Nightsongs

This past summer, I visited a yarn shop in Seoul called Banul and bought some beautiful indigo fingering weight yarn. It’s a cotton-silk blend called Screen that I planned to use for a shawl, I don’t remember the price exactly but it was fairly cheap for the 10 balls I bought.

I was going to make the dragon wings shawl, and first I tried making a swatch with only 1 strand. I know the point of a lace shawl is to have a fine guage, but instead decided to hold two strands together for a thicker yarn (that is still fairly light). After looking through Ravelry, I noticed that a friend of mine was making Nightsongs (Ravelry link) and decided to give it a try.

The pattern is not very difficult, but it can be confusing. There’s another chart that someone else made to supplement the original pattern that helped a lot.

As you can see, there’s currently a cat hanging around my apartment (I’m cat-sitting), so I couldn’t do a proper blocking on the edges. Aside from that, the yarn took the blocking really well, I love how it turned out. I did 8 repeats of the pattern, and to finish I soaked it in water with detergent for about 20 minutes before washing and rinsing. I had to rinse a few times over because, as someone else warned me, it takes a while to get all the extra indigo dye out.

Hey, look, it’s yarn.

I finished three projects recently, two of which I finally did the finishing touches to today and added to Ravelry. First, though:

Soleil from knitty, with a few changes. I added some crochet edging to the bottom to help it lay flat, sc1, skip 1 or 2, chain 1, sc1. I decreased a lot on the arms because they’re big otherwise. The neck is a little low despite all the crocheting, so I wear it with a cami underneath. I love how it turned out, I used a yarn that is some sort of cotton blend (might contain cashmere, or maybe it’s cash acrylic. It wasn’t very expensive so I think it’s a man-made blend).

Next is Percy, which I had been looking at since it came out but kept not doing, mostly because I had my Brea bag. I used some denim cotton yarn that I got in a trade from KIPD, and changed the front panel, added beads and a cable pattern, and didn’t do the inside divider or outside pocket (I know I would never used it and was getting low on yarn). I also couldn’t do the i-cord edging, so I just did crochet instead, and the straps are a little different (wider):

I got the beads at my trip to Dongdaemun in Seoul last weekend. Dongdaemun is a huge building with many floors, and dozens of stalls selling yarn, fabric, beads, buttons, etc. I was amazed when I walked in and realized it wasn’t just 4 or 5 yarn stalls, but a whole floor and a maze of yarn. I’ll try to remember to take pictures next time.

Lastly is a vest that I designed myself (it’s just simple filet crochet) that I named Masan after my host city. I think it sort of suits it, the colours are very marine (blue, grey, black and white), and Masan is called “Dream Bay”, nestled beside a harbour.

It’s a bulky yarn called All Partner, also from KIPD, and it’s cash acrylic, which I’m taking to mean that it’s acrylic designed to act like cashmere. It was fun to make, I added in some waist shaping, too. I was going to use a button and decided to go with a tie in the end.

World Wide Knit in Public Day, Korean Style

I’m doing this post in two parts, one here and one on my Korea blog, so if you want to read more about Seoul, go here.

I met Marie at the bus terminal, and we made our way over to the beautiful (and only a little confusing…) Seoul Arts Center. There is actually more than one of these, I’m told, and the Korean names are different, but they’re all the same in English.

It’s outside of the Cafe Mozart, which is beside the Arts Center itself. It’s a perfect spot, since it had tables outside, astro turf nearby, and a fountain that had a show at 3:30. For some reason, the fountain show included Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. We were supposed to meet at 2:30, and we got there at 2:00.

Soon, Nikki, who organized the whole thing, arrived with her mother, and we started to gather at tables:

I don’t have a clear picture Nikki, though, which is strange because I was sure I had taken a couple. A few didn’t turn out well (which is why I take so many pictures with my digicam, to allow for the large percentage that end up sucking). (She’s in this next one, which shows the tables, but only from behind). On the above picture, you can see my pile of stuff. The green fabric is my Soleil top, the yarn to the left is from cinnamingirl. There was a dangerous amount of food, yarn and beverages at the table; at one point the waiter came with some beer, and it took him a moment to find a place to put it. Empty spot? What’s that?

I really should rethink my candid shot style of photography… but also visible in the pictures above is cinnamingirl, Kathie77, and ozangel. geminime was sitting to my right, but she didn’t end up in a picture for whatever reason. We did Nikki’s quiz together which was fun, though neither of us won. Camo was on my other side, and you can also see her in the background of the picture of me below. She gave me some wonderful Rowan Cotton Tape (that I’m pretending to knit below. I had just finished a row and picked it up for the picture), as well as some denim yarn. I got some really nice blue/green/white cash acrylic from Cinnamingirl (not actual cashmere, we think, faux cashmere) and she was working on a very distracting purple Dragon Wings shawl that I wanted to steal. I think she would have noticed, though, so instead I’ll make one for myself.

JenniferTeacher mentioned the event on a previous episode of SeoulPodcast, which I happened to listen to on the busride home from the event. I tend to be behind on podcasts, though, it was out in advance.

I met other people there too, but I don’t remember all the rav names. Sorry! If you were there/are in a picture, leave a comment and I’ll edit the post. I have become completely disorganized and flightly since arriving in Korea, you seriously don’t want to see me in class.

Here’s me, below:

I brought the Soleil top with me, but I forgot the pattern (see?). I had specifically printed it out on Thursday to bring it, and when I came back I found it neatly folded on my kitchen table. I did some knitting on it, though, and swatched some of the yarn I scored to see how it would knit up.

Nikki and Cam demonstrated spinning, and the conversation ranged from babies and something about a seal, to kids, Korea, and mostly knitting. We also all either gave or worked on squares for a blanket that will be raffled off at some point soon. Nikki is seaming, and ozangel was selling tickets, the proceeds of which will go to a charity.

A Scarf and a Shawl

I finished it a little while ago, actually, but I’ve been lazy about posting. It’s the scarf that I started in February, before the accident, then finished when it was too warm to wear a scarf. I’m pleased with how it turned out, but it’s not really my colour. I think I’m going to save it to be a gift. It would look good on someone with Korean colouring, right? I wish I was Asian sometimes, they can wear such a huge range of colours. Not everyone, of course, but in general. Black hair, dark brown eyes, and the skin tone can vary from pale to dark, but… I know a few women who can wear this colour well. I’m jealous of how they look in yellows and orange, my skin tone just isn’t up for that.

I noticed an interesting trend lately; Korean women wear boleros/shrugs! You don’t see them in the wild much in North America, but I’ve seen them in the stores here, and I’ve seen women wearing them over tshirts and tank tops.

I also crocheted a shawl:

I started out making the Seraphina pattern, but kept messing up on one of the first few rows. So instead I just used the first 2 rows as a base, and winged it from there. It’s Bernat Handicrafter cotton (a big ball that a friend brought me from Canada), and I was making it specifically to put on my wall, where it is now, above my bed. If I could do it again, I’d change the shape of the filet crochet a little, but I’m happy with it. It’s bright, makes the apartment feel a little more like *I* live here, and I like the colours. I might make it again with some changes in a colour that I would actually wear.

100 Days

I’ve been in Korea for 100 days now (well, it was 100 days on Saturday, though now that I think about it, it IS still Saturday for most of you), and one of the things I’ve noticed here is that there is a lot of knit/crochet wear. Mostly in the form of tunics and cardigans, and usually store-bought, but there’s such a huge range of beautiful clothes. If it wasn’t a little strange, I’d take pictures of people randomly to show as an example.

The samples at knitting stores tend to be crocheted tops with very skinny yarn, a fingering or sport weight. They look beautiful, but obviously take a long time to do. I have found 3 knitting stores in all here, one near my school, one not far from my apartment (though it seems like they’re doing renovations or something there), and one at the Fish Market, which is a gigantic market-place that sells dozens of species of sealife, fruits and vegetables, clothing, fabric, everything. The knitting store there is in it’s own building off to the side and is the biggest one I’ve seen in Masan. Most of their cotton yarn is very skinny, like on the displays, but there are a few interesting choices. I happened to be looking at some of the colourful Noro lookalike yarns, and I was surprised at how expensive those were, about $14 a ball (maybe 150-200m in a ball). Is that normal? I was surprised to see that price, though I’ve never bought that kind of yarn.

I ended up buying a cotton/acrylic blend (still skinny, but close to sport weight), and got free circular wooden needles with my purchase, two of them, 3mm and 4mm. That yarn had a better price, about 3$ for a ball of 170m.

I meant to take pictures, but I got distracted. I also had a friend with me (who doesn’t knit or crochet), and I tend to subconsciously rush myself when I’m with non-knitters because I don’t want them to get bored. Because I think there should be a picture in this post, here’s one of some paper lanterns outside of a temple. It’s Buddha’s birthday next week, and of course this is a big deal for Koreans:

I’m still working on that same brown scarf. My hand is healing, and I go to physical therapy 3 days a week, but it’s still difficult to knit for long. My hand will get stiff, and I’ll have to take a break every 20 minutes. Crocheting is a little better, mostly because I’m holding my hand in a different way.

Hiatus

I have an excuse for being quiet, this time. I broke a bone in my right hand, on March 6th. Because I didn’t actually realize I had broken a bone, I was going around for a little over a week with a hurt hand, and couldn’t knit. Then, this past Sunday, I went for an xray and found that not only was it broken, it was a bad break and I’d need surgery, which I had on Monday. I now have a metal plate in my hand. I stayed in the hospital for two nights, and now I’m back in my apartment with my hand in a splint, which I’ll probably be sporting for another week, maybe a little less. I don’t think I’ll be able to knit for 2 weeks, but maybe sooner. I’ve been posting about it in greater detail on my Korea blog

I listened to a lot of podcasts in the hospital, including Stash and Burn and Cast-On. This was both good and bad; I wanted to knit, but I couldn’t. It was still nice to hear about it though.

Branching Out and a Cute Journal

I made Branching Out once before in the year I learned to knit. I think it was one of the first scarves I made, for my mother. A scratchy, off-white acrylic yarn, and I ended up making it too short, but it was still long enough (especially for her, she doesn’t like long scarves much). I also remember having a lot of trouble with the pattern, I had to frog and start over a lot.

Thankfully, that’s not the case so far this time:

I bought the yarn at the same store as the blue acrylic yarn. Since it’s so skinny, I’m holding 2 strands together and knitting on size 6s. I’ve never seen this yarn before, it’s “Unita” “Konac Za Pletenje”. Obviously, not a Korean yarn, it says “Made in Hrvatska”, which, according to Wikipedia, is Croatia. One ball is 50g/158m, and it’s a 67% cotton 33% rayon blend. It’s a little splitty, and with two strands held together that can be annoying, but it’s alright for a scarf. It doesn’t specify what weight the yarn is, but suggests 2.5mm to 3mm needles (I’m thinking fingering weight). I’m having a hard time finding information about it online.

There was a small range of colours there, this one is a sort of tobacco, very pretty. It’s fairly soft, and the rayon adds a touch of shimmer to it.

Now, the cute.

I was in Lotte Mart today looking for a few things, and of course I had to walk down the journal aisle. To my right, I saw the above (and there was another beside it that showed an amigurumi cake). I think it’s meant to be a kid’s workbook, but I couldn’t resist. (Notice the lack of love for blue and green on the cover. Green’s not even worthy of a cute face).

Here’s the back…

…and the inside.

All of the pages look like that. I tried to translate it, but while I can sound it out, I’m not sure how to do the ‘we’ sound on my phone (most cell phones have an eng-kor dictionary built in).

Yarn in Masan

This is a post that could also go to my other blog, Live from Masan. Since it’s about yarn, it’s going here.

I haven’t been knitting or crocheting very much. I came with some Patons Canadiana (to make mitts, though now it’s too warm to wear them. One is finished), and some Bernat Cot’n Corn. I’ve used the Cot’n Corn a lot, to make a keyring (crochet), a round coaster (2 circles crocheted together) and a square knit dishcloth. I still have some left, but I want to get some different yarn too.

The other day at school, I walked in to the teacher’s room to see a ball of yarn on the table. It was one of those crazy fun-fur things with lumps, but still, yarn. I asked around and found out which teacher had brought it in. She gave me directions to the store, it’s really close to my school. I leave, turn right, walk a couple of minutes, and I’m there.

I’m learning Korean, but first I need to get the actual letters down (hangul). I’m doing well enough with that and can sound out written words, and read/recognize words (like the last name Kim). For communicating with people, I carry around two phrasebooks, a notepad in which someone helpfully wrote a brief “who am I” for me in hangul, romanized hangul and english, and I have my cell phone. The cell phone has an eng-kor kor-eng dictionary, so I can type in english words and get the hangul and vice versa. When I left, I had my super-easy map that included the hangul and some english words. I actually passed it first, asked a passerby for help (I said the name of the place), she lead me back but neither of us saw it so I said thanks, then I looked and saw knitwear. Of course at this point, the original teacher and my co-teacher came by, saw me and called out “It’s there, Denise!” while I was comparing what the teacher had written to what was on the sign and wondering how I had missed it.

I walked in the store, was able to say hello, and started looking at the yarn. The owner either couldn’t speak english or didn’t know any useful words, but she was friendly. There was an older woman sitting at the table, knitting, and when I pointed to my purse (I was wearing the Lotus one, or whatever it’s called, the one by Norah Gaughan), then myself and mimed knitting, they seemed to understand that I was saying “I’m a knitter”. For yarn, I saw wool, cashmere, angora, cotton, polyester, acrylic and rayon. I was trying to find dishcloth cotton, and looked up cotton on my phone. She pointed out the cotton, but none of it was the type I wanted, so I looked up dishcloth and showed it to her. They didn’t have cotton for that, but she showed me acrylic (acryl), first in a crazy shade of neon green, then a slightly less crazy shade of green. I wanted blue, so I said “blue?”, pointed to my blue purse, then two shades of blue yarn, and she dug out a blue version of the acryl yarn.

I can count one to ten in Korean*, so when I asked how much it was, she said the amount but I misheard. 1, 2, 3, 4 is il, ee, sam, sa, so she said sa and I thought she said sam. For a moment, I looked between the two women, then counted aloud and realized my mistake. When she gave me change from a 10,000 won, she counted o, yuk for me and showed me, and I finished 7, 8, 9, 10. She spoke to me more in Korean after, but I really couldn’t understand and wished I could. I think she was asking me what I’m doing in Masan, so after a moment I remembered my intro and started to read it, then since she was looking at the paper curiously I showed her the hangul. She explained to her friend, and I pointed towards my school and said the name.

I’m not sure what the other woman was knitting, but it was small, she only had about 4 rows, and it was on circs with worsted weight, variegated purple yarn.

Oh, and before she gave me back the yarn when I paid, she started pulling out the middle strand, and I wasn’t really sure why. I thought maybe she was pointing out that it’s center pull. But then she held the two strands together and said some things in Korean, miming knitting; hold two together. I think. The yarn does feel like it’ll be good for washing dishes. On the back label, it said Poly 100%, Weight 70g +- 5, and on the bottom Made in Korea (they make everything here, but from time to time I’ll see a Made in China or Made in the USA).

* There are two sets of numbers, the one I’m talking about is the one used for money, Sino-Korean numbers. The other is called Pure Korean numbers.

Live from South Korea

I’m going to set up a travel blog soon specifically for South Korea, but at the moment I still don’t have a connection to the internet in my apartment (I can’t even use my laptop, I don’t have the right converter yet) and so I’m just using up time in PC rooms on an alien computer.

I’m safely here, though, of course, and working on getting settled in. One of my first goals is to look for a yarn store, and find some fellow crafters to meet with. So far I have seen a few quilting shops, and one little shop that I wasn’t sure about that had yarn on the walls. It was tiny, in a mall, with the doors closed, and there were women sitting around the table knitting. But since the door was closed, I wasn’t sure if I should go in or not.

I actually didn’t knit or crochet much my first week. I didn’t bring much yarn with me, but even then, it just felt odd. I did, however, crochet a keyring bracelet for my keys, and I picked up my Newfoundland Mitts again to work on.

Where am I?

On my way to South Korea! Well, almost. My flight is tomorrow morning at 6am, and I get in Korea at 8:30pm on Thursday. I’m not sure when I’ll have a steady (in my apt) internet connection again, but I should be able to find hotspots and internet cafes until then.

My sister adopted my Newfoundland mitts when she was here for Christmas (they go with the hat I made her), so I need to make a new pair. I’ll be working on those during the plane ride, on bamboo needles, so I shouldn’t have a problem. But, just in case, I also threw in a plastic crochet hook. I have no crochet patterns in mind, but I’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll just make squares, or try to crochet mitts. I also have two loaded ipods, one with podcasts (Q, Search Engine, the latest Cast-on and Stash and Burn) and the other with music.

If that’s not enough, I have: 2 Korean phrase books, 1 Japanese phrase book, 1 general Korean travel guide book, 1 trivia style book, 3 Star Trek novels, my journal that I’m writing my novel in, and my travel journal.