Knitted Shawl by Hitomi Shida

Pattern: #12 Triangle Stole by Hitomi Shida
Yarn: Hamanaka Extra Fine Lame
Tools: Addi Turbo 4.0mm 80cm
Time：22/02/2009 - 03/03/2009
Ravelry Link

During blocking

sparkling yarn!

I've been long time astonished by the works of Hitomi Shida by their elegance and beauty. I have not picked up the needles for any of the works because of 1) time, 2) wearability, 3) concentration. The works are so beautiful but I always wonder if anyone would wear them in a normal occasion. Finally, this shawl came to my eyes, they are nice, simple, elegant, and at the same time wearable.

The yarn sparkles a little bit, and is DK. If I have to do it again, I would possibly switch to thinner yarn and smaller needles. It's a little bit too heavy.

I learnt new techniques this time, knitting borders for shawls through knitting one edge stitch of the body with each row of the edge. It comes out to be nice. I was so satisfied with the results.
I love Japanese patterns because: (list again, well, engineers like lists)

1. They are systematically chartted using standard symbols which I learnt from my teacher. I can foresee how the pattern would come out just by looking at the chart, so attractive right?

2. They are easily accessible in Hong Kong. We can order our books fairly easily through our LYS - Tailor & Alternation, and they are cheap compared with the US books we have to order from US and the shipping is really killing.

3. Patterns are more fashionable and the trend in Hong Kong is quite similar to the one in Japan. The clothes are very wearable in general.

4. Crochet patterns are JUST GORGEOUS. Well, possibly not that relevant in this post, as the shawl is knitted. :) But I like the crochet pattern books in Japanese so much more than those from US. The motifs in Japanese pattern books are also far more than granny squares. If you crochets, I highly recommend you to get any copy of those pattern books and have a look. Once you can manipulate the charts, it's easy, and a new world's there for you.

Maeby

Pattern: Maeby by feminsty
Yarn: dkKnits technicolor dream toes – Graduation Day
Tools: Knitpicks Fixed Circular 2.25mm 100cmTime：14/02/2009 - 21/02/2009
Ravelry Link
Yarn - Graduation Days - Shows my gown colours. Becky's really a genius!

This is the first pair of socks that I knit!! Although I have done several baby boots in the past but the construction is far different to adult socks! Maeby is designed by feminsty on Ravelry and was distributed freely to subscriber of Dkknit’s sock collection - I wool dye for ewe sock club. How generous!

I used the January skein – Graduation Day for the socks, and through magic loop, a new skill I just acquire, to make my first pair of socks!! I feel myself much upgraded! LEVEL….. UP!

It’s a fast knit, the lace pattern is not difficult, and the lace section can be finished within a day after going home from work. You can see how fast it is. I am somewhat decreased the speed for the second sock due to second sock sydrome, but I finally managed and work it out! Next time, I would try to knit 2 socks at a time. :)

Sable Yarn Purchase in China

Dear friends, let us first put aside the animal issues, and please stop your mind thinking how these yarn are spun from.

I recently read some posts by fellow ravellers on Sable Yarn, and was so attracted to it. Then I went to taobao.com and purchased some from a seller whom I have previously dealt with. It was not really a smooth progress during purchase as the seller can hardly be reached. However, when everthing's settled, it goes so fast and I received the yarn from Mainland by NEXT DAY.

I ordered different brands and different colours to see how exactly each skein is going. If you can read Chinese, you may follow the link to the seller's page and get a brief idea on what this is. However, I would try my best to describe the yarn here.

I purchased 6 balls of sable yarn and this is how they look like upon arrival.

They somewhat look a little bit dirty when they arrived so I washed and wind them into
skeins for storage, and photo shooting. :) I love how yarn looks in skeins. In general, they are soft and I do not have any itchy feeling at all, but my oh-so-delicate mom says they are a little bit itchy..... Again, I will stick to plant fibres/silk for her. -_-

No swatches done for these yarn, so let me just describe them a little bit, in an ascending order of how I like it.


I like this colour very much, lovely orange red. Compare with other yarn I purchased, it's a little bit coarse and reminds me of hemp. I'm not sure how it knits up, will it soften a bit after swatching and further washing? Bleeding is not serious considering the heavy colour on the yarn. I think it would knit up with a little bit feeling of tweed.

From the information provided by the seller, it contains 40% white sable, 50% australian merino and 10% nylon. It costs 43RMB/50g ball. Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-4763e63e2234967f620c6a497cbdd95f.htm

I do not have much feeling for this yarn. It's soft, but not as soft as the following ones. The colours are not that loving. Everything is on the average. The colour should be subtle enough to make a garment, but wait, a garment using lace yarn?! It's nearly the thinnest among the 6 balls and there should be over 500m in the 50g ball.

It contains 80% sable, 20% fox and costs 40RMB/50g ball. Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-deb55fb26d92560fd161a9e47b6ca2ae.htm




This ball shows beautiful purple, but it bleed so seriously and there was a layer of blue remains after washing the yarn. The colour of the beautiful purple remains after the washing which is worth noting. It's soft. Starting from this yarn, the softness is at least comparable to cashmere, AT THIS PRICE.

The yarn costs 38RMB/50g ball and Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-135d9a3d073e129804effc4c96e6e195.htm


This yarn shows light green which is a little bit too bright for nearly anything. It is the finest of all and should go beyond 500m/50g. It's manufactured by one of the biggest yarn producer HengYuanXiang and the quality if actually quite good. It's soft, without a lot of fuzzy thing coming out. (Umm, how can I make it seem more technical?) It makes me think of cotton threads but it's much softer.

The yarn contains 80% sable, 8% cashmere and 12 % nylon. It costs 29RMB/50g ball and link here:
http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-644790a93af3823e9bf42b369bf95217.htm

I love it! It's so soft and comes to a close second! It's a little bit fuzzy and the yarn is somewhat "thicker" than others. It is so soft and lovely and I like the colour of it. It bleeds a little bit not severe considering it's dark colour. If you like mohair/angora, it's a good choice.

The yarn contains 40% sable, 50% wool and 10% nylon. It costs 40RMB/50g ball and the link is here:

http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-b1f8993e80227acf2b6836192b9b56e8.htm

The champion comes!! It's SO SOFT! Not too fuzzy and not thread like, smooshy and lovely. If you take a close up at the photo, you may see some darker fibres sticking out of the yarn, I think it would be the sable part of it. I am thinking of a lacey scarf using it. :) It's also a product of HengYuanXiang.

It contains 40% sable, 50% wool and 10% nylon. It costs 39RMB/50g ball and link here:

http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-14ac7fe479e6a21db13ba1f539fd15b0.htm

The next job: I have to swatch. :)

Heirloom Knitting

I know, I know, it's a difficult economy and everyone's suffering. But I know I got a secure job and so I should spend more to awaken the economy, and through the whole planet! That's why I bought a lot recently. (Is it a good excuse to the shopaholic thing?)

Anyway, it's my recent purchase from Sharon Miller, the Heirloom Knitting website.

I got her book, Heirloom Knitting, Shetland Hap Shawls, and a set of patterns at beginner's level, Stunning! I do not think I have any courage to cast on any of them yet, but the books are truly informative and described a lot of shetland lace skills and its history. It's already an enjoyment through reading it, of course, if sometime later, I would have to cast one on.

The hap shawls seem easier to do right? ;)

Sundara Seasons

I love Sundara! I've subscribed to 2 seasons club in Sundara Yarn and look! these two lovely sock yarn arrived my home some days ago!

Autumn - Brambleberry

Winter - Night Blossom

I can in no way resist her yarn! I just love it. As usual, some people may get disappointed by the relatively dark colour of the yarn in this posting, I still love it. I just love it.

I am still wondering what I should do with these two skeins. Among the many sock yarn / sundara I received, just one skein in the previous seasons posting (roasted persimmon over green papaya) has been knitted up and became a clapotis scarf. No socks has been knitted throughout my life and I was wondering whether I should start one?

Clementine Shawlette

The Clementine Shawletter has been waiting on my queue for quite some time and yet I have so many projects in hand and could not kick a start of it. I got a good chance this Christmas and decided to start knitting it for my friend Amy, for her loss of bag"s" of yarn in mail during the holiday seasons.

The pattern is simple yet beautiful. The short repeats of the main body makes it a perfect TV project. The little knot at the very beginning is lovely and make it convenient to tie the shawl around your body even with heavier yarn.

I chose ColourMart Cashmere 2/7NM DK Weight for this project in a pink colour. The outcome is soft and squishy and warm. I wish it can comfort my dear friend a little bit and COME ON! LET'S BUY MORE YARN!

A footnote for my Hemlock Ring Blanket. It's finished and we just need "some" blocking, some aggressive blocking actually. I am still looking for a possible place to block it.

Sundara Love

I have to formally announce, I fell in love! with Sundara Yarn. I will devote all my earnings to her, and her yarn.

Ok, it should be enough for a crazy vow. I've recently subscribed a lot of yarn from Sundara which was quite impossible to get before. I've been eyeing her website since a year ago but have never ordered a thing because I thought my crappy knitting skills will inevitably ruin the beautiful yarn she dyes. Then when I improved a little, it became so popular and cannot be obtained a few minutes after she posted the yarn on her web.

Anyway, the Fingering Silky Merino of the Seasons subscription has arrived yesterday! It usually takes shorter time to ship and it takes approximately a week more possibly due to the peak mailing seasons. These are what I have got in the mail:

Carmel Apple for Autumn





The Life Aquatic for Winter




I just love them. The colours are so nice and the yarn base is so attractive. I have a minute of hesitation before I ordered extra skeins of FSM but for sure I am glad that I did that. My mom greedily rubbed MY Carmel Apple against her neck and said, "It's so soft and not itchy at all." and commented, "Can you make a smaller scarf for me? The shawl you made last time is too large to wear sometimes." Um, I think one of the skein will be given to my dearest, lovely mother in the form of a scarf, or a cowl. (Well, a cowl will use less yarn right? That means I can keep more of it for the greedy me? ;) )

Hemlock Ring Blanket (Part 2)

My Hemlock Ring Blanket goes incredibly fast, here comes a photo.

I used a very creative way to present this, can you see where I took this photo? Yes! on my head! And if you see more carefully, you can see a little pinky row counter nearly falling out of the blanket. It's tied at the yarn end of the CO, a very convenient way to keep your row counter with your circular knitting without losing it.

The progress of the blanket is far more than what is shown here. I've completed row 46 of the Feather and Fan Section, which means I have one and a half more pattern to go if I do not add extra repeats to that advised in the original pattern. I still have a lot of yarn left so I will probably add 3 or 4 more repeats as told by fellow ravelers! (Thanks to the magic of internet!)

I should have worked more yesterday night, but a tragedy happened. My Knitpicks Intergeable Circular was broken!! To be more precise, it was the plastic cable detached from the metal connector piece. As I read from Ravelry, it is not an uncommon thing for Knitpicks. I have known this and so I took extreme care while sliding the stitches from one needle to the cable and then to the other needle... but, you know, accidents are accidents.... -_- who can predict?

I will probably go and grab another pair of 6mm addi turbo circular needles to continue. I hope the addis will be more durable.....

Hemlock Ring Blanket

It has been a long time after my last posting. I hope people will not blame me. (Well, are there still people reading this I suspect.) I drafted quite a number of blog post for my knitting in 2008 so updates are coming.

I finally started casting on something that I bought from the Jimmy Beans Wool some days ago. I thought I bought a lot. The very first initiative to make me start casting this on is that I claimed to one of my knitting friend+yarn buddy "I am on a yarn diet and I got to use up 500g of yarn before further purchase". At that moment I was crocheting a lace shawl and there's no way I can use up 500g of yarn at that time.

The crochet shawl was completed, finally, after 3 weeks hard work. And, I bought yarn, well, I should say, I joined a yarn club from dkknits. It's equivalent to 12 skeins of 100g sock yarn, beautifully hand dyed, and dyed personally, i.e. for me, and myself only. How can I resist the temptation? And I just received some yarn from Sundara, and will receive more in the coming weeks before the holidays. OH MY GOD. What commitment I have done. I was ashamed by looking at the yarn and I decided a good way. Do something bulky and consume more yarn as soon as possible.

After working on the crochet shawl, I made a small cowl using bulky thick and thin yarn which will be posted later. Ok, time to go back to the topic. I have just started that Hemlock Ring Blanket, which I adored for quite some time and is on my Ravelry queue. I have bought 2 skeins of Cascade EcoWool (250g each) which is explicitly used for the pattern. Using 6mm needles which I am not familiar with after knitting a lot of fingering weight yarn, I hope this blanket can be finished within 2 weeks. And I can consume a total of 500g of yarn that I committed! yay!

Just cast it on and started working it using my KnitPicks Intergeable Circular, it's my first experience to use Magic Loop. I felt that I am learning a new skill and I have modified it a bit now because my cable is not long enough for a complete magic loop. I just pull one loop out near my right hand needle and continue working without much problem. It is expected that I can work in a round without making any loops soon. I am at Row 21 now after a hour of knitting. It's fast in the first few rows, which is quite understandable for this sort of knitting. I will upload the photos when I finish the first part of the blanket.

Yay! I finally type something!
(and I gave up writing Chinese in the blog, it's too time consuming.)

ISE6 Finished!

Pattern: 素敵なかぎ針編み
Yarn: Nine Colourful Deer 100% Cotton
Tools: Clover Crochet Hook No.3/0
Time：20/04/2008 - 10/05/2008

This shawl, not scarf, is made for my ISE6 pal!

It's soft and lovely! I was quite surprised with the texture of the yarn and wonder why they can make such a good quality yarn with that price! (~HK$8 / 50g)

The pattern is fast and the result's perfect! I hope this would fit my pal's black outfits she normally wear to work. :)