Monday, June 25, 2007

I can't believe that almost five days have passed already. It was a
busy weekend, and nice weather at that.


In between sock knitting and starting up with the lacey mitts I've had in my knitting bag a project that I started with some yarn that I picked up in Alaska. In August of 2005 we went on a one week Holland American cruise leaving Vancouver, BC.

Throughout the whole cruise I was on a mission to find any kind of product that was produced locally, and finally in Ketchikan I came across this hidden jem The Bead and Yarn Shoppe. Besides carrying yarn there was fabric, and beads, and a wide selection of notions for any fibre artist. It was a beautiful shop with stained glass windows, and lamps, and artwork from area artists. It was on the second
floor of a tiny mini mall right next door to a quilting shop.

It was too bad as I only spent maybe half an hour there. I could've stayed for a lot longer, but there is only so much time that you're allowed off the ship when docked in port.

So the fibre I picked up is a 50/50 wool, and soy. Hand dyed. Colour: Jacobs Coat. It's produced by Rabbit Ridge Designs out of Anchorage Alaska.


I knew I wanted to do something special with it, and I thought a long scarf would be a good memory of the trip. The pattern I'm using is from a gorgeous book Knitting on the edge by Nicky Epstein. I didn't count but there's got to be a couple hundred borders/edges for knitting as well as several nice patterns included.




The pattern I chose is the embossed twining vine leaf. I thought it made sense to pick something that could be winding the whole length of the scarf, and with the embossed knitted effect it's a unique look. Nothing that I've ever done before.

5 comments:

Kate said...

I stopped there on our Inland Passage cruise last year. What a great shop and the owner is so nice! I had just knit a pair of socks in Austerman step and was wearing them that day, and she asked to see them because she had just placed an order for some. I hope the weather held out for you!

Maia Discoe said...

What a pretty scarf! It will be a beautiful reminder of your trip.

knitphomaniac said...

that leafy pattern is quite nice - I like that book too! it's got some great edging patterns!

Raytheist said...

Hi there! Your handiwork on the Embossed Twining Vine Leaf scarf got you selected as my Knitter of the Week, as noted on my blog:

www.knitivity.com/knitterman

Your work is nice and worth showing off to my other readers. Hope you don't mind! :-)

Rivka said...

Wow. I usually avoid variegated yarn for patterns like that but the leaves really pop! It looks great!