So it was off to the Weaving Show at St. Marks this morning! I didn’t take any pictures because frankly I forgot to bring my camera inside, but I’ll make up for it with another picture later.
We were off to a good start at least… Josh needed to go to work for a few hours anyway, so him and I met Teena & Ashley over at Tully’s to grab a cup of coffee. Josh went off to work and we headed down to Seattle, which was pretty uneventful. That is, until we parked and realized that Teena had forgotten her purse back in Bellevue! Oops! We called them and they were able to find it, so off we went.
Once we were back in Seattle once more, things went fairly smoothly. I guess I expected the show to be a bit bigger, but then again there was so much weaving hanging out that we were there for at least an hour and a half. It was pretty inspiring, because all the weaving I’ve seen so far has kind of been a 1-3, 2-4 pattern, which after awhile wouldn’t look all that interesting. I mean, it certainly wasn’t enough to get me started or anything, since I figured that I’d get sick of it after awhile.
Oh man though… they really go hog wild with this weaving thing! It’s actually really cool… lots and lots of different patterns to play with that can create some awesome effects. Speaking of, the one yarn I’ve never been all that excited about is Tencel, but man some of those scarves were so bloody soft that I might be a convert at last. *does a quick Wikipedia search on Tencel*
From Wikipedia:
Lyocell was introduced to consumers in 1991 and originally marketed as a type of Rayon. The only current manufacturer in the United States is Lenzing Inc, who market it under the trademarked brand name Tencel. Lyocell is produced from wood pulp called cellulose. Lyocell shares many properties with other cellulosic fibers such as cotton, linen, ramie and rayon. Some main characteristics of lyocell fibers are that it is soft, absorbent, very strong when wet or dry, and resistant to wrinkles; it can be machine- or hand-washed or drycleaned, it drapes well, and it can be dyed many colors, as well as simulating a variety of textures like suede, leather, or silk.
Pretty interesting actually! Most of the Tencel I’ve felt first-hand has been really rough… maybe they did that on purpose? Who knows. The pretty tight (if fine) fabric that I was seeing at the weaving show made out of Tencel was particularly soft, but I don’t know if that is part a result of weaving it tightly, you know? Would it feel that nice if you knitted with it?
There were many knitted and crocheted hats at the show as well; someone had set up a whole booth. I understand that you want to make things that won’t take up a lot of your time because knitting-for-profit is hard to do, but at the same time I really wasn’t surprised that I didn’t find anyone buying those hats. Frankly they were kind of ugly (did I just say that?). This is why I advocate making things yourself, because it’s not worth anyone’s while to sell you something decent, heh.
The scarves abounded of course, and there were some cool knitted wire things. A woman was walking around knitting with wire, but because the wire stays where you put it she only needed to use a crochet hook! That was pretty nifty. Some other women had little felted sheep (they hand-rolled some roving into a big ball and used black pipe cleaner to make a head, feet and a tail), and even more had woven dishcloths. $11 a piece though! Oof.
The dishcloths/handtowels were cool enough though that I thought it’d be a fun reason to learn how to weave… you could make something cool and small-ish like that and it’s a cute gift if you make 3 or 4. Kinda like knitted dishcloths, but cooler.
In any case, all that driving around gave me plenty of time to get some good hat knitting in myself:
Don’t you love the colors? This is my first attempt at knitting with Malabrigo. Yes, this does mean that I bought yarn yesterday before leaving work, but I call it totally justified. For one, this will be a Christmas gift. If that isn’t enough, I get a 35% discount at work anyway, and the retail price for this yarn is $11.75. Plus, my darlings, I’ve been dying to knit with Malabrigo because I’ve heard such good things about it. I first found them online, but because they’re based in Uruguay and all that I wasn’t sure about ordering from them… plus I’m just not an online shopper kind of person (I suppose I would be if I had a debit card).
In any case, I had a $10 bill and I was ready to shop, so I decided that I could get just one hank of the chunky and make an awesome ribbed hat. I probably took the last skein of that colorway that didn’t have any yellow whatsoever in it… a lot of them were a violet and green with a little bit of yellow thrown in. Yuck.
I have a Ravelry account now (which I think I’ve already mentioned), but you won’t be able to check it out unless you have one yourself, since they’re still in beta.
I think I already have a recipient in mind for this hat, but if you just happen to fall in love with it and really really really want it, just grovel at my feet and you might see it come Christmas. Mwahahaha.
But what shall I knit after this? Hmm.
