My mother is my enabler!

For most of the month of February, I've had visitors in my apartment. I've had 2 friends from school, one fellow teacher, and my mother, which was the best part of my month. My mother and I have been knitting for about the same length of time, but she is so much better than me. (Keep in mind I taught her how to do it) So since she came to visit me, we both thought it was a great idea to visit every knitting shop in HK that we could find within 9 days. This is a lot harder than it sounds, because she came at the end of Chinese New Year, when every shop decides its a good time to close down.

We did find plenty though, that I had no idea were here. Outside of the yarn shop just down the street, we found a huge one in Causeway Bay, run by very sweet elderly men, one in my town center, and 3 in Mongkok, in addition to the various street stalls. The result of these trips is what you see in the picture folks! 705 of that was not bought until my mother and I went shopping! Here is how most of our conversations went, instore:

Me: "Oh look Mom, don't you think this color is pretty?"
Mom: "What would you make from it?"
Me: "No idea"
Mom: "You should just get it, it would cost at least 5 times more in the states."
Me: "Well, ok!"

And this is why I have more yarn in my living room than I have rug! I have some sort of general idea of what I would like to do with some of it, but for about 80% I have nothing planned. She was laughing at me once we got it all home, but then she realized that she needed another suitcase because she had bought a whole bunch of yarn and needles too! Needless to say, we both felt a little sheepish at the end of the week. Now that she's gone, I'm determined to get it all organized in some way. Most of it is still sitting in bags/boxes in my living room. The good news is that one of my friends knows how to weave baskets, so I might get her to make me some containters or something for this.

So in other news, I've gotten on ravelry.com, the facebook for knitters. I've been trying to get things set up nicely, but its a bit hard with my computer down. There is a computer in the office, but its shared between 6 people, which can get a little tricky at times. My co-workers have been very considerate and understanding about this problem though. They are so nice!

Madil-Sophy Yarn Project

I've recently gotten inspired to step outside of the scarf and hat box and attempt my first sweater.....baby sweater that is. Within the past 4 years, two of my older siblings have gotten married, and I know that babies cannot be far off. I've decided to get a little ahead of the game for when it actually starts happening...

The yarn I picked for this project is Sophy by Madil. Made in Italy, this 66% fine Merino, 34% acrylic yarn is a dream. It looks like a basic white crinkled, but the suprise is the little swaths of bright colors that appear at random. Now I am a sucker for anything veregrated, but this is a treasure. I think that it could be made into anything, its just that lovely and versitile. The colors might look a little dull in these pictures, but that is due to the dimness of the lights in my apartment. They really do pop!

The first part of this project/set is a little newborn baby blanket, that I finished last night. I used the standard "Feathers and Fan" pattern that can be found almost anywhere. I found mine on KnitPicks, in the free pattern section. (http://www.knitpicks.com/ ) I've used this pattern for several projects already, and it works out so nicely. Its one of those patterns that everyone thinks is harder than it looks, but just one row is worked in pattern. The finished blanket measures about 14 inches wide and about 3 feet long. I think that it can qualify as something unisex in todays world. This is a photo of what it looks like on my off-white couch. I think that next time I use this pattern to make a blanket, I'll do it a little wider, maybe 20 inches.

The next part of this project is one of the 5-hour patterns that are floating out around there. I found mine by browsing through Bev's Country Cottage and her list of free patterns. Its a very simple, hooded sweater in seed stitch. Not only will it be my first sweater, but also my first time attempting a hood. I started it this afternoon, and I have about 4 inches of seed stitch done. You can see the pattern here- http://www.knitlist.com/2002/FransHood.htm The next part of the project is going to be some booties, but I haven't found a pattern that I love yet. I'd be grateful for any suggestions!

Yarn-shopping Karma

So my knitting shop lady is wonderful to me, and I mean really incredibly wonderful. She remembers every ball of yarn that I've bought, what projects I'm working on, and has even offered to teach me to crochet. With all that going for me, why did I think that it was a good idea to shop at other places? Now I have been driving myself nuts trying to find a decent pair of double-pointed needles here, and that's the one item she doesn't have. So I go off 'round Hong Kong trying to find some shops I've seen on the Internet, pretty much unsuccessfully. One of these places was downtown in a shopping plaza. I dropped my friend off at the doctors, and then went off to find this place. I find the shopping center, but no knitting shop. I look on all three floors, but no such luck. Meanwhile, I've getting death glares from all around me. Its then I've realized that, in my casual shopping, I have stepped into a front for a brothel! It took me about 2 seconds to realize where I was, and about 1.5 seconds to book it out of there. I think that the yarn gods were punishing me for neglecting my knitting shop lady. So, lesson learned, try to shop someplace else, be surrounded by hookers.

Hong Kong Knitting

So now I've relocated myself to Hong Kong, which has a smaller knitting interest than what I'm used to. Even though I live in the New Territories, far away from civilization, I have managed to find a tiny little knitting shop about a 20 minute walk away. It's in the "Bua Bao Shopping Arcade" which is pretty much the sketchest shopping place I have ever seen. Its the bottom floor of some apartment buildings, and is about the size of a closet. The lady who runs it speaks fairly good English and does beautiful crochet work. I've managed to pick up some wonderful yarns for fairly cheap, but alas, she doesn't carry double-pointed needles. I haven't been that creative here, just a few hats and scarves, but they've all turned out beautifully. I'm off this weekend to explore some new knitting shops that I've heard rumors about. I feel cut-off without my DPNs!