Café Eclectic

What a Yarn

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

I think my all time favorite winter garment yarn is baby alpaca.  It is as soft as cashmere, but highly renewable.  It doesn’t have that scratchy-ness of an regular alpaca may have, although I suspect the reason being that the local alpaca yarn are probably hand processed so there are more guard hair mixed in, because commercial regular alpaca is just as soft as baby alpaca.  One brand that comes to my mind is Misti Alpaca.  I used their bulky weight yarn to make the Irish Hiking Scarf awhile back and it’s been my winter stable wardrobe since.  Another yarn I used to make my winter stable sweater is Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL (Aran weight).  The way it’s spun make it handle like a beautiful merino, but it was mostly alpaca.  And my newest favorite alpaca yarn is Schaefer Yarn Judith.  It is DK weight and has a super soft hand.  I like DK weight yarn because it can make such a fine details, give the garment a polish look.  I just happen to have some Judith in Ash colorway, and I plan on making the new 2010 summer Interweave’s Essential Cardigan with it.

When it comes to summer garment yarn, I think my absolute favorite is Kona Bay Cotton.  Sunflowerfairy turned me on to it and I can’t have enough of it!  Sadly, it has been discontinued.  The yarn is like BUTTAH!  It is so soft on your hand, you feel like it’s going to melt!  And the garment washes and dries very well in conventional washer and dryer.  I made Rusted Root with it and I just absolutely love it!  I have some stash left and I really should plan on making some new summer tops with it.

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I really enjoy the Knit and Crochet Blog Week!  The topics make me reflect on every thing I made and consider the stash I have.  I had so much fun I think I will answer the wild card question in another post too!

Until then.

Revisit a past F/O

Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that your did just didn’t like that much…

Ok, this isn’t exactly the current picture of the Pink Frosting.  I unfortunately don’t have a more recent picture of it.  You see, spring is here, and so is my severe seasonal allergy.

But no fear, the sweater is still in pretty good shape.  In fact, I like it so much, I take a lot of care for it.  I think this sweater is the one I wear the most.  Granted, I haven’t make a lot of sweaters before, but still.

Everytime I wear this sweater, it made me think of the crocheting I had to learn to complete the beautiful ruffles, the 1000 Islands where I made the most of the sweater, and many fond memories associated with 1000 Islands.

So do you have a piece of garment that brings back memories?

Location, Location, Location

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you liek to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?

I knit EVERYWHERE.  Wait, let me rephrase that – I USED TO knit everywhere.

Now why did I say that?  Well, I mentioned on day 1, I’ve been in a slump.  I haven’t knitted since Little Lady was born.  I just wasn’t feeling motivated!  Nothing appealed to me at all, not even baby items!

But when I WAS knitting, one of my favorite spots is my couch.  It’s a full size LA-Z-BOYZ recliner couch.  It’s a two seater so the entire couch reclines, none of that middle seat non-sense.  It is comfy, right in front of the TV with laptop on the couch arm.  What else can a geeky girl ask for?

The other spot is my Thursday SnB group.  WifeMomKnitter actually shared a pic on her blog today, although where we were wasn’t our usual spot.  We usually sit just a little further down towards the ordering counter.  I wasn’t in the pic cuz I actually took it!  And yes, I was knitting those adorable baby cloths yesterday.

The third spot I love to knit is in my car.  No, not while I was driving.  David and I used to take lots of long trips, so I have a lot of time on my hands.  Depending on the time of departure, you can usually find me either a) sleeping, b)knitting, or c) reading a magazine or book.  I always tend to fall asleep while doing the other two though, unless we left our house before I naturally woke up.  I finished my Swan Lake, aka MS3 stole, in the car, on the way home from 1000 Islands.  Yes, with beads and everything.  And I will also proudly add that I did not drop one bead the entire time, until we were parked in our driveway waiting for me to finish the last row, ironic much?

I now can add a forth favorite spot, which is work.  I’ve always knit at work during lunch time prior to me having Little Lady, but this is different.  Well, a little warning ahead of the time, this could be a little TMI.  At work, we actually have a New Mom Room, aka Lactation room.  So whenever I need to fulfill my “Motherly Duty” as I call it at work without actually gross out all the male coworkers, I bring my knitting with me.  Gives me something to do to pass time, since it isn’t all that exciting.

Just as a side note, I just don’t understand why people are so gross out by the fact that I’m the food source of my Little One.  I often wonder maybe if they have a mental image of a cow being milked whenever someone mentions such a thing…  Which is not the case at all, but I guess the concept is the same.

Anyways, so there you have it.  My top four favorite spots to knit.

PS.  I edited and added a little something for my Day  3 post.

A New Skill

Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colourwork.

Well, I kinda mention on Day 2 that I have a mental block on steeking.  I just don’t think I can ever cut into something I spend numerous amount of hours to make.

We had our weekly SnB tonight and one of my BBF CostumeChick was there, despite of her busy schedule.  NutmegKnitter, WifeMomKnitter and I were chatting up about the blog week topics, and we all mentioned about steeking.  (Insert AHHHHHHH… in horror voices)

Well, CostumeChick had to do some steeking for work and she said it really wasn’t that bad.  She suggested that we go to thrift store and get some sweaters to practice on, just be sure to get a sweater that’s easy to see the stitches.  ”Pop your steeking cherry on the non-confrontational way” as she calls it.

I think I might just do that – Pop my steeking cherry on the non-confrontational way.

One Great Knitter

Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way.

Hmmm…  Do I have to only pick one?  Well if it’s only one, then I’ll pick the first knitter that inspired me ever – Lauren.

When I first went to the Wednesday SnB, she was one of the ladies that were there.  To me, she is the knitting goddess.  She was designing for multiple famous yarn company, write a blog for one, on top of that, maintaining her own blog.  And here I am, just starting out.  I remember that first day, I was trying to make a pair of mittens at the time with three different colors.  I was having problems with the joining and the color changes, plus the constant color change with the numerous ends that I need to weave in later.  That night, I learned how to change colors without cutting the yarn after every 2 rows, I learned how to combat the disconnect of joining and I learned how to be a better knitter.

Thank you, Lauren.

Edit to add:  Although I don’t crochet much, I do find one person who inspires me to actually want to crochet more – Sarah London.  If you have not seen her blog before, I urge you to go right now.  I’ll wait.

Back?  Well, what did you think?  Aren’t they beautiful?  The colors, the shapes and everything on her blog just speaks to me, and it’s almost mesmerizing.  Maybe it’s actually trying to hypnotize me to start to crochet?  Either way, I’ll be doing something from her blog, soon-ish, I hope.

An Inspirational Pattern

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

This is a little hard, because there are so many patterns out there that I think challenges me and make me want to “conquer” them!  But I think of all the items out there, this is my one:

Oh Autumn Rose, how I love thee.

When my friend Sneaksleep mentioned it to me when the pattern first came out, we decided that we wanted to host a knit along.  We called it In Love with Autumn Rose.  The blog is still there, but we are both so busy we have not keep up.  And the funny thing is, we both didn’t start!  We both bought the kit right away, eager to start.  But then we both said to ourselves that we have to finish the current WIP then we can start…  well, you see how that went.

I think my hesitation to start is because of steeking.  Why do you want me to cut into such a beautiful piece of garment that I work hard to complete!?

So the book of patterns and yarns sit in the designated cubby awaits my courage to grow…  One of these days…

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On a separate note:  I’ve finished two baby cloths already!  Yeah! Go me!

I’ll admit.  I’v been in a slump lately, on blogging, knitting and sewing.  The past few posts were short, in fact they were my fast “post a pic and use some words via email from work” so that I don’t appear to be lacking on the blogging side, but as we all know, the first step is always Denial…

Anyways, so I’m back – I hope.  I started a baby wash cloth today at work while doing my “motherly duty”.  And I saw WifeMomKnitter and NutmegKnitter posting this and thought it would be a great way to get me back into a rhythm on blogging.