A Look Back: 2017

Like so many of you, I have continued my obsession with knitting and yarn.  I think there has to be some kind of Ravelry record set this year for the number of patterns published.  It seemed like everyday new patterns were popping up on the Ravelry Pattern page.  It was hard to keep up.  I have enjoyed checking out all the new patterns and yarn throughout the year and the size of my queue is ridiculous.  There are just so many patterns I want to knit.  I think we can all agree that 2017 will be remembered as the Year of the Fade thanks to Andrea Mowry.

I present to you my annual round up of favourites for 2017.

Best Yarn Shop:  Haus of Yarn, Nashville, Tennessee
The variety of yarn, the size and warmth of the store, and quantity of knitted samples was impressive.  I would highly recommend this store to anyone visiting the Nashville area.  You can read about my visit here. 

Just a sample of what Haus of Yarn carries (Wool & Boon and Old Rusted Chair)

Feyre Shawl by Shannon Cook:  one of the many samples at the store

Best Sweater/Cardigan:  Camira by Carol Feller. 
I love this cardigan's unique construction and how well it fits.  It is a sweater I wear on a weekly basis, and I think it would look great knit in many different yarns.  

Camira by Carol Feller

Best Yarn Brand:  Woolfolk
I have knit a number of accessories in this yarn and love everything about it.  It is incredible to wear, and my dream would be to knit a cardigan in this yarn.  I would never take it off.

On the C Train knit in Woolfolk Fär

Best Yarn Colour:  Maize by Tanis Fiber Arts (Purple Label)
One of my favourite things to do is to photograph yarn.  When you have a colourway that looks like this, it is an absolute joy.  Tanis outdid herself when she created this colourway specifically for Knit City 2017.  

Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label:  Maize colourway

Best Knitted Accessory:   Deep Woods Toque by Kiyomi Burgin. 
My favourite accessory was a hat I knit for my daughter, using Tanis Fiber Arts' Purple Label Yarn, combined with Sweet Fiber Yarns Super Sweet Sock.  I love everything about this hat.  The colour combination and finished product makes me so happy.

Deep Woods Toque

Yarn That Impressed Me:   Gauge Dyeworks Merino Twist Classic (colourway All Together Now) 
I knit Martina Behm's very popular Hitchhiker using this beautiful colourway.  I love how the yarn colour switches back and forth.  I think the dyer behind this yarn is super talented.  Just have a look at the shawl below to see what I mean.

Gauge Dyework Merino Twist Classic

Hitchhiker Shawl

Best Knitting Instagram Feed:  1. Clara Parkes (Instagram stories)
If you haven't checked out Clara Parkes Instagram stories you definitely should.  She is so witty and her stories always make me laugh.
2. Instagram Photos:   As for Instagram pictures this is an impossible choice.  The amount of talent on Instagram is incredible and inspiring (and a bit overwhelming trying to keep up to be completely honest).  Some of my favourites are:  espacetricot, quinceandco, boylandknitworks, happycactusdesigns, soveryshannon and mysocalledhandmadelife.

Best Knitting Magazine:  Laine Magazine
This Nordic knitwear magazine showcases impressive patterns by talented designers, as well as interesting articles.  It is an enjoyable read and totally worth every cent.  If you haven't had a chance to look at a copy yet, you can check out the patterns from the magazine on Ravelry.  

A few of my favourite publications

Best Knitting Vlog/Podcast:  Melissa and Lisa of Espace Tricot wins hands down for me this year. 
This definitely was the year of the podcast. There are so many talented vloggers out there, but the owners of Espace Tricot (a Montreal yarn store) are consistently enjoyable to watch.  Each time I watch their podcast I always learn something new, and end up adding patterns to my queue.  I find them so entertaining and talented.  

Favourite Designer:  Andrea Mowry  
I have yet to fade anything, but I admire Andrea's talent and prolific designing.  I have many of her patterns in my queue and will definitely knit a few of her designs in 2018.  Here is one of Andrea's patterns called Goldfinch that I knit this year.

Goldfinch by Andrea Mowry
knit in O-Wash O-Wool Sport

I am also super impressed with Caitlin Hunter and her unique designs.  I am excited to see her new designs in 2018.

Best Yarn Show:  Knit City in Vancouver
I have to be honest and admit that I only went to one show this year, but wow, it was a great one!  Everyone involved in Knit City was super friendly.  There was so many talented designers and dyers, as well as amazing classes by talented teachers. Vancouver is my favourite Canadian city to visit too. If you can only go to one show next year this is the show you need to get to.

Designs by Sylvia McFadden

I think it was a great year in the knitting world.  I am excited to see what new designers emerge in 2018 and what's hot.  What were some of your favourites?

F.O. The Elder Tree Shawl

I mentioned to you a few posts ago that I had purchased a skein of Clara Parkes yarn called CVM/Romeldale 2.0 in the Aborio colourway, and that I was on a hunt to find the perfect pattern that would showcase and utilize each inch of this beautiful skein. The pattern I settled on was The Elder Tree Shawl by softsweater, a Vancouver based designer who has many beautiful patterns on Ravelry. 

After swatching on several different sized needles I decided to go with 4.0 mm. The pattern itself was a joy to knit. It can be adapted for any weight  and amount of yarn you want to use.  The pattern was simple to knit but not boring at all.  Any knitting mistakes I made were quickly evident and easy to correct.

The yarn itself was so lovely to knit with that I took my time knitting this pattern, wishing that I had another skein, to make a larger shawl.  First of all the yarn smelled delightfully sheepy.  It was quite lofty, hardly weighing anything, and it seemed to be quite hardy, as it didn't seem bothered whenever I had to rip out a few rows and reknit.

My favourite part of knitting a lacy shawl is blocking it.  The shawl was quite tiny (40.5 x 15")  prior to blocking and thankfully grew (54 x23") to a perfect sized shawlette.  Here are the before and after shots.  

L-Pre blocking   R-After Blocking

Pre-blocking

I am so happy with how the lace opened up and the yarn itself softened up considerably.  This is the second yarn I have tried by Clara Parkes.(See my blog entry reviewing the first one I knit with).  Each yarn she creates is so different and I can hardly wait to see what she comes out with next. 

After Blocking

When I was on my holiday last week, driving back to Vancouver from Seattle, I did a quick stop at 88 Stitches in Langley.  On display, to my delight, were a collection of softsweater's knitted shawls.  Her designs Waiting for Rain and   The Rain Outside are very popular right now, but these earlier shawls are worth checking out too.  When viewed in person these shawls are just stunning.  I asked if I could take a couple pictures to remind myself of what I needed to add to my queue.  I have linked the shawls to Ravelry.

L to R :  Grateful Moments, Fossil & Bone, Authenticity

L to R:  Salt Water, Solarium, Grateful Moments

L to R:  Lanterns,  A Certain Darkness, Lonely Tree Shawl

Lanterns

I don't know if my pictures do them justice, but trust me when I say, if you are looking for a shawl pattern to knit you might want to try one of these.  You won't be sorry.  I, myself, love the look of Lanterns and Fossil & Bone....hmm let's not forget about Authenticity.   Actually I could knit any of these and be extremely happy.

So thank you Clara Parkes and softsweater...you made my knitting experience very enjoyable.

The Elder Tree Shawl & Cinecittà

Every now and then I get a skein of yarn that feels more special than the rest. Then, I challenge myself to pick the perfect pattern to showcase that yarn.  The skein I am referring to today is a skein of yarn produced by the one and only Clara Parkes. (Remember the first skein I ever knit of hers?)  It is called CVM/Romeldale 2.0, a two-ply fingering weight yarn in the colourway Aborio.  It hardly weighs anything, but it will be quite warm because it's so wooly.  I only have one skein of this lovely yarn measuring 370m.  

Clara Yarn:  CVM/Romeldale 2.0

After much searching the pattern I ended up finally choosing was The Elder Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia (also known as softsweater), a Canadian from Vancouver.  This designer is quite hot right now on Ravelry.  She is the designer behind such beautiful patterns as Waiting for Rain, The Lonely Tree Shawl and her newest pattern The Rain Outside, just to name a few.  The Elder Tree Shawl is a simple lace pattern, which is easy to follow and I am very happy with the result so far.  Hopefully, with blocking one skein will be enough to make a small sized shawl.  Oh, how I wish I bought two skeins because this pattern is written so that you can keep knitting for as long as you have yarn.  It would have been great to knit this to be a bigger shawl.  This yarn is so different than anything I have ever had the opportunity to knit with.  It is a woolen spun yarn and according to Clara Parkes CVM is the most critically rare sheep breed in the United States.  Here is what I have knit so far:

The Elder Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia

If you are interested in being alerted whenever Clara Parkes comes out with a new yarn you can sign up for  her newsletter.  But you have to be fast...it sells out very quickly.

As for finished objects I participated in the Very Shannon Tops, Tanks and Tees Knit a Long  through April and May and ended up knitting a La Maison Rililie pattern called Cinecittà.  It is knit top down, and right from the start you work the lace pattern that will be on the sleeve.  Although the pattern is well written my mind was not as focused as I should have been when starting this pattern and I ended up ripping out the beginning a few times.  Once I was focused though, I knit it in eleven days which I think is a record for me. 

 I knit the first sleeve as directed in the pattern which in place of the ribbing on the sleeves had a lovely cable sweater.  I knit the first sleeve as directed, but once trying it on decided to rip out the cables and reknit it as plain ribbing.  I was much happier with the result. 

First attempt

Second Attempt with ribbing

 The yarn I used was the luxurious Madelinetosh Pashmina in the Baroque Violet colourway.  It was deep in my stash and it feels very good to finally use it.

Madelinetosh Pashmina:  Baroque Violet

Now I am looking forward to picking a few patterns to knit this summer.  I am on vacation in a week and I have so many patterns in my queue that I want to knit next.  I am so excited...stay tuned to my Instagram account as I will try and post some of my trip photos and knitting progress.  Happy summer everyone!  I hope you are all taking some time for yourself.

The Joy of Beautiful Yarn

Looking back at my Ravelry Project page I realize I have been obsessed with knitting for five years now.  I'll never forget when my mother-in-law first told me about Ravelry.  I was hooked. The wealth of knowledge in this website astounded me.  Five years later I can honestly say I am more passionate about knitting than ever. I don't think a day goes by without me knitting a few stitches.  It just brings me that much joy.

Over the past five years I have bought a lot of yarn.  At the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing.  I just bought what attracted me.  At the time I couldn't get over how the variety of yarn available had changed, compared to when I had first learned to knit in my younger days.  But the more I read, the more I perused Ravelry and many knitter's blogs, the more I learned.  Books like The Knitter's Book of Wool by Clara Parkes as well as her Craftsy video Know Your Yarn helped me gain knowledge.  Nowadays I am much more picky about what I buy and I enjoying trying new yarn.

Besides learning about the variety of yarn available, I am also fascinated with the way dyers dye their yarn and the beautiful colourways they create.  Once such dyer is Melissa Thomson of Sweet Fiber Yarns. Her colourways are so appealing.  This year I joined the Sweet Fiber's Sock Yarn Club and was continuously impressed with the yarn I received.  I really love the expertise in which she dyes beautiful unique colourways.  Have a look:

Monarch

Wildflowers

Indigo Dreams

Stepping Stones

Riverbed

I have to admit that I had a hard time choosing just a few pictures of her yarn to share with you. I realize, as I was looking at my photo library, that I seem to take an inordinate amount of Sweet Fiber Yarn pictures.  They are just that pretty.  Here's a few more if I haven't convinced you yet.

 

When you join a Yarn Club it is a bit of a risk.  However, I was never disappointed.  I think it was money well spent.

This year another Sweet Fiber colourway that really caught my interest was Chartreuse.  I used the colourway in Cladonia by Kirsten Kapur, one of my favourite shawls I knit this year.

Cladonia

I loved it so much I couldn't resist knitting Amy Miller's Lake Effect in it as well.

Super Sweet Sock:  Chartreuse

Lake Effect

I have some other Sweet Fiber colourways in my stash and I excited to knit with them in 2016.  I look forward to seeing what colourways Melissa comes up with in the coming year.  When you are knitting the right pattern combined with the right yarn it is so joyous.  That's how I feel when I knit with Sweet Fiber Yarns. 

A Fangirl's Guide to Clara Parkes

Clara Parkes is a name familiar to those crafters wanting to expand their knowledge of yarn.  Whether it's through any of her books, such as the Knitter's Book of Wool, her Craftsy classes (Know Your Yarn  is a favourite of mine), her blog, Knitter's Review,  or the many retreats she teaches at, Clara has shared her yarn expertise. Of course, I shouldn't forget to mention her Instagram and Twitter accounts where she has a huge following.  I think we can all agree that Clara Parkes is the Yarn Guru of the Crafting World.  

If all that didn't keep her busy enough, she has recently become involved in manufacturing her own wool.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on some Clara Yarn 2.0, a 100% Cormo, DK weight yarn.  

Clara Yarn:  Cormo 2.0

I waited several months before I decided what pattern to knit with my two skeins of this special yarn.  I finally decided on a lace shawl pattern called Over the Sea to Skye by Kalurah Hudson.  I really wanted to knit a shawl that consisted of a variety of stitches to see what this yarn could do, and this pattern was a perfect fit.  As a bonus, I had visited the Isle of Skye with my family so I chose this pattern for sentimental reasons as well.

In progress

I had never knit with Cormo before and I have to admit that I enjoyed every minute of it. The yarn was so soft and I was surprised at how different it felt from knitting with merino.  Cormo 2.0 is truly a gorgeous yarn.  I swear I could have finished the pattern much earlier if I hadn't frequently stopped to admire it.  I honestly was sad to knit the last stitch of this pattern and I would have loved to have had enough yarn to knit a sweater.

Blocking had a magical effect on the shawl.  The yarn bloomed, the lace opened up, and the dimensions of the shawl grew quite a bit which is exactly what I wanted. 

It must be amazing to create such a yarn.  Clara Parkes has really opened my eyes to the variety of yarn available and I am leaning toward knitting with more natural yarn and less of the superwashed variety.  I definitely want to expand my yarn palette.

Thank you Clara for such a lovely yarn. I look forward to seeing what you come out with next.