New Zealand Possum Yarn

Finally, we are going to talk about the lovely souvenir I purchased for myself on the trip taken in March. It is the four skeins of possum yarn shown below. (Need more info about possum yarn, click here.)

Naturally Amuri DK/8 ply in turquoise and charcoal

I have simply fallen in love with the feel of this yarn. To me it is a more affordable cashmere. The possum is always paired with a wool and my set of four each with 170 yards/155 meters is a 75% NZ merino with 25% possum blend. It is so soft with such a wonderful halo.

The halo is what makes the yarn look so fuzzy

I wanted to make a signature piece with this yarn, something that had the potential of being a wardrobe staple. Stephen West's Groove with its stripes seemed to me to best showcase my two colours and if I found just the right buttons it could become the scarf I wanted of this yarn.

Photo of Stephen West and Groove by westknits

The combination of stripes with vertical cables intrigued me so I set off knitting. As the scarf grew the yo (Yarn Over) used to increase the size the knitting started to cause me concern. As a loose knitter everything I do is very loose, including those yo. They occur around those vertical cables, making rather large holes at each side of the cables. I noticed the holes but as the knitter I am, I ignored my concerns and knit on.

The holes are quite evident at the top of the turquoise cable

For some reason I went back to look at Stephen's sample. There are lots of great pictures on Ravelry showing what this scarf should look like and I found this photo.

Image credit to westknits

See there are no holes around his cables so I knew something was up. I was doing something wrong OR he was doing something special to minimize those yo. Trying to figure this out was one of the reasons I purchased the Shawlscape class by Stephen West from Craftsy. (I also wanted to see if there were other nuggets he offered about making and designing shawls. The class did not disappoint.) And sure enough he does do something special to neutralize the size of the yo holes.

Say goodbye, this is about to be completely undone

So take a good look at my Groove as it is now. It will soon be frogged and started over again using that technique Stephen shared. (I'd tell you what it is if I could remember it. Senior moments are so lovely, aren't they?) It is unfortunate I didn't first get the class and then start the shawl, but that's not what happened.

Knitting is a process and I generally learn something new from each project. The lesson here is one I seem to have to learn over and over--when you have a concern about your knitting stop and solve it. Don't just keep knitting, your gut is telling you something.

Groove will return in the future in a new and improved form.

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or h...

Flagel Knitting Files

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