Eco-friendly yarn review

'Eco-friendly' is the hottest new buzzword on the catwalks nowadays. Just check out these articles by Elle, and Thinkfashion. Fabrics & fibers that are bio-degradeable, chemical fertiliser & pesticide-free, sustainable and renewable are the latest trends in the fashion world today.

The buzz has translated into 'eco-friendly yarns' and this has led to the emergence of bamboo, linen, hemp, soy, organic cotton, even corn yarn! If knitters elsewhere in the world are excited over this, let me tell you that knitters living in tropical climates like us are jumping up & down everyday, and no longer plotting to migrate to someplace with four seasons. We used to have only one sweaty-weather alternative to wool - cotton. Now.. we have all those other exotic fibers, PLUS we get to slap an 'eco-friendly' tag to it & feel good about ourselves!

So with above excuse (reasoning? whatever) in mind, I picked up 6 balls of the Sirdar Just Bamboo yarn - for a simple tank for my SIL's birthday present. All in the name of saving the environment, you see...

This is a 100% bamboo tape yarn that is extremely soft and lighter than cotton. Unlike some of the metallic-looking ribbon yarns, there is only a very slight sheen and it doesn't have any of the crunchiness so often seen in ribbon yarns. The resulting knitted fabric is soothingly drapey, elegant, soft & light; and slightly cool to the touch (although actually, that last bit could be due to the air-conditioning..)

The yarn is roughly worsted weight (19st to 4 inch), using a 5.5mm needle. The yarn is a joy to knit with as it doesn't split and even though it is slightly slippery, it is not unmanageably so.

I chose a light tan color - not the most exciting but I think it showcases the simple pattern well. The only quibble I have about this yarn is the rather small color selection - muted shades of rose, lilac, blue, and neutrals - would definitely have preferred a wider range with darker shades or jewel-tones.

Now that I've tried bamboo.... some Amaizing corn yarn.. anyone?

Explaining 'yo'

"p1, yon, k4, s1, k2tog, psso, k4, yfwd, yrn, pl, k1"

In that 1 row of instructions alone, there are 3 terms that got me scratching my head - 'yon' (yarn over needle), 'yfwd' (yarn forward), and 'yrn' (yarn round needle)... huh? I tried moving the yarn forward & back to try and imitate what the terms must surely be telling me to do, but only succeeded in looking like I invented some kind of new knitting dance.

Finally I did an online search & roughly managed to understand that these were all terms referring to 'yarn-over', the difference in each term just depended on whether the yarn-over was done between knit or purl stitches.

Therefore, if the sequence is :
k1, YO, p1 - that YO is called a 'yfwd' + 'yrn'
p1, YO, k1 - the YO is a 'yon'
k1, YO, k1 - the YO is a 'yfwd'
p1, YO, p1 - the YO is a 'yrn'

I may be over-simplifying matters but isn't a yarn-over just that - taking the yarn from front to back over the right needle? What is done to the yarn after that will be whatever is normally done - i.e. bring the yarn in front if the next stitch is a purl, and bring the yarn behind if the next stitch is a knit. Why make it so complicated?

Oh well, guess this falls under the same category as single crochet / double crochet between American & British terminology... you say 'to-MAY-toes', I say 'to-MAH-toes'...

The Clapotis Rite of Passage

Some say that the Clapotis scarf is a rite of passage.. thousands of knitters who have online web access have heard of this pattern since it was first published in 2004.. I mean, just look at the 3,006 photos in Flickr!

I am very glad to have completed this rite of passage & can finally call myself A Real Knitter! I love the pattern - I love the way the accordian pleats scrunch up to form a cushy warm scarf, the way they open up to become a little shoulder-warmer in freezing cinemas, the way it drapes and hangs when worn. I am definitely going to make another - maybe in a luxurious silk or a soft cashmere - something that doesn't exfoliate my skin so much.

P.S. Mr Noro, I apologise for all the less-than-complimentary words I've thrown your way when working with the yarn.. the color striping is simply magical.. I did not try to match the stripes at all, I just knitted and knitted and yet the color changes are so gradual and just perfect. You are da man!!! (but I still think I will stay away from your yarn for a while)

Pattern : Clapotis by Kate Gilbert (published in knitty.com)

Yarn : Noro Silk Garden in #243 (mauves/lilac/purple/greens/browns/black), 5 balls

Needles : Clover Bamboo Circulars in 5.0mm

Size : 23 x 56inch; done with 9 repeats (vs 13) in the straight section

My hunky male model

A full-length shot

Super-duper blurry artistic close-up shot

Modelled on husband's coat (& leaving lotsa mohair fuzz in the process)

Waves in the ocean

The definition of '100m'

I'm feeling rather short-changed at the moment.

There is just no way that my last ball of Noro Silk Garden is '100m', as the label says. I know that the label yardage is just an estimate but surely.. there cannot be anything more than 50m in that last skein.. unless the length of every bit of twig and hay is also meant to be added to the yardage? Hmmm...

I was very careful to take note of my yardage at the beginning, so I am absolutely sure that I used up exactly 1 ball (or 100m) to knit from the beginning up to the entire increase section. According to the pattern, the decrease section is basically a mirror-image of the increase section, right? Therefore, it should also take 1 ball (or 100m... see I'm smart) to complete the decrease section. But it sure doesnt look that way at all!!

When I'm done sitting here snarling at the little pouf of yarn left, I shall have to make a decision to either rip back & make the scarf even shorter, or buy another ball of yarn online. Snarrrl.

Clapotis Progress

I've temporarily put aside all my other works-in-progress (WIPs) and have been working exclusively on the Clapotis this entire week, because :

1. I'm addicted to the pattern & to the parts where I get to drop stitches, although it is not as fun in this Noro Silk Garden yarn as the stitches don't really slide down smoothly; it requires a gentle tugging of the loops 1 row at a time as some bits stick together. (Note to self :try this in slippery silk someday for added kick)

2. I love the way the scarf drapes and has that scrunchy, organic texture to it.

3. Actually I'm speeding through this as I don't enjoy working with the yarn. It sheds, leaves bits of twigs and pokey bits on my clothes, and I am forever anticipating the next clump of prickly seeds or whatever. My hand hurts and I yearn to touch soft smooth yarn again - preferably silk or cashmere please.

OK, enough whining, here are some progress shots.

It suddenly dawned on me last night that I may have to shorten this significantly as I only have 5 balls of yarn (545yds vs the 600+ the pattern calls for). Don't ask me why I didnt look up yardage earlier - I just assumed that 5 balls was plenty for a 'scarf'. Doh me.

Anyways, here's my logic : I took 1 ball to finish the increase portion, and another 2 balls to complete 6 repeats of the straight section. So I figure I should be able to squeeze in maybe 8 or 9 repeats with my 4th ball, thus leaving me with the 5th ball to complete the decrease section.

Ladies & gentlemen, I ask for your utmost focus in crossing your fingers along with me in hopes that my logic works.

This is why it's called Silk 'Garden'

My bed has bits of pokey twigs in it. This is because I knitted the Clapotis (in Noro Silk Garden) in bed last night. Even though I had a towel over my leg - all the better to dispose of those bits of twig & seeds from the yarn, m'dear- many stray bits still landed on the bedsheet.

Here's a picture of the culprits.

WIP update

Clapotis in Noro Silk Garden #243 (lilac/purple/green/black)

I'm actually much further along than what this picture shows, have managed to get to the drop stitch part of the scarf. I really like this pattern, it's easy enough and yet not mind-numbingly boring. The Noro yarn though, is another story - I have a love/hate relationship with it. When it's good, the drape and the loft is very very good; but when it's bad, the twigs, bits of nests, seeds etc poke my hand and irritate me to no end.

Madli Shawl in Zephyr Plum

Not a lotta love for this lace shawl right now, I'm about 1 rep past the border.. have had to rip out the border 3 times and finally got it right on the 4th try. It was the stitch markers - the pattern has decreases that are worked across the stitch markers and was extremely confusing, so have done away with the stitch markers. I've also had to rip out the center panel pattern couple of times, and it was only cos I had help that I didn't need to rip out more. So Madli is on a little vacation at the moment till the stars align or something.

Summertime Tunic from IK Spring07 in Filatura Cotton. KAL here

This is my TV/anime project - it allows me to read subtitles and laugh at the jokes while knitting rounds and rounds of stockinette. I've already finished the waist ribbing part and now have 11 more inches of stockinette to go. That should last me through an entire season of anime. Thank goodness it's summer year long here.

Rowan Tapestry Scarf + more scarves

I've been fiddling around with the camera set-up so don't yet have pics of my works-in-progress (WIPs) to show. At any rate I have not yet learnt how to take a decent wip photo...

This is a crochet granny square scarf done using Rowan Tapestry in Potpourri, the colors remind me of the crisp air & soft glow of autumn. Still about 1.5 balls of Tapestry left so I may use it for a pair of Fetching gloves..... so that I match when I travel & dont look so errrm 'touristy'? Actually why is it that whenever I go overseas I never look like the locals and always stick out like a sore thumb? Will matching scarfs & gloves help I wonder?



At any rate, this is what I'm currently going ga-ga over on Flickr :

Chevron Scarf in Koigu KPPPM (yes I know I'm slow getting on the bandwagon)
Rib Scarf in Noro (brooklyntweed does a killer combination)

Someday I will have a whole drawer supply of gorgeous koigu and noro scarves, all prettily done up, waiting for my next trip overseas. In the meantime I can only stare at websites like these and maybe they will reward me for staying so long at their site & give me some free yarn?

Yeah, rite.

Mahogany L-O-V-E

I've never been a 'browns' kind of gal, but this 880 yds of Handmaiden Sea Silk may just change my mind. The colours are rich & saturated, ranging from the lightest touch of toffee, to a shimmery copper, to a reddish-brown; deepening into mahogany, with the occasional tinge of burgundy thrown in. The hanks are ridiculously fluffy, and I really don't think I want to wind this up for knitting anytime soon. L-O-V-E. This spells baaad things for the future of my yarn stash.

On the topic of yarn stash, I attempted to take inventory yesterday, but got distracted by all the yummy yarns that had to be squished & fondled, and all the surreptitious casting on "just to see what it looks like". As of last count, I have 30,000m of yarn in my stash. That's 30km. That's the distance from Tuas to Bedok.. and more than the distance from the southern to northern tip of our island...

Loot from Europe

Remember this painful episode?

Here are my replacement needles - hand-picked & air-flown by the finest connoisseurs, all the way from Europe! (actually they are non-knitter friends but considering the amount of stuff they bought back some major ass-kissing is in order)

Not 1, but 3 Addi circular needles! (3.5mm 60cm, 3.5mm 80cm in Bamboo, and 3mm 80cm)

After several international calls & frantic surfing at the GGH site to confirm colours, they also bought for me:

14 balls of GGH Scarlett (100% Egyptian cotton in a fingering wt).. very soft & shiny. Colors : Fire Engine Red, Lilac/Dusky Rose, and a Creamy Biege. I'm so itching to make camis like this.

5 balls of GGH Linova (74% cotton, 26% linen) in an aqua-green shade.

And a free pattern which I'm having the hardest time photographing due to it's shiny surface so you'll have to take my word that it's a very pretty lace sweater in a very foreign (German) language. Thank goodness for lace charts. Gonna bring it along to the next knitout so smarter knitters can help me figure it out.

I was told that my friends felt uncomfortable in the yarn shop as the shop lady was just standing there looking at them while they attempted to buy something... so if there are any Viennese yarn shop owners reading this (somehow I am highly doubtful, but just in case) - pls be nice.... Non-knitters can buy a lot of yarn too!

P.S. Thanks to my wonderful friends for helping to increase my yarn stash :) See their hol pics here..

Trivia for the Knitting-Obsessed

You are an obsessed knitter when:

1.You wander to the craftroom to touch your yarn before you brush your teeth in the mornings

2.Your friends go travelling & take pictures of yarn stores & yarn for you

3.Your husband refers to the grocery supplies as 'stash'