Fashion: Yarn Style

Designs Caught in the Wild: The Edinburgh Yarn Festival

 

  After three days of hunting through the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, there are several items I captured that I must share! Morag the highland cow, was too big of a challenge, but I spotted TOFT’s ‘Tokay Gecko”in the foliage and pounced immediately: 

 

 

 In order to more effectively stalk the yarn market, Maxi and I wore our favorite knits. I am wearing Marie Wallin's design, Anya: 

 

while Maxi wore another Wallin design, Izmir. Do you think Morag was fooled? Maxi was also determined to find the amazing Stephen West, who started off his knitting career stocking shelves in her friend's yarn store as a teenager:

 

 It was fun seeing Stephen West again, but I was even more excited to meet some Ravelry friends who had come all the way to Scotland for EYF. Ann and I both attended a book reading and then had lunch together, and were joined by Elizabeth and Eleanore. I really admire these amazing women who are experts with yarn and elevate knitting to the next level. Plus, they are incredibly nice people. Maxi and I also got to meet Andrea and Andrew from the Fruity Knitting Podcast face to face. They are even more charming in person than they are in their podcast! Squeal!

 

Back to the yarn market, Maxi and I continued to stalk our prey. My mother-in-law, (Maxida on Ravelry), and I are such fans that we had clothed ourselves in our best Marie Wallin knits in preparation for meeting the designer at her booth. Wallin's habitat was cleverly camoflauged with spectacular blankets, pillows, and hats, and she had a rack of samples from her latest book, Shetland, to try on. As you can see, she blends in perfectly with her surroundings!

 

Once we tracked her down, Marie Wallin was gracious and kind, and helped me pick out the sweater to knit from Shetland. Needless to say, I was totally thrilled! Of course, I tried on as many samples as I could as this was the high point of the whole experience for me. Maxi was equally excited, and she picked out a gorgeous kit for herself.

 

The One that Got Away: Yell, by Marie Wallin

 

The opportunity to try on samples at knitting festivals and trunk shows is invaluable. When you calculate the cost to knit a high quality sweater in money and time, you're making a serious investment. Why not ensure it will be successful by trying on samples beforehand?

 

This doesn't fit my silhouette

For example, Yell, this lovely new design by Wallin, has a gorgeous color scheme. But this boxy style does NOTHING for my figure. My advice: always photograph what a knitted piece looks like from the back when you try it on.

 

I was lucky to run into a wonderful Scottish ravelry friend at the festival, (you know who you are!) who also tried on Yell and bought the kit--I'm sure the design really flattered her slender figure. However, Unst is a much better fit for MY shape, though the sample I tried on wasn't big enough.

Unst

The minute she saw me in Unst, Marie Wallin said "that is the one

for you." She recommended the medium size, taking all the 

guesswork out of knitting this ultra-complicated pattern. Heh 

heh heh. Trophy acquired. From that moment on, I relaxed. My

hunt was almost complete.

 

The last design on my radar was Quiet Stars, from Interpretations Volume 5 by Joji Locatelli and Veera Valimaki.  I found the sample in the Pom Pom stand at EYF and was thrilled to discover it is just as beautiful as I thought! I will be sizing this one up to medium as well, as you can see I really had to lasoo the front with the ties, otherwise it gapped too much. It's a casual design, meant to be worn loose, so it really needs that extra ease.

 

I was also successful in acquiring the Red Bud Vest pattern at the Jamieson’s booth:

 

Jamieson’s only seems to sell paper copies of this pattern, so it was really good luck that they were at the show and had a copy on hand so that I could take it home with me! It’s one of those rare stranded patterns that actually incorporates waist shaping which will spare me a TON of tedious fiddling, which makes it valuable. 

 

 

There was SO much yarn at the festival, and it is yarn that is worth taking time to discuss and contemplate. So I will save that for another post. I wanted to share some photos with you as soon as I could but I don’t travel particularly well so it often takes me quite some time to rest up after a trip like this. So I will be writing several more posts, particularly one to describe the UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING knitting get-together nine of us Ravelers experienced in London, after having corresponded online for so many years! It was a HUGE thrill and adventure finally seeing everyone face to face and treasuring their stories. That was the highpoint of my trip to London for sure.

 

So I’ll write much more soon! Happy Knitting everyone!

 

 

Ambah’s "Marya Wrap" in La Bien Aimee Yarn

  

 As some of you know, I am a bit obsessed with Paris. In particular, the patisseries of Paris. Due to the fact that I have a wonderful friend who rents her apartment to me for a song, my family who are both European and American tend to meet there as a halfway point once a year. If I am lucky, when I get off the plane, I go directly to Laduree Tearoom on the Champs Elysees to have lunch before my family starts our Paris adventures.

 

 

Patisseries in Paris are palaces of beautiful confectionery. Once the doors close around me, I breathe in scents of butter, chocolate and coffee. Tartlets, cakes and meringues are displayed like jewels in delicate pastels. Walls painted in pistachio, cherry and cream with gold moldings enfold me. Is it any wonder I have longed to make a shawl inspired by the colors of French pastries?

 

 

My opportunity came at Vogue Knitting Live in New York last month. La Bien Aimée yarn was on sale at the yarn market, and I dove into the throng of fans reaching for skeins before the supply ran out. I chose four colors that reminded me of my favorite flavors: pistachio, chocolate, raspberry and apricot:

 

La Bien Aimee Merino Singles

What do you think of the color match?

 

For the design of my Laduree shawl, I chose Marya, by Ambah O’Brian. I feel the choice of pattern is vital when knitting with a single ply yarn like La Bien Aimee Merino Single, because without another ply to balance it,  single ply makes a fabric that slants on a bias in simple stockinette. Also, you can see from the blurry halo surrounding the ball below that the fiber is quite fragile.

 

 

So I stayed away from stockinette shawl patterns and instead chose one with a base of garter stitch to keep that single ply contained and disciplined. The slip stitch panels in the shawl are particularly gorgeous with the luminous single-ply yarn which conveys color rather like a stained-glass window with the light behind it. Those little slip stitch “windows” are breathtaking when you see them up close. 

 

 

The delicate lace between each garter section lightens it and mirrors the slip stitch. Now that is true harmony of design.

 

 

I find wraps far more wearable than triangular shawls, because you can wear them open as a shawl over a dress, or bundle them into a scarf shape for a cold, rainy day. I am really in love with my Marya shawl and plan to wear it whenever I am missing Paris!