Yarn Crawl & Knitting Gifts

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments on the knitted kitties!! I hope everyone finished their holiday gifts in time, and will return to the less pressured knitting soon. :)

Last Saturday, while I was searching out mohair to make the kitties' faces, I enjoyed another visit to Hither & Yarn in Torrington, a small town in the upper west corner of CT. I wish they had a website I could link to for you, as the shop is a hidden treasure. They sell high quality basic and specialty yarns, with lots of hand-dyed originals. The button and needle selections are fabulous. They have what looks like a complete line of the Garnstudio pattern magazines, along with the wool. I'm hoping to make one of the mohair sweaters in No. 88 someday, and will make a trip back there when it's time to select the yarn.

In addition to purchasing two skeins each of the Classic Elite mohair, which will make armwarmers or mittens, I bought a set of Knitklips.

I've been looking for these for a long time; they were featured in the new gadgets section of one of the knitting magazines awhile back, and were also reviewed on Knitty. I'm going to use them to hold the seams for the CPH -- I think they will work much better than T-pins, because the knitted fabric is so bulky. If you have tried these before, please let me know what you think!

Later in the day, I had the opportunity to visit Colorful Stitches in Lenox, MA. They advertise in many of the knitting magazines, and I was curious to see the shop. It is beautiful -- hardwood floors, large windows with sophisticated displays of FOs, yarns, and tools, and a huge selection of high quality yarns like Rowan, Koigu, Colinette, Tahki, etc. Unlike Hither & Yarn, I didn't feel immediately welcome there...no one greeted me when I walked in, and it wasn't until I saw a woman pulling skeins of yarn from a bin on to the floor that I was able to identify someone to ask for help. Once I did, she was very pleasant, but I had the feeling that you had to prove you were a serious knitter before they would acknowledge you. I discovered that they sold the French Girl patterns I like, and found one of them, Diamanta, on my own.

Diamanta

Oceane

The other one I'm wanting badly, Oceane, wasn't available there; the saleswoman checked their computer for me. I might have discovered other things I couldn't live without, but, with their reserved attitude and poor C stuck waiting in the car, I purchased the Diamanta and left. If you are in the neighborhood, go and see this shop, but just expect it to be self-serve.

On the way home, we came back through Torrington, and stopped at another shop called Remember When -- an amazing store selling vintage clothing, jewelry, books, and a few household things like dishes and antique lighting. It's like stepping back in time, into a carefully preserved department store. At every turn you can find treasures. In a basket on the floor, I found these:

The booklet with the bicycle on the cover especially caught my eye, as did some of the patterns inside. A few are a little dated for today, but many are a classic  Audrey Hepburnish style: pullovers and cardigans that can be worn to work, out with friends, or at home, depending on the wool you use. One had a pattern for a headband that is nearly identical to Calorimetry, in the new edition of Knitty, and there were multiple patterns for mittens.  Maybe someday I'll try one of these patterns, if the conversion isn't too difficult. Which brings me to...knitting gifts.

Family and friends generously gifted me with some titles I've been wanting for a long time, as well as newly published ones. Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas is perhaps the oldest of these; she converted vintage patterns into items wearable for today. This is a book I always visit at the bookstore, and now I have my very own copy. Has anyone made anything from this before? I believe that I saw comments on Amazon about too-small sizing and a few errors, but other than those things, how did the FOs turn out? Were people happy with their finished results?

I'm sure you've all had SnB Nation forever, and maybe Knit Fix too. The Jo Sharp booklet is new, though, and has classic sweater styles. I also received my first Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. A few of the patterns actually spill over into two days, LOL, but most are fairly simple, and would be ideal "one skein" projects. Another feature of the calendar is that they have one afghan square per month with a seasonal theme, and then in December you have the pattern for the plain square and edging. After making several of the plain squares, you then seam everything up into one afghan. (It sounds something like the Lizard Ridge afghan KAL, where you don't have the pressure to knit a zillion squares at a time, and can work on other projects in between). Another feature of the calendar I like is that the pages are not bound at the top; you don't have to rip them off and risk tearing them. There are two index pages, so you can find patterns you need by type quickly. If you are looking for a little treat for yourself, this might be a fun thing to try. What knitting gifts did you receive?

And now we return to our regularly scheduled CPH programming. Yawn. I am going to finish this if it's the last thing I do!!!

Comments

[Kendra]

I haven't seen French Girl patterns before but they look lovely. I'll have to look out for them over here. I got the same calendar as you for Christmas! I'm looking forward to seeing what patterns are in there.

[Pam]

I've wanted some Knitklips since I first saw them in the Knitty review -- but since I'm too cheap to pay the shipping (they're otherwise well priced) I tried some of my daughter's little "butterfly" hairclips -- they worked quite well, though I'll probably buy my own knitklips if I ever run across them in "person".

Loved the "vintage" covers. Happy New Year!

[hege]

I have that Bernat Fashions for Girls, I love the vintage look, so very classic. I also have Sarah Dallas Vintage Knits, and though I have not yet made anything from it, I have also heard that there are fit issues. But it's so pretty, so I am willing to take my chances. I also like the skirts they show with the sweaters, they make me want to make them up as well :) One day I will go to Colorful Stitches, and Webs as well, it's kind of in the same area. Enjoy your knitting in the new year!

[Beth]

Yes, we need to get back to knitting our CPHs! But I have a couple more Christmas gifts to finish first. :(

I received the Knit Fix book for Christmas, too. I also received the 365 Knitting Stitches perpetual calendar and a drop spindle. Fun!

[Laura]

I almost bought the Diamanta pattern today, too! But I just got the new Fifi pattern.

I have Vintage Knits but haven't made anything from it yet. The patterns look pretty simple so I would guess that finding and correcting errors shouldn't be a problem. I'll make the beaded sweater eventually.

[Meg]

I love the 'yarn crawl' concept and your honest reviews! I didn't get any knitterly gifts for Chrissie (don't feel bad for me, over the past few months I have taken it upon myself to build up the arsenal in the stash and pattern department without any help from family or friends!) but I got exactly what I wanted otherwise, particularly in a bookish sense - Haruki Murakami's latest collection of short stories. I haven't made anything from Vintage Knits but there are certainly a few patterns with post-it notes marking them as 'somedays'. Especially the fair isle beret and gloves, I have been accummulating yarn for that project slowly the past few months. I have been meaning for it to be my first foray into colourwork, which was my 2006 new year's resolution, to do colourwork. Oops, looks like I'll have to do it next year!

[Jane]

My husband bought me the 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar, Kitting With Balls, and Domiknitrix. I haven't had a chance to look through any of them yet, but it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and I'm going to settle in with knitting and knitting books. I love those French Girl patterns, too. One shop here carries them. Happy New Year!

[tiennie]

What great loot you got! OK, it CPH countdown time! Happy New Year!

[Kristen]

Thanks for the LYS reviews. I love vintage pattern books and scout them out when in antique or used book stores. Often you can get them for a song from sellers who consider them 'junk'. Will Diamanta soon be on the needles?