PURL DIVA*

Looks Like He's A Keeper

Look what DB got me for Christmas:

Yes indeed, it is Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting (not to be confused with feral knitting, which can be found here). This book is out of print, and therefore hard to get a hold of. DB loves eBay, so I asked if he would do the bidding on my behalf. He decided to get it for me for Christmas instead (telling me to stay away from eBay so I wouldn't be bidding against him!)

DB tried many times to get it, but kept getting outbid in the final milliseconds of the bidding process. I suggested he wait until after Christmas, as everyone else was probably trying to buy the book as Christmas presents too. But he wouldn't give up, and finally succeeded by making a big final bid to blow everyone else away.

The book arrived by media mail last week. It is chock full of great info.

As for DB, it look's like he's a keeper.

Scarves for Veterans: Food For Thought

I recently received an email from Mary W., a customer who shopped at Purl Diva while on vacation. She is starting her own charity knitting group at work, and, after hearing about our current scarves-for-veterans project, she called her local VA hospital to see what their needs are:

...I spoke to my local VA hospital here this afternoon. The woman in volunteer services said they welcome afghans and lap robes for their residents. They like to give an afghan to them when they are admitted. It makes their room very homey. Also for those in wheelchairs it is nice as they are often cold. The cute part is that they favor the old red, white and blue! She said they are truly veterans!

The hospital patients are often homeless and without a lot of resources. They have a clothing room which is open to them and they like to stock it with hats, mittens and scarves that the men can just take as they need them.

So, while our focus here at Purl Diva is on scarves, I don't want to limit anyone in any way. If you'd like to make hats, mittens, or lap blankets, I'll find a home for them!

And I'm thinking about an ongoing project where we make a crazy afghan out of gauge swatches. I'm always trying to get people to do test swatches so they can "get gauge", and to motivate people to do that, I'm thinking how fun it would be to collect swatches - separated by washability - and then piece them together into afghans. I'm not sure these will be appropriate for veterans, but they could become works of art! There is no deadline for this project, just drop your swatches off when you can and when we have enough to make an afghan, we'll have a party to piece them together. In an ideal world, swatches should be 4X4 or 6X6, but do what you can and we'll figure out how to make them fit together.

Knitters On The Town

Last night I went to the Wine Bar in Portland to join the Portland Knitters on the Town (PKOTT). This is a group of knitters who meet at different places in the Greater Portland area every Tuesday night. I don't get to relax much at the Purl Diva social events, so it is nice to have PKOTT as a weekly forum where I can catch up on social knitting.

While at PKOTT, I made great progress on a sock, part or my vow to finish all current WIPS before I launch a new one. I also finished this lace scarf:

The inspiration for this scarf was an ear of corn. I stranded together a yellow/green variegated yarn (from New Zealand-sourced Artisan Yarn) and some pale gold FdC Baby Kid Extra (which resembled the yellow flossy silk on a corn husk), and knit it in the "little leaf" lace pattern (the closest thing I've found to mindless lace knitting). The way the colors worked out, it looks more like a lacey snake than an ear of corn, but that's OK, I like it anyway. It gives new meaning to a boa as a fashion accessory!

While at PKOTT last night, Maria, the knitter behind the "Spike and Fifi" line of felted bags, passed out flyers for a charity knit-athon she is organizing. Here are the details:

"Join us for a day of knitting (or crocheting) to benefit those in need:
Hats, mittens and scarves for Preble Street Resource Center
Chemo Caps for Maine Medical Center and the Cancer Community Center
Caps for preemies for the Warm Up America Foundation

Open to Unum Provident employees, friends, and family.

When: Saturday, January 27, 2007
Where: The Beacon (Unum Provident, HO-1)
Time: 9 AM - 3 PM
Food: Please bring a pot luck dish to share

If you have any questions about this charity knitting event or Portland Knitters on the Town, send me an email and I will put you in touch with the respective coordinators.

Friends and FOs Update

The Football Widows are a productive lot! Here are the latest and greatest FOs we saw yesterday...

Monique stopped by to show us her latest Barbie outfit, made of Filatura di Crosa Zara:

Monique admitted that she was a bit Barbied Out, and said she'd be shifting her knitting focus to sweaters for her grandkids. Here's one sweater she made, using Tahki Cotton Classic, and this free pattern by Gail Pfeifle of Roo Designs.

She was also kind enough to make a sample for the shop - the Bethany Booties in Berroco Suede:

Mary made a shop sample too! She whipped up a lace scarf using Artful Yarns Portrait. The pattern is a freebie - it is printed on the back of the Portrait label.

There were some Knitty-based FOs, including Sandy's Calorimetry head wrap...

...and Laurie's "Fetching" fingerless mittens...

Many people have asked, nervously, if the Football Widows Club will continue after the Super Bowl. I'm happy to report that our weekly Sunday afternoon gathering will continue - but for obvious reasons it will have to be renamed. It will probably become the ESPN Widows Club. Or maybe the Couch Potatoes Widows Club. What do you think? Any other suggestions?

Going Loopy Over Loose Ends

We love it when Melissa W. comes to Purl Diva. When she walks in the door on Sundays, the Football Widows and I ask, "Oooh Melissa, what do you have for us today?". You see, Melissa dyes and spins her own yarn - called Loose Ends Yarn - and the results are quite incredible. When Melissa brings us more of the good stuff, we pass it around and think of appropriate names for the colorways: Forget-Me-Not, Sea Glass, Rio Grande, Lupine, Flames...

Quite often, as the yarn is passed around the Football Widows Club, it stops somewhere. Eventually someone will realize that the yarn hasn't gotten around to them, and they ask "What happened to the Loose Ends?" That's when they learn that someone else has coveted it. When it comes to Loose Ends, if you snooze, you lose.

One day Melissa brought this in:

That one never made it to the Football Widows Club. It went straight into my personal stash.

Mary bought a more subdued version of the Flames colorway, and knit up a reversible mobius hat (from Cat Bordhi's Treasury of Magical Knitting) and a scarf:

Here are some other Loose Ends colorways:

And here are two colorways evolving into a hat and scarf, respectively:

Knit Your Bit: Scarves for Veterans

To get the new year started out in the right way, I'd like to announce the next charity event. Cherylyn found a great cause for us - it is the National World War II Museum's "Knit Your Bit Campaign", which involves knitting (or crocheting!) scarves for WWII veterans. Here's a quick overview from The National WWII Museum's website:

"The National WWII Museum is proud to launch its own Knit Your Bit campaign. You can help the Museum honor WWII veterans by Knitting Your Bit- in this case a simple, but cozy, scarf to be donated to a veteran in a Veterans Center somewhere in the United States."

Click HERE for more information, and HERE to download a sample scarf pattern.

Here are the Purl Diva suggestions for this event:

Remember that most of these scarves will be going to men, so please choose appropriate colors.

Don't forget the "itchiness factor" - choose yarn that will be comfortable for the recipient.

This is a great way to practice new techniques! If you haven't done cables or the seed stitch before, here's your opportunity to practice! Just remember that certain stitches are better than others for scarves. For example, stay away from the stockinette stitch, because it curls! If you need advice, just stop by the shop and I will be happy to help you.

This is a great way to bust some stash. Customers are always bemoaning the fact that their closets and craft rooms are overflowing with fiber. Well, here's a great way to reduce your stash guilt!

I'll be sending the scarves in at the end of each month, with March 31st being the last shipment.

Please tie a tag to the scarf with your name and address (and a note to the veteran if you wish!).

We sent in over 100 baby caps for the Caps to the Capitol Campaign. Do you think we can achieve that number again for this event? I think we can! I have great confidence in all of you!

A New Life To Old Sweaters

I've been on a bit of a felting frenzy recently. I haven't had time to knit the things I've felted, but after seeing an article in Martha Stewart Living last November, I've been able to cheat a little. The article showed how to turn old sweaters into mittens, baskets, blankets, hats, toys and various cozies. Since then, I've been on the prowl for shetland wool sweaters. You may remember that I was working on turning one sweater into a jacket for Loki.

My mother increased my felting stash by donating two of her old cardigans - a bright pink one and another that was pale pink and cabled. Both had served as bed & breakfasts for moths. While thinking of what to give Mom for Christmas, I decided to create something out of those sweaters. My mother likes to stay toasty warm, so I made her a hot water bottle cozy:

I had a great time making this, and like the fact that it pulls together the spirit of three generations, since my mother received the sweaters from her mother.

And if you are wondering what ever happened to that jacket I was making for Loki, I haven't finished it. But don't worry, she is staying warm in the Old Navy coat I bought her for Christmas.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (for now)

Happy New Year!

While everyone else was counting down to the New Year, I was counting up - i.e., counting my inventory. My mother came to help me (thanks Mom!), and while we were in the thick of it on Monday, my mind was buzzing with ideas for better placement of the yarn (e.g, Shouldn't all the yarn be organized by weight? Wouldn't this yarn look better over there?) Realizing the huge task involved in just counting the inventory, I kept telling myself "Stay focused! Count! Count! Don't reorganize!"

My mother and I plugged away all day on Monday...counting, counting...all the way to bedtime. I was pooped when I got into bed, but after an hour of snoozing I sat up in bed and said to myself, "I need to reorganize all that yarn!"

So, while Mom and the critters dozed, I emptied shelves and filled them up again. That burst of OCD energy lasted about an hour, and then I went back to bed. Of course, I had done so much damage in that hour that I had to continue the process on Tuesday. So while my mother counted, counted, counted, I shifted the yarn around. And cleaned. And shifted yarn some more.

Everything is now accounted for, and the shop is neatly organized, at least for now. I just received two deliveries of new yarns, and more fiber is on the way. I don't want to mess up the neat shelves just yet, and I need to find room, so I probably won't be showing the new stuff until next week.

I certainly hope "Be more patient" was one of your New Year's resolutions!