The Shopping-Yarn-Wagon

What's life like in the Yarn Wagon?  Five of us, traveling around Maine, scouting out yarn shops, and is there room for purchases?  Of course!!

Here's K packed away in the third row with "everything".

In Camden: The Cashmere Goat

In Rockland: Over the Rainbow Yarn.  We stumbled upon Knit Nite at the shop! And free wi-fi!

In Portland:  Tess' Designer Yarn

All earned the 5-star rating!

Sock Crazies

Once upon a time, there was a sock pattern.

Maybe there were two or three, or dozens, but the construction of the sock was either toe-up or cuff-down.  Then there were holes.  Nasty feet wearing holes in the soles.  And then someone came up with an idea.  Why not knit the sock so the sole can be removed and replaced!  Yay!!  Excellent!!

I found the perfect project for a week of knitting with knitters.  Advice and encouragement, and a new technique.  Then I started:

Above:  This pattern I downloaded and it left me scratching my head.  Until I found the same pattern instructions in a book, with the design below.  It had a sentence or two extra which cleared my head-scratching, and I was on my way.  When wait!  Look at that lovely design above:  Two S's.  I thought it rather ugly, and when I looked at the photograph again, it was, indeed NOT two S's, but one S and one backwards S.  The CHART was wrong.  (I blindly followed the chart.) I couldn't stand it anymore, and even though I had knitters around me saying, "But it's so pretty!" I ripped it out, and started with the pattern in the book.

The technique?  First you knit the pink band around the foot, then you fill in the insole design. 

 Next you knit in the sole, and heel and then you start the circular part around the leg.

Not as complicated as it sounds.

I like!  I like the pattern better than the first, and I really appreciated the directions being complete.

One done.  NO rush for the second...:)

Half-Stranded Socks  by Anna Zilboorg  from Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques & Patterns

Lament:  I'm happy with the sock, though I have yet to see a description of removing the sole to replace it.  Anyone?  Help!!

Yummy Yarn

Swans Island seconds with "tonal defects".  I guess I like wool...

Natural Colors Merino Fingering

by Swans Island

Light Fingering / 3 ply

100% Merino

525 yards / 100 grams

Need?  No.  But I just read a bit of Yarn Harlot's book, "Knitting Rules" where she gives 5 reasons to keep a stash.  I feel SO much better.  Especially number... No, all five are equally valid!  

#2 for today:  It's from Maine!  It's sock yarn.  End of subject.

Caper Sock by String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn

Fingering / 4 ply

80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon

400 yards / 113 grams

This past summer I witnessed how much wear some of my garments get on a 4-5 year old. The dress I made for her has been worn and washed so much that it really needs to be retired. I was a bit disappointed to see the pilling and shaggy look of it, but my daughter pointed out that it has been worn many times, and in many daily (rough/outdoor) occasions, and washed ad infinitum, and it has every reason to look the way it does. And it is still loved! And worn!! So, I decided I should make a new one. In the same color, to encourage trading out. Here's the purchase, made at Halcyon.

Worsted Merino Superwash Solidsby Plymouth YarnWorsted / 10 ply
100% Merino
218 yards / 100 grams

Impulse?! Yes. Yummy? Yes!!

This is the biggest reason why I shouldn't be in Yarn Shops... I can't resist, let's see, colors, textures, all the senses...

From the time I walked into Webs, I had spied this hanging, Loose-Lady-Like, on the display towards the entrance. I fingered it, and walked around, and an hour later, I picked it up and took it to the counter. Easy! No ideas, specific, that is. I can think of all of creation being made with this yarn!

So I bought 5 skeins, and am hoping for the best.

tosh merino light

by madelinetosh

Fingering / 4 ply

100% Merino, 100% Wool

420 yards

I guess I like Merino.

Go ahead!  Make me an offer!  Better be a good one!!

Swans Island

Near our "camp" is the village of Lincolnshire with this picturesque gazebo, and a cache just behind me.  Little did I expect to be caught up with caching on my knitting retreat!  Turns out that hostess with the mostess was very eager and we, of course, were rewarded with experiences that we wouldn't have had sans caches.

Doesn't this just call out "New England"???

And further up the road, on the way to Belfast for the greatest lobster of all time, we stopped at Swans Island Company.  Click on their link only if you have a half hour.  I was SO tempted to buy their goods!  ALL of it.

In the back was the whir of fans and clacking and whirring of machines.  Hand-woven?  I think SO!

This young woman was winding bobbins.  I thought perhaps that was her sole job, but with bobbins in hand, she proceeded to another room and began weaving.

Fortunately for us, we managed to get away with yarn only.  Their seconds yarns were full of "tonal defects".  Tonal defects that we LOVE!!!

Maine Yarn Crawl

After teasing you with my travels, I think it's time to share the proceeds... so to speak.  

Here are some things that I didn't know would like a home in New Mexico:

First, a purchase from Halcyon Yarn.  What a wonderful experience in Bath, Maine.  Their catalog is enough to make you fall in love... but being there, and seeing and feeling.  It only makes me want MORE!  So, like a puppy wanting to sniff and nose everything, I staggered in a daze around the rooms, and I convinced myself that IF I was ever to get going on weaving, I needed a concrete plan.  And there it was...  These babies all packaged up with a pattern calling out, "Eat ME!"  And I did.

Homestead 8/2 cotton by Halcyon YarnLace / 2 ply
100% Cotton, 600 yards / 85 grams

AND I'm happy to announce that it works! I have the beginnings of towel number two on my loom today! (By the way, the Halcyon shop event was August 4th.)
Then, as knitters know, mistakes happen. Ripping out happens, and frustration, and sometimes, after repeated trials, you just can't take it anymore, and you...(Judy)... have a moment of insanity where you say to your neighbor, "Take it! I don't want it!" This happened to me, being the neighbor, and I put Judy out of her misery...NICE! Look at that color! Now, Judy, you may want it back, and as long as I haven't gotten it on needles, it's still yours! And to be fair, the color IS a bit darker than photographed, and remember, the reason you didn't like it was that it was too dark, and you "couldn't count". If you decide that the lighting at home is better than at camp, and there aren't four other chatty knitters to distract you at home, you are free to change your mind. (With the above caveat.)

Sigh!  

Fine Art by Rowan

Light Fingering / 3 ply

45% Wool, 25% Nylon, 20% Mohair, 10% Silk

437 yards / 100 grams

The LAST purchase, and the last one for today's blog... Something I never thought I would purchase, but the "high" of Tess' Designer Yarns put me over the edge...again. THIS time, we all agreed that going to Tess' on the last day of our 9 day trip was serendipitous. We wouldn't have appreciated the other shops as much, and we wouldn't have appreciated Tess' either!
The "yarn", or rightly referred to as "ribbon" was laid out on long tables with every wonderful color... undeniably understandably making the biggest knot in my stomach... So afraid I couldn't decide which color I wanted. It's like choosing who will live or die! Even three weeks later, I still envision all of those colors laying there, calling out...
Oh, yes, this purchase: I have two skeins of dark blue, and this one with blue and green-yellow for contrast. They have patterns, and models there to show it knitted... I was a goner. Hope I can do it justice!

Microfiber Ribbon by Tess' Designer Yarns

Sport / 5 ply  100% Nylon

333 yards / 150 grams

Note:  The patterns were knit tightly, with a small gauge.

After being in my suitcase, and handled, I hope it won't be impossible to roll into a ball.

Thanks for tuning in.  I'm off to my stash-busting!  Feel free to scold if you see me buying more yarn from September to May.

Knit tour in Rockland

Outside there was a downpour!  Umbrellas were needed, and left at the door of "Over the Rainbow Yarn".  

Inside, there were all sorts of delights.  If you click on the photos you can zoom in on those display hats.  In Maine motifs... think "lobster".

And, oh so much, to choose from.  There were glamorous yarn bowls of inlaid colorful wood which were on the shelves.  Maybe you can zoom in to see those, too.

What did I buy?  Hmmm.  So many shops, so many purchases...  Can't think!

Mountains

Her second mountain hike!  

This is Ulriken, one of the seven mountains that surround Bergen, and the highest.  It is closest to where we live, and 2110 feet high.  Papa climbs up the steep path every few weeks with his friends, and takes about 60 minutes to get to the top.  Here's J's first ascent with Papa, using 90 minutes, only 5 years old.  No problem!  It wasn't clear to me if they used the steep path, or the not so steep path, but they rode the aerial tram down.

Knitwear in August!  Grandma's contribution.