Twice the Joy of Winter

  I've made longies and shorties with Winter Joy colorway (Purewool of course).
  It's very interesting how different they look side by side, just because longies are done with dark gray trim and shorties with light tan trim - they do look like different colorway almost!

   Here they are side by side:

Art Fiber opened in San Francisco

  They decided to come back to the City, and I am so glad that I've gone to the opening! It's a such a incredible store!

 Yen from Fog City Knitter was always knitting with Ming from ArtFibers, and while it was nice to touch that yarn, I never understood why she was so into it. Well, now I know! Ming is blend of silk and fine wool, and it's such a joy to knit with. Silk give that wool sheen and color, and fine, soft wool just fly of the needles. Colors are amazing and I am in love with Ming, like 80% of our group :) They were sold out with Ming by the time I finally decided which color I wanted, so I've placed an order for next dying batch.

 But, about the store: it's absolutely great place to go for yarn. They manage to make it spacious by using Elfa shelvings undenath the benches, and putting all knitted swatches on the top. Such a brilliant idea! You can actually see how yarn looks like knitted, in different stitches, and since they have big windows on both sides of the place, you can see real colors properly.

  Selection of yarn is awesome - I've spent about 3 hours just looking for a yarn for my mom's scarf (and looking and testing everything!). They dye their own yarn, so everything in the store was new to me. Best thing is that you can swatch any yarn right there, and keep the sample :) I've tried :

1) Phyz - very interested yarn, feels cottony, it will be great for a lacy scarf.

2) Yaqui - YAK yarn. Yup, yak yarn. That thing is rarer than cashmire, and usually more expensive, but they sell it for 10c per yard, what is similar to all other yarns there (there are some more expensive ones, but I don't remember them :) It's thin yarn, I think fingering weight, and I've tried just a tiny swatch, and I liked it. I can see making a scarf or maybe socks, something that will be very warm. It feels very airy and soft.

3) Ming, color 21 of course - such a beautiful yarn! I've decided to make next sweater of it, even if this is not bulky yarn, meaning it will take me forever to make it. But I will do it!

4) Kyoto  color  23-  lovely blend of mohair, silk and wool - it's I think heavy worsted, and blue color is incredible rich and yarn is so soft. I've made a scarf for my mom in 4 days with it! I wish I have a picture, but I was in hurry to send it to her, so I do hope she will take a picture and send it to me.

 Cool thing is that they have us on their website now:
 

And another longies

 Yes, another longies! As I said, DS has only 2 pair of longies that he wears, and both are little bit too big (one is way too big, truth to be told), so I made another pair in hope that this time I will get them right.

  VOILA, they fit perfectly! I can't believe it yet, but they do fit him so well - perfect around waist, good rise and right legs length. And this was done with different wool - I've used Knitpicks Shamrock (Doyle colorway) heavy worsted yarn. It's stiffer and heavier than Purewool, but drapes nicely and looks like it will not pill much.

   I've CO 72 st, as for Medium size, but increased to 84 (half way between Medium and Large). Next time, I will make rise deeper and legs slightly longer, so he will wear those longer. Of course, I've ordered more of that wool :) I'm getting Conolly colorway next :)

 I've used 3 full skeins of yarn for those, about 240 yards total...

Another longies

 I'm losing track which number are those (I have to check my  Ravelry notebook for knitsforgeeks ) - oh, yes, #9. Did I really made 9 longies so far? Then how came that he has only 2 useful ones? Oh, yes, some were presents, some are too small now, some I made too small :(
 Anyways, those are made from 3ply Purewool, Pacifico colorway, beautiful, with trim in Tostados (light tan brown). I love them, except that they are too big on my skinny guy. I've made Large size, because I made 2 pair of longies that ended up being too small, and well, large is too big. Next pair will have to in between, I have to measure him and do the math...
 Picture:

FOs

 It's been a while - I need to get into a habit of posting even if I don't have a pictures ready. I did finish several objects but I don't have pictures so I didn't post...
  It's so hard to get good pictures of knitting! I don't have good lighting in the apartment, so everything comes out looking very unsatisfactory. I take sometimes 20 pictures to get one that's "good enough". I have lot to learn on how to take good photos of knitting, that's for sure.
 Anyways, Steampunk Scarf (Dark side) is done. It's the same pattern (Antlers scarf) as I used for Steampunk scarf, except that wool is dark varigated - it's for my DH, and whole scarf is whooping 72". Well, he is a big guy and I can make even longer and it will fit still, but I run out of yarn (whole 2 skeins of Purewool, I think each is 240 yards). It was done just on time for Valentine's day :) Picture is coming...
 And I managed to loose my darning needle, so I tried to buy another one and none of the shops around had any. I really don't understand that - it's not everyday purchase, sure, but those needles are useful in many other crafts! Finally one of them sold me kids needles, I didn't mind that are plastic, but opening is too small to be useful with thicker yarn. Some people don't think when they sell you stuff, I asked will this be ok for regular knitting and she was "Sure" ... So I went and bought set of 3 on www.knitpics.com. That tells you something about local shops in San Francisco, and why I prefer to buy stuff on internet even when it's not cheaper.

Scarf is done!

 Scarf is done - not exactly by New Year's eve, but 2 days after. Final length = 63", whoa. Nice long scarf. Wool does feel different after washing, thinner somehow. But still nice wool....