Holli Yeoh Knits

On Tuesday evening I decided I wanted to knit a black lacy cardigan. There’s a pattern I like in the recent Spring/Summer 2007 Vogue Knitting and Elann had a rayon/cotton/linen blend called Callista on special. Friday as I was passing by my local postal outlet I stopped in and asked if it had arrived. It’s so nice to have a friendly neighbourhood postal outlet where they know me - of course I’m there quite a bit for my business. I even helped them find the package on the shelf (it had been put on the wrong shelf). I didn’t need to show ID or have one of those delivery cards they leave at your home.

I tried swatching tonight, but we watched a truely Canadian movie tonight called Bon Cop, Bad Cop that took place in Montreal and Toronto and the dialogue was in both French and English throughout the whole movie. I really needed the English subtitles for the French bits - it was just too fast and I couldn’t follow the Quebecois accent and slang. It quite enjoyable and entertaining.

Wednesday night we watched the fireworks as part of the Celebration of Light fireworks festival in Vancouver. Different countries participate in this fireworks competition and Spain started the festival off with a bang (pun intended!). My Dad and Nigel live in the West End and have an amazing 10th floor view of English Bay. The fireworks are set up on a barge 1000 feet off-shore and the view from their living room is one of the best in the city. It was fabulous. Devan and I arrived around 4:00 and we watched the crowds start to form along the beach.

After supper we went out for a walk to feel like we were part of it. People had staked out every square foot of grass and sand with their blankets, waiting for the show.

After a bit we returned to the comfort and safety of the apartment and proceeded to wind wool while we waited. Nigel’s winding a Rowan tweed for a cable knit sweater he’s designing as he goes along. I took advantage of the time to wind my Noro Blossom.

I plan on knitting this Jane Ellison design called Eloise from Noro Knits.

The fireworks kept on reminding me of balls of wool and knitting needles. It was really very enjoyable! Little Devan fell asleep in my lap and probably would have even slept through the grand finale if I hadn’t woken him up for it.

Our two weeks in Edmonton have drawn to a close and we returned home this morning.  The time went all too quickly.  We didn’t get a chance to do all the activities we had planned and although I had a chance to get a lot of knitting and some designing done, it wasn’t anywhere near as much as I brought with me!  The above photo is an update on the Avery sweater.  I like the slow change in colour in the corrugated rib cuff. Since the photo was taken, I’ve completed the second sleeve so it’s just the front and finishing to go.

I finished up the gloves on which I was working. I’m much more happy with the results this time. The fingers are no longer too tight. A little more fine tuning and test knitting is required - especially in the children’s and the men’s sizes. Then I need to knit some more samples to photograph and get this pattern published!

Specs for glove
Pattern: my own (a Bee’s Knees Knits design in development)
Yarn: Opal 1010 and Phildar Preface moss green 019
I’m really pleased with the thumb gusset.  After sampling a number of gusset styles I designed a hybrid palm/basic gusset.  The line created by the increases on the palm of the hand it slightly reminiscent of a life line.  Seems fitting.

We’re on the move again tomorrow to visit friends on the Sunshine Coast.  I’ll be sure to bring my knitting as the kids play all day.

Wool Revival is one of my favourite LYSs in Edmonton.  Owner, Bonnie really encouraged me to publish my designs and she was the first shop owner to place an order of my first pattern, Candace almost 4 years ago.  She has supported me since the beginning and it’s always nice to go in for a visit when I’m in town.  When I was in I found out that Wool Revival now has a web presence.  Welcome to the blogging world Bonnie!

Yesterday when I showed up at the shop I saw a couple of other familiar faces there - yarn reps Gary and Stephanie were showing their wares. There will be some new beautiful yarns at Wool Revival this fall! I saw that Noro colour swatches were laid out on the table. I’ve always liked the selection of yarns at Wool Revival. Bonnie carried Rowan back when you could hardly find it locally. She also has Mission Falls, Fleece Artist, Hand Maiden, Jo Sharp, Manos and many, many more. The above photo shows the cotton section of the shop.

And perhaps most importantly she carries a wide variety of self-patterning yarns and has Bee’s Knees Knits samples on display!

To my pleasant surprise, a customer stepped forward and said, “Is that Holli?” What fun meeting Kim of the beautiful Jamie I talked about here. Thank you Kim for sharing your beautiful knits with me - I love seeing them. Earlier this year, Kim also sent me photos of her JoJo. I just love this shot of her daughter showing off the back of the sweater.

A package of yarn arrived for me at my Mum’s.  I ordered it just before I left for Edmonton and had it shipped here so I could play with it right away (and save a little on taxes!).  I ordered some Noro Kureyon and Blossom from Wool Needle Work.  I like ordering from them because they’re Canadian and they have great prices.  Their delivery time is great too.

I had fun photographing the yarn in the garden - it was hard choosing the best shots! Kureyon 183 is on the left and Blossom 5 is on the right.

Since I wanted to swatch with the Blossom right away, I had to wind a skein into a ball.  I don’t have my ball winder with me so I devised a nostepinde out of a toilet paper tube.  I had seen it somewhere before and wanted to see if I could figure out how to do it.  Here are the steps.

1. Cut a small slit in an empty toilet paper tube (or any other tube).  Slip the end of the skein through the slit.

2. Start winding the yarn around the tube on a slight diagonal while slowly rotating the tube.  At first it doesn’t look much like anything is happening.

3. Continue winding the yarn and you’ll see the start of a ball.

4. Here’s the completed ball before it’s pulled off of the toilet paper tube.

Finally, the ball of Blossom nestled among some of the lovely blossoms in Mum’s garden.

Devan’s outgrown Avery sweater sample received a lot of attention at the Victoria Knit-Out last month and it’s in a discontinued yarn.  It’s time to knit a new one in a yarn I carry so that knitters can see just how great it looks in another colourway too!

I’ve started it using Opal Petticoat 1293 and Opal Uni 1269.  I just love the corrugated ribbing on this sweater.  It looks even better when the ribbing slowly changes colour over the rows.  I’ll have to start the front piece with the orangy brown colour for even greater contrast.

School’s out and Devan and I hopped on a plane to visit the grandparents for two weeks.  My biggest dilemma was what knitting to pack!  Between the many design ideas competing for time in my head, the yarn for these projects and my knitting library I had a tough time narrowing it down.

I think I’ll concentrate on finalizing the numbers for some gloves I’m working on.  The fingers were too tight on the last prototype.  I’m having fun trying out a whole slew of thumb gussets in an attempt to decide on the best one.  I also brought yarn for sweater samples and extra needles for possible projects.  Maybe a trip to a LYS is in order too!

My favourite place to knit when I’m visiting my Mum’s is in her garden next to her beautiful goldfish pond.  I love the fragrant smells of the plants and the sounds of birds and the scolding squirrels. 

Best of all love the sound of her waterfall.