A Woolly Weekend

Last weekend there were a couple of events going on that I was able to participate in. Saturday was LYS (Local Yarn Store) Day and the LA Yarn Crawl was held from Thursday to Sunday.

On Saturday I visited four of the San Diego Stores with one knitting friend and on Sunday I went up to LA with another knitting friend and managed to visit six stores. Phew, lots of driving and yarn fondling and some yarnie goodies came home with me.

This is a photo of everything I got.

Four different skeins of yarn, a mini set and some row counters. From top left, the first skein is to go with yarn I purchased on last year’s yarn crawl. I have been having trouble finishing a project with the yarn I already have, so finally decided to buy more, frog, once again, and knit a simple child’s cardigan.
Next to it is the colour of the month from Candy Skein. I had been eyeing this on Instagram but didn’t order it. When we decided to do LYS Day I knew there was a good chance that I would purchase it. It is beautiful and I am mulling over what it will become and if I will pair it with contrasting or matching colours.

The next two skeins were purchased at The Knitting Tree, LA. The first stop on our LA Yarn Crawl. It was an amazing shop with many yarns that I had heard of but not seen. As it was the first stop on our crawl I only came out with two skeins. I could have purchased much more and would like to return there.

If possible I like to purchase stitch markers as a souvenir but I didn’t see any that stood out to me but in one store I saw some fun row counters. I never seem to have enough row counters although I am sure I have more than I have projects.

The last purchase was the set of mini skeins seen at the front of the photo. They are 1-ounce skeins of a silk/merino blend. And I think they will make a subtle gradient.

All-in-all I had a fun weekend with friends and just a little bit of stash enhancement.

From Discount Store to Haute Couture

Well not really but I am pleased with what I did with a skirt purchased at T J Maxx or Marshalls that was destined for Goodwill.

Sometime last year I bought a long skirt; I like and wear long skirts. I must have tried it on at home and liked it but whenever I decided to wear it, it just didn’t look right so I wore something else. The only time I wore it was when I needed to dress nicely for a dinner but I wanted to hide the boots I was wearing to support my foot. Thus it was destined to be given away.

But I hate to give away something I buy but don’t wear. And I thought “what would happen if you made this shorter? You make clothes, so why not amend them?" And that is what I did. I laid a skirt of similar style on top to get the length, cut and hemmed. The hemming was a bit tricky as I was sewing lace. Also the lining needed to be hemmed. I could have done a better job but I now have a skirt that I will wear.

Before



After

Stash Enhancement

Although is it stash enhancement if you cast on straight away? Before this pattern was released I knew I wanted to make it and the dyer that the designer had used for her pattern created sets to knit the shawl.

I was really deliberating about the yarn. I knew I wanted a light colour for the centre square and I knew I needed to buy, at least, mini skeins. After much thought, looking at my stash and cost calculation I ordered one of the sets and added another skein of yarn for the centre. The yarn arrived last Sunday and I cast on that evening. The light colour is for the middle and the other colours are the set created by Primrose Yarns. I will use the grey when working with the colours. I know this will result in extra yarn left over but it is what I wanted. The difficulty is recording how many skeins in. I got 10 mini skeins in the set; which is equivalent to two full skeins so do I record that as 2 or 10? For the moment I have noted them as 10.

And this is the centre part finished.

April Showers

That is the name of April’s block which I completed this week. This block included a new to me technique – templates from freezer paper. Also I had not sewn concave and convex shapes together before. The instructions were straight forward on how to sew them.

I did buy some fabric for this block. When I was buying the fat quarters for last month’s block, I noticed some fabric and thought it would be perfect for the back ground of April showers. The other two fabrics were in my stash.

Something Else Finished in March

I finished Verdon. and I love it. It is big but just what is needed in Southern California where you don't need a coat all the time. And four skeins of yarn are out of my stash. I played serious yarn chicken - I used up all of the red, and had 40 inches left of the grey, 50 inches left of the white and 1 gram left of the pink.

I did not want to soak this as I was worried that the red would bleed but it definitely needed a block. As you can see in this in-progress picture the short rows are bunching.

I laid it out as flat and as rectangular as possible and then laid a wet towel on top. I left it like this overnight and took the towel off in the morning so that the project could dry. Perfect. All the kinks had gone and I was left with a lovely project. I hope you agree.