My first free-range projects!

Home on the Free Range...

I’ve only been a “free range knitter” since December, and it’s been an interesting process. 

Because of the way DestiKNITions worked, I spent 90% of my time knitting projects given to me by yarn stores. I enjoyed the adventure—I tried things I might not have dared otherwise, and learned loads of new skills. But it also meant that in the past eight years I have very rarely knit something just because I wanted to.

Now I can, and well, the freedom is rather daunting.

Step one was easy. I had a rainbow Pfeilraupe shawl I hadn’t yet finished that only needed about two hours of stitching to complete. Nothing gives that jolt of momentum like binding off a beauty of a project.

But next? 

The nice people at Love Knitting had gifted me with three scrumptious balls of MillaMia Naturally Soft Aran, hoping I’d write about my experience with the yarn. So I knew what fiber I’d use, but to make “what?” was a wide open landscape. Let’s face it, I haven’t had to answer the question “what shall I knit?” in a long time.

Ravelry to the rescue! It’s handy search functions let you browse from projects made with a particular yarn and from patterns using the amount of yardage you have on hand. With these two searches, I was able to select Angelique den Brok's Far Isle Fun cowl (provided I didn’t do all the sections). Pretty, colorful, and representing a challenge to my long-ignored colorwork skills. 

I happily cast on, basking in the notion that I could get this finished whenever I got it finished—no deadline! Honestly, it made me nearly giddy to think of it.

I had to make a few minor alterations to the design to accommodate the fact that I wasn’t knitting all the sections, but that was easy enough. I’m delighted with the result, and couldn’t resist sharing it with you.

Who knows what I'll tackle for my next project? Actually, I do. But you'll just have to wait until it's ready for sharing. After all, I'm a "free range knitter" now...

Island Knits Shoulder Wrap from Island Knits

The glorious difference!

One of the projects I’ve been working on for pure pleasure lately is the Phoenix Shawl, a stunning Zauberball shawl I picked up the yarn and pattern for last Mother’s Day.  It’s taken me a year to find the time and focus to get near completion on this massive garter stitch short row-based project.  Gazillions of tiny stitches.

Imagine the refreshment I get from swapping out my delicate size 5 lace needles for a pair of big, shiny size 17s!  While both projects are garter stitch-based and play primarily on the gorgeous color transformations of their fiber, they couldn’t be more different.  That, for me, is one of the greatest gifts of knitting—there’s no end to the variety.

This marvelously tropical cotton fiber is like knitting with strips cut from that favorite t-shirt you’ve work for ten years and would never part with despite its fading.  It’s dreamily soft against the fingers—which will mean soft against your shoulders, and that’s important for a summer project.  Nice and stretchy, too. 

It is the perfect launch into warm-weather knitting.  Now, if we can actually achieve some weather close to warm here in Chicago…

NEW YORK CITY, ROUND 2 - Upper West Side

A morning of One-of-a-Kinds

The world was kind enough to afford me a second trip to New York City this year, which meant that I could dip my toes again into the vast ocean of Manhattan yarn stores.  Like last time, we’ll document my adventures one neighborhood at a time for the next three installments.

Longtime readers will remember my fondness for the upper west side, and I was delighted to have reason to get off the subway at 79th street again.  As I’ve said before, the NY subway isn’t that hard to master, can often be much faster than a taxi, and with the help of great apps like Hopstop, you can scale the mass-transit learning curve nearly in an instant.

Head for Broadway off the subway, and look across the street for the amazing:

Zabar’s

2245 Broadway

New York, NY 10024-5899

212-787-2000 or 800-697-6301

www.zabars.com

There’s a reason this place is known as the quintessential New York Deli.  There is more cheese in one room than in all of Europe, it seems.  Honestly, I stood in the cheese department with my mouth hanging open.  

Every square inch of this store in jam-packed with good food--and with rushing New Yorkers who want to grab their crackers and get out of there without your touristy gawking getting in their way.  

Their Deli Mustard is the stuff of legend.  Just a couple of doors south is the Cafe, where coffee and goodies can be had with a little more elbow room.

Wander further up the block to our fiber fix for today:

The Yarn Company

2274 Broadway

New York, NY 10024

212-787-7878

www.theyarnco.com

In New York for over 30 years but recently under the new ownership of the delightful Tavy Ronen and her brother, this store has taken on a whole new feel.

  I soaked up Tavy's enthusiasm on the phone (she was out of town for my visit but set me up with wonderful staff member Petra to play hostess) as she related her vision for a truly creative fiber resource.  You know you’re in a special place when you wander up the steep stairway to notice the hallway pipe has been yarn-bombed with a charming little cuff.  

Inside is a clean-lined, well-lit studio atmosphere that features yarn, fabric, and needlepoint supplies.  I found the stock truly inventive--yarns and projects I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Got a diva in you--or in your life?  Grab the pattern for this flamboyant Ostrich Scarf done up in Be Sweet’s Boucle baby mohair with an unforgettable ostrich feather trim. Relax, they’ve got the trim in stock, so you won’t have to hunt down a Broadway costume shop to get your plume on like my friend Danica here.  If you need to make a show-stopping entry at a party, or just make your everyday life a theatrical experience, this project is for you.

Need something a bit more basic?  Go for Irina's Scarf done up in the magical Zauberball Starke 6.  Zauberball’s striking colorway and a nifty little zig-zag pattern do most of the work for you, and you won’t have to worry about the graduations matching in your socks like I did last year.

For a truly distinct piece, I was instantly drawn to the Yarn Garden Bubble Ball Cowl by Be Sweet’s magical Bubble Ball.  I’d never seen anything like this, and the nice folks at BeSweet pack up everything you need to turn heads with this artsy little cowl. (Photo by Yarn Garden)

Yarn Company has carved itself a little nitche in dancewear patterns, so it makes sense that our Knit-Along from this store is a pair of Noro Leg Warmers in a pattern by Mercedes Diaz.  Letting Noro’s stunning color changes take centerstage, these legwarmers are elegant and not too bulky.   I don’t dance well, but soon I’ll at least look like I do.  Heavens, it’s the 80’s all over again!

After you’ve finished your shopping (and, if you’ve been very industrious, earned yourself one of Yarn Company’s sparkle-shiny project bags), get your Hollywood on by heading up to

Cafe Lalo

201 West 83rd Street

New York, NY  10024

212-496-6031

www.cafelalo.com

Don’t be surprised by the number of people grabbing the fence in front of the cafe while their buddies take photos--folks are simply re-enacting the famous scene from the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie You’ve Got Mail.  It is a charming place, the kind of cafe we all want to be seen in while in Manhattan, dripping in vintage French vibe and more kinds of cake than you could eat in twelve lifetimes.  

I had a lovely salad, they featured quiches that had to be six inches high, and this is definitely the place to nosh if your vegetarian or have dietary restrictions.  But who wants to be restricted in here?? The menu lists almost 50 different kinds of cake.  That means I could come back every Sunday for a year and....gain 50 pounds.  Still, Cafe Lalo is the best possible way to end a morning of pure indulgence on New York’s upper west side.