Stitches: Chapter 1

I've been avoiding posting about Stitches East. Four days of classes, browsing, shopping, and meeting local knitting and Ravelry friends was quite exhausting. Oh, and throw my great-niece's birthday into that mix. Through the week it's been physical therapy, doctor appointment, Thursday night knitting, a bazillion phone calls . . . I think I'm finally caught up on sleep now though. I've fondled my yarn and re-arranged it several times. I've looked over my other purchases and been very pleased with them. I've realized I took two, exactly two, yes two pictures that didn't even turn out. I hit Ravelry only once since last weekend I believe, and then it was briefly.

What's wrong with me?

Okay! Shake it off!

I didn't knit Thursday night although I did manage to ball up my kusakizome mohair loop from habu. Dang! I wish I had taken a picture before I balled them. All that yarn was compacted into two little yarn bricks 1"x1"x3". What a space saver for the vendors. The yarn fluffed right up too. One thing I didn't know until I looked it up on their website was that kusakizome is a Japanese natural dye technique. I had worried about the yarn when my fingers had a bit of pink dye on them after I finished winding it up on my nostepinne. It looked like I had eaten just a few pistachios. Good grief! Now I have to completely test my swatch to check the color fastness. After my hat is finished I use hot water to finish it by hand fulling.

habu has the most amazing yarns. Did I say yarns? I should say fibers. Heck, some of their materials don't even classify as such with stainless steel wire, silver(sold at market price!), copper, pine, paper, bamboo, pineapple, and for the very adventurous - silk cocoons from Indonesia. You can buy cashmere for 26.95 per ounce or as little as 1/2 ounce for the pricier items. For instance:

$19.4o will get you 1/2 oz (311 yards) of 31% stainless steel core wrapped in 69% silk. It's a lace weight yarn that is recommended for two strand knitting on US 2-3 needles. This stuff had its humble origins as the guts of oil filters (makes me want to pry one open). It has memory they say, and will hold it's shape unless reshaped or smoothed out.

Gee, I just had my oil changed. But when I was gawking at all the bizarre fibers at habu, I thought of my most recent obsession - Stirling Cloche by Cirilia Rose. I was looking for a little boucle to use as a hat band. I think a knit-in band will look great and avoid the problems of many flexible hats with bands - the smash factor. habu had the sweetest boucle building blocks in four colors. One spoke to me and into the bag it went.

I'll catch up with more Stitches East adventures another day. Lately I'd rather tell a good tale than scroll you to death.