Archive for the 'Knitting' Category

Purl Soho

©Shireen Nadir 2013

What trip to NYC is complete without a visit (or 2) to the cooler-than-cool Soho neighbourhood? Ok, ostensibly to shop for clothes.. but really to go to Purl Soho. And it didn’t disappoint in the least.

©Shireen Nadir 2013

Yarn purchased in a different area code is exempt from my yarn diet, right? I couldn’t resist some goodies that I haven’t seen in Toronto.

Anzula Milky way – a blend of merino and milk protein! I hadn’t gravitated to it at first but then one of the incredibly friendly staff handed me a knitted sample. The softness, colour, shine, drape and stitch definition are all exquisite. At 500 yards a skein, and solid, hand dyed colour, it’s perfect for a lacy shawl with lots of detail. I caved in to the colours ‘Curry’ and ‘Spruce’.

©Shireen Nadir 2013

©Shireen Nadir 2013

Anzula Squishy – and it is! And what a delicious colour! Superwash merino and just a little bit of cashmere. It’s a 385 yard skein and I can imagine just knitting this into a light infinity scarf. The yummy colour I bought is ‘Candied Apple’.

©Shireen Nadir 2013

I bought a few goodies for Leslie as well, this was a (sadly not pictured, but you’d have to feel it to understand the magic in any event) rope of baby alpaca roving which the girls kindly wrapped for me, lying on the tote bag I wrapped it in. I also picked her up a skien of Madeline Tosh in a colour way to die for, called ‘Cove (sadly and similarly un-photographed, so you must imagine the goodness).

©Shireen Nadir 2013

Finally, inspired by the iconic Purl Soho wall, I picked up some fabric to make my very own, above our bed. It will be the finishing touch on a little reno we’re doing, can’t wait to see if all the daydreaming I did in Home Depot works out!

©Shireen Nadir 2013

©Shireen Nadir 2013

I’ve read mixed reviews about Purl Soho, but the store is bright and cheery, the staff are so friendly and helpful and truly went out of their way to make sure their customers were happy. I already know it’s a permanent feature of any visit we make to NYC!

FO – Bev’s Pasha and Pure, Unadulterated Genius.

What’s cuter than a couple where one of them is 5 foot 2 and the other is 6 foot 7? Matching hats, that’s what.

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Johnathan is sporting his Johnathan hat (yes, designed for him :)) and Bev is wearing her new Pasha by Jane Richmond, which I knitted up  in Zen Yarn Garden’s Serenity DK, colourway Mossy Oak, to match Johnathan’s hat. Sickeningly cute.

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I love the way this hat fits her! How, you make ask, did I achieve such a great, relaxed fit? Well, get ready because this next photo is the most brilliant thing you will ever see on my blog.

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Mind=Blown.

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Yes. This is why they pay me the big bucks. I’m sure other knitters have blocked hats this way before… but I felt like a Wile E Coyote level genius when I got the idea.

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Tito got fancy by tying it to a lamp shade. The results? A perfectly blocked hat.

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And doesn’t it look adorable on her?

Music to my ears

So we drove to NYC on the weekend (more on that later) and I was looking for a good knitting project to take up the time. Tito had just received his first pair of socks and he was lovin’ em.

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So, glumly, I went to the stash and stated poking around looking for something boring masculine enough that he would wear it (not a likely event in my stash) when Tito said ‘You know, I feel like if socks are hand made, they should look a little funky’. Funky.

Well. These are the socks he’s getting. Yes, he chose the colour.

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They were a perfect road trip project. Here they are demonstrating the proper use of our cup-holder.

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I turned the heel by the border.

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They saw lots of upstate New York.

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I finished the first one on the road, he should have a pair by the weekend.

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A man who loves funky, ankle length socks. How lucky am I?

Tito socks done!

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Pattern is the ever-reliable (and now memorized) Sporty Striped Peds from Purl Soho.

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Shodan doesn’t seem impressed. That’s ok.

 

Aurora Roving in Progress

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Remember this lovely thing? It’s finally being spun, and by someone who knows what they’re about no less.

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

That person is not Mouffette, though she is clearly instrumental in the process.

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

It’s being worked up by the immensely talented Leslie Ordal, with an eye to keeping the different colour sections intact. It’s already looking pretty delicious – we (I say ‘we’ as though I am helpful somehow) are aiming for a 3 ply fingering weight yarn.

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

The plan is to knit this into something for my neck, something that will benefit from these gently shifting gradients, and something that I shall proudly wear when I finally hit the arctic and fulfill my bucket list item of shooting the aurora from further north than Sault Ste. Marie :)

I haven’t decided what that something is yet though, and I’m open to suggestions!

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Aurora Roving ©Shireen Nadir 2013

Thank you Leslie, Mouffette and the super talented folks at Inglenook fibers – I can’t wait to knit this baby up!

 

 

Frolicking

This is what it looks like outside right now.

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Which makes right now a perfect time to blog about the Knitter’s Frolic, because goodness knows I can use some colour at the moment.

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My goodies for the day – 3 skeins of sock yarn, one of which will be Tito’s first knitted socks (you can all guess which manly (read:boring) colourway is his) and 2 pairs for me that are intended, ultimately, to result in socks that are visible from space.

2 skeins of Madeline Tosh (at last!) in a light turquoise that shall become a ginormous lace covered, I-almost-developed-a-drinking-problem-while-knitting-this shawl. I even already have the dress it’s going to go with (see how organized I am?)

2 skeins of baby alpaca (I lied, this is not from the frolic at all – I bought it at the lovely St. Jacob’s farmer’s market, more on that later). It’s heaven to touch. Big scarf coming from this as well.

And a lovely new project bag from this gorgeous rack:

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This year I had knitting buddies Rayna and Leslie with me, in addition to the patient Tito. Leslie found Musk Ox roving that made the aforementioned baby alpaca feel like sand paper.

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And also this silk hankie that I can’t wait to see her spin. Makes me wish I could get my spinning skills back on track!

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Speaking of someone with actual spinning skills – she’s taken on spinning up my precious gifted Aurora roving – very excited to see it finished :)

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And… I organized the stash because I was having trouble fitting my new yarn in there it was getting messy. After I was done I decided that a yarn diet might be in order – I’m going to follow Crystal Diva’s lead and decide that in order to ‘earn’ new yarn I’ve got to knit up a few skeins of what I’ve got (number TBD. My resolve is not strong on this).

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So much colour, just what this dreary days needs. Know what it doesn’t need? Grey socks, but I just turned the heel on Tito’s… the things we do for love :)

Happy Feet.

I have wanted a reason to work with Koigu forever. Pattern: Sporty Striped Peds.

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