Yarn Traveler

There has been a bit of a blogging hiatus. I started out the summer strong, but finished the year pretty weak. Blah blah blah…holidays, blah blah blah…real life, blah blah blah…lazy. There, now we’re all caught up.

Since last post with a FO, I had a small flurry of accomplishment. I didn’t do any holiday knitting. Knitting on a deadline stresses me out. I get enough of that at work, and knitting is not supposed to be work. So, I just knit what I wanted to knit, and enjoyed the process. Project photos are up on Ravelry (user TheYarnTraveler).

What really caught my attention and brought me out of blogging hibernation was something that popped up on KnitMap this week. There is a new yarn store coming to Portland, called Yarnia. According to their site, they’re opening February 2nd, at SE 42nd and Division. It gets better…its not your average yarn store. You can custom blend your fibers, colors, and yarn weights, and its all sold by the pound, not the skein.

I should just have enough time to pop in and check it out before Matt and I leave for Mexico on the 4th. I’m taking my Noro socks (toe-up, two at a time, based on the universal pattern) with me to work on between margaritas.

Filed under: Portland Stores, KnitMap on January 25th, 2008 | No Comments »

Thanks to Matt, web developer extraordinaire, you can now easily access KnitMap on the go from your iPhone.

Want to find a store near you? Need directions to that out-of-the-way shop? Want to look up a store’s hours? Its all right there! Just enter www.knitmap.com/iphone into the web browser, and you have a streamlined site perfect for the iPhone.

Filed under: KnitMap on October 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Things have been quiet on the blog front, but behind the scenes I’ve been busy! KnitMap is growing like crazy and Matt and I have been working on new features and ideas to make the site even better. I’ve been considering attending Stitches West this year as a vendor. It would be a perfect excuse to go. I know I’d have so much fun, and my good friends C and J have aggreed to help me run the booth. My only concern is making enough bags before February. Everyone says I’m going to need A LOT of bags.

I’ve Googled past Stitches events to get an idea of what other people thought about them. Does anyone have any pointers, suggestions, or reccomendations for being a vendor?

 Speaking of inventory, I just got some new fabrics in the mail yesterday. No monkeys (sorry! I know, I know…everyone likes the monkeys), but I’m excited to make them into bags anyway.

Filed under: Bags on October 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

Westsiders, these bags are kitty approved and on their way to the Knitting Bee. They would be just perfect for your small projects in progress, or maybe a traveling sock.

While you’re there, check out the Friday Night Sock Club, Fridays 6 to 8 pm.

Knitting Bee
18305 NW West Union Rd.
Portland, OR 97229
Check them out on KnitMap: Knitting Bee

Filed under: Bags on October 13th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

This week’s Willamette Week has an article titled “Crafty Bitches,” and while its an interesting read all in iteself, they mention KnitMap!

If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can read the whole article online here.

Filed under: KnitMap on October 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

KnitMap had a nice little link on The Oregonian’s knitting blog yesterday. Click here to check it out!

Thanks for the buzz Shannon!

Filed under: KnitMap on October 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Its been so much fun to give away yarn and goodies! I would love to keep going indefinately, but the day job isn’t really a very good cash-cow if you know what I mean. Anyone know of any good sugar daddies looking to bankroll yarn-related shinanigans? Regardless, I’m going to make raffles a regular, albeit more periodic, event.

This week’s prizes are fabulous, if I do say so myself. Three lucky winners will receive a skein of handpainted 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn from another Portland local, Knitted Wit, in colorways Desert Treasure, Sunny Day, and Twisted (dyed especially for my LYS, Twisted).

Stay tuned for a sneak peak of the grand prizes (they’re gonna be good!).

Filed under: KnitMap on September 28th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

This week’s KnitMap raffle prizes include:

• a small notions-sized bag from YarnTraveler (that’s me!);
• the beautifully colored Harmony wood DPN’s from KnitPicks*;
• a sample of Soak wool and fiber wash; and
• a tube of wonderful Wild Carrot Herbals lipbalm.

You still have time to sign up and leave a comment or two, if you haven’t already! We’ll draw tomorrow morning, and post the winners on the home page. Good luck!

*Note: I am in no way affiliated with or compensated by KnitPicks. I just really like DPN’s, and colored DPN’s especially.

Filed under: Bags, KnitMap on September 21st, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I finally finished my socks. I’m a little embarrassed to say that these puppies took me an extraordinarily long time to complete. So long that I can’t remember when I started them, or where I bought the yarn. Something like 5 or 6 months, maybe? I see so many blog posts where people whip through a pair in a week or two, and these bad boys took me MONTHS! Granted, they’re knit on size 0 needles, 100 stitches to the round, about 12 stitches to the inch. And, there was some crazy work stuff the last month or so that often kept me at the office late. And, there is the whole bag-making thing that took up a lot of my knitting time…so maybe its not so bad?

Regardless, I am in love with these socks. They’re perfect! The tiny little stitches, the colors, the stripes…they’re worth every month.

I have named them my Reading Rainbow socks. Usually when I happen to make a mistake that is not easily fixable, I just pull out the project and start over. But, when I came to my first of many mistakes on these socks, I was so far along, and too much in love with them to rip them back. I settled in with teeny crochet hook and tinkered and swore until it was fixed. Settling back in relief, I showed Matt my handiwork and exclaimed, “I can do anything!” That cemented the theme song in my brain, and with the beautiful color changes and stripes, the name seemed appropriate.

So that leaves me with two days off, and no project on the needles. This could be dangerous…idle hands and all that.

Stats:
Trekking XXL
Color 110
Pattern: My own
Needles: DPN size 0

Filed under: Finished Items on September 18th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

*Title totally stolen from Emily, but it was too cute not to use.

After a very, very long week at the day job, I finally managed to get myself to Twisted. The purpose of my visit was two-fold; I needed raffle prizes for this week’s KnitMap raffle, and after the intense couple of weeks I’ve had lately, I was in need of a little yarn therapy. Alpaca was fondled. I feel much better.

The wonderful proprietresses (shush, its a word!) helped me pick out some great prizes for KnitMap. This week’s winners will receive a skein of skein of handpainted 100% superwash merino sock yarn from Portland local, Painted Skeins. This stuff is beautiful! I had such a hard time just picking three, but I finally decided on the colorways “Afterglow,” “Nest,” and “Zutano”.

While I was there I also picked up some prizes for raffles #2 and #3, and some components for the grand prize packages. It’s going to be so hard to give these away!

While I was there, I checked out their new line of Zealana yarn, and Shannon pointed out the merino/Delaka blend. It feels just like a great merino wool yarn, but the Delaka gives the yarn a heathered look and softens the colors. When I came home, the latest issue of Interweave Knits was waiting for me, and now I really want to make the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from the Delaka blend.

Just what is Delaka you may ask? The Australian Brush Tailed Delaka is better known as a possum. Zealana is helping to protect the delicate New Zealand environment from this invasive species, and the beautiful yarn is a great byproduct. According to their website, the Delaka fiber yarn has some really nice properties:
• It is exceptionally warm
• Low pill
• Minimal prickle factor (when I read that on their site, I read it as “minimal pickle factor”)
• Good moisture absorbency

So it turns out that possum really IS awesome! I don’t know about you, but I need a possum sweater. Maybe we can get a group together for a possum KAL?

Filed under: Yarn, KnitMap on September 16th, 2007 | 1 Comment »