Dear Kay,
Time for some Prouds and Sorries.
I have now unpacked both literally and figuratively our visit to Vogue Knitting Live. It was a weekend that tested us to the core: endurance, focus, ability to gaze upon the light fixtures of the Marriott Marquis Hotel and not make fun of them every single time.
The Prouds
Got to see so many killer handknits, and by killer I mean knock-you-down great. I blame the dim lighting for the quality of these pix, but I was BESIDE MYSELF at the sight of these.
Paige explains the beauty of garter stitch at Gulliver-size gauge:
April and I spent a while talking about Texas, the coziness of the World Wide Web, and that skein of yarn she’s holding.
Shameka’s sweater features those cable-on-cable-on-cables that I’ve never had the courage to try. She made it seem like no biggie. (She is also clearly a person who understands how to do product placement.) Eagle-eyed reader Dawn has ID’ed this headbangingly complicated sweater as Stonecutter. Thanks, Dawn, and high five Shameka!
This wonderful lady is showing me a picture of Yasser, over in Kenya, who is learning to knit. He’ll be getting a copy of the coloring book for knitters. O JOY!
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Rosemary’s bolero is toreador-worthy. She totally rocked it.
This is doubleknit op-art madness, from Wall of Yarn, an Illinois (the distance!) shop who brought a boatload of Rauma, a Norwegian yarn new to me but a favorite since 1927, apparently. (What rock have I been living under?) The double-knitness means this scarf is perfectly flat, but with the same pattern reversed on the back side. Is this the year we learn how to do this?
Thank you to Patience for reminding me that this gorgeous madness is the work of Alasdair Post-Quinn, whose brain has some kind of special sauce in it. (Take a look, and you’ll see what I mean.)
Annie from The Yarn Company, showing that she’s two pounds into her three-pound blanket.
Prouds, Part Deux
I like to think I’m pretty sturdy around yarn. Until I’m not. Into the Knitty City tote bag went these:
A pair of Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool, colorway The Family Jewels. Cleverly mill spun but with all the heart of handspun. No two skeins of this stuff matched, which is kind of the point.
A bit of Twist Sock from Hedgehog Fibres (Irish and therefore awesome), colorway Pod. Kay overheard someone saying, “She’s clinging to it. She’s not letting it go.” Proud? High moment of the show, to be accused of clinging.
Finally, a wintry ice blue skein of a yarn from a new yarn dyer, Little Fox Yarn. This fingering weight superwash merino/silk is named Vixen, colorway Blue Boy. It is gloriously subtle in its color shifts, almost a faded appearance. Could not wait—I cast on Hortensia, a sweet little lace cowl pattern from Nell Zeroli’s Nell Knits, at Gate B4, LaGuardia Airport, and I kept going all the way home.
Sorries
It’s right there, the Zone of Regret. I visited Neighborhood Fiber Co., got to visit with Katie and Karida, yet failed to secure any of this saturated joy-in-a-skein. See all that color? That’s taken from a balcony twenty yards away—my Sorry began before I even left the show.
Sorry Number 2: Not getting the Hand Maiden Mulberry Tussah barber pole yarn at Southern Yarns. I choked. I failed. I overthought. I had a crisis.
Proud, Sorry, Love,
Ann
The double-knitting looks like one of Alasdair Post-Quinn’s Parallax variations. http://www.ravelry.com/designers/alasdair-post-quinn. He wrote Extreme Double-Knitting and has a Craftsy class if you’re looking for help learning (and is a good friend of mine).
Luuurve the coverage of knitting events I can’t attend. Thanks for the great photos, comments, and of course, links to fab yarn I didn’t know I needed.
Me, too! that bolero was wowzers.
She had some serious hair game, too.
The colors at Neighborhood Fibre were amazing. I over thought it too. However I live closer to Baltimore then you do so I may be able to fix this Error!
Yes, thank you, thank you, for your coverage. I always look forward to it.
I love Neighborhood Fibre Co. Found them at Maryand Sheep & Wool a couple years ago. I’ve knit one sweater and have the makings for a second one from them in my stash.
Thanks for the detailed report — sounds like it was a BLAST! I’d love to know more about Shameka’s stunning cabled sweater. Any ideas about pattern?
I wish I could remember what she told me! It’s beautiful.
It looks like Stonecutter (love it): http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stonecutter
YES! Thank you, Dawn! Can’t believe you ID’ed that one from my terrible photo.
I looked up that double-collared bobble bolero for a customer of mine. It is called Iron Lady –
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/iron-lady
How did we ever live without Ravelry??
love starting my day with you both, always a smile…. and some gorgeous yarn! VKL looked awesome! Someday…
So pleased to see that you are knitting Nell Ziroli’s (NellKnits) Hortensia cowl. She is a lovely and talented person. Your readers should check out all of her wonderful designs on Ravelry. I know you can’t tell, but I’m a big fan. I’m enjoying knitting her Crete Cardigan right now.
Meg! You are so sweet. <3
There’s always a zone of regret. Always. But, these events are like long distances races. You do the best you can — maybe you could have run the last mile a little faster, but you were spent. Good news is there’s more where that yarn came from!
I had a whack at double knitting a few years ago, mainly as a way to teach myself continental purling without wanting to hurt myself. I am a thoroughly English knitter who is very right-hand dominant, so learning this skill was going to take me a while. Double knitting ended up being a brilliant way to get around to it, without being thrown into the deep-end of the pool, as it were.
My first project was the Fractal Cowl by Emily Peters, which is a secretly really nerdy project. It was quite a bit of fun, and the finished product is beautiful.
[Scurries off to look up Fractal Cowl. Sounds juicy.]
Neighborhood Fiber Co. is now my souvenir of choice from trips to DC/VA. Fibre Space usually carries a broad selection.
I fell for the lovely Spincycle yarn too, at Rose City Yarn Crawl last year. I bought two almost matchy skeins. But now that I think about it, what it really wants is two more coordinating skeins to do some fun colorwork, so that the non-matchiness doesn’t work against me. Guess I’ll have to buy more yarn!
Looks like you had a thoroughly delightful time.
“Irish and therefore awesome” – my thoughts exactly! I love Hedgehog!
Imagine my surprise seeing my picture here. Feel like I won a prize! That skein of Dragonfly’s Djinni in the Lady Liberty color way is going to become a pair of socks to celebrate my first VK Live trip. I blame my zones of regret on being disoriented by all the yarny goodness at every turn. I’ll be better prepared next time.
So great to see you! That Lady Liberty color is so funny, so weathered copper. Hope our paths cross again soon!
My sorry is not being there! Heading to NY for work next week, don’t really need any yarn, but will at least hope to get some knitting done. Once I finish my current wip, I’m on to a sequence knit shawl for an upcoming bat mitzvah.
We missed you! Hope our paths cross soon.
What is the yarn for the three-pound blanket? It looks like a fun knit.
That would be a yarn called Crazy Monster (150 meters per 3-pound bump). Getting gauge on that stuff is pure hell, I’m told!
Nice yarn, lady! You have nothing to apologize for.
Shameka is the best isn’t she! I love you sorries…I too have walked out with regrets. Great post!
Still stunned that she had a coloring book in her bag! Love that!
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Any idea of what you’ll make with the Pod Hedgehog Fibres yarn? I have the same color (bought in Ireland no less) and haven’t figured out what to make with it! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
-Lydia
I have socks in mind. I mostly just want to watch the colors unfold. It’s so pretty, isn’t it? And lucky you to get it IN IRELAND.
Much to my chagrin, I missed Vogue Knitting by just a couple of days. But I didn’t miss the snowstorm which delayed my train by 2 days. I visited Purl Soho before the snow. But the train delay gave me time to visit Knitty City. Just enough suitcase space for a special anniversary dye of some Madeline Tosh -Hudson River.
As for Neighborhood Fiber Co, the yarn is wonderful and they do Mail Order! They also do short term special dyes as fundraisers for charity. That is how I acquired 2 lovelies. So don’t give up, it is worth the mail order. I am currently knitting with some Capital Luxury Lace…it is divine!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#query=Chevron%20cardigan&page=1&craft=knitting&sort=best&view=captioned_thumbs