Just Another Day..

Good morning or  Guten Morgen (I'm trying to start learning some German) everybody! 

The weather is just getting absolutely spectacular in Vancouver!  I hope you have all been well & doing things that you love.

It's been a pretty slow knitting month for me, apart from taking lots of knitting books out from the library and such.. Honestly, I was SO surprised that they even had such a big section on fibre arts in such a small little branch - West Point Grey!

West Point Grey Branch - VPL

The most convenient thing about this is that my yarn store, Urban Yarns, is right across the street.

My favourite yarn store!!

Other than my current KnitReads... I'm so excited to share this order update with you - I've finished off the Natural Fibre "Cozy Claw-Cabled Scarf".  = )

NF Cozy Claw-Cabled Scarf in Amethyst Heather

Photo from "SOLD" album on HbyS Facebook Page 

It didn't take too long to knit up - of course, some of the cabling took a tad bit longer...  considering sometimes it's just so damn hard to get the point of your needle into the stitch on the cable needle!

For this project, I used 12mm straight needles & a 6mm dpn for my cable needle that I had lying around.

I hope my client is going to love it - I will be making the delivery today.

Wish me luck! xx.

Clawing to the Finish Line

Well, it sure has been a while since I've made a scarf since Spring is here!

To my delight, I received an order earlier this week for a cozy chunky winter scarf in purple. I was so excited since that means I get to work with super bulky yarns again!

Off I went to the yarn store again... & only after tons and tons of browsing through merinos, alpacas, virgin wools...

So many purple yarns!!

We finally settled on our familiar friend, the Cascade Magnum in Amethyst Heather.  All of the "Heather" shades have different wonderful blends of colours, in this case blue & purple.

Super Bulky - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool

I started custom designing the scarf with a cabling effect.  I love cables so much, sometimes it's just hard to choose which one to do.. = )

Claw Cable -- Plaited Cable -- Basic Cable

My client chose the Claw Cable!  It's the first time I've worked this cable but I think it's turning out pretty well.  You have to use an even number of stitches for each side of the cable, otherwise.. it'd just be too confusing & it also wouldn't look symmetrical.

Claw Cable beginnings..

It actually looks pretty cool.  Really love the way it cinches in & it creates this in/out effect as you work the scarf longer & longer.  It's basically this giant claw cable of a scarf!!  A little while later, I ended up with this.

Cozy Natural Fibre Claw-Cabled Scarf in Amethyst Heather

The Cascade Magnum knits up very quickly and is easy to work with.  The strands hardly ever unravel to take up more time for careful knitting.  I can't wait to see the completed scarf!

What do you think?  Well, I'm going to just keep clawing away now..

Good evening! xx.

Spring is in the Air

I hope everybody remembered to spring their clocks ahead one hour last night!  If not.. you better get on that.. = )  

When I was away for university, I would always forget and be an hour early/late for things.

More daylight!!  That is a great pro.  However, with Spring, come allergies.  

I'm not going to lie, I'm definitely feeling like I'm about to keel over and die from all these allergy symptoms.  It wasn't until I moved to Waterloo, where I developed my allergies to... well pretty much everything.  For the first time in Vancouver,  these allergies are really starting to show up in a crazy fashion.  I can barely  breathe (stupid congestion) when I'm sleeping or awake.  Apparently I have moderate allergies.. which makes complete sense.. since it feels like I have a cold/flu & all that lethargic nonsense.   = (

I wish Reactine would work, but it doesn't.

So here's hoping that some knitting will help me forget about all this!

Today, I am going to make this cute little stuffie I found from a pattern on Ravelry.  If you've seen Miyazaki's My Neighbour Totoro, you will know exactly who this delectable little creature is!

Introducing the knitted CHIBI TOTORO TOY by brella..  [click for pattern]

"Chibi Totoro Toy"

I'm going to make this for my friend, Danaca, who absolutely adores Totoro!  She even has a square Totoro cushion, it's so cute.

I remember growing up and watching this movie dubbed in Cantonese.  Danaca tells me that they also did a re-dub in English that's pretty recent, starring Dakota Fanning too.  If you have never seen My Neighbour Totoro, you should try and get your hands on it.  The director, Hayao Miyazaki, is truly a genius.  My personal favourite is, Kiki's Delivery Service.

Knitter's Pride Dreamz - US 4 (3.5mm) dpns

I think I'm going to try making them on my new 3.5mm dpns (double pointed needles).  I will post progress photos of this little Chibi as it knits up.

Ps.  I am currently on 5/7 skeins for my BabyKnits Basic Ribbed Baby Blanky in Seafoam!

Wishing everybody a stupendous Sunday full of relaxation!  

Time for some tea & knits for me.  xx. 

Needles, Needles, Needles...

We meet again!  I hope you've all been very well since my last post a couple days ago.  I hear a lot of you have been knitting up a storm & I'm oh so excited to see what you've been making!!

For the first time, a photo popped up on my Facebook news feed from a guy with his current knits!  My eyes just widened & my heart melted - cheesy, I know.  Anyway, here's just some props to Sam for that.  =)

So!  I've been getting a lot of questions about needles..  & I have so much to tell you about my experiences with the different types.

Credit: Knitsburgh Wordpress Blog

Basically, when I started knitting, I just used straight needles to do all of my projects.  The very thought of circular needles intimidated me & double pointed needles (dpns) just straight up horrified me.  I would run away from any pattern that asked for anything other than straights.

What a silly thought that was, looking back.

While I studied out at uWaterloo, I borrowed a huge set from my Auntie Monica while I was back in Vancouver for Christmas break.  That's where I got started.  Out of the blue, my Mum pulled out this Aero set which completely blew my mind!  They looked like this except my kit is dark blue..  

I'm missing one single needle though because when it took the trans-atlantic flight over back in the 80's, it snapped.  = (

Aero Needle Set (UK)

I was a happy camper with this huge set until I started knitting a crazy amount of projects in a very short time - Handmade by Sylvie Rush Season.  ;)  

The thing is, I used to do a lot of heavy weight lifting and be a huge gym rat/fitness enthusiast.  The first time I strained my right elbow was from pushing myself to a point of doing too 25+ body weight dips until failure.

With that said... my elbow and shoulders started bugging me again since those were the places where I hold a lot of my tension while knitting.  It's the basic, repetitive movement of knitting where the elbow has to come out to get into the next stitch.  

On Boxing Day, I went shopping at Urban Yarns (big surprise).  I was introduced to these new needles, addi Click Turbos!!  Its a set of circular needles that are adjustable in size and length.  

Aren't they just GORGEOUS?!  I'd worked with the Aero circulars before, but the twist in the connector was just too tedious for me to want to knit with them.  (Remedy:  soak the cord in warm water to make it more pliable - thanks Auntie Phyllis!)

With the use of these addi circulars, they helped relieve the pains I was getting from the straights.  My elbows stay closer to my body when I'm knitting & it's a little more wrist work.  I don't think I could go back to straights, to be honest.

Hopefully this helps you to find you next pair/or set of needles!  It was quite pricey for this set ($200-ish), but well worth it.  

Hand Massage

Don't compromise your body for your hobby!  I used to go to a massage therapist... initially for my work outs, but it turns out the knitting was putting even more major tension in my neck/shoulders/arms/hands.  What a scream fest - you'd be laughing if you were in the room next to my appointments.  = )

PS. While I was searching for images of needles, I came across this!  It's a blog post about "Uses for Straight Needles" - it's pretty funny, I think.


With screaming delight, I wish you happy knitting!! xx.