YPF: My First Handspun

Yarn: Tussah Silk Roving, bought a couple of years ago at Uniquities in Vienna, Virginia (they don't appear to have a website), but I was afraid to ruin it.
Spindle: Plain wooden top-whorl drop spindle
Comments: I just taught myself last night by watching YouTube videos and links I found on Ravelry. The Joy of Handspinning is a great site. Clearly, I need a lot more practice, but I'm really enjoying this.

Happy Earth Day!

I just happened to finish these brown/green Dashing fingerless mitts in time for Earth Day.

Yarn: Lana Grossa Furetto (wool, alpaca, and acrylic), bought at Wolle Rodel, Frankfurt
Pattern: Dashing, Knitty.com
Needles: US 6 DPNS
Mods: They are a "thank you" gift for our friend in Berlin who showed us around Frankfurt. Though she has large hands, I shortened the mitts by a few rows, but don't remember how many.

I'm holding a reusable fabric shopping bag, still in its case, that I bought in Frankfurt at a Rossmann Drugstore. When open, it is the size of a large plastic grocery bag. It looks like these Envirosax, but was much cheaper, even after factoring in the exchange rate. I keep it in my handbag for small purchases. It's a small step, but I swear plastic "grows" under my kitchen sink, and some bags taken back for recycling find their way to landfills if recycling becomes too expensive for local governments, so a small step that reduces consumption is better than none. Whole Foods will stop purchasing plastic shopping bags today; they will give out those remaining until they run out. They will supply paper bags instead, and will have reusable grocery bags available for purchase. I've purchased several reusable bags, but always get one or two plastic bags to carry my lunch to work, and wondered what I would do. (I realize other stores have plastic bags but they are frequently full of holes at the bottom.) I read last night on the Ravelry Greencraft forum that some have knit their own lunch bags. I should have thought of that long ago. I've never felted anything, but have some Lambspride somewhere around here. It's washable and cheap. Another WIP is born! (Does anyone have recommendations for yarn that will felt into a thinner fabric than Lambspride?) WF will still have smaller, thin plastic bags in the meat and veggie sections, but did you know that some people use tulle vegetable bags? I just read about these last night. These are expensive but you could make your own.

I bought the green polish at the same drugstore. The brand is Manhattan, #85. I'm a drugstore junky. I loved browsing the aisles of Rossmann looking at stuff we don't have here. I bought several bottles of polish and some lip liner.

Nicole, are you on Ravelry? Did you know that there is a Frankfurt group there?

Kusha Kusha Scarf

Pattern: Habu Kusha Kusha, Kit-78

Yarn: a-177 Super Fine Merino and A-20 Silk Stainless in White

Needles: Addi Turbu Lace US8, 6, 4, and 3

Mods: None. Simplest of knits.

YPF: Dream in Color Smooshy

Green! It's Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn in Spring Tickle. I bought it at So Much Yarn in Seattle last year. (I still need to blog that store. It's great!)

On my drive in to work Monday, I regretted not having brought any coffee with me and thought "wouldn't it be great if there was a parking space in front of that Starbucks?" Not only was there a parking space right out front, there were 30 minutes on the meter! Got my triple grande capp, and got to my meeting on time too. Isn't that a great way to start the week?

So, did you know that I'm going to cooking school??? Well not really, but Francesca is. Our own Fluffbuff is blogging her cooking school experience on her new blog Tanta Robina. Kudos to her! I'm going to enjoy following her progress and learning a thing or two. I thought about going to cooking school many years ago, but nixed it. I still cook though. I bought this last week at Williams-Sonoma. I've been trying to get one for years but it was always sold out.

Broiled asparagus. Yum!

Habu Paper and Cashmere Spring Shawl

I've been obsessing over this shawl for a few years now. I think I visited the Habu site at least once a week to admire it. I discovered too late that Habu discontinued the cashmere in the color I wanted. It can be made with Geelong lambswool, but only the cashmere came in the screaming neon lime/yellow that I wanted. I was crestfallen. I found it on sale at Purlsoho, luckily. I hope I have enough.

The shawl consists of alternating panels: one knit with one strand of A-60 shosenshi paper knit together with one strand of cashmere in straight stockinette, the other panel is three strands of cashmere knit into a leaf design. The panels are knit together using a 3-needle bind off and one strand of cashmere with beads strung on. Should be interesting. I bought the beads for it yesterday at Bead Obsessions in Old Town Alexandria.

It should be a fairly simple knit except the leaf and stockinette panels require different needle sizes and it took a while for me to get gauge and for each piece to be of equal length. This is supposed to be the project I turn to when I’m in “process knitting” mode - which is fairly often, instead of dishcloths, since I have no more room for the latter! Stay tuned.

Salvatore Restaurant, Frankfurt

Almost FO: Parrotfish/Pomatomus Hat

I got some knitting done while I was in Frankfurt. I started the Parrotfish/Pomatomus hat on the flight over and finished it while I was there.

It still has 2 US3 circs holding six stitches in the top. I have two fur cuffs that when fastened together, go around my head. I thought I would use them as a band, to make a Russian-style fur hat, but I don't like this look for me. I'm not used to looking at hats that flatten my hair like a skull cap.

So though I think it's a cute hat, and it was a fun knit, I'm frogging it. I used Sundara "Black over Violet," which will now become a pair of socks.

Nicole, Thanks for the offer! I'd love to go on yarn "crawl" in Frankfurt. If you go to Unikat, please say hello to Claudia, and let me know what you buy and plan to make.

Palm Garden, Frankfurt

"Unikat" Yarn Shop, Frankfurt

Loved Unikat. Another very small shop, only slightly larger than Lana. It's a few blocks away from the Opera, in the other direction from Lana in a tony little neighborhood.

Michelle and I went there 5 times, the first 3 times it was closed. Don't ask why we didn't call first! We finally got our German friend, Beate, to call to find out what the hours were. We were intrigued by what we could see in the windows, particularly a dark gray tank top.

We were delighted when we finally made it when it was open. Unikat is not affiliated with Unikat yarn, made by Zitron. The owner, Claudia Wende, was warm and welcoming and eager to show us what she had. She is one of the friendliest yarn store owners I've ever met. I'd spend a lot time at her shop if I lived in Frankfurt.

Claudia carried lots of brands we recognized, Including some sock yarn and a variety of yarn that we have here, but again I was intrigued by the lines we can't find here. We had to make some painful choices. I took pictures while I procrastinated. I was delighted with that tank made from Lang "Aura," a new release for spring and summer. It's deep gray with a purplish cast. But she only accepted European Union credit cards, so we had to go back when we had cash. That led to visit number five.

We got there an hour early. (I really don't know what was wrong with us!) We knit that hour away at a place called the Liquid Lounge.

I love that name. It was late afternoon and there were only a handful of people there. I ordered a capuccino and Michelle got a cup of mint tea.

I bought one skein of Schulana "Trevari." Claudia knits up lots of samples from the yarn she carries so that you can see what they look like. She had a shawl made from Schulana "Trevari," which doesn't like much in the ball, but looks great knit up. I bought one skein, hoping that I could find it somewhere here. No luck yet.

She also had a garment made up from this Katia "Glaciar," but it's a winter yarn and she only had three balls left. I bought them all, perhaps for an obi - just the thing to dress up a work outfit for evening. It's black with a bit of silver running through.

She also had a body-skimming dress made up from this Gedifra "Possible." It's a thin black ribbon yarn. She had also worked in a bit of fun fur (yes, Del!) and edged part of it with Katia "Galaxy." It was so elegant. And no, I didn't think to take a picture! Claudia is about 6 feet tall and very slender, so I'm certain it looks fabulous on her.

I was fascinated by this little fastener. Have you all seen any here? I should look at M & J Trimming when I'm in New York again. Or look on line.

I bought this Schulana book that has some beautiful patterns and English translations.

It also contains some stitch patterns new to me, and Claudia showed us a few new ones too.

She’d ask how to say something in English, then when she’d say it again in German, I knew what she was talking about. Wouldn't that be a novel way to learn German!