Citizen Shawl and Girl Scout Camp

Just a quick reminder that Destination Yarn will be at River Colors Studio this Saturday for the Ohio Fiber Day!!!

So I was a Girl Scout for many, many years. I went on the field trips, did the crafts, sold cookies to everyone I knew, and can still recite the pledge* I even went to camp several years in a row:

My cousin Angela and I at Camp Crowell Hilaka**. Judging by my glasses, fannypack, and the prevalence of neon I'm guessing this was taken somewhere right around 1990.

Most of the songs I sing to my children are songs from Girl Scout Camp. Even if now that I'm an adult I realize how wildly inappropriate some of them are.** I credit at least part of my interest in travel, camping, and adventure to the time I spent at camp.

So when I dyed up my most recent batch of Girl Scout Camp I snagged a skein for myself before it could sell out again. By the way this colorway sells I'm guessing quite a few of you out there had great big Brownie Smiles.

That or it's just pretty. One of the two.

And I used it to knit a Citizen Shawl:


I love it when the yarn matches the pattern name like that. For example Sunshine socks in the Florida colorway. So a Citizen Shawl out of Girl Scout Camp? Makes me unreasonably happy.

So did ending with only 10 grams of yarn left. I love one skein projects that use the entire skein of yarn.

I wasn't happy with the 6 rows at the end, though. I wish the pattern had said that the sample shawl did not include those rows. The edging just seems really bulky to me with all that going on. One or 2 rows would have been plenty.

I do love how the lace pattern makes the plain part scallop, though. So we'll call the pattern a win overall.

While I was blocking it I went ahead and reblocked my Traveling Jeanne shawl for the 3rd (!!!) time. It's ridiculous how much I wear that shawl.

Seeing the two of them together reminded me of perhaps the most ubiquitous song of my Girl Scout Career:

Make New Friends


But Keep the Old


One is Silver and the other Gold.

I think I'm going to enjoy my new friend as much as I do the old one.

STATS:
On Ravelry: Girl Scouts are good Citizens Shawl
Pattern: Citizen Shawl
Yarn: Destination Yarn Sock Yarn Postcard – a super-soft blend of Merino and Nylon.
Colorway: “Girl Scout Camp”
Mods: None
If I could do it again: Wouldn't knit the 6 rows at the end.
Verdict: I see myself wearing this one all the time so WIN.

*On my honor I will try to Serve God and my country to help people at all times and to live by the Girl Scout Code. I totally typed that w/o the google. Hells Yeah.

**I recently learned that Crowell Hilaka is closing. Completely bummed me out. Felt like an old friend had passed away. I'm hoping that there are other Girl Scout Camp options available when my daughter is old enough to go.

*** WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST! You can reward yourself with a sleeve of Thin Mints if you can tell me what song that's from.

Ok but what about the yarn?

So yeah my kids are cute and all but the question I know is on everyone's mind is:

WHAT ABOUT THE YARN? WHEN WILL THERE BE YARN?

And the answer is...soonish. Honestly I thought Destination Yarn be fully functional and up and running again by now. Yeah. I underestimated how thoroughly outnumbered I would be with two kids. But I did ship off a big package to Yarn Cravin' ... and I have started dipping my toes into the whole dying thing again:

And really it didn't feel like the Fourth of July without dying up some America the Beautiful:

it's a tradition.

A really, really pretty, and rainbow-y tradition.

And this year I dyed it up in my new, previously unlisted on Etsy, base yarn "Letter".

OH IS IT SPROINGY.

So just to get the ball rolling I put a few skeins of that limited edition loveliness up on Etsy along with a few other fun summer colorways.

Other than that I'm working towards the Ohio Fiber Day at River Colors on July 16th.

Here's the blurb from their newsletter:

River Colors is hosting Destination Yarns and the Fiber Network to revisit (in some cases) and introduce you to a wonderful group of local fiber people. The Fiber Network are members of Ohio Proud and want to encourage you to support Ohio-based yarns and fibers. Destination Yarns is local dyer, well known for incredible colorways and River Colors is proud to have Jeanne back to sell her locally dyed yarns. As a team, we are hoping that everyone will then spread the word about our awesome local fiber resources. Join us on 7/16 where you can choose from yarn, roving and raw fleece from a variety of animals, including alpacas, goats, sheep and llamas. In addition, The Fiber Network has some expert dyers who are happy to share their dye process. Come meet our local people, learn about the importance of local yarns in the fiber world and celebrate our area!

I'm super excited about it! I think I'm going to try to have some sortof drawing for a spectacular door prize for anyone who shows up wearing a finished object made with Destination Yarn.  A little peer pressure might motivate me to actually finish that Citizen Shawl I started in Girl Scout Camp:


Unfortunately, though, the etsy site will be pretty bare-bones until after this show. I just don't have the depth of inventory right now to do both.

Someday, though, there will be yarn.  Lots and lots of pretty yarn.

The Paris Scarf

A trunk show is a special event within the fashion world in which an artist or designer puts on a special display of his or her work for review by a select group. They are referred to as "trunk shows" because a designer or sales rep will literally showup with a trunkof merchandise to showoff. Trunk shows are common in boutiques and boutique divisions of department stores.

Destination Yarn has two trunk shows coming up – one at Soft ‘n Sassy on Feb. 7 from 12-5, and one at Stash Style on Feb. 27.

I’m super excited.

Crazy excited, actually. My mind is reeling with the possibilities. Door Prizes! Free patterns with purchase! New colorways!

I’m just a little behind on that whole “trunk of merchandise” thing.

So not only have I been dying like a madwoman but I’ve also been knitting samples as fast as I possibly can.

Basic Sock knit out of the London.

It’s not just socks, though… I want to show that my yarn is awesome no matter what it becomes. And really what’s more luxurious and fashionable than a beautiful scarf? Except for Paris, of course. And a scarf knit out of Paris? Divine.


Although pre-blocking not so much.

But there’s potential there...


Throw it in some water and wool wash…


And voila!


The pattern is the Strangling Vines Lace Scarf.


It is knit out of Paris Night.

The sock yarn works wonderfully in a scarf. It blocks out well and is fine enough for lacework without being so fine that its difficult to work with.


You can tell these pictures were taken awhile ago – there’s actual color in the background as opposed to the awful gray world of January. But a project isn’t completely finished until I post some pictures and update my Ravelry page.

So now we can call this one done.

And with that I’m back to the knitting…. And dying…. And running around like a crazy lady.

These shows are going to be good!

Garter all the time Garter all the time Garter all the ti-ime

Ok so that was the second “Party all the time” reference in 2 weeks. Someone needs to slap me or get me my own VH1 clip show STAT.

So first of all I just want to thank everyone for all of their support in my new adventure. You guys rule. Seriously. I was so nervous about this week but it’s gone better that I ever imagined in my wildest dreams. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!



I really don’t want to turn my blog solely into a “buy my stuff” blog so I won’t be doing an intense series of Destination Yarn posts again. That being said I have to admit I’ve really, really enjoyed this little experiment. I like seeing the yarn next to the travel photos in convenient scroll-down form. So chances are as I dye more places I’ll probably blog about them, too. If I get too self-promoting or annoying feel free to slap me, though. I can take it.

Random eye candy picture of sunset over Lake Erie thanks to my Dad.

I think one of the coolest things that’s happened this week (other than delivering yarn to Randeep by bike. That was super fun! I felt like the yarn fairy.) was discovering that a Canadian artist is doing the same thing I’m trying to do. He’s condensing cities into a palate of 3 Pantone colors.

His artists statement was a lot more legitimate and a lot less “ooh shiny!” than mine but still… knowing that someone else out there (a real artist for a real magazine none the less!) had the sameish idea is really reassuring somehow.



Anyways! Enough about Destination Yarn. How about some Garter stitch goodness?





That would be the Almost Garter Scarf (on Rav here). I saw Bonnie’s version and had to knit one as soon as possible.



It’s insanely simple and clever and mindless…





Perfect for this crazy week.



I didn’t even think about the colors. I just used the leftover skeins of Patons I had from my Norwegian mittens and Earflap Hat. So now I’ll have a scarf to complete the set!



In Cleveland news – last weekend we went to Luxe. It’s a new restaurant in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. It was excellent. Great food, great service, and their signature drink, the Luxe Bloom, is amazing. Afterwards we migrated a few blocks and played some bocce at the Stone Mad – which is quickly becoming my fav. chill bar in Cleveland. I need to try their food next time we’re there now that the restaurant part is up and running…



Ok. That’s about all I got right now – Have a wonderful weekend!



Oh yeah and there’s still time to enter into the Destination Yarn Contest!

Irish Hiking Set

So I finally finished the Mmmmalabrigio Irish Hiking Scarf that I’ve been working on forever:

Just in time to give it to Carolyn (my bro’s girlfriend) for Christmas.


I also knit a hat to go with it:


I started with the Palindrome hat loving how it incorporated the cables just on the rim…however a few rounds into it I realized that the cables are not perfectly centered on the ribs. I understand why the cables can’t be centered in order to make the pattern completely reversible but it was driving me crazy. I need things to be centered and symmetrical and perfect and even. OCD is my friend! So yeah... I started over using the cable and rib pattern from the Basic Cables Hat in Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation, then when I was 3 repeats in I switched to the directions for the body of the Palindrome hat.



Best of both worlds, I think. Centered cables and squisy ribbing. Also? Love how the decreases work with the ribs - details like that in designs always make me happy:

Carolyn loved the set and I’ve seen her wearing it several times. Actually I’ve been standing next to her when other people complimented it so I know it’s a success!

Oh and the yarn is Malabrigo in the colorway Oceanos. I used just under 3 skeins with size 9 needles for the scarf, size 8 for the hat.

So that’s 4 of the 5 things I made for people for Christmas...I’ll try to post the last one tomorrow!

Ghetto Lightbox Fun

So I don’t usually so Work in Progress Wednesday but while I had the “lightbox” set up I took some pics of what was handy… here’s what I’ve been working on lately:

Mmmmmmalabrigo Irish Hiking Scarf:

About half way done. Love it.

Back to School U-neck:

So not done in time for Thanksgiving. Not even close. The front has been re-done, though and it fits. I love me some short row bust darts – those plus the vertical ones incorporated in the pattern and my boobs have a very custom made home.

Swirl Socks:


These have been my traveling sock for a while now. I cast on for them back on our mini-vaca to Detroit in July. Since we (finally) have no travel plans for awhile – until January at least – I’ve bumped them up to my daily bus knitting.

In other knitting related news - tonight I’m teaching my brother’s girlfriend how to knit! I don’t think he’s super-thrilled about it but we don’t care. He’ll realize how awesome it is to have a knitter for a significant other once she bribes him with some new handknits. Andy really appreciates the handknits:


I reused that photo from this post waaaaay back in Dec. 2005.

And also - I just wanted to give a shout out to Detroit. It rules. And not just because Kristin lives there. Like Cleveland and Pittsburgh and Milwaukee and many others it's a wonderful and interesting city with an unnecessarily bad rap. I hate it when people (or "studies") judge a city by reputation and not by actually going there and experiencing it. Yeah for the Rust Belt!!!

Here and There Worms Scarf

So how about another finished project while we’re all recovering from our post-Halloween weekend hangover?

Worms Scarf:

Pattern: Here and There Cables Scarf from Scarf Style by Norah Gaughan

Yarn: Mmmmmmalabrigo Merino Worsted in the colorway Geranio. I used about 2.5 skeins.

Needles: Size 9 Knitpicks Options

Modifications: I knit one less repeat than the pattern called for and used a larger needle than called for.

The Verdict: I love it. It took forever and was kindof monotonous towards the end but it’s totally, completely worth it. I can’t wait for it to get cold now that I have this squishy, soft, merino goodness to keep me warm while I wait for the bus!

Ravelry: Here it is on Ravelry

Once I was finished knitting it I decided that it needed a good, steam blocking. The cable pattern was pretty tight together and I wanted a wider scarf:


Before

During

After

I love the bright pink color! My mom says it looks like worms – hence the name - but whatever. It’ll look good with my black coat. Also? It matches my roses perfectly:

Btw it’s hard to photograph a very heavy scarf on a skinny rosebush….

Eh. You get the idea. These will probably be the last of the garden pics for the year – it’s supposed to frost overnight so this evening the plan is to rip everything out and get the yard all shut-down for winter.

Oh yeah and I’m designing a cabely hat to go with it… the sketching/swatching/charting part is done and I’m about 75% into the hat:

And I'm out of yarn. Crap. So much for the plan to not buy anymore yarn for awhile!

In other news – I’m on myspace now. I caved to peer pressure. I’m not super active but if you want to be my friend that would be awesome since I only have like 10. Here’s the link to my profile.

And a few more random shots just for the fun of it:



Have a great Monday!