Habu
Posted by Leah on Sep 11, 2008
I think I have discovered the best brand of yarn EVER for jewelry designers - Habu. It is imported from Japan, where it’s sold under a different name, and the line has more thread-weight and lace-weight yarns than I’ve seen anywhere else. Also, they have really interesting fibers - one yarn is a silk and stainless steel blend, there’s a wool/stainless blend, and I just heard about one that contains copper…
I bought a few skeins of assorted Habu yarns locally, (if you live in the Berkeley/Oakland area, Stash on Solano and Article Pract on Telegraph both carry a selection of Habu and have some swatches you can look at to see how they knit up) and I’m now swatching with them to see how they look, and how I can hopefully use them to make some really fun necklaces.
Is anyone else knitting, crocheting, or otherwise using Habu? I’d love to see what you are making, leave a link in the comments if you’d like to share. There’s a great sweater made out of one of the stainless steel blends in the summer issue of Knitty - I can’t imagine actually knitting a sweater out of that yarn, but how cool would that be?
If you are on ravelry.com (an online fiber community - mostly knitters, but there are plenty of crocheters, felters, etc as well) there is a Habu group - I love seeing the garments people are making out of these very interesting yarns. (*I’m on ravelry as leahmichon if you’d like to be friends - and by the way, there are plenty of groups for people who bead and do other jewelry-type fiber crafts, so don’t be intimidated if you, like me, are more of a jewelry person than a fiber person.*)
I’ll share some of my swatches & thoughts on how I’m going to use these, once I have a better idea of how they work up. I have a thread-weight wool, some silk/stainless, and some ramie that I’m playing with. So far, the silk/stainless is much easier to work with when held together with a strand of very fine wool. That’s as far as I’ve gotten…
The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters
Posted by Leah on Sep 1, 2008
I’ve never knit a sweater, mainly because I’m intimidated with the whole sleeve shaping, getting exact stitch gauge, getting the fit right, and just the amount of time it would take me to finish one. (I’m currently attempting a sleeveless top, and I keep ripping out what I’ve done because it’s not quite right.)
The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters: A Knit-to-Fit Workshop (Knit to Fit Workshop)
My kind of how-to book, since I never just do projects from books; I always have to change the pattern a little, and most of the time end up with a finished piece that barely resembles the one that inspired it.
One complaint - the sweaters used as examples are all fairly loose fitting. There’s nothing wrong with a loose fitting sweater, of course, except that if this book is a fit workshop, I want to see examples of sweaters that are *really* fitted. I want to feel confident that I could make a form fitting sweater that really fits well. The book doesn’t mention negative ease at all - fitted sweaters are often made with negative ease, which means the fabric measures slightly less than the wearer’s measurements, so that it stretches to fit. Obviously a lot of people don’t want their sweaters to be quite that tight, but I think it’s worth discussing in a book about fit. It *does* mention that if you have a sweater that fits well, you should use its measurements instead of your actual body measurements, so it would still be possible to make a fitted sweater using the formulas in the book, if you own a fitted sweater that you can use for the measurements.
Other than that, I think this is a great book for anyone wanting to get started designing their own knitwear. I’m actually better at crocheting than knitting, but I’m thinking I could use the guidelines in this book to design myself a crocheted sweater.
Product review - Addi lace knitting needles
Posted by Leah on Jun 22, 2008
I’ve been knitting a lot lately, trying to get good enough at it to make some really cool knitted jewelry designs. That means using lots of very thin yarn - some is so thin I’m inclined to call it thread rather than yarn. Thin yarn can be tricky, especially with the bamboo needles I use with thicker yarns. I came across 24″ Addi Lace Circular Knitting Needles
One Skein Wonders
Posted by Leah on May 17, 2008
I mentioned the book One-Skein Wonders
I love this book. I enjoy knitting, but I’m not as good at it as, say, my mom, so if I’m going to finish a project, it usually has to be something that is either quick, easy, or both. This means that project using a single skein of yarn are perfect for me - scarves, little bags, and things like that. This book is full of them, and there are several that are on my “to do someday” list.
The other reason I love this book is that I have a lot of single balls of yarn. I’m kind of cheap when it comes to non-jewelry craft supplies, and really nice yarn is expensive - so sometimes I’ll splurge on one ball of a nice yarn, but I can’t justify buying enough for a sweater (even if I did have the skill and patience to knit myself a sweater). So now I have lots of ideas for things to make with my assorted balls of yarn. It’s basically the perfect knitting book for me.
A non-jewelry project
Posted by Leah on May 8, 2008
My son has been wanting to take naps in my lap lately, so I decided to start a small knitting project that I could work on while he sleeps. I found a cute scarf pattern with ruffled edges in One-Skein Wonders
I made the scarf pretty much as the pattern described, but substituted Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton yarn for the one in the example, and measured the length by trying it on periodically until it was a length I liked (rather than trying to make it exactly the length recommended).
I had about half a skein left once I was finished, so I crocheted some flowers and sewed them on to the scarf. I think it turned out to be a really pretty scarf! It was nice before I added the flowers too, which made me think making the flowers into little brooches by attaching them to safety pins or other pin backs would make it easy to dress up scarves whenever I want to. They might also be a cute addition to my etsy store….
A new craft-related blog
Posted by Leah on Feb 13, 2007
My friend Derek, who is a woodturner, just started a blog that showcases craft related videos every day. It’s a fun concept, and he’s already found a few interesting videos.
I watched the knitting video on his blog earlier today, and learned that I’m a continental knitter - I had no idea! I learned to knit a few years ago, hoping that it would translate easily to wire, so that I could knit silver jewelry. I had trouble getting the tension to work in metal, and ended up crocheting with silver instead - but since then I’ve knit quite a few scarves and other easy projects with yarn. All this time, apparently I’ve been knitting the opposite of the way most Americans knit, and I didn’t even know.
Vickie Howell’s Book Tour
Posted by Leah on Feb 2, 2007
Vickie Howell, host of the DIY Network show Knitty Gritty, and a member of the Austin Craft Mafia, came to Berkeley yesterday on her book tour for a new knitting book she wrote. I thought it would be really fun to check it out, even though it’s not a jewelry event, because I’m a member of the Pleasanton Craft Mafia - a spin-off of the Austin group.
Vickie is talented, fun, and very sucessful at what she does - it was really fun to meet her and see some of her work in person. I like to knit - I find it relaxing, and something that keeps my hands busy when I’m watching TV - but I’ve never tried anything nearly as detailed as the things she makes. Her book, Knitty Gritty Knits, has a lot of cute projects in it. I think most 20-30-somethings who knit would like a lot of the projects in the book. There were things in it that I would wear, or that I’d like to have for my home, and honestly, that isn’t usually the case when I look at knitting books!
The event, which was held at Stash in Berkeley, also included a “yarn tasting” where people got samples of Vickie’s new line of yarn. So…I now have very small balls of three really nice yarns to play with, and I think I’m going to work up some knitted or crocheted jewelry with them. The yarns are all made from natural fibers, and they are sport weight, which is pretty thin, so I think they will be perfect for making jewelry.
Here’s a link to the Vickie’s book on Amazon; it’s also available at yarn stores, I’m sure.
Knitty Gritty Knits (DIY): 25 Fun & Fabulous Projects (DIY Network)
She has a couple other knitting books, one for kid stuff & one for teens:
New Knits on the Block: A Guide to Knitting What Kids Really Want
Not Another Teen Knitting Book
