Fiber Musings

In answer to the question, which set do I like better? There is no good answer.

I bought the plymouth bamboo set from patternworks.com for ~$100. It contains US equiv 5,6,7,8,9,10 needles. But the us 6 is really a 4.25 mm instead of the 4.00 mm that most other manufacturers use. I use the 4.25 mm alot in order to achieve the popular 18/24 gauge in a variety of yarns. There are 4 cables, including a super short one that makes 12″ circulars for knitting sleeves.

The knit denise set is more versatile and half as much $. The set has 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 13, 15 needles plus 6 cables. The cables can be joined to make longer cables. But, the cables get sticky. I need to wash the cables occasionally in warm soapy water to remove the sticky buildup. But, in hot weather, the plastic cables soften and grab the yarn no matter how often I wash them. I don’t have that problem with the plymouth set.

OTOH, the denise set has a smoother join between the needle and the cable. Iris pulled the plastic cable out of the steel shank on two of the plymouth cables. A little bit of epoxy fixed that problem. In addition, I need to periodically rotate the bamboo needles to retighten the internal screw that joins the needle and cable. I prefer knitting with bamboo needles instead of plastic ones.

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Why are american things so large? Is all that bulk necessary? I give you the example of the two needle sets–one american, the other japanese.

Ok, the american set has a few more needles and cables, but does the case need to be so large?

And why does my neighbor have to park this in front of my house?

Here’s a close-up. What do you think he’s compensating for?

Now for the knitting content. I made Iris a shadow heart sweater from Vivian Hoxbro’s recent book. I used the same number of stitches as the pattern in the book, but sized it up by using bigger yarn. Iris picked out the two colors of cotton fleece which has a gauge of 5 sts/in. The shetland recommended in the book should give a gauge of 6 sts/in. Iris will have plenty of room to grow.

I didn’t make the redundant heart on the back, preferring some diagonal stripes. I actually like the back better than the front. Can you see the (literally!) hearts on the sleeves?

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I read about the “Not the knitting you know” show at eleven eleven sculpture place. All I can say is wow. I am especially intrigued by the work of Daina Taimina. We even have the same taste in Noro colorways! Check out the Hyperbolic plane – pseudosphere. Does it remind you of this?

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I had forgotten how much I enjoy sewing until this past weekend, and now my juices are flowing again. Why? I took a kimono workshop from Linda Cannefax. She talked us through some history of the kimonos, how to wear them, the different parts of the kimono and variations on these parts, and how to create a kimono pattern that fits. Wow.

Since Linda is a weaver, and this is a weaving guild sponsored workshop, she spent quite a bit of the time discussing how to use your handwoven for creating kimonos. Kitty and Cyrena showed off their handwoven kimonos that they made. I am in awe.

Kitty wore the kimono vest (kimono sans sleeves) that she wove out of hand spun and natural dyed silk weft (commercial warp). It was gorgeous. Subtle shading from gold to red-orange. The entire vest coat was then hand stitched. Wow.

Cyrena had a full length kimono that was made from monoprint on rice paper (that she printed herself), then cut into strips before it was woven. Cyrena even threaded beads into her warp so that the beads were woven into the fabric, instead of sewn in after the fact. The woven fabric was then made into this beautiful kimono, lined with silk organza. Again, the piece was hand stitched. Sewing machines never came into contact with these kimonos. Double and triple wow.

I won’t bother to show you the kimono that I made over the weekend. It was classwork, made out of muslin. I figured out what sleeve style won’t work for me. At least not in muslin. The drape is all wrong. I might take a snap or two of the ones I will make out of the fabric I bought at Thai Silk though.

There was a prevailing sentiment that after all the work into creating the fabric, they don’t want any machine stitching to show, hence the emphasis on hand stitching. The 2 examples above were the extreme, but I completely understand it. It’s the creative journey that counts here.

Me? Since I’m not a weaver (still fighting it, kicking and screaming), I don’t have as much invested in the fabric, so I’ll be using my Bernina to piece, thank you very much. I will be doing all the hemming and tacking down the lining by hand.

Sorry, I’m not much of a picture taker during class. I’m too busy taking notes or drooling over the finished pieces to bother with the camera.

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I woke up to news about the London bombings and had a sense of deja vu. News of these horrible events shouldn’t be so routine.

Yesterday, our family took an outing to Santa Monica for dimsum and a movie. Well, Iris and Mark went to the Aero theatre to see Oliver while I checked out the stores. I noticed something different about Montana avenue. I didn’t realize what was different until I got home. The westside (of LA) has a huge british expat population and I didn’t hear any english accents on the street.

I hung out at L’Atelier on 12th and Montana for a while and knitted. The owner, Leslie, was very nice to knitter’s both seasoned and new. In fact, Leslie let a new knitter take home a pair of needles and a ball of yarn (Stacy Charles, no less!) to get started and then didn’t make her pay for the stuff until she came back the next day for additional knitting lessons! Sadly, there were alot of people hanging out at L’Atelier but not enough people buying. So, if anyone actually reads this blog, go out there and change this!

I bought 5 balls of yarn, 4 of which will become a Mobius shoulder wrap. I will use the remaining ball to trim a plummy wool sweater, part of my haul from the Yarn Lady bag sale.

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