I just got off the ferry ending a wonderful weekend with the Queen of Lace. Who? You might ask. Miss Emily (the Queen herself) once worked at Urban Yarns but has moved to the island and we all miss her terribly. She is an expert at lace, both knitting and designing. This is her:

With summer on the way (I know it’s only March but the weather this weekend proved that it’s true) I am trying to think of some lighter projects to work on. I have worked in some cotton but lovely lace really seems like a great project. Here are some reasons you might want to give it a whirl:

1. It’s light to carry, you can get a lot of lace in 50 grams.

2. It’s light to knit, no heavy wool half finished blankets draped on you while you knit away.

3. Colour! You can kind of go nuts since shawls are an accessory.

4. Fashion. While I am admittedly not the most fashionable individual I love a small colourful lacey shawl around the neck.

Emily and I headed to the coast and chilled in Tofino for the weekend. While we were there we managed to get in some knitting at the cafe and at the beach. I thought I would take advantage of her wisdom and work on a couple of lacey items.

This is the Multnomah shawl (by the way, I love the Shalom sweater featured on the front page of her blog, nice) started during the Olympics. It was quick and easy and only 1 skein of sock yarn. Simple, yet effective. The bottom of the shawl is some feather and fan lace which is perfect conversational knitting because there are 3 rows of stockinette for every one row of lace pattern. I knit this up during catch up time and it’s blocking while I type.

The next project I started was the beautiful Brandywine Shawl. This one is worked from the tip to top which makes the bottom the hardest part. As the shawl grows there is more and more garter stitch in the middle (relaxing) but to kick it off it is all lace all the time. I am over the hump now so it is smooth sailing from here on in!

Instead of working away dilligently on my Brandywine I also cast on for a Sunflower shawl. What could I do, I had to take advantage of her expertise while I could! This one was designed by Emily herself and I love it. The pattern looks complicated but the repeats are easy to memorize, something I quite like in a shawl. It’s worked from the middle of the top outwards and the lace stitch patterns are reminiscent of sunflower seeds and petals. Beautiful. I’m knitting both shawls in the exquisite SweetGeorgia Cashsilk Lace.

On another note, the new Twist Collective just came out and there is a lovely lace shawl in it I have my eye on here! It’s called Dryad and it’s by the lovely Sivia Harding who is as nice as she is talented.

–Alexa–

If you couldn’t make it out yesterday, don’t panic! We still have all the yarns out for you to try. We also still have the gorgeous samples, but they will sadly be leaving after this weekend.

Carrying on from Friday’s blog post, we’d like to accounce that Urban Yarns will be holding a “Yarn Tasting” all day this Friday! Most of us aren’t able to appreciate these creatures,  such as yak, bison, and muscox in person, so we’d like to give you the opportunity to try knitting with the fibres from these exquisite animals.

Come by and join us at the Point Grey Store from 10am - 9pm this Friday, March 5th.  Sit down and relax while trying out these fabulous yarns. We have some gorgeous samples made up in these yarns to inspire you! These samples are only here for a very limited time, so take a look while you still can!

Our weekly Special this week is Katia Mykonos at 40% off. Mykonos is a fancy ribbon type yarn which is a 22 stitch gauge. We have 4 colours to chose from, all of which have gold glitter throughout to add a little bit of glitz and glam. Great for lightweight,  delicate projects!

Also, the February UY draw winners are Honey from Point Grey, and Linda from Edgemont. Congratulations to the both of you! If you’d like to enter our monthly draw, just drop by one of our stores and enter your business card or fill out a knit pick card. If you’d also like to be on our mailing list (monthly newsletter filled with great info, new store items, upcoming events, and shop news), just send us an email!

Well, sometimes the Olympics (knitting or otherwise) don’t go as planned. My sweater did not go as planned and is sadly, not quite finished. I was casting off the sleeve as the closing ceremonies were on, not sewing in ends as I had intended. I would normally feel a little badly for not having met a goal but for some reason this time, I don’t. This was an ambitious project that ran into a few problems at the start (ribbing, sleeve ripping, chart reading etc.) but those are not really the reason my sweater is unfinished.

If the Olympics had been anywhere else I would be wearing my cozy sweater right now, but it was here, in my city! I spent so much time in the happy Vancouver streets, at a few hockey games, a few bars, at Olympic parties, hosing parties, it was a fantastic 17 days and I regret nothing! I waited 6 hours to hold the medals, 4 hours to see the Colbert Report, and more than a few hours in security screening line ups. I met new people and enjoyed the atmosphere. Cheered and cried, all the things that proud Canadians did in the last couple of weeks. That isn’t to say that those who completed their projects weren’t living it up, they are just a hint more dedicated than I. So my sweater is unfinished but this experience was fantastic.

That being said, a shout out to my ladies who DID finish their projects!

Jan finished her beautiful Burberry Cowl

and Amanda finished here lovely Prairie Boots

Well done ladies!

–Alexa–

Bijou Basin, Buffalo Gold, and Qivuik are the newest additions to our collection of luxury fibre lines.

Can you think of a yarn which is as soft as, or even softer than cashmere? Well we’ve got one for you to try… Yak! Yak is an extremely warm, yet lightweight yarn. Bijou Basin sent us three different weights of their luxury yak yarns:

Laceweight - 100% Yak
Lhasa Wilderness - 75% yak / 25% bamboo
Himalayan Trail - 75% yak / 25% merino

Vogue Knitting chose this next yarn from Buffalo Gold as one of their Holiday 2009 top picks.  Lux is a beautiful yarn made from 45% bison down, 20% mulberry silk, 20% cashmere, and 15% tencel. Tencel is a regenerated cellulose fibre made from dissolved wood pulp. Creamy, silky, and springy are some of the words that they used to describe this yarn.

Qiviuk is what you’ve all been waiting for! We received this in a variety of colours. The blend that they’ve  put together for this one is 80% merino, 15% qiviuk, and 5% mulberry silk. Qiviuk is the undercoat of a Muscox, an animal native to the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and Greenland.

The other three yarns that we received from Buffalo Gold are:

Heaven - 100% bison down
Earth Lite - 90% bison down / 10% nylon
Earth - 90% bison down / 10% nylon

We have some great samples from the Trunk Show in the Point Grey store right now! Come and take a look while they are here, and feel these gorgeous luxury yarns all knit up.

And just a quick note that we will not be open tonight for Stitch and Bitch or late night shopping. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you. Our hours over the weekend are as normal (Saturday 10-5:30, and Sunday 12-5)

The ten colours that we have for you to chose form are boreal, hemlock, raspberry, woodland, peridot, sangria, nova scotia, midnight, cezanne, and pewter.

As you can see, this yarn has amazing stitch definition and will look great in either a simple or complex lace pattern.

Try knitting Evelyn Clark’s Swallowtail shawl with only one skein of Mini Maiden. Or try the Norwegian Woods shawl or scarf by Sivia Harding. Alison has kindly let us borrow her  sample in sangria to keep in the store for a while. Come by and take a look, and feel the softness of this amazing yarn!

We’ve also got lot’s of Lace knitting books in stock at the moment. Get inspired by taking a look at Victorian Lace Today, Lace Style, and Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls.

And on special this week, we have the Fleece Artist Harvest Jackets at 25% off! We only have a small selection of these kits, left, so get them before they’re gone!

The sweater has become all consuming. Although I managed to whip through the back last week the progress since then has been slightly slower going. I had a minor mishap with the sleeve: 1/2 way done before I realized I hadn’t been doing the increases and had to rip back to row 9. Ripping back colourwork is painful. Don’t find this out for yourself though, just take my word for it!

The other setback has been that chart work is not portable or conversable knitting (I made up that word, let’s have it catch on). While I’m sure there are individuals in the world who can chart and talk and watch hockey all at the same time I am unfortunately not one of them. That being said, I couldn’t just not knit ANYTHING while waiting 3 hours to see the Colbert Report so I had to continue work on a little garter stitch project.

I’m using more of the lovely Sweetgeorgia yarn, this time it’s Tough Love Sock in the colour Honey Fig. Something about naming yarn after food is intriguing to me. I’m not even sure I love purple on the best of days but I was immediately attracted to this skein. Weird. I think it’s in the name. The pattern is Multnomah and it’s quite nice. It’s a simple pattern to start, just some increases, then it gets into the feather and fan lace at the bottom. I’ll have to pick up something else conversable when I get to that point I think.

To make a Multnomah of your very own you will need:

1 skein Sweetgeorgia Tough Love Sock

3.25mm (US3) needles (I like the addi lace for this project, 24″)

The pattern, which is free here

With that little side track and the setback in the sleeve I have completed the back, almost all of one sleeve, the cuff of the other sleeve. and part of the right front. I think this might be why my Mom calls me the queen of almost. When I have almost finished something it tends to reside in the finished side of my mind. Then, when I have to gift and item or bring it to the shop I realize it’s not REALLY finished. There is still often a little sewing, some buttons to put on, or ends to weave in. Sometimes late at night (almost always). Ah well, such is the life of a knitter! I’m off to watch some curling and rib my heart out!

—Alexa—

Anina’s  commemorative  2010 sweater is finished and has been proudly placed in the Point Grey store window. This is a traditional Norwegian sweater which has a lot of fun techniques. Anina has been kind enough to offer some of her time to anyone who needs help with this pattern in particular. Please feel free to give us a call and set up a time.

This gorgeous ski sweater is made from Dalegarn Falk; a 100% machine washable wool with a 24 stitch gauge. We’ve made the sweater into kits which comes with the yarn, a zipper pull, and an official dalegarn 2010 patch. The book is free with  purchase of the adult size kits! This all comes in a really nice  and very useful wicker basket. Unfortunately we can’t sell the books separately as they are the last ones that are available in North America. With that in mind, you might want to get these kits while we still have a few left!

Amanda is modeling the sweater in the two photos above. She said she felt really nice and warm while she was wearing it! Below in the left, is a part of the fair-isle pattern. The red and whilte really seem to pop nicely against the black. On the right hand side is the Dalegarn 2010 commemorative patch.

A little fun outside in the sun to pass the day away…

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To the left are the semi-solid colour-ways and below we have three of the fluid colour-ways. Shibui is a great company based in Oregon. Here’s a little bit about them taken from their website:

“We scour the world to find unique, hard-to-find combinations of fiber and texture, and then dye them in an array of rich, flattering tones. Our goal is to provide a texture palette in addition to a colour palette. Our blendable textures with their dyed-to-match colours will spark the imagination of any knitter.”

We’re so excited to be carrying their yarns and some of their fabulously designed patterns. Remember, this is only the first box to arrive… many more to come!

This Week’s special is Sirdar Peru at 40% off! We have 4 colours to chose from and loads of great patterns to match!.

What are the knitting olympics you might ask? They are a challenge to all knitters to get their knitting game on. While our athletes are pushing themselves to make personal bests and to land on the podium you are encouraged to challenge yourself to a knitting project.  For the record: I’m not comparing the years of hard work athletes spend training etc. to a 2 week knitting project, that would be silly. For the full details you can check out the Yarnharlot’s post about the Olympics here. She explains all the details.

I spent yesterday wandering the crowds downtown and this afternoon cheering on our women’s hockey team, but other than that I have been glued to CTV enjoying every televised moment of the games. Of course, I couldn’t let my hands idle so I am plugging away at my own challenge: The Dude.

I spent this summer with some of my cousins in Winnipeg and we thoroughly enjoyed drinking White Russians and watching The Big Lebowski. I came across the pattern on Ravelry a while ago and this 2 week challenge seemed like the perfect time to pick it up. I cast on Friday night while Wayne (no last name required) lit the flame. I have almost finished the back in the first weekend so I am at least somewhat on track. There are, however, some things I should have considered before embarking on this project:

1. 1×1 rib. Not just the  cuffs, not just the bottom ribbing. The WHOLE THING. Seriously.

2. Charts make it slow knitting while watching the games and also lead to a lot of ‘wait, what just happened!?’

3. Aren’t I supposed to be in another sweater competition of sorts?

These are all things that should have probably been considered more seriously before Friday but as it stands I am attempting to finish 2 sweaters by the closing ceremonies. Good times.

I am not, however, the only one at UY who will be embarking on this journey, almost all the gals have cast something on! Here’s the list:

Jan will be working on the Burberry Cowl

Anina will be making Sahara, by Stitch Diva (and a Reindeer sweater)

Amanda will be making Prairie Boots

Kalin will be making the Playtime Hoodie

Sarah will be making the Sea Vines Vest by Fleece Artist

and I will be makeing The Dude (large size with Cascade Eco)

You can follow our progress,  get all project info, or join us through our Ravelry group

PS: The Reindeer sweater is coming along

PPS: doesn’t it look like I’ve accomplished a lot with these detail photos? What a faker, I haven’t even finished the back!