June 26, 2008 at 1:53 pm
by Holli · Filed under Holli Yeoh, Knitterly Events, Fibre Festivals, Teaching
Last weekend I attended the Victoria Fibre Festival and Knit-Out. Nigel and I took the ferry to Victoria and had a lovely weekend of knitting and fibre-related events. I arrived in time to drop off a couple of samples for the fashion show on Friday evening. The mocha one is Kieran which I managed to finish by sewing on the buttons at the last minute. The orange one is a recently completed Lucy, knit by my Mum.
Saturday I taught an eager group of knitters out at Boutique to Laine in Oak Bay. I had never been out there before. They have an intimate little shop and then a great big classroom around the back with shelves of sale items. It was very distracting (in a good kind of way) seeing all the yarn on the shelves looking for a good home!
Saturday evening we attended a talk given by Sivia Harding. I first met Sivia about four or five years ago at a Guild meeting. We’re lucky to live in the same neighbourhood in Vancouver and sometimes when our schedules permit, we get a chance to catch up over a coffee. Sivia showed us many of her lovely lace and beaded shawls. I had the honour of modeling her Phoenix Rising Shawl designed for Make One Yarn Studio ’s Year of Lace 2008.
Sunday dawned nice and sunny. We made our way out to Saxe Point Park in Esquimalt to discover that it was going to be a windy day. After a mad scramble the day before we left for Victoria and much thanks to Nigel, I was able to lay my hands on a second-hand tent for the event. Here’s a very windswept shot of my little tent. Just look at the rakish angle of those little sweaters on display.
Met lots of friendly knitters and had a great day enjoying the sunshine and talking knitting. Many people entered my draw for a free kit and once I process all those little slips of paper and try to read all that handwriting, I’ll get Devan to close his eyes and select a winner.
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June 18, 2008 at 9:32 am
by Holli · Filed under Knitterly Events, KIP
Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public day. Devan (with is knitting spool), Nigel and I ventured out to the grassy area adjacent to Kits beach to participate. I was surprised at how few knitters I knew at the event. I’m the president of the West Coast Knitters’ Guild and we have quite a large membership - over 90 knitters. There were just a handful of as at this event. The wonderful thing was to see the non-guild knitters out at this event and touch base with them.
Now time for a little name dropping … attending the event were:
Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet and who has more links than one person needs! Find her here, here, here, here, here, here, and here!
Rachel who you can see here and here - thanks Rachel for sponsoring the event! It was a great turnout.
Chrissy who’s started a new knitting podcast.
Talented Miss Ripley who was a pleasure to talk to.
I met Barbara who works at my closest LYS and I didn’t even know it!
Knit Knigel, step-father extraordinaire and great guy to pal around with. He’s just changed his blog name and I must update the link in the side bar.
Paulette, past president of the Guild who has an amazing wealth of knitting knowledge and contacts. She was working on two socks using Opal Zebra.
Marjorie, another Guild member who ran off to the driving range - it was such a beautiful day.
Heather was wearing a stunning Clapotis. You know, I don’t think I have ever seen one in person!
There were many more people there, but I didn’t catch their names.
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June 13, 2008 at 3:51 pm
by Holli · Filed under Teaching
The little kidlets in Devan’s class are really enjoying the spool knitting. They have been eager to have a knitting bee of their own to take home, so I took orders. Almost everyone in the class bought one! Another trip to the store and 20 knitting bees (plus yarn) later we have a bunch of kids enthusiastic about knitting. How good does it get?
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June 12, 2008 at 3:42 pm
by Holli · Filed under Design Process
Now that Pretty as a Posy is released, I can tell you a little about it.
I wanted to design an easy knit with minimal shaping. Instead of decreasing for the armholes I decided that ribbing would also pull the fabric in making a narrower bodice and allowing the skirt to poof out. This is the first swatch drawing that were included in the original proposal for One Planet Yarn and Fiber.
I started looking at their yarns and originally I designed the coat dress with their Lanas Puras Melosa 100% merino handpainted. When we realised that the pattern would be released in the spring, Jodi asked if I would consider using their new Clarissa.
When I started knitting the actual sample, I realised that the ribbing kind of curved out at the bottom of the bodice to accomodate the skirt. This curved effect was the perfect way to create a shaped armhole for an inset sleeve without doing any decreases! I just love the way it works.
Finishing details include a double ridge edging of reverse stocking stitch, three buttonholes in the bodice and a rolled reverse st st neckline that’s sewn down on the inside nicely concealing the selvage.
$6
The cotton/wool blend yarn used for this pattern does shrink a little when it’s washed thus affecting your gauge. This is taken into account in the pattern instructions. If you want to substitute yarn for this project use a yarn that will give you a 21 st to 4″ stitch gauge. If you’re using a yarn that doesn’t shrink, then for all the length measurements in the pattern, just shorten them by about 1/4″ for the shorter lengths and 1/2″ for the longer lengths. I think Pretty as a Posy would look really nice in a wool, but cotton should also work just fine (remember to wash your swatch and take your gauge measurements from the blocked swatch).
If you substitute, I would love to hear about it and send me a picture!
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June 10, 2008 at 1:53 pm
by Holli · Filed under Design Process
It’s here! It’s released! I can now show you the secret project I was working on for One Planet Yarn and Fiber.
Pretty as a Posy
$6
This little coat dress will have your favourite little girl stylishly dressed for years to come. Knit it in the smallest size for a one-yr-old (left) and she’ll still be wearing it when she’s three (right). The full-length sleeves look great as three-quarter sleeves on an older child.
The Clarissa yarn by Lanas Puras used in this project is a 50% cotton / 50% merino yarn spun to create an artisanal thick and thin effect and hand-painted for a lovely mottled colour (I would love to see it knit up in the Sky colour, or Pomegranate or Moss!) It’s perfect for the spring, cool summer evenings and the fall.
Sizes: 6-12 mo, 12-24 mo, 2T-4T
Gauge after wet blocking: 21 sts x 33 rows = 4″ (10 cm) in stocking stitch with 4 mm (US size 6) needles
Kits are available here at One Planet Yarn and Fibre.
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June 4, 2008 at 11:47 am
by Holli · Filed under Techniques, Holli Yeoh
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June 2, 2008 at 9:42 am
by Holli · Filed under Design Process
I just heard from One Planet Yarn and Fiber. My new secret pattern is soon to be released. They are waiting on a new shipment of Lanas Puras Clarissa to be spun and dyed in South America. Soon, very soon! I’ll let you know when it’s available.
I have some exciting news that I want to share with you. I’ve been sitting on it for a while and it’s time to tell my secret. I’m going to be featured in the “Made in Canada” column of the fall issue of Vogue Knitting! I’m unbelievably excited! My subscription to VK always arrives late so you may well see it before I do. Let me know when you see it!
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