Home again, home again

After my week in Wakefield, I tottered off to Montreal and situated myself on this garden swing. My entire vacation was punctuated by visits to yarn shops and knitters. You know the kind of thing - you tell yourself that you're only on the look out for yarn which comes from the vicinity in which you find yourself. Kind of like beer drinkers, I imagine. Either you get carried away or you don't.

























In Ottawa, I bought 7 skeins Diamond Yarns Luxury Collection Zen (Soy/Bamboo/Cotton) at KnitKnackers on Bank Street, enough to make this summer top. This is the first thing that I've knit for myself since February. I liked knitting with this yarn. I am amazed that it isn't heavy feeling like so many Bamboo yarns are. Also, the price was right - $4.99 per skein.

In case you are wondering, I knit this sideways - stocking stitch with lace insertion on the miccle front and under the arms. Shaping only for the neck. Finished with I-Cord knit on to smooth the edges. I'm glad that Diamond is making decent, accessibly priced yarn. I didn't see much of it elsewhere, sadly.




In Wakefield, I knit with Aniko, Katdry and WakefieldPotter as well as with my sister and daughter. The Wakefield crowd is dyeing their own handspun as well as some super yarn from wholesaler Amtex Yarns in Toronto. My sister and daughter and I went to their Knit Night - very hospitable folks! I wanted to go to Katdry's studio above the Tulipe Noir, but ran out of time. Apparently they sometimes bring the yarn and their spinning wheels to the weekend market.



And of course there was a certain yarn shop in Montreal where I picked up some really nice souvenirs: Mouliné Fine Yarns on Notre Dame St. I acquired 4 skeins of the Handmaiden's Flaxen (65% Silk, 35% Linen). Oooh. Also, Tanis Fibre Arts' Blue Label fingering weight and Pink Label Lace weight, just a skein of each to try. Apparently, according to a chatty individual who was lodged in the Armchair by the cash, Tanis gets her yarn from Amtex as well and they are the also company that makes the Sea Cell that the Handmaiden dyes. Better than that other stuff that people are using per the Armchair. Mouliné is the one Montreal yarn shop where I feel most comfortable. I can always find something really nice and something else for a really good price there. My kind of place.


Finally, the Blue Fir Cone Diamondways sees the light of day!

Despite what the Armchair had to say about this yarn (I listened for a good hour to its gossip), I absolutely love knitting with the Karabella Lace Merino that I used for this shawl. I unpinned it when I came home and took some pictures. I'll probably take more before I let it go to it's future home (in Russia!). Anyway, here they are - just goes to show what you can do with a few stitch dictionaries and a few techniques.





Comments

Helen said…
More of those lovely Magritte clouds... it looks lovely, as is the grey shawl.
Mary Lou said…
Love the blue grey shawl. And sounds like a wonderful vacation. I need me one of them. A week in a cabin somewhere, sitting and doing nothing but knit and read. And eat, of course.
shandy said…
What a beautiful shawl! Such a felicitous choice of colour for the pattern.

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Karabella Lace fir cone shawl center, blocked