An evening with Debbie Stoller

Tonight I got to meet an important icon in the knitting world - Debbie Stoller, author of the "Stitch & Bitch" series of books.  This is the lady that taught me how to knit.  She made it so easy to understand what I was doing, and how to do it.  I have been wanting to meet her since 2004 when I bought Stitch & Bitch, and that time in 2007 when I *almost* met her doesn't count. (but that's another story)

The book signing tonight was at The Yarn Garden in Portland.  I went with my friend Alyssa.  The traffic going downtown was awful (due to a 5 car pileup), but we made it with a few minutes to spare!  We were pretty much the last ones there though, but that meant that we didn't have to wait long for the evening to get going!

First, Debbie talked about her new book Superstar Knitting, and explained what each of the chapters were about.  I am really excited about the colorwork section.  Yeah, yeah, I've been knitting for almost 7 years and have never done colorwork other than stripes....  During this part she passed around the different samples from the book.  They really look different in person, and there are a few things I would not have considered, but after seeing them in person I actually want to knit them!

The second portion of the evening was a small lesson on knitting lace and what stitches make lace (yo, and a few different decreases).  Even though it was remedial for me, since I have knit many lace projects, the one thing that stood out was reasons for where yarn overs (yos) and decreases go in lace.  She had a sample chart that had yos and decreases in different spots and a knitted sample showing what the chart looked like.  Well, it was clear after seeing that, that there is a reason, that sometimes the yos can look "suck ass" (her words) if they're on the wrong side of the slanted decrease.


This is a sample from the book - I loved this tiger in a dress so much! I'm totally making one for Hazy!


Here's the lady that was at the back of the room who ended up with the stack of samples!

At the end of the evening she signed books.  I brought along my Stitch & Bitch book and when we got there we were given the pre-ordered a copy of the new book.  While she signed my books, I gave her a small token of appreciation, a crochet bracelet that I made from her "Happy Hooker" book.


Me and my new friend Debbie ;)

Urban Fiber Arts

There is a new yarn store in town folks! Urban Fiber Arts, in the heart of Portland's Pearl District! My friend and fellow PDXKnitblogger, Cindy Abernethy, is the owner! She is fullfilling her lifelong dream of owning a yarn shop - I just think that is so cool! Way to go Cindy!

This shop is easy to get to - it's 2 blocks from Powell's and is in the free zone of the PDX Streetcar. She is on 11th between Flanders and Glisan.

Among the awesome yarns and fibers dyed by local fiber artists, you will find some of my stitch markers, batts and handspun yarn! So go check it out!

No snag stitch markers, with crystals and pearls



Candy colored sock stitch markers, also no-snag


1 oz fiber batts that have everything but the kitchen sink in them, they make fun textured yarns!


For now, it is easier for me to consign my crafts rather than open an etsy store. This way I don't have to list items and mail them out. I don't have time for all that with Hazel running around.

The Oregonian knitting blog did a nice interview with Cindy about her shop, I'm putting the link here so I can reference it later if I need to. I didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me that a photo of my batts was included! Sweet!

More F.O.s

I've been a busy little knitter! I thought I was all done with shopping for presents, and then I went to this new yarn shop that opened last weekend (Make One), and since then I've been inspired to make more stuff with the yarn I bought! I am working on a cowl for a friend's birthday, but it is after Christmas, so it's not critical knitting right now.

There is one F.O. that failed. I made one of those slippers that the Yarn Harlot was raving about, because I thought it would be a fast knit. Well, the 90 minutes turned into 2 days because I *could not get gauge*. When I got stitch gauge, my row gauge was totally off and I ended up ripping back a few times to get the correct measurement. I only made one slipper and when I felted it, it looked like a freaking baked potato, I kid you not. It was pitiful. Also, it didn't fit my foot. I brought it to knit night and my friend whose name also happens to be Rachel took it to fix it and make it look good so she could give it to her mom, who coincidentally only has one foot! I call that serendipity! I still plan on making another slipper, but maybe a darker yarn would felt better.

These are the same fingerless mitts that are in my previous fo post, using the left over yarn from those mitts, but these are shorter.



Roving from Susan's Kitchen that I spun up and plied with a thread of beads! It is very pretty in person. I am giving this to my mom, but she may end up asking me to knit something up for her.


Duet by Linda Wilgus, from the Winter Knitty
Yarn is Cascade Rustic
This is for my sister in law. I'm giving it to her as a scarf, I don't know if it's stretchy enough to wear as a hat. The linen is making it stiff. A note for people using this yarn. It bleeds dye like crazy! So wash wash wash, and use vinegar to help set the dye.


A Simple Yet Effective shawl, out of some of my handspun (Everything but the kitchen sink is in this shawl, even some beads). This is for Owen's grandmother!

Big Yarn

Great big ball of yarn!

An Evening With Franklin Habit

Well, it wasn't the musical production or chorus line that I had pictured in my mind, but it was an hour of comedy that only Franklin could provide :) He talked about lace knitting from the Victorian era, the lace he knit for his niece Abigail and read two of his essays "Knittin' with a whip" and "Immortality" (this one made me tear up a little). He also had a trivia section where the prizes were the totebags from Interweave knits and Knit for you cards (thanks for the card Monica). The highlight of the night for me, was when Franklin brought out his Leaf and Nupp shawl to show off, and I had mine along, and he gushed over it and said that his shawl looked anemic compared to mine! I was over the moon when he said that!!! Overall a fun evening, and thanks to Knit/Purl for hosting him!


Fun swag, and he signed my book too!

Cascade Alpaca Farm

Went for a drive up to hood river and found a yarn shop with an alpaca farm. Score!

Camp Pluckyfluff Re-Cap

Click for larger image

This was such a fun camp taught by Lexi Boeger ! There were 5 students (including the owners of Urban Fauna Studio, Jamie and Blas). The day was filled with spinning and drum carding and playing around with different techniques. I think the most important thing I learned from this class was to just "Let it go through the spinning wheel" it was hard for me to not draft and make the perfectly thin yarn that I'm used to making, so this was a biggie!!

This was the first yarn we made and we learned how to make coils, granny stacks and twists.


The second yarn was a drum carded batt that I put in everything but the kitchen sink - BFL, alpaca, wool, mohair, wensleydale, flash, angelina, sari silk, merino/tencel, bamboo, snippets of ribbon yarn, tinsel, recycled coke bottle fiber and even some shredded money.

We broke for lunch and ate at a Pho restaurant down the street. I became addicted to the coconut bubble tea and had to go back on Sunday to get another one!!

After the break we came back and learned how to attach things to our yarn - felted baubles, sequins, ricrack, feathers, and my personal favorite yellow easter chicks (I am planning an Easter yarn with some of these attached to it).



The technique I really liked, but didn't have much to practice with was spinning carded mohair locks and angelina fiber over a core yarn to make a whispy airy yarn. The effect was so pretty, however, I didn't like the color of mohair (yellow) and I used too much fiber at once so mine was not as airy as it was supposed to be.



Last we learned how to spin fabric and tail spinning. This is still on my bobbin, I didn't like the fabric technique very much, it made too dense of a yarn and the tail spinning was not working well for me because of my cor yarn.

There was one other lady in the class who had the same wheel as me and even had the jumbo flyer on it!! That was neat!

First Art Yarn

Some of the yarn i made at camp today

OMG SQUEEEE OMG

I'm going to camp pluckyfluff!!

A few Cool Peeps I met at Stitches

Diane from Creatively Dyed Yarn! She has fabulously dyed yarns!
(this one is for Patrice! She says Hi to you!)


OMG, cannot remember her name (she's from Purlescence Yarns), but her hair matched the dyed cashmere silk perfectly!!


This is Jasmin from the Knitmore Girls podcast! I think I saw her more than anyone else, she couldn't stay away from us cool people :)


Emma the dog, she had a special seat harness, too cute


Lexi Boeger (pluckyfluff), she is an all around cool person!! And I only talked to her for about 15 mins.


Jamie from Urban Fauna Studio! And a crazy guy (Bloss?) in the background ;)


Lucy Neatby! OMG, she is so rainbowy I can't stand it!!

Yarn Crawl Haul

Yarn Crawl Haul

Saturday was the PDX-SEA yarn crawl. Ladies from a Seattle knitting group took the train down to Portland and went to three local yarn stores.

Photo by Sara

I met up with some ladies from my knitting group at the MAX station near my house and we went down to the Train station downtown. Angela, Bobbie, Tami, Karen, Noriko, Sara (with her baby Conner in his adorable Gnomey hat) and I met up with more more ladies at the station and we all waited for the Seattle group. I was probably the most popular person for about 5 minutes because I was handing out Abstract Fiber spinning samples and book marks as they came into the station. Then everyone split into their own groups.

My group went to Dublin Bay first. They were so nice to have some tastey goodies and apple cider refreshments for us!! I found some wonderful Casbah sock yarn and Sea Wool that came with a pattern for a baby hat, leggings and booties, and a sheep pin. I also got a free sample of SOAK :)

The next stop was Knit Knot studio. I thought it was a cute little store. They had one interesting yarn that had a little bit of everything in it (alpaca, camel, yak, wool, and soy. I restrained myself and didn't make a purchase there.

Our little group headed to Cupcake Jones and I got a mini chocolate cupcake and a large PB&J to-go. We also went to Cacao to have "hot chocolate" It was more like a dark chocolate bar melted with a little bit of milk to make it drinkable. I think the next time I go there I will only get the "shot" size, or split the larger size with someone, it was definitely too rich for me and I was glad to have water to drink with it!

Photo by Sara

We all walked over to Knit Purl. I found two skeins of Manos del Uruguay for my 4 Seasons blanket. Now I have enough yarn to finish it! Yay!

Angela, Sara, Noriko and I went over to the Button Emporium, but we were denied because the shop is moving around the corner. Honestly, we were paying customers that just wanted a few buttons!! I guess I will have to go after the next Spinnerati meeting since the store is just around the corner from the library.

After meeting up again at the Starbucks, Susan, Angela, Kathy and I decided to go back to Dublin Bay - mistake for me, because I ended up getting some Hand Maiden Angel Hair yarn - it is like Kid-Silk Haze, but you get twice as much yarn for the same price. I want to make the sea-foam scarf that was on display in the store and also found in spin-off magazine.

Kathy was generous and drove Angela and me home! I was glad not to have to ride MAX for an hour after all that walking!!

Great American Afghan

On Tuesday I met a woman at Abundant Yarn in Portland, she teaches a class on the Great American Afghan. I mentioned that I was wanting to make this, but did not have a clue where to start out, so she gave me a few tips. First, I had to pick out my palette. You pick 5 colors that you like or that will go with the room you want to use it in. Then you pick 5 more colors to compliment those first 5. Then she gave me a schematic of the actual blanket so that I could use colored pencils and decide what I wanted my blanket to look like!

I only needed one thing....

Yeah, Knitpicks is an evil site! I just went to buy a set of size 5 harmony 8" dpns to start a lace shawl, and I ended up with:
Harmony Needle Tips Sz 13
Harmony Wood DPNs 6in Sz 2 (back up set)
Harmony Wood DPNs 8in Sz 5
Needle Cables 47inch & 60inch
Azure Crayon 2 skeins (for a baby kimono)

I do think I was very restrained because I could have spent an extra 16 dollars to get free shipping, but I didn't. Go me!