Fashion: Yarn Style

Are Bell Sleeve Knits Back on Trend?

Amy Adams in American Hustle

 

I don’t know how this is possible, but recent movies and fashion shows seem to be bringing 1970s styles back on trend. Who can forget the absurd collars and cuffs of the seventies and wide-bottom courduroy pants? Not to mention the avocado and orange shag carpets! There is one photograph of my father I treasure--he stands posed against a window looking dashing with his overlong black curls and sideburns, tight pants and color-blocked bright blue and pink button-up shirt. Now that is a photo for the ages! I never thought I would say this, having barely survived one go around of seventies styles, but I find myself drawn to bell sleeve tops all over again! Is it just me, or is the above outfit fabulous on Amy Adams?

 

Kim Hargreaves Reflection

 Kim Hargreaves has designed a sweater with many elements of the Amy Adams top that I really like. It has a split hem which gives it a more modern flair, and the V is not nearly as plunging as Adams' blouse, which makes it wearable, for, say a date night with my husband. I feel this is a flattering design because the V neck breaks up the bulk that would otherwise be created by a sweater with such heavy sleeves. Another cool top with bell sleeves that I’ve been eyeing is Caitlin Hunter’s Willowwood. Its oversized but cropped cut gives it a modern update.

 

 

Another sweater I’ve been eyeing from the same Pom Pom magazine is Nora Gaughn’s Nightingale, which has a bell shape in the upper sleeves which seems like a fabulous 1970’s Victorian mélange of the bell and mutton chop sleeve. And how fabulous are the cables????

 

 

What do you think of the bell sleeve trend? Should it stay? Should it return to the 1970’s? I haven't entirely made up my mind. A few months ago, on a whim, I cast on Hargreaves’ Reflection, partly because I had the required yarn in stash and partly because of the nefarious influence of that glamour shot of Amy Adams. Then I had second thoughts and put it aside for a few months. But there is one thing I am sure of--if you are going to knit a trendy piece, you should make haste to finish it before the trend goes away! So I have picked the project up again. And let me warn you, dear readers--when you knit sleeves with this much volume, each one takes as many stitches as the back piece of a sweater. So this impulse sweater has become something of a commitment. I hope it will be worth it in the end to have my little moment of retro flair!

Where Does my Sock Yarn Come From?

 Blizzard Socks by Kay Jones

 

On Christmas day, after I had finished all urgent Christmas knits, I treated myself by casting on a pair of socks for me! I used the pattern, The Blizzard Socks by Kay Jones. Kay seems to specialize in patterns with unique details that can be easily memorized and then knitted without too much mental exertion for a true relaxing experience. I am also a big fan of her Jemima socks:

 

 

I can’t tell you what yarn I used for my Blizzard socks, because it was a one-time purchase at Vogue Knitting live in San Francisco. I wound it during a cleaning whirlwind in our home and the tag disappeared. The resulting yarn mystery got me thinking about how little I really know about the sock yarns I knit with anyway.

 

 

We truly live in a time of spectacular artistry among yarn dyers. Whether I am purchasing sock yarn from Olann (my favorite), La Bien Aimée or any of the great indie companies out there, I know my purchase supports the artistry of that particular brand. I love supporting small businesses, especially woman-owned businesses, as I run one myself [Academic Tutoring.] But what are the sources of the fibers that different indie dyers use? Before now, I've been too shy to ask, as I heard it might be a “trade secret,” and I didn't want to put anyone on the spot.

 

 

The hand dyer, Krista McCurdy of Pigeonroof Studio yarns admits in her newsletter, “almost all dyers, including me up until now, won't share sources, and it's stupid…. People don't buy your yarn for the yarn. They buy the colors you dye, which will always be unique to the dyer.”

Pigeonroof Studio yarn

 

I can imagine important reasons why yarn dyers might not want to reveal their source. But Krista revealed her yarn is sourced from AshlandBay and Wool2dye4. I felt it was really admirable that she was willing to share this information, as I could then research those companies. I am currently interested in buying yarn made from “local” fiber or at least fiber originating from the United States, so I found it interesting that AshlandBay and Wool2dye4 are both NorthAmerican companies although the yarn itself does not seem to be American. Out of curiosity, I visited the AshlandBay website and I read that they  offer "a meticulously curated selection of fibers and yarns from around the world.” A further search revealed two sources of AshlandBay’s fiber: Falkland Islands Sustainable Wool and South African Cape Wool. Wool2dye4's website reveals they offer Bluefaced Leicester Bases that come from the UK which they then make into yarn in their Virginia mill. The sources of their merino alpaca and silk were not mentioned directly and I only spent a few minutes browsing the site.

 

 

But I feel it would benefit me more as a consumer to ask more questions. Yarn traceability could empowers me to make educated decisions when I purchase yarn. Olann, whose yummy yarn is pictured above, is embarking on a natural dye-based yarn club using non-superwash yarn, which is exciting to me because my favorite dyer seems to be moving in the same direction I am. She has mentioned she is seeking in future to source yarn in Ireland where she lives and keeps her dye studio. Overall, I feel more information just generates more interest in a yarn. If I'm lucky enough to afford it, then I can decide if I prefer to spend, say, $28 for a 400-yard skein of Pigeonroof Studio fingering yarn that might originate from sustainable Falkland wool, or subscribe to Olann's natural BFL yarn club, which just opened for membership today. Would I rather spend $30 for a 400-yard skein of Forest yarn from Green Mountain Spinnery? That sock yarn is 30% tencel and 70% Targhee wool from herds “along the front range of the Rockies” and spun in an organic wool mill in Vermont.

 

Perhaps I want to support a Virginia mill so I could seek out indie dyers who use the BFL made at Wool2dye4. Or I might prefer to splurge $36 on Cormo fingering from Sincere Sheep since it's made by a California rancher. Why do I care? You ask. Well, I spend a lot of time with that skein of yarn in my hands so its natural to be curious about its fiber source.

 

Cormo Fingering from Sincere Sheep in California

I’m not going to go all rigid about yarns and where they come from because I think it's all fabulous. But recently, while perusing youtube videos of Fibershed's wool symposia, I discovered to my shock that at least 50% of the wool produced in California is sold for pennies on the dollar on the commodity market, which often results in a financial loss for Californian sheep farmers. The California wool is then processed in China, South America, India or elsewhere using methods and or chemicals that may be undisclosed or unregulated.

 

 

However, California and other states need wool so the fiber processed overseas is later shipped back to the USA, without much of any information about how it was milled. Then it may be dyed by a small producer, and ultimately end up in my hands. I’m not saying this always happens or is always an environmental issue, but would you be happy buying apples that were grown in Washington but then shipped overseas to have a special wax added to them to make them look appetizing, only to be shipped back to Washington again for you to eat? Those apples may be cheaper than the ones you can buy at a farmer’s market, but are they as good for your system, or the local economy? You can learn more about this issue here:

 

 

The fact that some California farmers actually lose money when they pay to have their sheep sheared because there is so little demand for their fleeces locally just seems sad and makes me wonder how much longer people will want to keep farming sheep in my state. I feel that since I am a California resident I should try to keep this problem in mind as one of the criteria I use for selecting yarn. In fact, recently I've been knitting with Gather yarn, a California wool and Arizona Alpaca blend milled in Arizona and sold in gorgeous sportweight balls at A Verb for Keeping Warm: 

 

 

Perhaps it’s time to slow down my pace of yarn consumption so I have the time to learn where my hard-earned dollars are going. I don’t have any influence as an individual over the current government shutdown or other nation-level decision making, but on a local level, my purchasing power is real. And I’d like to use that power consciously.

 

This post was revised from its form earlier today with the goal of clarifying my ideas...

Knitting Resolutions of 2019

 

Bean Hollow State Beach

 

Soaking in the beauty of the moody sea and sky at Pescadero, I reflected on my knitting goals for this year. From 2017 to 2018, knitting was my refuge from a variety of terrible natural and political disasters. The hurricane in Houston destroyed my aunt and uncle's home, which was also the repository of our family’s geneology, photographs and heirlooms, and we were all devastated. Not to mention all the political upheaval in our country and abroad. I also suffered a terrible head injury for nine months whose impact was worsened by the local fires in California. I feel I am finally recovering from both now that clean air is restored again. So I hope to stay as present as possible this year and to practice gratitude for what is right here!

 

 

Resolution One:  Craft with More Local Yarn and Fabric

 

After my 2018 trips to Edinburgh, Paris and New York, I have acquired enough exotic yarn to knit with. It suddenly struck me as silly that I was putting so much effort into sourcing “local” yarn in, say, Scotland, when I should be doing the same thing here in California as a matter of course.

 

My Stash of Jamieson’s Spindrift Yarn from Scotland

 

When I surveyed my stash, I realized that only about 10% of my yarn acquisitions consist of wool grown AND milled in the US. And only about 3% of it is California wool. For one takes pride in EATING locally, why aren’t I crafting locally? Is there really such a big difference between supporting a local poultry, vegetable or dairy farm to a sheep farm? So my goal is to knit the exotic yarn I already have but when seeking new yarn, to source from California or USA companies as much as possible.

 

 

Resolution Two: Knit More Practical Garments to Wear

 I arrived at this resolution in a roundabout way from my daily profession. I’ve worked as an academic tutor who specializes in reading and writing for years, but this fall, I studied side by side with a high school senior to help him pass his Environmental Science AP final. I specialize in empowering students with learning issues such as dyslexia which can pose seemingly insurmountable barriers to comprehension.

 

 

Since this student faced four different learning challenges at once, I needed to create customized visual and auditory formats to help him master the material. Not only did my student’s test score improve from an F to a B, but I learned way more about pollution than I had bargained for.

 

 

This exposure to the disastrous effects that plastics, synthetic fibers, discarded clothes and chemical dyes are having on nature increased my interest in the slow fashion movement. I've joined the Seam Allowance Club at A Verb for Keeping Warm, which is a support group for those who wish to hand make a quarter of their daily wardrobe, if possible from locally-sourced materials. 

 

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/jemima

 

Resolution Three: Knit More Socks

To be honest, I never appreciated knitted socks at all until I wore my first homemade pair. Before, I thought it was a silly waste of time to knit garments no one would ever see inside your shoe, but I admit it, I was wrong. There is something unbelievably comfortable about socks customized to fit your feet. I find that I experience less fatigue when walking in them, and since that is my main form of daily exercise, it is a priority. I still love knitting sweaters, but how many wool pullovers does a girl really need? It's impossible not to want to knit more but I'd rather be making things I can wear in every temperature.  

 

Scrappy socks, inspired by Kay Jones

 

 

Socks are  a portable, practical project, easy to ball up in a tiny bag in one’s purse. This cannot be said for sweater knitting. And I love the way making them is like painting in miniature. The 32-36 stitch canvas on the front of the foot is the perfect size to create an exquisite pattern or message without laboring for months on end.

 

Jarvis Socks by Kate Atherley

 

It will certainly be easier to achieve my 25% hand-made clothing goal if I continue to wear my knitted socks every day. It is not always practical to wear a sweater, even a cotton cardigan, in sunny California. But my hand-knitted socks were comfortable all summer long. Wool naturally wicks away moisture and an added bonus was that I didn't need to wash my socks as frequently because of the odor-reduction properties of wool. My husband still wears his hand knitted socks regularly and is asking for more of his own.

 

 

 

Resolution Four: Go More Public with Knitting

 

So far, I’ve been too shy to share any of the knitting patterns I’ve designed, and have never even posted photos on Ravelry. Also, all of my teaching has been in very small groups. I want to challenge myself to go a bit more public with my creative activities next year. This is by far my most challenging goal, so we will see how much gumption I can muster to make this happen.

 

What are your crafting goals for 2019? I would love to hear about them!!!

8 Best Knitting Moments of 2018

 

Toft's Morag, the Highland Coo

 

2018 was a year of political turbulence and uncertainty which made the vibrancy of the knitting community I encountered even more necessary and uplifting!

 

 

1) 1) I attended Vogue Knitting Live New York with my best knitting gal pal, Stephanie, who owns the luxe yarn store, Uncommon Threads. We had a marvelous time seeing all the sights and discovering new yarns. We even snuck over to Laduree’s New York outpost for a pastry! We also appeared in Rowan's fashion show and Stephanie won second prize!!

 

 

2) 2)  Meeting up with all my British girlfriends from Ravelry face-to-face in London was awesome. Everyone was even warmer and more interesting in person and that was really a real high point for me.

 

 That experience just reinforced the importance of making connections in the knitting community. Somehow, every time someone walked into the restaurant to join us, I recognized her right away and the kinship between us was deeper than I expected.  For all the complaints people make about social media, I am grateful to be able to know wonderful people thousands of miles away who value the same experiences and share my deep love of knitting and yarn.

 

 

3) My mother-in-law, Maxi, and I had a fantastic time at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and got to meet our designer crush, Marie Wallin, in person. She even helped us each choose a sweater to knit from her design collection! It is on my list of cast-ons this year, for sure!

 

4) Vogue Knitting Live in San Francisco allowed me to meet the artist, Ambah O’Brian and attend her presentation on “Shawl Love” in which she described her sources of inspiration. Nancy Marchant’s fabulous Brioche Class also helped me internalize that fascinating technique and allowed me to knit my own Briochealuscious shawl afterwards.

 

 

Stephanie and I roomed together there, and I had several wonderful dinners with knitters, local and from afar, cementing my deep appreciation of the creativity and kindness of the knitting community world wide!

 

 Stephanie and Stacy Charles, distributor of String Yarns

 

5) In October, I met up with my husband's German cousin, Nessi, in Paris. Nessi is a professional cabaret singer:

 

She decided to take up knitting again after seeing me knitting at her parents house in Germany two years ago, and we have been corresponding ever since. So far, we have met up three different times and in three different locations (Paris, London, Denver) to knit together!!! I took Nessi to the Knit Night at L'Oisivethé and we stayed until closing time, but we knit all over Paris as well!

 

 

6) This year, I began to integrate knitting teaching into my tutoring work with children and discover its enormous potential to increase focus, confidence, and well-being for elementary to high school students, boys and girls. I knitted with some students face to face, and others via FaceTime. 

 

The surprise discovery was that after my boy students fell in love with making pom poms, it spread to their fathers as well, and soon everyone was making pom poms together! 

 

Norbu Cardigan

 

7) After my head injury, I continued knitting the simple stockinette section of Norbu with my eyes closed, and found myself in awe of the healing power of knitting. As my injury progressed, and my vision cleared, I was able to finish the cardigan. Next, I positively visualized my head healing by knitting a Peerie Flooers hat to cover it. I also reflected on Kate Davie's speech in Edinburgh about how her knitting helped her recover from her stroke, and was inspired by her example. Her book, Handywoman, explains this experience in great detail, and she gives a Ted talk about her experience here:

 

 

 

 

Peerie Flooers

 

The kindness and support of my weekly knitting group at my local LYS, Uncommon Threads, helped me enormously in recovering from the injury. It is now the nine month mark and my symptoms are pretty much gone, which is a huge thing to celebrate, going into the New Year.

 

 

8) This year, I published three knitting articles in Knitability Magazine. The topics were the "100-Day Challenge of wearing my Handknits", "Knitting and Slow Fashion," and "Prison Knitting Programs". My fourth article, on Finding your Local Fibershed, will be coming out in the January issue of this subscriber-only magazine which is produced by The Bakery Bears.

 

What are your knitting highlights from 2018? I’d love to hear them! And I hope you enjoy a wonderful New Year!!!!

 

Happy Holiday Knits & Braid Sweater by Martin Storey

 

 

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing vacation. I finished my Christmas sweater just in time, and was able to wear it today as planned. Squeal! I love it so much!

 

 

The pattern is Braid by Martin Storey and it is knitted in Rowan Cashmere Tweed. I continue to be really obsessed with that yarn, ever since I knitted a Salina with it earlier this year.

Rowan's Cashmere Tweed has the texture of wool, with the softness of cashmere. I plan to substitute that yarn for Felted Tweed in pullover patterns that are meant to be worn next to the skin. Cashmere Tweed may be the perfect yarn, except for the pricetag. But I've been addressing that by only buying it on sale.

 

 

I feel I will wear this top a lot because it is so soft.

 

 

Kristy Glass wearing Betty and Judy Lodge Sweater

 There are a lot of cute sweater designs that are perfect for Christmas season, and I admit, I was tempted by the Betty and Judy Lodge sweater by Amy Appel. However, I opted to knit Braid instead because

                   1) I feel Braid is more versatile and I can wear it all year round.

                   2) I feel the Lodge sweater might emphasize the squareness of my shoulders and emphasize the bust area in a way that would not be flattering. The eye seems to go right where a top changes color, and so before knitting a garment of this kind, you have to be certain you want to visually emphasize that area.

 

I did notice video podcaster Kristy Glass and some others look awesome in the top, and it seems really flattering to her slender figure. So I do heave a little sigh every time I see it. But I think the design I chose is more practical for me. And I think true satisfaction comes from accepting one's own reality and creating a wardrobe from there.

 

 

 

Andi Saterlund’s Julgran sweater is also an adorable Holiday knit, and I was tempted by it too. The pattern is vintage-inspired, like the Lodge sweater, and is also meant to be constructed with several inches of negative ease. I looked at several projects that normal-sized women had knitted up on Ravelry and again I wasn’t sure that the pattern was the most flattering for wearers with upper curvature. It’s one thing to emphasize the bust, but the negative ease combined with the cropped design made it seem that some knitter's tops were bulging. Perhaps if one just knitted the top with positive ease and lengthened it.. Especially if you leave the Christmas ornaments off the tree, it is not immediately apparent that you are looking at a holiday-themed design. Here is a photo of Kristy Glass wearing the tree sweater which again, made me want to knit it!

 

 

I keep reminding myself that our figures are different, so I'd have to modify my version heavily. For anyone who hasn’t seen Kristy Glass and Carrado Lark’s Merry Knitmas  video album, by the way, you must watch it immediately—it is so adorably funny, with so many insider knitting jokes, but their voices are really good so the carols themselves are fun to listen to as well:

 

 

 

It's been quite busy in my kitchen, as we had 10 people over for Christmas Eve last night. I had a lot of fun with the desserts, making an improvised buche de Noel (Christmas log cake):

 

 

It is basically a giant meringue roll topped with slivered almonds and filled with whipped cream and raspberries. Every speck of it was eaten, so if you are interested in making this dessert, check out Mary Berry's strawberry meringue roulade. As a backup dessert, I baked a gingerbread man cake, which the kids really enjoyed.

 

 

 

I also received some also Christmas Knitting gifts, including the Encyclopedic Book, The Principles of Knitting by Hyatt, which Knit Picks has on sale right now:

 

 

 

And a Fluorite Sock gradient kit from La Bien Aimee yarn:

 

 

I can't wait to start in on my new projects now that my Christmas sweater is done. But first I have to finish up some late Christmas knits. I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful holiday and Happy Knitmas everyone!

 

Celebrating Clear Air and Bricealuscious by the Sea!

 

It rained last Wednesday, clearing the skies at last and allowing us to venture out and breathe again! The rain also helped the firefighters to completely contain the fire in Butte, so Thanksgiving became a real day of gratitude for us in California. It was so touching reading all the stories of people driving hundreds of miles to bring trailers to the homeless fire victims in California. That day, we made donations to support both the people and the animals who needed shelter.

 

 

Since my husband works at a Black Friday company, which has now become Black Thursday, we stole a few hours together to picnic on the coast Thanksgiving morning before he went back to work. We had chicken salad with hearts of palm, egg salad sandwiches, German bread and brie, berries, chocolate cannoli and champagne as we enjoyed the beautiful blue skies once again.

The day was amazingly sunny and clear and we had a wonderful time basking on the rocks as well, looking at odd little stones and peering into tide pools.

 

 

The seals were sunbathing nearby, so we were careful not to get too close. It makes me happy just watching them!

 

 

It is interesting how much we take the basics in our lives for granted, such as breathing clean air. I had no idea of how important that was until I had lost the ability to do so and I suddenly felt like a character in an apocalyptic science fiction movie wearing a particle mask to work. Even the coast here had air quality in the 160 level, filled with breathable particles damaging to the lungs, while the normal range is 1-50. So this has been a huge relief and refocused me on the importance of simple things in life such as health, safety and shelter. I hope the victims of the fire will find a place to settle soon, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them.

 

 

The last time we visited Bean Hollow, my husband challenged me to use the colors there as an inspiration for a shawl. So when I knitted my briochealuscious shawl, I chose the pink for the iceplant flowers (Fuse Fiber's Pink Drink), the green for the iceplant leaves, (Olann's Pear) and the blue for the sky and water. (Fuse Fiber's Verdigris).

 

 

The brioche in the shawl creates a luscious, squishy fabric that makes it a wonderful wrap to wear in the wind, but I needed a coat as well to keep out the cold, as it is November now!

 

 

It was really satisfying finishing this project and I recommend it as a great way to practice brioche knitting. It was a very well-written pattern, but not an easy one to execute, as the brioche rickrack edging is challenging and time-consuming. But I feel it was worth the effort.

 

Knitting Through the Smoke in California

photo from New York Times 

For the past week, we’ve been barricaded inside our homes in Sunnyvale, California, waiting for the smoke to lift. I opened the door to put out the garbage yesterday and had a giant coughing fit, so now I am even doing laundry in our garage wearing a face mask. Apparently, breathing the air outside is equivalent to smoking four packs of cigarettes, so I wear the mask every day to work. When days are difficult, I seek something positive to focus on. So I am knitting through the smoke to remind myself of the people I love.

 

 

It helps that it’s Christmas knitting season, and I’ve received some silly birthday requests. When I asked my brother David what he wanted for his birthday, he said hats for his two baby daughters and a hand knitted card for him.

 

It was no problem whipping up the Zebra and Bear hats above using a “Top This” kit. But knitting a birthday card? I never heard of that! Not that I was going to admit that to my little brother. Once he threw down the gauntlet, there was no way I would back down. Especially when he mentioned he wanted sequins. Manly Sequins?  Irresistible!

 

 

After a month of puzzling over the problem, I bought a conventional birthday card and used it for structure. Then I sewed together gauge swatches in the manliest colors I had. Using the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, I created a patchwork of gauge swatches for the outside of the card, and then zizzagged the fabric onto the card itself at the edges, folding down the raw sides of the swatches into the join so that they didn’t show. Then I embroidered his name on the inside of the card with sequins.

 

 

This was a very time-consuming project, but I chuckled the whole time. I purchased the sequins in Paris, then put it all together here when I got back and realized I wasn’t going outside any time soon.

 

 

Bernhard had begged me for a hat while we stayed in Paris because it was so cold, and he received so much enjoyment out of wearing the Bankhead hat I made him that I’ve resolved to knit a bunch of hats as Christmas gifts. And now that the only exercise I have been getting the past week is walking up and down the hall of our 1200 square foot foot home, I’ve been knitting a hat while I walk. There’s a bright side to everything, right? With my knitting bag looped over my arm, I pace the hallways, knitting a hat on a 16” circular needle while my husband chuckles from the couch and the cats chase me from behind. In this way, I’ve completed the Mon Ami hat, designed by Kay Jones, for my brother-in-law.

 

 

My brother, Levon, is getting the Bousta Beanie hat that I knitted in Shetland, spindrift.

 

 

 Next up is a hat for my father. He took one look at the hat Bernhard was wearing in Paris and asked for one for himself. After a lovely afternoon visiting yarn boutiques together, he picked out this gorgeous skein of Lore by the Fiber Company at Le Tricoteur Volant.

 

 

But more about that shop later.

  

With all this hat knitting to keep me occupied, there’s little reason to go out of doors. While we are praying for rain, I am more than a little grateful that I have this knitting hobby so I don't go stir crazy inside four walls!

A Luminous Trip to La Bien Aimée follows a lost knitting disaster!

 

I have been lucky enough to spend some great time knitting in Paris, with somewhat mixed results. On the one hand, I lost half of a sweater in a cab ride on the way to a knitting meetup with my Anny Blatt friends. (Sob!!!) On the other hand, earlier I got to join a knit night at L’oisivethé, presided over by the owner, Aimee, and later, I visited her store. So the positives have at least balanced out the negatives!

 

L'oisivethé 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s how ephemeral life and even my projects can be. That’s the whole reason I’m in Paris to begin with—as my father and I grow older, it’s really important for me to spend time as I can with him. We’ve been to several museum exhibits and a performance of Beethoven’s seventh symphony, and in the meantime, I’ve been squeezing knitting in here and there.

 

Unfortunately, the sweater I’ve been laboring on for almost a year now on size 1 needles is living it up royally without me, riding around the best neighborhoods in Paris in the back of a taxi. I can’t blame Vilma for her great escape. Who wouldn’t want to live in Paris all year round? You can see her lurking in the photo below, curled up in my hands but really eyeing the exits at the Musee d’Orsay and planning a break for freedom:

 Yes, the bottom half of Sarah Hatton’s Vilma sweater is now swanning around Paris, flaunting her sleek Finest fibers without my grubby hands on her any more. But I have a plan. Vilma's sleeves are at home, and with a little ingenuity and luck, I can knit a fair-isle body that will compensate for my 3 lost balls of yarn. Vilma is gone, but Nicole, as I will name the ingenious creation I may someday cobble together with scraps of yarn, may live on.

 

Sarah Hatton’s Vilma sweater

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vilma-5

 

As I struggled to deal with Vilma’s flight in a late-night cab, I consoled myself with a visit to La Bien Aimee. It truly is a paradise of hand-dyed yarn near La Place d’Italie. The store awning and bags are hued bright yellow to commemorate Aimee’s signature Yellow Brick Road color:

 

And I did buy a skein of the yellow for a future shawl on LBA's merino sportsweight base. The colors from left to right are Yellow Brick Road, Jonna, and Hegelia.

 

 

I could not resist buying some sock yarn at La Bien Aimee since the last pair I knitted in the BFL sock base turned out so well:

 

These are Kate Atheley’s Jarvis socks, which I finished recently and really adore.  I wanted some light-colored speckled yarn, which was available in 2 minis, and then I also picked up a great skein of purple speckled grey on BFL touch sock.

 

1 skein Andromeda, 2 small skeins of Blush + Yellow Brick Road mini skein

 

My father decided to pitch in for my upcoming Christmas present, so as a bonus, I walked away with two really gorgeous colors: The LBA sportweight merino in the vintage colorway, plus a skein of the yarn LBA only sells at their shop. Allure, in dark purple. The allure is a 70% alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere base and the colorway is “The Flying Knitter”, which is the name of a yarn boutique in a different part of Paris.

 

My German cousin-in-law, Annette, had taken the train over to see me and my husband here for a few days, so as she’s a knitter, we were able to spend a lovely "crafternoon" together:

 

 

We also attended the knit night at L’oisivethé on Wednesday, where we had a lovely meal and knit with a welcoming group. The menu was simple, with soft-boiled eggs and toast “soldiers” and a wonderful pot of tea for me:

 

 

Annette and I sat at a table with several accomplished French women as well as a Portuguese gal who was fluent in English and French as well as her native language. It was a really lovely evening, and by some weird coincidence we all seemed to be knitting with the same colored yarn! 

 

 

Well, I’m off to search the internet for ideas on a colorwork panel I can insert into my Wilma turned Nicole sweater, now that I’ve lost 3 balls of the long-discontinued yarn that makes up the body of the sweater, above. Keep your eyes on your knitting, readers. You never know when it may be getting ideas of it's own....

If I “Eat Locally” should I “Knit Locally?”

 

 

I’ve gathered two bowls full of Fuji apples from my tree and can’t wait to make them into pies! There’s something joyous about eating the fruits and vegetables from the garden outside, in spite of local varmints. It’s funny how I used to be on the side of the pesky animals in cartoon days until I started gardening myself. My babybear peach tree produced 3 fruits this year and I only got one due to ahem competition. Can you believe that in the early evening, as I stood sipping a cup of tea, a cheeky little rat streaked along my stone patio, rolling a half-eaten peach in front of him?  He stopped, took a bite, saw me staring at him openmouthed in horror, and took off, leaving his spoils behind!!!!!!!

 

I’ve given up on growing my own tomatoes due to those darned little guys, I just can’t bring myself to trap them. So it’s mostly swiss chard and herbs and roses which don’t appeal to the local menagerie. But I digress. This post is supposed to be about yarns and cultivating one's knitting life. Recently, my yarn choices have not been local. Since my husband is European, we travel at least once a year to Germany or France and I’ve been buying yarns there and bringing them home. At the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, I made a point of purchasing Blacker yarns and some Shetland wools, as well as John Arbon’s Knit by Numbers yarn. So I’ve been making a real effort to source local fibers in these exotic locations, supporting nearby sheep breeds or whatever, but never made that effort when yarn shopping at home!!!

 

Array of Local California yarns at A Verb for Keeping Warm

 

It was a knitting podcast that made me think more deeply about where my yarn comes from. Woolful’s interview with Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed was quite thought-provoking. Rebecca mentioned that California is the largest producer of wool in the US (approximately Three Million pounds) but only half of one percent of that wool becomes yarn! I was shocked! Apparently,so much clothing manufacture has been outsourced overseas that local mills have closed and the demand for California wool is so small that much of it goes into compost. If anyone is interested in reading more about this, they can access the link below:

Fibershed Nonprofit:

 

The mission of Fibershed seems to be to form relationships between sheep farmers, yarn makers, knitters, weavers, and other artisans to rebuild the chain that used to add value to California wool. I had no idea there was such an important movement going on in my state to bring back California yarn and woolen mills, and I’m really excited about it! My first step in getting involved was to pop over to a yarn store in Oakland, A Verb for Keeping Warm, to check out their selection of local yarns.

 

 Floating: by A Verb for Keeping Warm

I saw some really gorgeous yarns there, hand-dyed by Kristine Vejar, the store founder, and natural dyer extraordinaire. My husband picked up Floating right away, drawn by its softness and the beauty of the natural dyes. Floating is an alpaca, silk and cashmere blend, and I walked away with one skein. Frankly, I feel a bit overwhelmed, having discovered all these riches in my own backyard. Apart from a skein of Floating dyed with Madder and Logwood, I purchased a few skeins of yarn which I plan to knit with and blog about in future posts. Specifically, I got a skein of Verb’s new Gather yarn, which combines California wool and Arizona Alpaca, and two skeins of Twirl. Twirl is not made by Verb, but by Mary Sarley, out of her herds raised in Napa, California. 

 

 

  I’m really excited about sampling these yarns and finding out more about how I can support this home-grown California wool movement. In the meantime, I’m heading off to Paris in a few days for my yearly visit with family....

News Flash—Spindrift Rescues Brioche Shawl!!!

 

 

A round of applause for Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift! It saved the day!

 

Here is what happened: My Briochealuscious shawl, that I had labored over, was in distress. Panicked, I searched for a savior, and found it in the guise of Shetland yarn!  

 

You see, I was acting on advice from Nancy Marchant about the slipperiness of superwash wool. She has designed tons of brioche, and when comparing the durability of projects knitted in normal wool versus supwerwash, she discovered her brioche garments made with superwash or silk had lost their structure, lengthening to the point of ridiculousness.

 

Alas, such is the lure of indie dyed sock yarn that I went ahead and put some little panels in my shawl anyway, since the designer, Mowry, used superwash yarn in the pattern, so why couldn't I? Unfortunately, the brioche looked like a dog’s breakfast.  Clearly, only a superstar like Mowry could pull off the knitting in superwash, at least short term--Marchant says it's over time that the brioche will fall apart because those threads are so slippery! I guess mine just looked sloppy from the beginning due to my loose tension. 

 

 

Ouch! Doesn't that look hideous? After this disaster, I paired my pale blue Cross Creek sock yarn with a raspberry strand of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift to support it and keep everything stuck together. Marchant had suggested pairing a "wooly wool" with superwash if you insisted on knitting it in brioche. This was a vast improvement, but the area where I joined my edging to the brioche section  I’d knitted purely in superwash wools still looked really wonky--it's the green and white panel + trim:

 

 

I realized that green and white superwash band had destabilized the whole garment and joining directly to it wasn't going to work. Solution? I grabbed some cream Shetland Spindrift yarn and knitted 7 total rows of garter stitch with it and the raspberry to create a grabby edge I could attach my rick rack edging to. This meant I was adding a stripe section out of the pattern, but it worked perfectly! Here is a closeup of the new join:

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing the difference yarn fiber makes? Now my blue superwash sock is surrounded on all sides by red and cream Spindrift, which is truly acting as the glue connecting the sections. This experiment has convinced me of the wisdom of Nancy Marchant’s advice and I will never try to brioche with two strands of superwash again. You see, the superwash treatment strips the scales from wool fiber, making it impossible for the yarn to stick together as it did before. It seems the structural integrity of brioche depends on that sticking factor. So it will be Shetland, mohair or other rustic wools leading my brioche knitting now!

 

 

Cheat Sheet: yarns to avoid when knitting brioche:

 

According to Nancy Marchant, you should avoid superwash yarns, silk blends, bamboo and tencel/rayon. Stick with “wooly” wools and you will have no problem preserving and keeping your brioche garments long term.