Kinokuniya, Seattle

I actually made it to Seattle despite my employer's every bureaucratic effort to prevent it. That's a bit of an exaggeration, maybe, but it seemed so at the time! I went there for work, but stayed on my own dime over Memorial Day weekend. Seattle is one of my favorite cities for many reasons, not least of which are all the wonderful yarn stores. As soon as my delegation returned to Europe, I rented a Zipcar Saturday morning (thanks for turning me on to Zipcar, Deb!) and, with my friend GPS, headed to Kinokuniya Bookstore, Little Knits, and Hilltop Yarn in the Queen Anne district. I spent Sunday on Bainbridge Island at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.

Kinokuniya is cool Japanese bookstore in Seattle's International District. It appears to have every book and magazine published in Japan including a healthy selection of knitting and other craft books.

I picked up Vivian Hoxbro's Advanced Domino-Knitting and Three Crochet Plants by Knot.
I haven't been able to find an English-language version of Advanced Domino-Knitting, but it has enough English in it to decipher the patterns, and like other Japanese craft books, it has excellent charts. I've posted photos of a few projects I haven't seen on Ravelry.

From Three Crochet Plants:






Kinokuniya is attached to Uwajimaya, a very large Japanese grocery store.

I bought lots of green tea,

then headed for Little Knits in West Seattle.

Waiting and Waiting

and waiting and waiting. And spinning. I won't bore you by whining how work has overtaken my life at the moment. I'll just say I've spent endless time waiting for callbacks and return e-mails instructing me on how to use the new travel software that was designed to make my life easier, but has actually messed everything up. And that's from someone who likes new technology, hard and soft.

I do like my new Bluetooth enabled Jawbone, one of those wireless earpieces that allows me to talk on my cell handsfree. (I have a new cell phone too, a Samsung Omnia, a touch-screen mobile device on which I actually spend more time texting, e-mailing, surfing the web, and taking photos, than talking.) I spun tonight while talking, I spun while watching Keith Obermann. After getting past the dreds in the locks - corny, but true - the fibers easily slide against themselves as I pull them into the spin. It is possible to achieve small moments of flow in a way impossible for me while knitting. While it's possible to achieve flow in any activity one does, I think spinning is the ultimate. I can imagine it's more intense on a wheel, because you don't have to stop and wind.

I hope to get good enough to spin this soon.

I bought it at Nancy's shop, but I want to be able to spin with some consistency before I touch it.

If I can get past the technology blocks to get an airline ticket, I will take spinning as my travel project. Maybe a sock to knit on the plane because I don't have the courage to spin in public yet, but I will definitely spin for at least a few minutes at night will I watch the news. I think the public has gotten used to seeing knitters in public now. I get smiles in airports now, rather than those "what the hell are you doing?" looks.

Back to sliding fibers, the locks make spinning silk seem easy. On a spindle at least.

No, I have not given up knitting though I haven't done since the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

And, no, you cannot have my yarn.

The locks are spinning up nicely. In absence of spinning tools, I separated them a bit by hand at first, and with the advice of Kitty Kitty and Javajem, brushed them with hairbrush. Actually they recommended a flicker and a dog brush, but I don't have those either.

I barely pre-draft now. I tug at an inch or two, then start spinning right away. Almost all of the curly bits disappeared. I'm learning how to retain some of them when I attach a new piece. They will probably disappear in the final knitted project.

It spun up really fast until I had all this on the spindle. It seemed like it was getting too full, so I wound it on the ball winder. Indeed, it was beginning to felt on the bottom where I set spindle in motion, so now I know to wind it off a bit sooner.

Felting's going to be a factor in the knitting project I choose because these locks are not superwash. I'll probably knit socks. Who cares if they'll wear like Russian felted boots?

How will I keep it from felting when I wash the plied hanks? A question for the experts.

I just learned that it's possible to freeze whole citrus fruits and tomatoes, and lots of other food too. Read Mark Bittman's article in last Wednesday's New York Times.

YPF: MSWF Loot

I was intrigued by this roving. it's 100% wool. Most people told me that it needs to be combed, but I ran into a woman who told me that she spins it as is. As usual, the colors drew me to it.

Before Deb, Debbie, and I left for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Sunday morning, I told Deb that I absolutely did not need any more sock yarn since I have plenty, and my sock knitting mojo seems to have left. What did I buy? Sock Yarn! What was I thinking? It was predictable, I guess.

I couldn't resist these lovelies. From left to right:
Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn (purple and red, how could resist?); STR Lightweight "Scum Bubbles;" more Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn; STR Lightweight "Pond Scum;" Creatively Dyed Yarn "Ocean;" Sock Hop by Dancing Leaf Farm, no colorway specified.

Here's Dianne, owner of Creatively Dyed Yarn, doing a brisk business. We had to wade through lots of mud to get to her tent. I guess I haven't mentioned that it never stopped raining the whole time we were there.

Not for one freakin' moment.

Entering the Main Building.

The Fold. I can't believe I actually got into the booth!

Sock Hop by Dancing Leaf Farm

I bought more roving too.

Corriedale, by Grafton Fibers

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Handpainted Roving

100% Merino Wool

Though I love what I bought, I thought the roving selection was small, and few of the colors appealed to me (maybe it was all sold Saturday?) So I bought this too:

Non-toxic yarn dye. Doubly, what was I thinking??? Well, actually, I was thinking about that beautiful over-dyed Sundara yarn that I was hardly ever able to acquire. It sold out in seconds. Anyway, I already dread the mess. And I have to learn how to get the colors I want.

Finally, a new spindle was at the top of wish list. Here's my new Bosworth drop spindle.

I almost bought a Golding too, but decided that I'd get one later. Maybe at Rhinebeck, if I go, or next year. Look at this big Golding wheel. It was beautiful.

Chakra Cotton Spinning Contraption, seen at the Bosworth booth.

The most amazing thing about the day is that I passed this up

Habu!

I've never passed Habu without buying some.

YPF: Sheep Yarn Shop Company

This is spinning up better than I thought it would. It's lustrous and I'm able to draft it easily. The only problem seems to be that the spindle I'm using isn't heavy enough. I have another, but I need to re-attach the hook at the top. I plan to buy another at Maryland Sheep and Wool next weekend. Are you going?

I attended a reception at the Italian Embassy a few weeks ago. The architect drew inspiration for this stunning building's design from the landscape of Washington and the austere lines of old Tuscan villas.

The interior is thoroughly modern.

Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta made a few remarks and took questions.

He was asked if he blamed the US for the financial crisis as do many Europeans. He said that he sees the current financial crisis a trade imbalance issue. Clever answer.

Chado Ralph Rucci Documentary

Neiman Marcus sponsored the screening of an excellent and inspiring documentary, Ralph Rucci: a Designer and his House, tonight at the Corcoran Art Museum. Rucci, whose design house is called Chado Ralph Rucci, is currently the only American designer invited to design couture in Paris.

"Chado" is apparently a meticulous Japanese tea ceremony, and while most of Rucci's current designs do not appear to be Japanese-inspired, meticulous is certainly a great description as well artistic, singular, and simply beautiful. The hour-long documentary takes the viewer through the execution of designs from sketch through to its final stages. Obviously an hour-long film cannot show the details of every step - a single hand-sewn piece can take as long as 1000 hours! But the film is beautifully edited, showing Rucci sketching, tight shots of hand sewing, beading, pinning to mannequins, fitting the models, and finally the models strutting the garments down the runway. It was also interesting to hear Rucci's staff discuss how he designs and describe his point of view. Unfortunately, being more visual than auditory, I missed too much of the commentary. I was too caught up in the design of the collections, the colors he used, the artistry of the painter that he is and that he applies to design, and his design environment. I was left with the impression that there is a sort of Eastern, Zen quality in the way he corales and uses energy in the development of a collection. I must see the movie again so that I can listen more closely.

The photos above are from Style.com, where you can view his collections. The beauty is in the details of the garments, which photos frequently cannot capture or as Rucci said, are impossible to see two rows away from the catwalk.

The filmmaker, David Boatman, introduced the film and took questions afterward.

Martha Stewart, produced and narrated the film. Rucci was on her show late last year; you can see that episode here. Sundance Studios has three-year rights to the movie and occasionally airs it. You can see a clip here. After the three years are up it will go to disc.

There was a large audience there; nearly a full house.

Waiting for Neiman Marcus goodie bags.

Book Signing Party for Karida Collin's "Pints and Purls"

After some afternoon knitting, Blogless Debbie and I went to a book signing party for Karida Collins and Libby Bruce's new book Pints and Purls yesterday at A Tangled Skein. The party was fun and food good, and the crowd and staff welcoming as usual.

I didn't meet Libby, but Karida was there with books and yarn.

Cici and Chelette were there too.

I didn't get a photo, but Cici has a very serious SLR camera I now covet. Just when I've become accustomed to taking photos with my slim touch screen phone. It's a Samsung Omnia and its camera has 5 megapixels that takes photos almost as good as my Canon PowerShot digital.

Isn't this a good idea? Just sell your yarn out of the shipping boxes when you have overstock!

I couldn't resist some roving and yarn.

Karida's dyes and sells her yarn and roving under the name Neighborhood Fiber Co.

Penthouse Silk Lace, 100 percent silk, 1100 yds.

Merino Silk Roving, 80 percent merino, 20 percent silk, 4 oz.

I couldn't resist the turquoise and brown in this roving from Sheep Spin.

4oz. 100 percent merino wool

I don't know how the Sheep Spin will spin. In my very limited experience, Corriedale has been the easiest for me to spin consistently and evenly. The Sheep Spin doesn't pre-draft easily, i.e. it has more resistance than other roving I've spun. Is that actually the benefit of pre-drafting? So that I don't have to pull too hard while I'm spinning? It doesn't have much sheen, so I'm curious about how it will look knit up. Priscilla plies some of her yarn with Habu stainless steel; learning that has sparked my imagination! So if this looks too dull after spinning, I can ply it with something that will pick it up a bit. (My apologies to more experienced spinners out there - I haven't learned the lingo yet.) Anyway, color drove my purchasing choices as usual.

Must remember to ask Anne, my spinning teacher, how to measure how many yards I've spun and plied.

Blogless Debbie