Where is it?

You know, that darned knitting groove that kept me really busy most of March... it's hibernating like some UFO (Unfinished Object)...

I'm doing my best to knit away, just to help me ground my restless energies... physically I'm not at my best these days, and I thought knitting would at least be tolerable aside from surfing and blogging. Well, barely...

Maybe this is just because of the Void Moon happening almost of the day until 10 past tonight here in the Philippines.

I dunno. I.just.don't.have.the.knitting.groove.now. It.sucks.

Mug Rugs!

I designed and knitted these mug rugs...

Why knit?

Just some links to articles I found online about the benefits of knitting...just click on the article title to get to the page. Most of them are from North America. Someday I'll write about knitting in the Philippines :-)

1. Knitting fad doesn't discriminate

2. Knitting as therapy

3. Knitting provides calming pastime

4. Discover Why Knitting Is A Great And Timeless Hobby That You Can Benefit From

5. 2005 Research Shows: Younger Consumers Spur Increase in Yarn Projects (more of a business profile of the industry in the US)

I'll post some more links later.

Busy working on my dreams

I've actually been a good girl.

I've more or less organized my knitting table, found my missing bamboo needle and categorized the project samples. I am so ready to teach!

I've been knitting up stuff I need for my knitting classes, such as stitch samples to show the learners. These includes samples of patterns I made myself, for mini-towel, mug rugs, and placemats. Here's one, which I love, for a face/hand cloth or mini-towel, in mercerized cotton:



Today, I've started my new blog devoted to selling my knitted items, called Hand-Knit Dreams. (UPDATE AS OF MAR 23: SORRY, Google thinks this new blog is a spam blog... so for now, I'll delete any links to it since you can't access it anyway.)

I just posted there tonight prototypes of some mug rugs I designed myself. Will knit some more, some on these actual designs, some will be variations. Also a pic of the Fancy Herringbone scarf in red.

Other updates:

I've had to re-do my hemp blanket, strip 1. Now it's strip 1.1 since I totally frogged the first version and re-did everything from scratch. This time, cast on is 32 stitches but the pattern remains at 30 stitches, the extra 2 are just for edgings, which the first version didn't have and it came out ugly.

I'm on a roll... with 3 new projects: first is the Lemon Basketweave scarf, made of gold and olive green tencel, and also a basketweave pattern. Second is the Coral Desert Shawl, a simple triangle shawl of garter stitch throughout. Third is also a triangle shawl but in the dark colors of Black and Iris Combo.

A happy find

Despite entering PMS mode, I had an unexpectedly good day, simply because I came across a very nice, pre-owned book, The Complete Book of Knitting by Barbara Abbey, which got a good book review online (click here).

Got it at the Books for Less branch in Congressional Ave., Quezon City for P200 bucks, around US$5. Click here for a pic of the cover and some more reviews by Amazon.com customers.

This new find will keep all the more busy the next few days... which is rather welcome considering my upcoming downtime due to my period, and other stuff I don't feel like blogging about...

Preparing for a new career path

I've got two hand-knit scarves to sell, but will take pics first then post them ASAP. Still have two more to sell soon...

Aside from scarves, I've also decided to expand my list of hand-knit items for sale. More on that soon :-)

Basically, I have been busy with mostly knitting stuff :-) I'm getting ready for my summer knitting classes at Miriam College where I'm putting together my own starter kits and project kits...I'm pretty fired up about becoming a knitting teacher. I've decided to teach knitting as a freelancer, and more on that again later...
:-)

A Yarn Shop called Dreams

Isn't it great that this store is called Dreams? I met the nice owner, Tita Lilli de Leon, tonight when I went there... I told her about my blog title and my Ravelry name. Although I think her store began before I came up with them, and I did come up with them not knowing that such a store existed here in the Philippines.

This store definitely deserves to be called the Philippines's true Local Yarn Shop, or LYS. For one thing, it does call itself one: Dreams Yarnshoppe. For another, it has the best collection of yarns, needles and other knitting supplies to the serious knitter. They're mostly imported, even the locally distributed Red Heart is from China. I think it's only the crochet thread with Anchor and Cannon brands that are truly made in the Philippines (I'm not sure though.)




However, being located in the upscale business district of Makati (the country's version of Manhattan, more or less), the prices cater to its moneyed residents, the locals and expats. You can find Addi Turbo circulars (didn't check the prices, since I knew I'd rather spend the money on yarn, someday) and Berroco yarns and other brands. There were some bulk yarns on sale, mostly acrylic and yarn, at reasonably fair prices, for the budget-conscious. I would have bought some if I hadn't joined knittinghelp.com's Year of the Stash, which is basically about stash management. For now, I have enough yarn. Really.



Anyway, I rarely venture out of my little apartment in Quezon City, except that I had decided to check out the local availability of knitting supplies in anticipation of my summer classes at Miriam College. Much as I wanted to rule out the Dreams Yarnshoppe, since it's about an hour away by car in traffic from the school, I thought I couldn't be a good knitting teacher without being able to inform my future learners about the state of the local market. (More on that later, in another post.)



Granted, you could say that Craft World in Megamall (formerly at Robinson's Galleria) is some sort of LYS too, except that it has marketed itself more for general crafting. It does have its fair share of yarn, needles et al, but they sell some yarn hanks without any label if it's wool, acrylic, or whatever. Just a nice hank of gorgeous colors, and I'm not that much of a yarn expert yet. It's most likely acrylic. I bought a lot of my needles from this store when it used to be at Galleria, when I was just beginning to knit. They had a few double-points in various sizes. Tonight I got to buy size 15 (10mm) straight needles there, for roughly US$4 dollars. A good deal, and I badly needed that size.

My third source for knitting yarn and needles in Metro Manila, Philippines is Carolina's Lace Shoppe, and it's more known for sewing supplies including lace and beads, lots of them.

I'll soon make my prognosis re knitting supplies in the Philippines, since I have yet to check the downtown supply stores in Quiapo and Divisoria.

No longer a wanna-be!

This is one reason why I'm so glad to have a separate blog for my knitting. In my Multiply blog I've got sad news. In this blog, I've got happy news!

I learned yesterday that my knitting classes will be offered in summer at Miriam College... I suppose they're open to outsiders.

I'm already brimming with ideas... I'll also teach knitting as a freelancer. More on that later...

Also yesterday, my neighbor saw me taking pics of my latest shawlette and asked if I could knit her a hat. She asked for my fee... and now I'm thinking I'll knit hats for sale too...

Today, I checked out the knitting supplies to be had at Mega, since I intend to sell the beginner's kit at the Miriam classes, and elsewhere. I found that I could put up something basic. I just need to go to Divisoria to buy crochet thread in cones, to teach knitting washcloths.

I also decided today to sell some of my stashed yarn. A way to lessen my stash and make money at the same time...

And I'll add beads to the fringe of my Lacy Garter Stitch scarf, to make it look lovelier.

Now, some pics of my latest project, the Lacy and Spicy Scarf, based on the slip-stitch weave pattern, to be bound off tonight after this:





Here's a pic of the yarn I'm using, which is the Spice solid 2/8 tencel (no pic) combined with Spice combo variegated 2/8 tencel yarn, in pic:

The Knitting Teacher Wanna-Be

That's me. Last night my friend Gay suggested that I might be able to teach knitting for the summer at Miriam College, and so, despite my busy-ness, I sneaked in a list of subjects I could teach, from April to May.

And again goofing off from work now, I decided to make a list of what I can teach regarding knitting, based on actual experience and personal knowledge:

1. Two kinds of cast-ons, since they're what i use: the basic long-tail and the chain cast-on popular in Japan and which I almost always use. But for bind-off, I only know the basic one.

2. Knitting and purling (Continental/German, not American/British style)

3. Increasing and decreasing

4. Basic stitch patterns: garter and stockinette

5. Knit and purl combinations: seed/moss, double moss, rib, basketweave, etc.

6. Slip-stitches: Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Design such as Alternating, Pebble, Tanbark, Fancy Herringbone and others from Knittingfool.com, including Honeycomb, Linen, Pebbled, and Slip-Stitch Weave

7. Lacy stitches: Garter drop-stitch, Honeycomb cluster, open star and the usual yarn-over

8. Projects: headbands, squares, washcloth, hand/face towels, scarves and shawlettes (rectangular scarves larger than the usual size but smaller than shawl size), hats (top-down designs only) and blanket. I've also made small circular pieces.

9. Making a swatch to get gauge, and measuring gauge (for an afghan square)

10. Weaving in the ends

11. Finishing a scarf: blocking, washing and fringing

12. Color knitting: combining two strands of yarn of differing colors throughout, or alternating the colors in knitting

13. Knitting with double-pointed needles and circulars

14. Reading patterns and pattern charts

15. Basic knitting lingo, e.g. FO, UFO, WIP, CO and BO


I cannot teach how to knit a garment, since I've never done any and maybe the closest I'll ever get to one is a poncho (which can be done by putting together two rectangular shawls). One reason is that, I only know basic sewing and I don't like sewing.

I cannot teach lace knitting, since I hate doing it.

I cannot teach advanced techniques like cable knitting, intarsia, entrelac and Fair Isle knitting. I plan to learn entrelac this year, but the others don't appeal to me, since they are more for those who knit garments and wear them in cold climates.

I've knitted various types of yarn: wool blends, acrylic, acrylic blends, unmercerized and mercerized cotton, cotton blends, hemp and tencel.

I've knitted with various needle types and sizes: bamboo, plastic, balene, metal, 16-inch and 31-inch circulars, 7-inch and 10-inch double-pointed and 14-inch needles as big as size 19s.

I've designed my own patterns especially when doing my scarves for charity knitting. I like to modify existing patterns to adapt them to my needs. I want to continue making simple, easy patterns, such as the 13th Rib.

I own around seven books on knitting, mostly bought in second-hand stores (really lucky finds!). Only one of them was bought online. I also have some back-issues of knitting magazines.

I intend to be better in my knitting. Not just in terms of quantity and quality, but also in skill and knowledge. Aside from entrelac, I'd like to learn mosaic knitting (involves at least 2 colors) and maybe the log cabin pattern.

Most immediate desire: make myself a triangular shawl.