The highlight of an event like this is that you get to go and touch and feel the sweaters after the show. The Linden cardi weighs something like 2 pounds in your hand… and then the Aphrodite shawl weighs almost nothing. My mom joined me for the show, and as an intrepid new knitter, I hoped she was inspired and encouraged by some of the projects coming down the runway. That maybe something inside, thought “hey, I could make that.” And for me, since I am always surrounded by my own yarns and colours, it’s nice to get outside and have a look and feel at some other yarns… like seeing Wollmeise knit up for the first time (it looks like it has cotton in it, but it’s 100% wool. Crazy!).

If you missed the show, Three Bags Full will have tons of photos as well as a video on their blog in the upcoming days. Be sure to take a look!

I was immediately smitten with the top portion of the lace. The wandering lines snaking back and forth down the shawl until you reach the weighty, beaded edging. Sivia is well-known for her exquisite and unique beaded lace designs and while this gorgeous shawl pattern was only available previously through the 2008 Year of Lace club, it is now available through Sivia’s website. She explained that this Phoenix Rising redux includes new beading instructions as well as a new lace edging. I was just looking at it, thinking, “I’m so honoured to be wearing this amazing shawl … on my first day in the courtyard garden, no less.”

Here’s the link at Weavezine »

We are lucky to have a pretty extensive Vancouver blog here called Beyond Robson that details all the inner goings on of the city in terms of music, art, food and generally cool stuff. But when visitors come to Vancouver, it’s hard to refer them to a site like that because they’ll have no idea how to decipher it. It also tends to be a bit political in it’s reviews and opinions and so, is kind of more for locals. So, when people say they are coming to Vancouver, I send them a list of my most favourite restaurants and places in Vancouver.

The Foundation Eatery
2301 Main St., Vancouver, BC
http://www.foodvancouver.com/restaurant-review.php?restaurant=508
Vegetarian, but amazing. The very best nachos (and guacamole) in Vancouver (served after 5pm). Ask marirob… they went twice.

Chambar
562 Beatty Street, Crosstown, Vancouver BC
http://www.chambar.com/
Belgian beer and food. Mussels Congolese… really really good. It seems like it might be a bit pretentious, but the restaurant is really quite casual. “Crosstown” is just outside of Gastown, near downtown.

Grub on Main
4328 Main Street, Vancouver
http://grubonmain.ca/
One of the newest restaurants on Main street. Everything is super fresh… and they make a random vegan dessert every day which is remarkably good. That photo to the left… Prohibition Punch in old-school punch bowls with melamine ladles. A combination of Pimm’s lime syrup, ginger beer, cucumber, strawberries, bitters and apple slices… perfect for a warm sunny afternoon on Main Street.

Sweet Revenge
4160 Main Street, Vancouver
http://www.sweet-revenge.ca/main.html
For late night dessert!

Dragon Ball Tea House
1007 W King Edward, Vancouver
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=300
This place is good for late night bubble tea cravings… you’ll have to wait your turn though.

Finch’s Tea & Coffee House
353 West Pender, Vancouver
http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=808
This is my absolute favourite café in Vancouver. I’ve written about it many times here… They make really wonderful baguette sandwiches and fresh soup every day. Masala chai tea. Everything is made fresh, so sometimes the lunch lineups can be long and frustrating (since they always run out of seating too)… but I think it’s worth it. This is just outside Gastown, so if you are visiting old historic downtown Vancouver, this might fit in…

Slickity Jim’s Chat & Chew
2513 Main Street, Vancouver
http://www.vancouverplus.ca/portal/profile.do?profileID=671929
Mostly brunch/breakfast things. During the weekdays that you’ll be here, it most likely will be easy to get in. On the weekends, the lineup is insane.

People emailing me about Vancouver usually want to visit yarn stores too, so the ones that I send them to are Three Bags Full, Urban Yarns, and Maiwa’s new yarn store on Granville Island at the Net Loft.

This summer, the Vancouver Art Gallery is also showing a pretty massive exhibit, “Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art” which includes a single Vermeer painting and over one hundred pieces of artwork from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. If you’re in Vancouver sometime before September 13th, this is worthy of at least one visit. I’ve been twice already and it’s still not enough to absorb all of the work. The detail and skill in some of the works is inconceivable.

And sort of related, is the Saturday Circus that meets outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturdays… I found Christa Giles, local knitwear designer and knitting instructor, there teaching people the art of hooping this past weekend!

And there are a few newer-to-me places where I would take my empty stomach on any night of the week:

Jang Mo Jib
1719 Robson St, Vancouver
http://tamarindandthyme.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/korean-food-at-jang-mo-jib/
Handmade Korean dumplings. Hot pot that is to die for.

Book Kyung Ban Jeoum
1638 Robson, Vancouver
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/515627
It has the Korean version of my beloved Za Jiang Mein. Wheat noodles smothered in black bean sauce and onions. It’s item number one on the menu and rings up under $7. I could eat this every day of my life, happily.

Motomachi Shokudo
740 Denman Street, Vancouver
http://www.beyondrobson.com/restaurants/2009/02/motomachi_shokudo/
If you can’t wait in the line up for ramen at Kintaro on Denman, go to Motomachi. It’s run by the same people… just a little bit more upscale and organic.

I’m off to find some dinner now before tonight’s spinning class…

I talked about changing my dye practice from very sharply variegated colourways, requiring a shameful amount of plastic waste, and moving towards a more water- and energy-efficient workflow. That is the reason I have moved more towards kettle-dyeing, semi-solid shade colourways and multiple colour overdyes… so that I could better take advantage of the low-impact benefits of acid dyeing.

Also, I related to the guild members how natural dyeing is not a benefit to the environment for larger scale operations and noted how Lorna’s Laces Green Line ended up being dyed with conventional synthetic dyes.

Regardless of natural vs. synthetic dye sources, I’ve also tried to implement the colour principles that I learned from Michele Whipplinger including the idea of chromatic neutrals. That is, I’m trying to dye more complex browns and greys as opposed to colours that are so obviously… colourful. Colours that are slightly desaturated and more rich in depth.

I’m also working with a new 50/50 silk and merino laceweight base yarn. It’s a slightly heavier laceweight, but so glossy and gorgeous. It’s 765 yards in a 100 g skein and I’m looking forward to knitting up something like a Swallowtail Shawl in it. It has been, so far, taking the colour so well and I’ll be adding it to the online shop soon too.

There are so many things to learn and so many things to explore. I’m happy that I’ll be spending the summer dyeing more of these deeper, richer colours in preparation for the autumn.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a fashion designer who referred to stockinette stitch as “jersey”. For whatever reason, that word seemed so 80’s. Not sure why. It’s the same thing, just different terminology from a different field. Whatever you call it, I love my plain knitting. No need to look down and watch my stitches, I am pleased that I can form these stitches relatively quickly and completely in the dark. Sometimes, I knit in bed and actually fall half asleep while still knitting stockinette. A particularly bad thing that I sometimes do is knit at stoplights. This is NOT recommended. But knitting at stoplights prevents the other evil that is road rage.

I love that I can knit on a stockinette sleeve in the movie theatre and not lose my place… good thing, since I managed to spend all of Friday night at the Twilight Drive In theatre in Langely… If you haven’t been, you must try it! It’s kind of a trek, but super relaxing to be able to sit in your own car and talk and knit through the entire movie(s) (they show three features in one night). During those six hours, I think I may have eaten my body weight in gummy bears and Pringles.

This knitting is so simple and so soothing. It’s automatic and doesn’t require much angst or thinking. I knit this sleeve of the Whisper Cardigan on much of the drive to Seattle for the Cheese Festival this past weekend. Rather than starting with 90 stitches as in the pattern, I followed the recommendation of a couple knitters on Ravelry and cast on for 76 stitches instead… so I wouldn’t have such a huge bell-shaped sleeve. Not that my arms are particularly tiny. But anyway.

A weekend full of automatic, plain old knitting has got me to the point of finishing this test sweater. I might find some time for doing the sewn bind off of that 1×1 rib tonight… or tomorrow. Finishing never seems as relaxing as knitting. Now that Dollhouse is finished and I’m still waiting for the return of TrueBlood, I’ve been given the first season of The Wire so that I have something to knit to.

It’s lovely that my mom finished knitting her first project too, last week. It’s a stockinette vest for my dad, knit in a Shetland Aran yarn, with 1×1 ribbing at the bottom edge, armholes and neckline. We adapted a pattern to fit my mom’s gauge on 5 mm needles and the size, pre-blocking, appears to be pretty darn good. She’s encouraged, I think, because she’s excited about starting a vest for herself this time. I like when people are happy about their knitting.

Back in January, I had the delight and pleasure of meeting Miriam Felton, designer of the lovely Icarus shawl from Interweave. She told me that after TNNA she was going to embark on turning her knit design endeavours into her full time livelihood. I was so inspired and encouraged to hear this and wished her well. So when I got back from TNNA, I pinged her on Ravelry and said that I’d like to send her some yarn… see if she’d like something to play with. I ended up sending her a few skeins of CashSilk Lace and she ended up making this…

It’s called the Nefertiti Wrap and takes about 2 skeins of CashSilk Lace. I do love the diagonal design to it… and also how it’s not a single lace pattern throughout. One lace patterns flows and melds into the next. Very very lovely.

I’m thinking about Nefertiti this afternoon as I collect my things and thoughts, on my way to speaking tonight for the Coquitlam Weavers & Spinners Guild. Public speaking always makes me intensely nervous, so I hope I don’t lose my voice, insult anyone, or make any other major gaffs… I’ll be talking about natural dyeing among other things. We’re starting at about 7 pm at Place des Arts. Fingers crossed that everything goes well. Yay.

The yarn is not perfect. At 2644 yards per pound, it squeaks into the laceweight category. Some parts are slubby. Some parts are under-spun and some parts are overly fine and over-spun. But it started out as something so beautiful, ideal, and full of potential. And in the end, it’s still beautiful, but in it’s own imperfect, awkward way.

And now, it’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been at the studio now for six months already (it’ll be six months next Friday). I’ve been madly creating lesson plans, teaching, dyeing, starting the fibre club, creating new sets of repeatable colourways, and just getting settled in. I think now might be a nice time to catch a breath and sit for a bit.

I’d love to have you come join us at the studio for a Knit + Spin afternoon in celebration of our Half-Anniversary! It’s going to be Saturday, May 23 from 1 pm to 4 pm at the studio.

We’ll have our hand dyed yarns and fibres at 20% off for that one day in the studio, so even if you don’t have time to come knit or spin, drop by and shop for a bit! I’d love to see you there!

Now, time to start organizing the resort lodging and 8.5 hour drive from Vancouver to Oregon! Anyone else going? Did you get everything you wanted and more? Anyone ever been? Suggestions to someone going for the first time?

the fibre // merino Merino. For me, this fibre was so tempting, so enticing, I had to learn to spin it very early on. Usually, new spinners are steered away from merino and to stronger, longer stapled fibres, but spinning a skein of sproingy, super squishy merino will have you hooked. Spin this fibre with a worsted drafting method and you’ll get a beautiful and classic yarn.

the colourway // renewal Spring is a time to renew and be made new. These colours make me think of potential, flexibility and growth. There are longer stretches of rose and lavender and shorter intervals of gold and rust and tulip leaf green. Spinning this all together and 2-plying back on itself might be a recipe for skeins of muddy looking yarn. Maybe take this opportunity to try spinning a fine, firm singles and then Navajo plying into a 3-ply in order to maintain the clarity of the colours.

I truly like to believe that we can renew ourselves. That we can be made fresh and new. That no one is keeping score of your past mistakes. That you can always try and do better. For myself personally, I’ve dedicated the month of May to trying to improve how I think about things. To really try to believe that no one is watching or waiting for me to fail. That I am doing my best and that hopefully a smigen of good will come of it.

To follow up with the previous post about meaningful work, part of me felt very ungrateful for having written it. I think that despite the great expense involved with creating and setting up this studio and business and how stressed I might get about making this all happen, I am very blessed to be in this position. I realize that in our current economic situation people around me are losing their jobs and that the cost of living and healthcare for everyone is very high. It does seem to be quite a luxury to be able to even make an attempt at your dreams.