What I Did on My Summer Vacation - Victoria, BC

If you're a crafty geek then Victoria, British Columbia is a wonderful place to visit for your summer vacation. Back in July the boyfriend, who is both wise and witty, and I were able to get away for a few days to this great city.

We stayed at a hotel in the downtown core where we had not one, but three different comic book stores and right across the street. There are also numerous bookstores, for both new and used books, and at least 3 different yarn stores all in or around the downtown core.

We parked the car at the hotel the first day and then walked everywhere for the rest of the vacation, which was a treat in and of itself. We also ate lots of wonderful food and spent a day at the Royal B.C. Museum, where they had a pretty interesting feature exhibit on the life of Emily Carr.

I'd love to say I took lots of fabulous pictures of the sites and scenery, but the truth is I only took the picture of the parliament buildings that you see above and a couple other pictures. So instead, I'll tell show you my vacation through the awesome fibres I was able to pick up during the trip.

Considering the one local yarn shop in my town packed up and moved to a new city, I was pretty impressed to find three independent local yarn shops in Victoria, each with their own unique style and line of products.

The first one we visited was Knotty By Nature where I picked up this Kidazzle hand dyed 70% Merino/20% Kid/10% Nylon yarn which is made by Fleece Artists, in Mineville, Nova Scotia. This stuff feels incredibly soft and has a beautiful assortment of colours in it. Sometime this fall/winter I'm hoping to knit some of it up into a pair of fingerless gloves.

Knotty By Nature focusses heavily on natural ec0-friendly products. It has a large selection of hand-made products, many of which come from spinners throughout Canada.

I was also really excited that the store had a mechanical skein winder (first time I'd ever seen one of these!) and in only a couple minutes they were able to transform the skein I was purchasing into a workable ball of yarn for no extra charge! Those who read Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins regularly know of the headaches I've had trying to wind skeins into balls.

Next on our yarn tour was The Beehive where I picked up this unusual, and extremely soft skein of Bonsai Colors, which is a mix of 97% Bamboo and 3% Nylon. I only bought one skein of this and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it was so unusual I couldn't resist getting some.

The Beehive is a fairly large 2 room store that carries a good selection of yarns. There were a lot of hand dyed/spun products, as well as products from well known manufacturers like Patons. I think it's a yarn shop that could fit any budget and any skill level of knitter/crocheter. They also had a mechanical skein winder, and when we came in one clerk was in the process of winding several skeins for a woman who was buying enough wool for a sweater.

While at The Beehive I also purchased three balls of Sirdar Escape chunky which is 51% wool/49% acrylic. I'm not sure what I'll make with this, but I really liked the mix of colours in these balls so eventually I'll come up with something.

The last stop on our yarn store tour was the Button & Needlework Boutique, though truth be told, I think I went in here 2-3 times during our trip, trying to decide what I should buy.

This store carries a variety of crafting materials including yarn, cross stitch supplies and a large selection of buttons (hence the name). I was impressed that not only do they carry a lot of cross stitch patterns, they also have a framed, stitched copy of every pattern they sell. Anyone who has ever stitched a large cross stitch picture knows how long it takes to complete, so having one finished for every pattern the store carries is a pretty big achievement.

I finally settled on getting three balls of Glint yarn in blue from the Button & Needlework Boutique. It's a blend of 80% cotton, 12 % Nylon and 8% metallic. What can I say? I liked the way it sparkled in the light. Again, I'm not sure what I'll make, but something will come up.

I also picked up a copy of the cross stitch pattern for Vancouver Island artist Sue Coleman's Cougar Kitten. I'm looking forward to finding some time to stitch it!

And that is how I spent my summer vacation! We had a lot of fun, and I came home with a suitcase full of books, comic books and lots of crafting supplies to keep me busy!

Hoping to Prevent a few Skein Headaches...

I spent the better part of a week trying to unknot this 800 yard skein of yarn and convert it into a useable ball, with the assistance of the boyfriend. (Who was not only wise and witty, but also very patient!)

I tend to have bad luck with skeins and in this case the second I cut the two ends free and gave one a tug it seemed I had a gigantic clump of knots. I think the only thing that prevented me from tearing my hair out was the fact that the yarn in question was partially rayon and quite slippery. Rather then ending up with tight knots, the yarn was slippery and easy to untangle, but incredibly time consuming.

Not wanting to go through the same headaches with other skeins I have waiting to be unravelled, I thought I'd turn to the internet for some advice. After all, I'm sure I'm not the only one that is skein challenged out there.

Out of my searching comes this video, courtesy of Twenty Pound Tabby, that demonstrates how to untwist a skein of yarn:

Followed by a Part 2, which shows how to wind a skein into a ball:

I think there's some great advice in these videos, plus I'm totally digging the instructor's Animal t-shirt!

My purpose for sharing this is twofold. First, I'm hoping it will help some other knitters and crocheters who are plagued by tangled skeins. Second, I was hoping we could get a discussion going in the comments section for further tips, advice or questions about unravelling skeins. Have you seen any other great advice related to this elsewhere on the web? If so, feel free to share a link or tell us about your own skein unravelling experiences.

I don't buy skeins too often so I don't want to invest a lot of money in gadgets like the ball winder or an umbrella swift. We don't even have any four post legged chairs, like the one in the video, in our house. I'm looking at the knobs on our bi-fold closet though and wondering if I could use them in place of the chair legs? Any other ideas for common household items that could make the skein unravelling/ball winding process easier? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Browncoat Christmas Ornaments - With Free Patterns!

This holiday season you can show off your Christmas spirit and your Browncoat pride at the same time. I wanted to design a quick and versatile Christmas craft project that would be a good homemade gift for my Firefly loving friends and also a nice piece of subtle geekery to add to my own holiday decorating. After rejecting a couple of other ideas I think these cute little guys sporting their Jayne hats have hit the mark.

Made on 7 mesh plastic canvas these ornaments are about 4 inches tall by 2.5 - 3 inches wide and each one would probably take about 2-4 hours to stitch up, depending on your stitching experience.

They're perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree or attaching to presents as a gift tag. I'm going to post the directions here for how to make the ornaments on plastic canvas, but feel free to take the gridded patterns and let your imaginations run wild. The patterns could also be used to make these little guys in cross stitch, fuse beads, knitting, crochet or anything else you can think of. And if you do come up with a clever way to use the patterns, feel free to send me a picture or a link to somewhere that you've posted your creation online.

(Clicking on the patterns should cause them to open a new window where they will appear somewhat larger on most browsers. Then you can print them or save them to your own hard drive.)

Materials

(Note: While I haven't taken an exact measurement, I would estimate that you will need approximatley 10 metres or less of the dominant colour in each design, and 3-6 metres of the other colours. These take very little yarn and are ideal for leftover bits from previous projects.)

• small amounts of worsted weight yarn in the colours shown in the pattern grid.
• Black embroidery floss (DMC 310)
• White embroidery floss (for Gingerbread man only)
• 7 mesh plastic canvas
• No. 16 or No. 18 tapestry needle (blunt is preferred)
• scissors

Directions

1. Cut the plastic canvas into a smaller rectangle that is 2 squares wider and 2 squares longer than the ornament you're planning to make. (For example, the penguin is 17 squares wide by 28 squares high, so to make him you would cut a piece of plastic canvas that is 19 X 30 squares).
2. For all squares indicated on the graph, cut two pieces of yarn in the appropriate colour and stitch in continental stitch.
3. Begin stitching with the four yellow squares in the centre of the Jayne hat in the centre of the top row on your plastic canvas. Work downward from this central starting point. Weave ends in on back of the piece when changing colours.
4. Once all of the continental stitching is complete, switch to embroidery floss. Cut floss and do not separate into individual strands. Use the 6-strand piece to backstitch the thin black lines on the grid. (Use white floss to backstitch where indicated by thin white lines on the Gingerbread man grid.)
5. Use scissors to trim the ornaments leaving a line of plastic canvas around the outer edge of all your stitches. Refer to top picture to see how ornaments are cut.
6. Cut an 8 inch piece of embroidery floss, separate into individual strands. Thread one strand through top centre of ornament and knot to create loop for hanging.

As always, feel free to post a comment or contact me through the blog's email address if you have any questions about the patterns. I'll do my best to help you out.

Enjoy!

Leery of Loops & Threads

After months of seeing signs at our local Michael's store boasting about the remodeled yarn section that was coming soon, I have to admit I was disappointed with the end result. It turned out to consist of the rearranging of the current yarn selection and the introduction of Michael's personal brand, Loops & Threads. I'm not crazy about Michael's creating their own brand of wool. I long ago gave up hope of seeing anything in a big box craft store that wasn't made with at least some portion of acrylic and manufactured by one of the major yarn companies (Bernat, Lion Brand, Patons, etc.), but I worry that the amount of shelf space dedicated to these companies may start to shrink as Michael's jumps into the game of selling their own product.

Keeping an open mind, I figured I'd give the new Loops & Threads a try. Selling in 3.5 oz. skeins for just over $3, it's certainly not a bad deal. I was drawn to this colour, which is Loops & Threads Impeccable Worsted Weight yarn in Luxury Ombre. It's bin is always nearly empty so I'm guessing it's also the favourite of many other local crafters.

The verdict? I like it, but conditionally. It's a great wool for amigurumi, easy to work with and doesn't split or fray. It's ideal for someone who is just learning how to knit or crochet or for kids who are learning to craft and would become easily frustrated by a yarn that catches or breaks. I've also made a market bag with it, which I'll show in another post. It was a good choice for that project too, not too stretchy, but easy to work with.

The downside, it's not that soft. Imagine all the colours of Vanna's Choice with the texture of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton. While I'd be perfectly content to use Loops & Threads for an amigurumi, market bag or dish cloth, I don't want to use it to make anything that's going to be touching my skin, like an afghan or clothing. Yet a quick look at the free patterns available for Impeccable on Michael's website, shows that they feel this yarn is perfectly suitable for those kinds of projects. Loops & Threads also has a sport weight baby line that they've named Snuggly Wuggly. I'd hope that it would be softer, but overall I wasn't that impressed with the colours. They looked like duller versions of many of the shades already available from other companies.

Which I guess leads to the main problem I'm having with Loops & Threads, it's just so unnecessary. With colours and a texture that's already available from other companies, why bother? I've made afghans with Vanna's Choice before and considering it's a softer yarn, I'm going to opt for it when it's time to make another afghan rather than picking up the marginally less expensive similar colour in Loops & Threads.

Anyone else care to weigh in? Have you tried Loops & Threads? Are you feeling a bit anxious about Michael's producing it's own line of products? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

(My model is the elephant pattern available in Tammie Snow's Tiny Yarn Animals.)

Glow in the Dark Yarn Revisited

A few weeks back I was speculating about glow in the dark yarn and wondering what it would be like to work with. While I was able to find a few pictures of finished products made with the Nightlights brand, I wasn't able to find any realistic photos of finished objects that had been made with the new Bernat version. Now thanks to crittendawg I have this wonderful sample:

I have to admit this is a lot more glowy than I expected an item made from this stuff would be. Crittendawg was also kind enough to share a few thoughts on my original post about what she thought of working with this stuff. Just in case you don't feel like clicking back and searching through the comments, I'll save you the trouble by reprinting her thoughts here:

I have tried out the Bernat yarn, it's not bad. The texture isn't that great but hey, it is glow in the dark! It gets stuck sometimes on the hook and isn't as flexible as other yarns but by no means is it impossible to work with. I love Bernat Berella 4 for amis because it is easy to work with, but this one feels more like Caron's Simply Soft.. it feels a little weird.
I made a couple things that I put on my flickr page with it, and here is a link to a photo of a star I made, glowing - http://www.flickr.com/photos/alyssacritt/2893589965/
So anyway I agree with you that it is good for amigurumi and other small things because it is pretty expensive. Also I'd like to point out that only one strand (I think) actually glows, so you get an interesting glowing texture after you crochet with it. Let me know if you've got any other questions?

Glow in the Dark Yarn

I just got an e-newsletter the other day telling me about Bernat's new Glow in the Dark yarn and I have to say it' s piqued my curiousity. Has anyone tried this stuff yet? If so, please post a comment and tell me what you think.

With Halloween just a month away I think this stuff would be perfect for some little amigurumi ghosts and goblins. I'm just wondering how much it actually glows, since I suspect that all the finished product photos Bernat is using with their patterns have received an enhanced glow from some photo editing software. Just a suspicion, no proof here.


I was down at the local Michael's store today and noticed they are carrying this stuff. It's about $5 Cdn for a 1.4 oz ball, which was a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a 3.5 oz ball for about that price. Of course the little 1.4 oz ball would be enough for a small amigurumi (pretty costly if you wanted to make a novelty scarf though) and I was impressed with the feel of the wool. It's about as soft as Bernat's Satin line, which was surprising, I had expected the glow in the dark fibres to make it feel pretty coarse. So maybe I'll go back...after all, the newsletter is warning me that it will only be available for a limited time.

Seeing the ad for this stuff made me wonder if this is the first time a glow in the dark yarn has been created for the general public. A little poking around on the internet and I discovered Nightlights Glow in the Dark Yarn which is 100% nylon and glows "for up to 4 hours when charged under a light source for 1 hour." In comparison Bernat's product, according to the fine print, only glows for 15 minutes, but will also recharge in 15 minutes.


Flickr user avamil used a combination of Nightlights Glow in the Dark yarn and a homespun merino wool to knit this scarf.