Mid-to-late October update

It's been a while, no? Much has happened since my last post - both in my personal life and in my knitting life. In certain ways, my personal life has had an impact on my knitting life. More on that later, however.

Instead of making the trek to Baltimore for Stitches East, I availed myself of the goodies at the annual fall anniversary yarn sale at my LYS, Woolwinders. (Alas, I wasn't able to make it to the annual mid-October sale at the DC yarn stores, Stitch DC.)

My dad was nice enough to accompany me, waiting so patiently that even Jacqui (the owner) commented on it. He has been very tolerant of my "little" hobby ever since I knitted shawls for my grandmothers. I was quite restrained in my purchases, limiting myself to (a) 4 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton for the Eyelet Cardigan pattern I purchased at Loop in Philly over the summer, and (b) 2 skeins of RYC Cashsoft Aran for a ribbed hat.

I promptly got to work on the ribbed hat, completing it within a couple of days. I had planned to save the Eyelet Cardigan project as a reward for finally finishing my mom's "Blaze" cabled sweater, but the fates had different plan...

My boyfriend and I faced a bit of a crisis a week or two ago. I'd prefer not to go into details, but we came to the mutual decision to take a bit of a hiatus. Naturally, I was upset by this turn of events and needed something to distract me.

So I attacked the Eyelet Cardigan, finishing the knitting of the garment pieces within a week. All pieces - front left, front right, back, and two sleeves - are now sitting in a Woolwinders shopping bag, awaiting blocking and seaming.

I still didn't feel much better, so I decided to indulge in a little retail therapy, knitting-style. Loop, a cute little store in Philly, was having a sale on bamboo yarn from Be Sweet. At $6 per skein and a savings of 40%, the yarn was just too irresistible. So I purchased 6 skeins - 3 and change for a(nother) Kite Kerchief (pattern by Alchemy), and 2 and the rest for my sister to fashion into a lacy, drapey scarf of some kind.

I then waited impatiently for my shipment to arrive. (To my dismay, it took a full week from the date I placed my order for the yarn to travel from Philadelphia to Gaithersburg - way too long, in my book.) The yarn finally arrived today, however, and I am quite pleased... For the most part.

Yarn: Be Sweet Bamboo
Content: 100% Bamboo
Yardage: 110 yards / 50 grams
Gauge: 6 sts/in on US 3. 5 sts/in on US 6.
Care: Hand wash. Lay flat to dry.
Color/Lot: 633 (lavender)/2627.
Quantity: 6 skeins total (3+ for me, 2+ for my sister).

The yarn itself is quite lovely, with a nice sheen similar to that of mercerized cotton. The company, Be Sweet, has a fantastic story behind it as well: all yarns produced by the company are hand dyed and balled by women in South Africa as part of a job creation program in "an economically depressed rural region with a 75% unemployment rate." A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the yarns go back to the community - something we can all enthusiastically support!

The yarn reminds me of Rowan Cotton Tape, which is essentially woven tubes of cotton that lies flat. Be Sweet Bamboo is also a woven tube that lies flat, albeit of bamboo rather than of cotton. I can foresee having to untwist the yarn every so often while knitting so that the yarn, and thus the knitted fabric, is not too twisted and distorted.

Flat tubes of bamboo.

If the sample swatch is to be believed, the knitted fabric will be slinky and fluid, with nice drape and a substantial - though still light - weight.

Yarn & swatch.

The only qualification is that the color, lavender, is not my favorite. Don't get me wrong, it's a very pretty color... It's just not very "me." Still, I think a Kite Kerchief shawl made from this yarn will be lovely, and perhaps make a nice gift one day (if I can bear to part with it, that is).

Okay, one other qualification... The yarn splits pretty easily, so I'll have to be very careful as I knit. I probably won't be able to knit by touch alone, at least not initially.

To Stitch or not to Stitch...

Five months after the fact, I am still experiencing Maryland Sheep & Wool withdrawal. I am simultaneously disappointed and relieved that I must wait another seven months for the next one. Disappointed for obvious reasons, relieved because I would find myself in the red were I to find myself in the candy store that is MdS&W.

But coming up in just another week is Stitches East, a smaller fiber festival (with no livestock) at the Convention Center in Baltimore. Two of my favorite MdS&W vendors - Tess' Designer Yarns and Brooks Farm Yarn - will be at the Stitches East Market. There is a Marketplace class that I would love to take (Knitting Both Ways).

However, factor in the various costs, and Stitches East becomes a rather, well, costly expedition: Metro fare ($7.80) + MARC round-trip ($14) + light rail ($3.20) + knitting class ($30) = $55. So the question now becomes: Is it worth spending $55 to go to Stitches East, or would it be more worthwhile to spend that money on yarn at my LYS or online stores?

Dilemma.

Crafty Bastards

Yesterday, my sister and I went to Crafty Bastards, an annual arts and crafts fair in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. I only found out about this event a week or two ago, but my sister had been looking forward to it for quite a while.

Above: 4.5 ounces of 70/30 merino/tencel roving from Snargle Handpaints in colorway aquamarine

Overall, we were a little disappointed. Too many people. Lots to see, but not a lot to buy. Way too many people. However, I did manage to find not one, but two crafty fiber ladies at a single booth - Woolarina and Snargle Handpaints. In the booth was displayed a glorious array of brightly-colored roving, handpainted yarn, handspun yarn, spinning kits (with roving and spindle), and knitted items.

Above: Half on the spindle, half braided.

My favorite items were a sunny yellow-and-orange roving, a lovely pair of mittens handknit from handspun bulky red-and-green yarn, and a cute knitting sheep tee from Woolarina, and a silky-smooth shades-of-blue merino-tencel roving from Snargle Handpaints.

Little sis convinced me not to get the sunny roving - whatever would I do with bright yellow-orange yarn? I was tempted by the mittens, but at 30-something/40-something bucks, they were a little out of my price range. I wasn't sure I would ever wear the Woolarina tee (I'm not a big fan of sporting logos and such on my chest). So I walked away with only one purchase - a 4.5-ounce braid of 70% merino, 30% tencel roving in a pretty colorway called aquamarine.

Above (from left to right): Drafted roving; you can see the sheen of the roving, thanks to the tencel content; in natural light.

I started spinning the stuff the very next day. The merino-tencel is a dream to spin. It took me just over 24 hours to spin half the braid of roving; the spun yarn (approximately 350 yards of thick-thin DK/sportweight) is hanging to dry, and the other half is on the spindle as I type this. Now, what to do with the yarn...

Above (left to right): Handspun yarn on the swift; very very curly prior to being washed & dried.