Farmboats, Friday Harbor, and New Yarn


Finished the 3rd shawl for a shawl pattern I am making- it will be in 3 yarn weights (plus I wanted to see how much yarn the edging took up!).


Amazing weather has *ahem* been somewhat lacking in Seattle of late- but at least it was sunny for the opening of the farmers market on the Virginia V. In South Lake Union/Westlake and in several other locations  they are starting famer's markets by boat (called appropriately, farmboat). It was a pretty small opening, I am hoping they will get more people and more produce soon, this is way too cool not to last.


Boats with food and produce used to be a common site- though they do still exist. In some of the semi remote (reachable by boat and float plane but not always by car)  areas of Canada where we go on the boat it is common to see people selling fresh baked goods from their boats, and barges are converted to small shops and restaurants, often with docks lashed on so you can tie up your dinghy to them. 


Not very remote, but we visited Friday Harbor on the boat last weekend. The weather wasn't expected to be great, so tourists were minimal. We dock on a private dock out a bit from the town, so it is quite quiet where we are- though not without people we knew- almost impossible not to find people you know (which is even more true, interestingly, when up further north where there aren't many people, since the same people are there every year, and many are part of the same yacht club). PS- there is a yarn shop in Friday Harbor!


Spinning scraps- I save up all the "stuff" I heave left when I am done carding a colorway and save it up, then spin it all together. This is just a teeny skein...


...but enough that I should probably plied it differently. Especially since I ended up chatting on the phone in the middle of both winding the yarn on to my hand and spinning it- and once it is on your wrist you are kinda stuck!



Hmm...a bit rustic looking- but I am hoping it will be semi stripey when I knit it up- this is just yarn to play with after all!


 Plotting garments in laceweight yarn (but knit on slightly larger needles).
 

There is always catgrass (aka wheatgrass) in the house. My cat LOVES it. I tend to buy it more than grow it, but either way Joey cat goes to great lengths to get to the wheat grass- even if I were to say try and use it as decoration (let's just sat that didn't end well).

Ok- one last boat picture- this is the Norene, which is a wooden tug boat. It was docked at the docks in SLU park the other day. Yes, I know I am boat obsessed currently! I am looking forward to a summer filled with boating adventures.

What are Single Ply Yarns



About single ply (1 ply) yarns.


This is part of Knit School on Midnightsky Fibers! If you found it helpful, it would be great if you shared it!

Travel Knitting

I am leaving for the boat in just a minute- a totally last minute weekend boating trip*. Don't worry, I have another entire sack full of secret knitting. For longer trips I also often pack my spinning wheel too- I pack for more craft supplies than I do clothes.

*I don't think it should really be a surprise that my phone plays I'm on a Boat as a ringtone when certain family members call!

WIndows as Dry Erase Board? Check.

Some days, the windows function as a dry erase board…one with a very nice view.

Sneak Peek

A sneak peek of what I am working on...eep! You will hear more about it later!

There's a super yummy new pie place in Fremont called...pie. (and it is really good!)



Some Days You Just Need to Read a Manifesto...

...I suggest Do the Work*. Actually I only got halfway through before setting it aside- not that it wasn't good, but because it got me to actually pick up and do some work (lots of super exciting stuff coming soon as a result!)


*kindle version is free, if you don't have a kindle you can read it on your computer.



Studio Tour- Spring 2011

The last time you saw my office it was probably much more yarn and fiber centric, with roving and drying racks all over!  I've been trying to reign in the fibery bits the last few months- corralling dyes to the kitchen cupboard above the fridge, making sure yarn is actually in the closet not spread about the living room, getting knit samples in sealed and labelled bags, and so on.

The mannequin is usually covered in a lot more knit items that have just finished blocking and are waiting for photos though!

My desk/studio space sits along to only wall space in my living room without windows. File containers and boxes hold all of my paperwork, swatches, electronics, and in progress work. My knitting supplies all live in a bedside table to the right, and larger pieces (drum carder and spinning wheel, plus the plethora of stuff that goes with) live in a closet when not in use, as do finished samples and yarn. 

The big downside of my workspace is that there is not a place for the cat to sit at desk level! This means he spends a lot time trying to jump up to sit on my lap- which is not really possible in the side chair I use with my desk!
Wondering where all my books are? I went through and got rid of over half my books awhile back, even knitting/spinning/weaving books and magazines. I have space to add new favorites now (if I can't get them as digital versions), and am left with just the books I actually use. You will notice the large percentage of business and law textbooks if you take a close look (and everything else is knitting/spinning/weaving books), and the distinct lack of fiction- I don't keep any book that I will only read once, and I read almost everything on my Kindle or computer now. (I also got rid of a huge quantity of yarn- more even than I did books- mostly the leftovers from before I worked at the yarn store, stuff I really was never going to use.)

I store swatches for secret projects and ideas in the file containers, plus yarn labels with a bit of each yarn so I have the  yarn label handy when I am pattern writing.

Happy knitting!

Knitting with Stainless Steel Yarn (and Other Metal Yarns too!)

Knitting with Metal Yarns

Metal yarns make beautiful projects- dynamic, full of a movement a life all their own. Most metal yarns sold for knitting are wrapped in a wool or silk core, which helps make them feel softer than a plain metal wire would be- and trust me, as someone who has knit a scawl out of metal wire, it is both hard on the hand and not very comfortable to wear! The downside of metal yarns is that they can twist up and break easily if not handled properly, but not to worry, these tips will help your project be a success! 

(SS Fern Knitting Pattern in Habu Silk Stainless Steel)

Tips for knitting with metal yarns:

  1.  Make sure to let the yarn untwist from the side of the cone or roll, not off the top (which will add more twist). I find it easiest to lay the cone next to me and unroll several yards at a time to work with.
  2. Hold up the project to let it untwist occasionally.  Do this every time you see the yarn starting to kink up and twist in on itself- some twist is inevitable, but the less twisting, the less issues you will have with breaking and tangling.
  3. Don’t tug hard on the yarn- especially if it is tangled! Unlike most yarns, metal yarns tend to not untangle nicely with a light tug, because that will often cause a kink in the yarn, making the tangle harder to undo.
  4. Plan on not ripping out (frogging) your work. Metal yarns are hard to frog, and sometimes will break. Obviously you will need to unravel if you have a mistake, but swatch in a similar weight of yarn if possible instead of your metal yarn, or work a very small swatch in case it cannot be undone.
  5. Needles- I found addi lace needles to be my favorite for knitting with metal yarns. Addi lace needles are sharp, but not as slippery as regular addi turbos.  The metal yarn is both very fine and somewhat slippery, so you want to use a knitting needle with enough of a point that you can knit the lace easily, but you also don’t want the needle to be slippery, you don’t want your stitches flying off!  I prefer a 32 inch circular, but any circular between 24 and 40 inches will be easy enough to move (smaller can make the needles harder to manipulate, larger and the cord gets tangled with the yarn)
  6. Metal yarns tend to stay how to put them- so to make it easier to knit, tug down on the knitting very lightly at the end of every row (or do it as you go along, like I do). This makes the stitches elongated and easier to get the knitting needles through.
  7. Stitch patterns- metal yarns don’t need to be blocked, but they  look especially nice when a pattern is fairly simple- something that looks good when the stitches are distorted from being stretched (simple lace tends to work well, very complex lace is pretty but the effect just isn’t the same as with plain yarn). I like reversible lace- where I can knit garter stitch every other row, so the lace looks good for both sides. 

Projects using stainless steel and metal yarns:
Stainless Steel Yarns:
There are 2 main places that make stainless steel yarn- Habu, and more recently, Lion Brand. 
Videos:
Stainless Steel Yarn for Knitting (you can read the blog post that goes with the video here: Stainless Steel Knitting)

This is part of Knit School on Midnightsky Fibers! If you found it helpful, it would be great if you shared it!

Tacos for Cinco de Mayo! And a New Scarf Pattern

Happy Cinco de Mayo! But first- there is a new scarf pattern- SS Fern.
Knit in stainless steel yarn, the scarf uses a simple reversible lace pattern so it looks great on both sides. Stainless steel yarn is fascinating- it is super lightweight and holds shape it is stretched in to (it's all pretty inexpensive even in silk and stainless blend- you can knit this scarf for $10-$15 of yarn).


Pattern
On Midnightsky Fibers: SS Fern Knitting Pattern (pattern preview also available on this page). On Ravelry: SS Fern

Yarn
310 yards lace weight stainless steel yarn. Sample knit in Silk Stainless Steel by Habu (69% silk, 31% stainless steel [core]; ½ ounce/14 grams; 311 yards/280 meters) in Navy. 
 Knitting with stainless steel yarn: see the pattern preview on the Midnightsky Fibers shop page for SS Fern for tips on knitting with metal yarns.

And finally...new yarn and tacos for Cinco de Mayo!

Finally found the perfect yellow yarn- no green tones, from light to medium yellow, but not "gold", more modern than vintage toned.

The perfect lemonade for drinking in quantity- strawberries and lemon juice, no sugar, and left to sit overnight in the fridge.


A secret mother's day gift...
And salsa- no chunks, please.
I make my basic salsa with a medium tomato, and equal amount of white onion, several cloves of garlic, a couple handfuls cilantro, lime juice or vinegar (though current batch has lemon and orange juice, and that is good too), and a jalapeno or two, all blended until it is fairly smooth- I don't really like chunky salsa (or tomatoes!). I've been known to leave out the tomato. I like it really quite spicy since I only use a small amount of salsa for tacos or a bit for flavoring rice.

Actually it is kind of a taco factory in my house- so easy to eat them daily (sometimes multiple times a day), and I can do so many variations. I have been eating tacos every day at least once for at least a month now, maybe longer! I almost always do soft corn tortillas (or half corn half wheat if I can find them0 Ken's Market in Greenwood has them, but neither WholeFoods or PCC seem to). A bit of blackbeans (homemade in my ricecooker), some onion, and other toppings depending on what I have in the fridge.

Right now in rotation for tacos:
Black beans- from rice cooker, cooked with chilies and onion. I prefer black to pinto, but do mix it up sometimes. I usually make some of the batch in to refried beans.
Onions- pickled, fresh (works best with sweet or white), or carmelized
Guacamole
Rice-  cooked with salasa (blended so there are no chunks!)
Cabbage- fresh or Salvadorian style (I use either pickled onions or curdito, not both- I like pickles, but don't want too much liquid or pickle in my tacos!). I prefer cabbage to lettuce in my tacos- holds up better and doesn't wilt (blech)
Salsas- a homemade spicy salsa and a salsa verde are both almost always in rotation
Lime, or in a pinch, lemons

I have had a couple fails- I found I really didn't like vegan cheeses or sour cream (tastes too much like tofu i most cases), 100% flour tortillas are pretty meh-in part because they are larger so the tortilla to filling ratio is off since the flour tortillas are bigger- though I probably wouldn't mind as much for burritos. Vegetarian taco meat tastes much better if heated on the stove than in the microwave- though if it is frozen it doesn't seem to matter as much. I also don't like to make my pickled onions super thinly sliced- makes them too soft, I want my onions to have some crispness.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

I am on a semi-news fast, as the hatred and jubilant celebration of death makes me feel a bit ill, especially when many of the comments I see are directed more against types of people based on race or country.   I would like to suggest a short book that takes place in Afghanistan, a reminder of how similar we all are. Don't worry, it's not overly political in nature, it reads like a fiction, but is true. 


The Dressmaker of Khair Khana. I finished it a day before Bin Laden died. Takes place in Afghanistan as the Taliban is taking over, and the struggles that women go through trying to keep both their family and their country together. Point of view is from the woman's side, struggling against the Taliban rule while trying to keep siblings fed in a war devastated city (but in an uplifting way!), a point of view that often get overlooked or only shown in negativity. It's not a long read, and the audio book version is good as well- I listened to it while I was working. It's not a book that is trying to be super political, but rather I think does a good job showing how everyone in the world has the same goals- safety, shelter, happiness.