Under Cover

When was the last time you gathered up the blankets and made a fort?
It had been a while for me, but I can’t say the same now, as it was just last week that I made this one →
The building materials came from quadruplet- Noro- blankets.
I thought it was high-time they had their place in the sun especially with the recent and auspicious arrival of Noro Silk Garden yarn to the cafe.

If you were to take up residence and gaze skyward this ↑ is what you would see. The beauty of Noro – it comes shining through! To read more about this self striping yarn check out the Mr. Noro post from weeks past.

Noro is good building materials for all sorts of things (not just forts).

Case in point ↑ The Knit Cafe’s Confetti Mitts takes advantage of Noro’s colour-magic. There are many such examples, too numerous to count. 

In other news…
You can find out about The Knit Cafe’s upcoming plans for this years Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche (all night art event) right here. Only a month to go! Hope you will join us.
Craftily yours
Kristin

Comings and Goings

Is this old news now?
For sure it is good news, so all the better to repeat it.
We have Noro!
Noro Taiyo,  cotton, silk, wool, nylon
Noro Taiyo Sock  (same as above but sock weight)
Noro Kureyon, 100% wool
Noro Silk Garden, silk, mohair, wool
Noro Silk Garden Sock (same as above but sock weight)
The Taiyo is new to us.  I am especially excited to have a yarn to recommend to folks who are eager to get their needles into some Noro colour-ways but are put off by the wooliness.  Some might say darn right itchiness in the case of Kureyon (I would not- I love a wooly-wool)).  Did you know Kureyon means crayon in Japanese? A fitting name for yarn that captures the imagination much like a new box of crayolas might. All the other Noro varieties capture the same magic.
My first Noro project was my first sock project too, and I was hooked. A Noro addict and a sock addict too.  If it has been said once, then it has been said again, and it is about to be said once more now: knitting with Noro is like reading a good book you never want to put it down.  The anticipation of what will happen next is too much to bear.  What colour will it be?
Since the sock days though I have sadly not knit much with Noro. I rediscovered the joy of it all when I made my Confetti mittens. Whoever said one can never go back was not talking about Noro.  I was even more enraptured.

Also showing off Noro’s Style  are these knit works from Jared Flood. The first pic is the Mitered Mittens, a simple beauty of a pattern by the genius knitter Elizabeth Zimmerman. Made more beautiful thanks to Noro. You can find the Mitten-How-To in both “The Knitter’s Almanac”, and “Knitting Around”, books by EZ.  The second pic is Jared Flood’s Noro Striped Scarf, easy, effective, and a joy to knit!

Since December I have been diligent about blogging. Rain/shine-twice a week was my regiment.   I must now admit that my perfect attendance record has been shattered.  I missed my weekend post. Fortunately I have always found that perfection is over- rated. Perhaps you all will also forgive me for my truancy.
But really – can you blame me? The computer’s charms, they fade compared to the view from Bear Island.  Notice the yarn on the bench?  Though I may be a truant, I am no idler.

I was lucky that my vacation did not come earlier.  If it had I might have missed the visit of our old friend Sophia.  It was good to see her.  I had not done so since she moved back to the UK, some time ago. Now here I am back in the big smoke and she is now safe and sound on her own side of the pond where she is writing the nicest things about us.  I felt a little teary when I read her blog post but I concede that it is true.  The nicest people do come to the Knit Cafe- bar none!

Read all about it on Sophia’s blog aquarterto 

Nice to be back among the yarn.
Craftily yours
Kristin