiently showing me how to mount the skein, find and cut the nod, and attach the end to the rolling part.

While rolling the yarn I witnessed numerous customers coming to Svetlana with different questions and she would recommend yarns, explain patterns, or simply give some advice.

I couldn’t not come back to the store again and soon after finishing my socks I came to “benefit” from some yarn specials – but this is a different story.

Mouline Yarn

2657 Notre Dame West (Not far from Lionel Groulx metro station)

The store offers different workshops and lessons. Call (514) 935-4401 to enquire about the summer schedule.

It has absolutely nothing to do with knitting but I wanted to share this picture of one of the goregous Bonsai trees from Montreal's Botanical Garden. If you are in Montreal check out the Japanese Garden and Pavillion of Jardin Botanique.

And finally, here is a colour scheme for my new crocheting project:

I am using 3 different "Bernat" colors: Off white (00002), Boston blue (27201) - part of their "Colonial colors" collection, and Earth Ombre (33048) - part of "Naturals" collection.

Out with the old ....

As I write this on a grayish summer day my feet are happy. Happy and warm …..They are also pretty, stripped, and soft. Well technically it is not my feet; it is Mr. Socks that are pretty, stripped, and soft. Nine days after the birth of Mr. Sock, Mr. Sock II came to this world on June 19^th at exactly the same time as his older brother 3:18PM. Weird coincidence!!!

I definitely enjoyed knitting socks. Enjoyed so much that my next project would be “Fluke” (click on the link to get the pdf pattern and see where the picture comes from), for my sister, made from the wonderful German “Fortissima Socka” (color #2048).

What would I have done differently? I definitely made first sock too loose. Socks in general should be knit tighter than other garments. Also I had to adjust the first sock (decrease and increase) and be careful when knitting the second one – I wanted the color-pattern to be identical. I would also follow the PDF pattern, because it has calculations, rather then casting on 60 sts without considering the tightness of my knitting and the circumference of my calves – I find that design on the back could benefit from a tighter fit.

While I was working on the second sock I crocheted yet another dishcloth. Now I have a set of 3 and still lots of yarn left – expect more dishcloth pictures in near future.

And finally, here is a sneak preview of my next project. I already have socks and some slippers, to go with, would be nice. I picked up bright blue yarn yesterday and started my knitting.

The color of yarn is much brighter and livelier in real life. It's "Galway" Irish worsted knitting wool in color # 5050 Oh, the pattern … I'll keep it a surprise for now!

First yarn shopping experience

I finally made it to one of Montreal’s yarn stores. La Tricoteuse is situated on the corner of St. Hubert and Rachel (779 Rachel East). The store is full of yarn: sock yarn, mohair, beautiful silk, yarn of different colors and textures. I must admit I was slightly overwhelmed when I walked in there (and so was Eric).

After spending good 20 minutes simply looking at all the yarns I decided to approach a nice lady (the owner?) for some help. To tell you the truth, the quantity of the yarn made me forget all the project possibilities I had on my mind and the only thing I remembered was sock yarn for the long-promised socks for my sister. After yet another 20 minutes of admiring all the sock yarn, I finally decided on “Canadian color" (#4746) from Regia. It’s a mix of wool and polyamide. The gentlemen at the cash (husband of the lady?) asked me if it was my first time knitting socks and after my affirmative answer he wished me “good luck” (I am not sure I liked the underlying message in that wish. Is sock-knitting really that difficult???). Oh, I also picked some sock needles for the project.

All in all I was really happy with my first yarn shopping experience. Once the socks are done I will return for some new yarn and I might even take some pictures of the store.

I picked “Reverse Psockology” pattern from “Stitch-and-Bitch” calendar (thank you Es'ka and Jen'ka) for the yarn. It is going pretty well so far, but I am expecting the worse.

Since I am posting the picture of half-finished sock, here is one more of “work-in-progress” projects: the baby scarf (to go with the baby carpet) that I crocheted about a month ago. It is still missing white fringes.

My dad is refusing to call it a scarf. He says that it could be anything! I guess I should hurry up with those fringes.

La Tricoteuse
779 Rachel East (corner of St. Hubert and Rachel, not far from Mont Royal metro station)