A Verb For Keeping Warm, a visit

 

First, before I take you shopping I have to explain about Date Day.  Please don't confuse it with Date Night, it's way better!  It was invented by me and is managed by me.  It happens once a week (never ever on a weekend) and I have my hubs absolutely convinced that it has to include either a drive to the coast, lunch at a cute someplace, a visit to a yarn shop or museum or something else really fun like that or all of the above.  It is great.  So it is because of this that I managed to get my husband to drive me to A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, California about 40 minutes from our home.  Warning: do not follow Google Maps, you will get hopelessly lost.  GPS ended up helping us a bit, so go, if we can find it, you can too!  And, the address is Oakland, but really you are in Berkeley.  There is a cafe next door, we had a sandwich, it's Berkeley, I don't care what the address says.  OK, the preliminaries are over, now let's go shopping!

I love this place!  The sales folk are kind and helpful, but allow you to roam and touch contentedly alone until you ask for help.  It's the home of Pioneer and that's why I really wanted to visit.  I wrote about Pioneer before, it's a new yarn from Verb that is helping (beginning?) to revitalize the California wool industry.  Last week I ordered one skein online to get a feel for it and I loved it and felt a road trip was needed.  On this visit I ended up coming home with a few more skeins of Horse's Mane, a greyed out brown, and Beach Rock, a muted lavender.  Lovely stuff.  Also, I had never seen Plucky Knitter before and bought a skein of blue in a sport weight for a scarf.  Loverly.

The shop is chockablock full of fabulous yarns including Habu, Plucky, Isager, Alchemy, Quince and Co., Verb's own hand dyed yarn and of course Pioneer.  It's arranged with plenty of room to maneuver around with lots of natural light.  There is also a large selection of nice fabric for the quilters with a good dozen plus bolts of the elegant Liberty cotton.  So go.  Go.  Go.  It's a great place to be.  You can tell they love fiber and I love people that love fiber.  

Cindi Brumpton of Purl One blog and a fellow Rowan Ambassador, has recently posted an interview with me. I'd love you to pop over and read it, very exciting for me, plus she is a very funny lady! Links below:

 A Verb For Keeping Warm

Pioneer Yarn

The California Wool Project

Interview on PurlOne

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Rowan Fine Art Sock Yarn

Lark Scarf

Being a long-time knitter, and I know so many of you reading this are too, I've knit with just about every type of yarn and fiber that is available and I've started to question what it is exactly that I'm looking for in a yarn.  It's certainly not difficult to find soft yet hardworking yarn in beautiful colors that are affordable, you just have to do a bit of homework, it's all out there in abundance.  But lately, I've been looking for more in my yarn and I know many other knitters are too.  The popularity of Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter, Rowan's British Breeds, the craze over Manos and Malabrigo, and the early acceptance of Pioneer from A Verb For Keeping Warm prove that we're willing to pay a little more for a little something more.

So what is that "something more"?   The yarns listed above are similar in several ways.  Besides being knitter friendly in the traditional way, they are either organic, or minimally processed, or sourced, spun and/or dyed in a part of the world that greatly benefits from the industry, and that could be in your own back yard!  Any one of those attributes will make me take a look and I will almost certainly purchase.  I want to support their efforts and do what I can to help promote the industry I cherish move forward in an earth and people friendly direction.

And now there is a new yarn to add to that list above, Fine Art by Rowan.  The knitting world went all atwitter when Rowan announced they were (finally) offering their first ever sock yarn.  Early reviews were positive, Clara Parke's review is superb and so I felt like I was the luckiest knitter in the world when Rowan emailed me to tell me a skein of Fine Art was on it's way for me to review.

My first impression was downright infatuation.  I received the color Tawny, a mix of soft rosy pinks, browns and mauves.  It felt like a puddle of softness in my hand.  While winding my skein into a ball, I had not one single knot or tangle in the entire 437 yards.  Also, no un-dyed or over-dyed splotches that you often see in hand dyed yarn.  Quality control I assume is high.   I'm making the Lark Scarf, Ravelry link here, using bamboo US 1, the knitting is gliding along smoothly and happily, very zen.  This is my new travel project, kept near the front door for emergency-knitting-when-away-from-home.  It has an undulating drop stitch, very addictive and fast.  I predict this yarn will be a major hit with the knitting community, it's one very lovely yarn.  Rowan has also done what they do so perfectly, offering excellent pattern support with their Fine Art Collection book that is so beautifully styled you'll want to jump right into the pages of the book and have a good long poke around.

Fine Art is sourced, spun and dyed in South Africa, and in their words "working with people from the poorest and still marginalized communities in the area".  Read all about it here, from the conception to the final dying process, it's fascinating and heart-warming.  Fine Art is composed of merino wool, kid mohair, polymide and silk.  The mohair gives it the tiniest halo, the silk adds sheen and the polymide adds durability.  It's hand wash, but that's ok, right?  That it's not overly super-washed processed is fine with me.   It will knit up to 32 stitches per 4 inches with a US 1, but knitters out there will get creative and go with different gauges to get different drape effects.  Fine Art comes in 8 colorways, all named after birds!  I can't wait to see the beautiful projects made with this yarn.

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an elegant mix

An elegant David Austin mixed bouquet from my garden with
 The Pilgrim, Scarborough Fair, St. Cecelia and Litchfield Angel.

And now for some yarn elegance. Can something be elegant and rustic at the same time?  I think so!  Let me introduce you to the very new Pioneer from A Verb For Keeping Warm.  Read all about the California Wool Project here.  I was in love with the very inspiring story so ordered one skein in Horse's Mane to try it out.  First impression is that it's super soft, it's organic, and it wound into a ball easily with no knots or tangles.  It has a nominal amount of VM, but I expect some in a natural wool like this.  I am so happy to see we now have a gorgeous yarn in California that we can call our own.  I predict an aran pullover knit in the natural color in my future.

So my first impression is to love this and me thinks I need to make a road trip to A Verb For Keeping Warm to see ALL of it!  Honey, do you feel like having lunch in Berkeley tomorrow?

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Glamourous Pullover

5200K by Suvi Simola in Rowan Kidsilk Haze Glamour.

First, the yarn.  Sigh.  Just heaven.  The very day Glamour arrived at my LYS I bought a sweater's worth on the spot.  (My love of Kidsilk Haze and it's sister yarns is well documented with 15 projects on Ravelry.)   Knitted up it really does look like heaven dotted with glimmery little stars.  I swear you can find some constellations in there if you look hard enough!  The color is Blushes and looks exactly like raspberry sorbet.

Kidsilk Haze Glamour is slightly thicker and has a slightly different composition than KSH, still mohair and silk but with nylon added.  It knits up to a variety of gauges, from an airy fabric at 18 stitches per 4 inches or to a more dense fabric at 25 stitches per 4 inches with US2 needles.  For knitting bliss, needle size and composition are so important here.  Depending on my gauge and my pattern I may use slick Addi Turbos or a smooth wood like Knit Pick Harmonies that will help the yarn to "stick".  I prefer a sharp needle over blunt with KSH.  Play around with your needle to get a feel that works for you.  It's a yarn that at first may take a bit of patience.  I have always encouraged knitters to stick with it until they are comfortable with it's feel, it's so worth it.  This yarn really does make the most luxurious lightweight yet warm fabric that is like no other.  I wear this year-round, it's perfect for our chilly Northern California summer evenings.  It is not inexpensive, but you'll have your garment for many many years, it wears beautifully with minimal to zero pilling.  Even though Glamour is thicker than KSH, I have interchanged it with excellent results, the Glamour fabric being fuller with more depth of feel to it.  And of course there's those lovely shiny sequins!  Hand wash.

I cast on immediately for a lacy cardigan that didn't work out.  Agonizing to rip out half a sweater, but I had no choice, the yarn was too pretty to go forward with something I wasn't in love with.   Then I saw 5200K on Ravelry and I knew it would be the right fit for this yarn.  The pattern is top down and very well written.  Love that curvy hem and  now am a great fan of Suvi.    I made a few mods and have some other construction notes on my Ravelry page. Very happy with this project.

 

I had to take two sets of pictures for this, so thank you to my patient photographer (my husband).  The first set I wasn't wearing a cami and while I probably won't wear one in real life, photographs sometimes have x-ray vision and it looked too see-through for my mature self and this PG rated blog.  So out came the cami.  You're welcome.

The buttons are vintage mirrored buttons found on Etsy.  The rose on the arbor is Climbing Eden, aka
Pierre De Ronsard, a truly amazing rose.  The rose I'm holding is Gertrude Jekyll, my favorite mid-pink David Austin.

Have a great week!  I'll be back soon sharing more knitting and more roses!

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the year of the rose

We were supposed to wake to a thunderstorm this morning, and rain would have been so welcome.  Instead, more beautiful weather, and of course I have no complaints.  Below is our view from our bedroom door.  I grabbed my phone and took a walk even before coffee!  Every rose grower in my town says this year their roses are going crazy.

From our bedroom door.

Climbing Blaze, a repeat bloomer all summer.

Iceberg, another repeat bloomer all summer long.

Graham Thomas

Graham Thomas, a David Austin rose.

 Although now as I arrange flowers and write this post, it's clouding up. 

We'd appreciate any old sprinkle that wanders our way.

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