She's Crafty...

100 and counting... That is how many blog posts I have to read in my Google Reader. Down from 200-300. I spent the morning clearing it out a bit and hope to be a little more caught up soon (until the next trip away anyway...) So if you haven't heard from me in a while please don't be offended!

But now it is time for me to make my ongoing contribution to world wide electronic information overload ;)

Well, first I need to share a bit of good news..... (insert drumroll)

I have a FO!
Woot!

The Ribby Pulli that I started in the Spring of 2007 was finally finished at the craft group meeting that we had at my house a few weeks ago.

Ta da!

Crappy pic- but you'll have to deal with it as I want to get this post up!

I can't tell you how nice it is to finish something that has been sitting around for a while!!!

Now I just need to finish the Print o' the Wave, and the husband sweater, and... well, you know. There are a few.

Now, at the last craft group meeting... wait, let's call it by it's proper name. Back home I had Bobaknit (that is now boba-less on Thursdays. What is the world coming to???) and here we have Khelana Bajana which means "playing" in Hindi. The name was suggested by Connie. Connie is dynamic, enthusiastic, cheerful and a lot of fun. Connie's husband came here to Bangalore to learn how to make prosthetics. pretty cool. Except now her husband has received a job offer in Ethiopia that starts in a few weeks. Cool, but dang. I am going to miss Connie!

Anyway... Khelana Bajana met at my house and we knit, stitched and chatted, and chatted, and chatted! Usually we meet for about 2-2 1/2 hours. We went for almost 5 hours! We had a lot of fun, but I think everyone stayed to see me finish the sweater! Anyway, it is a great group and I am glad that Gill got it started. I'll share pics of them all another time...

Now, I have also gotten a lot of yarn recently. My husband has taken to saying that I need to learn to knit faster!

I received a package from Cookie in exchange for the test knitting I did... Wow. Really, really nice and can't wait to knit it!

Mmmmm... Bohus!

I received a package from Jo of some absolutely beautiful cotton-linen. She probably got tired of me complaining about knitting wool items in a tropical country! Jo- muah! These are SO gorgeous!!! (psst... she sells on eBay!)

Luscious colors!

I received a package from Jeni and Hannah (who is apparently no longer a blogger, but I love her anyways)- with some items that they picked up for me at Stitches West. Can I tell you how lovely it is to know people are thinking of me as they are surrounded by all of that yummy distracting fiber and yarn?!

These two will match quite well!!!

And lastly, I picked up some yarn when we were in Singapore. Yes, one of the many lovely things about Singapore is that they have real yarn shops, that carry real yarn made out of real, non-petroleum based fibers. Oh my. I unfortunately (or fortunately from my family's perspective!) only had time to go to one shop, Spotlight in Plaza Singapura (conveniently located near our hotel that was just off of Orchard Road). Truly though, that one shop was enough! I was very quickly on overload as I looked at the yarn and dreamed up possibilities...

One of several aisles filled with yarn

Some of it followed me home...

Now, luckily I did have a yarn "agenda". My real purpose was to get yarn so that I could knit a baby blanket for our driver. I really, really wanted something non-acrylic and his wife is pregnant and due on August 24th. Now apparently in India a "good luck" color for babies and such is green. I never realized how hard it is to find a nice color of green! I did pick up some yarn in Singapore though. Unfortunately they did not have enough of the type I really wanted, so I had to settle for this:

The actual color is a little more olive green

I started knitting it and realized that all of these little fibers sticking out, which looked like a "heather" finish in the yarn when it was inside the packaging, was actually little pieces of plastic! Now, the label on this says "100% wool". Sorry. No way are those little fibers wool! After knitting a swatch and washing, I decided that it was not the best choice for a baby blanket. Argh.

So then I was left with option #2. Find some yarn in India. Well I did have that cotton yarn/thread that I picked up on Avenue Road. So I doubled it (to make it thicker) and knitted a swatch. It looked nice, but when I washed it, by hand, in cold water, it lost a lot of the color. Hmmmm. Maybe not a good idea either. So, I went back to Avenue Road and found this. A nice bright green acrylic.

Okay, it is a bit TOO bright. (and this picture is pretty accurate!)

Next, I went to another craft shop. I ended up picking up a softer green (I think at this point my housekeeper thinks I am going a bit crazy about the green yarn thing!) It will work, but I have to admit that it just isn't a color I am thrilled with.


I am stuck - but hopefully whatever I do will be appreciated. It's just that I know that whatever yarn I choose to use, I will not be completely satisfied with it. I just have to accept it. C'est la vie.


Now, there is something else I wanted to share. While we were in Kuala Lumpur we went to the Craft Complex where they had exhibits, demonstrations and several artisans with shops. The exhibit that they were showing, on Embroidery and Needlework, was amazing. Photos were not allowed though so I have nothing to show you. The artisans actually do their work there in little "huts" on site and you can (if you are interested) do a little workshop and learn how to batik. Now, growing up with a mom who owned a craft store, I already knew the basics of how to batik (as well as do macrame, Tole painting, pot throwing/ceramics, beadwork, Ukrainian egg dying, etc...) but these batik pieces were really beautiful to behold.

I walked into one hut and there was a man reclining in a chair, snoring away. He had a large horizontal stand set up nearby that he had obviously been working on nearby as it was still damp with color. As I was looking around he stirred and woke up and then started chatting. Really interesting fellow. Now, there are apparently several different styles of batik work. He worked with many different styles or batik processes, but the one I liked best is called Cap, Tjap, Chap, Chop or simply Stamped.

He explained the detailed process to us and we soon came to realize that what he did took a lot of time and hard work.


He showed some of the pattern blocks that he uses...

I think this one is made from copper

... and in the end I bought a couple of pieces of fabric because they were so beautiful. Below is one of the pieces that I bought alongside some of the other stamps.

Here is a link to a fairly informative site about Batik.

It is SO easy to fall in love with textiles in this part of the world! I just want to hang them all over the walls.

Next time, either a Bangalore update OR Hampi, OR...

India Post

I have some dear friends, Mary (aka Spinnity) and Janice (aka Bogie) who gave me a very sweet present before I left the States. Knowing that decent yarn is difficult to find in India, they gave me a gift certificate to Webs and yes- Webs ships to India! Well, after a little hmmming and such I decided to use my gift certificate to order some yarn. Lace yarn. Valley Yarns Merino/Tencel. 2 cones of it! Yippee! I perused the site and sent in my order March 3rd. I also ordered some other lace yarn the following day from The Knittery in Australia. Turns out I also really needed some Superwash lace for one of the Sock Madness patterns. The Knittery yarn arrived in about one week, but then it took about one week for them to notify me and for me to figure out exactly where I needed to go to pick up said yarn. With me so far?

Anyway, back to Webs. Finally this week I decided that I needed to try to track down this package. It had been a month after all! I sent an e-mail to Webs and they assured me that it had left the country. So I knew then that I had to go bug the people at India Post. I have by now heard many horror stories about missing packages, missing items from packages, packages that are damaged beyond all recognition, etc, etc...

Great.

So, I spoke to my driver and he said we needed to go to the GPO (General Post Office). We drove into the city and pulled up to this grand old building surrounded by many lush plants and the always constant traffic. I walked up to the building, saw a window that said "enquiries" and headed that way. Within a few minutes a man called on me and I explained that I was looking for a package that had been sent from the US. He then told me that I needed to go to the FPO (Foreign Post Office) in the even more congested part of Central Bangalore. Goody. Luckily my driver knew where it was (since the gentleman's directions were "St. Mark's Cross Road, near the State Bank of India, ask someone- Second floor" and actually those directions probably would have worked just fine~)

We headed over to the FPO and I walked up the stairs to the second floor (reminding myself that it is actually the third floor) and I entered a room that was filled with large burlap and cloth bags containing packages. They were everywhere, piled, tossed, and helter skelter. I stepped over a couple of bags to get to the desk that someone pointed me towards and approached a wary looking woman. I explained my predicament and she asked if I had the package number. Argh. Well, yes- but that would be in the e-mail that I had received from Webs. Did I think to write it down? Nope. Okay- she said that without the number I could look through this book... and she hands me a register book that is filled with page after page of handwritten entries. These are all of the packages that had been received in the last couple of months. Each day has 2-3 pages of entries. Fantastic. But, then she says, "You could also check here" and shows me a folder with some computer printed entries and low and behold I was the second one listed! That's me! I say and she eventually tells me that the package left there office on the 1st (one week ago) to go to my local post office.

Of course!

So, back to the car and we drive to the local post office (not the LPO!) and I walk in the door, a man looks up from his desk and says, "Ma'am, your package has arrived."

He knows me. Okay. Guess maybe I stand out or something. Anyway, I paid the import duty and brought my package home. While it took almost two hours, I was actually able to get my package without too much of a problem! The Indian Post works. And here is the result...

Package with the requisite heavy twine and sealing wax. It has been inspected.

Yarn!

Thank you Mary and Janice!!!!!

Now this is my last post before the Madness kicks in again. Yes, that's right, Round 3 of Sock Madness starts tomorrow. I have swatched with the lace yarn from The Knittery, have balled my yarn and I am ready to go. There are now 20 of us in each division (down from 50 or 60) and the first 12 done in each division will move on to Round 4. Wish me luck!

Harshakala

Okay, now that the second Sock Madness round is done (for me at least!) I can get back to our regular blogging! I am going to tell you about...


So, I of course love textiles and I was thrilled to be able to go to Harshakala, the National Handloom Expo. There are really few words that can describe what these pictures can, but it was awesome to see. There was a very large tent filled with row after row of vendors displaying silks, hand printed fabrics (silk, cotton, etc...), carpets, wall hangings, clothing, even wool socks (mine are better though!) All of these items are fashioned by hand and are beautiful to behold.

Now, they do use some machines. This is a Jacquard loom that is being used to make a silk Jacquard fabric.
The shuttle zipped back and forth as he pulled on the knob (just next to his face in the picture), but the thread was so incredibly thin it was difficult to see! Silk has some amazing properties in that way. It is an incredibly strong fiber and can be spun very, very, thin (I know - you spinners already know this!) This particular loom had a pneumatic function which I believe makes it a little easier to operate (less muscle power needed).

This is the upper part of the loom and those green things hanging on the left are hole punch pattern cards of some sort. Each card has different holes in it and this will then effect which of the things to the right are used , which is what makes up the pattern. I know, this isn't a very good description, I just am not finding the right words. But dude, it was cool.

Here are some more of the pattern cards:


Here is what the silk fabric looked like:


There was also a display about silk and where it comes from, complete with live silk worms and all. We used to raise these every Spring when my kids were little, although we never used the silk itself. This was a cool, and traditional way of holding the cocoons:


We always used egg cartons, but this is a lot prettier!

I spotted some silk thread (couldn't really call it yarn) and was examining it to see if it was plied in any way when a man came up near me and was talking on his phone. As he hung up I asked him if he worked here...
He didn't, but we got started talking and it turns out that he owns a business that makes and distributes silk yarns to the EU and N. America! Wow. I could not believe my luck. And actually, he is the one that makes the base yarn for Tilli Thomas yarns.

Did he say Tilli Thomas?!
Tilli Thomas, one of the most expensive yarns I know of?

Someone pinch me. This can not be happening! Well, I immediately asked him if I could come by and see what he has, and yes, can I buy some? I am not in the US or the EU at present. I am here and would love to be able to get some decent yarn!!!! He gave me his card, asked where we lived, said he has a place nearby there and yeah... Made my day!

So, I will leave you with a little slide show of what I saw and maybe even some of what came home with us (Bryan helped too!)

It's All About the Love

Warning...knitting related content ahead ;)

I realized something on Friday. I realized that knitters almost always get along well because they share a love.

A love for COLOR

A love for TEXTURE

A love for PATTERNS and NATURAL GEOMETRY

I realized this when I met Rima. Rima is a lovely young woman who found me through Ravlery- and asked if I wanted to get together some time. She is from Bangalore and is currently living in New York City, but is here until March visiting her family. Well- being the far too home bound person that I am at present I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and do something with a like minded individual. So a plan was hatched for her to show me some of the craft related stores in and around Commercial Street.

Now, Commercial Street deserves its own post some day as it is really something, but- not today. Today is all about the crafty stuff. So, we met and headed for the first shop, Ravi's Craft Shop. I didn't really know what to expect as I had only visited one other yarn related shop in Bangalore before (Bombay Embroidery Store in Raja Market on Avenue Road). Ravi's is different. For one thing it was larger - take a look:

Yes, this is larger! And they have a LOT in this store. Fabric, sequins, ribbon, embroidery floss/thread, pattern books, Sari "falls", and of course- yarn. This really is a full fledged craft store. Word from Rima is that they are very reasonably priced and won't try to "fleece" you (always love that term in relation to knitting!). We throughly checked out the store and Rima bought a few things.

Now the next store, Surya Emporium, looked to have a better selection of yarn and larger quantities as well. Yes- it is all acrylic- but it did at least look to be decent acrylic and not the really cheap scratchy stuff. They even had some nice looking lace weight here! And of course, crochet thread...
They also had some sequins.. and beads! I like beads. It's all my mom's fault...

We then walked around and looked at some of the fabric stores. Wow. Indian textiles are absolutely gorgeous! Rima showed me some of the nicer stores and all I can say is that I am now contemplating getting a sewing machine. It would be heavenly to work with some of these fabrics. And I did bring some sewing books with me (somehow I had a feeling...)

On the other hand, I can also buy some textile items made by others! And Rima was able to help there as well. Turns out a good friend of hers, Nasir, runs a shop called Zara on Commerical Street that deals in fabrics for curtains, upholstery and the like. They also have a floor of ready made items. They have some of the most drool worthy textiles I have seen here. I was really bummed that I have already had most of the curtains done for the house as the fabrics here are far nicer!!! (I do have one room that still needs drapery though... I think I am going to have to go back there!) Look at some of the silk quilts they have.


The ones draped over the banister/handrail are made out of recycled saris. I LOVE the blue one!

Rima has also blogged about our visit here and and even has some pictures from our delicious lunch. Yes- she was even smart enough to have pictures of us. Somehow I spaced on getting a nice picture of her. Bad blogger. I will though... we are hoping to get together again soon.

Now on to other yarn related things. First, while you may have caught a glimpse of this in my list post I want to chose you a closer look of what I have been knitting:

This is the test knitting project for Cookie I have been working on and all I can say is that it looks to be a really fun pattern! She is currently looking for other test knitters so you can check out her (and Kristi's!) blog for more details if you are interested.

More knitter news... it's almost time for (insert drumroll)

Do you remember this from last year? I do. The late nights, the cramped fingers and sore wrists, the sometimes confusing patterns, the tension and stress as we raced against other knitters sometimes half a world, and perhaps an advantageous time zone away. And you know what? I wouldn't miss it for the world. Sign ups are under way for all who participated last year and will open for new participants on February 15 th. So, what do you think? Have you got the balls? ;)

So I will leave you now with a sunset. My own Saturday Sky. A happy day to you all!

Taken from my rooftop...