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Featured Crafter: Rachel from The Yellow Hobbit

Dawn — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:24:10 +0000

In this Featured Crafter, we hear from Rachel from The Yellow Hobbit. Read on to hear Rachel’s story about how watching others knit opened her up to the fiber world.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I’m a fiber artist who knits and spins, and I also dye my own yarn and wool roving.

The name The Yellow Hobbit comes from the fact that I’m a Tolkien fan, and I consider myself to be a hobbit because I’m really short (I’m 4′11″). Being a hobbit is much more fun than just being short. I started going by this nickname my freshman year of college, and it stuck. So I figured that it would be a good name for my store as well.

Where can we find you?
I mainly sell on Etsy. My store is here: http://theyellowhobbit.etsy.com. I have a blog where I’ll often post pictures of things I’ve created: http://knitterofshinythingsknits.blogspot.com/

What first got you interested in your craft?
I’ve always been rather crafty. I used to do a lot of beading, but when I got to college, I made friends with people who knitted in class. Wanting a portable craft that I could also do in class, I asked my mother to teach me how to knit when I went home for winter break. I picked it up quickly, and by the time I got back to school, I was an avid knitter.

The spinning came along my senior year of college. A friend and I had been going to a weekly knitting circle which was held at a local yarn store, and one night a woman was spinning. I asked her if I could try it, and she said sure and handed me the spindle and gave me brief instructions as to what to do. I started spinning with the spindle, and it worked! It also happened to be the week of my birthday, and the friend who was with me at the knitting circle then gave me a drop spindle and roving as a birthday present. I was quickly addicted, and I got a wheel as a graduation present from my parents.

The dyeing came about a few years later. I had a friend who had an alpaca farm, which wasn’t doing too well and she wanted to go out of the business after her husband died. She had previously sent her fleeces to a fiber mill to be processed, but that was really expensive, so she asked if I would be interested in spinning up her fleeces for her. I said yes and set up my Etsy shop for the purpose of selling the yarn that I made. I decided that I should also get into dyeing, so that I could make prettier yarn. And while I was dyeing the yarn I decided to get into dyeing roving as well.

It turns out that dyeing yarn and roving is actually a lot of fun, and I really enjoy doing it.

Please describe your creative process.
I usually dye roving in big batches. Since I’m also a full-time student, I usually only dye things every couple of weeks. I don’t usually plan out in advance what colors I’m going to dye with; lately, the process has been to look at my big desk full of roving, and ask myself “what colors are missing?” I like having a complete rainbow, so I’ll fill it in. Sometimes I get ideas of color combinations that I think are really pretty, and I’ll do those. And every so often I’ll think of a witty name for a roving, and then dye something to match the name. But usually the naming comes after the dyeing.

I spin much more often than I dye. If I’m at home I’ll use my wheel. Conveniently, there is a television in the same room as the wheel, so often I’ll watch something while spinning. When I’m out of the house, I’ll either spin on my drop spindle or knit, depending on what I feel like doing.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I’m a master’s student at the Simmons Graduate School for Library and Information Science, so that takes up a lot of my time. (I’m concentrating in archival management, and am hoping to work in a museum once I graduate.) In terms of fun things, I’m really into gaming (role playing games, strategy games, etc.). I’m a huge nerd, and am into Science Fiction and Fantasy. I’m also in an a cappella group at MIT. I live in a hippie commune with 5 other 20-somethings. Most of us are crafty, and one of my housemates actually has her own jewelry studio in the basement. It’s a fun life.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Spinning is fun and addictive. You get to work with really soft fiber, and create really beautiful yarn. I would highly encourage anyone who is interested to try it.

Buenos Aires Yarn District is Like No Other

Dawn — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:02:22 +0000

Yarn stores in Buenos Aires, Argentina are operated much differently than those in the United States. I recently visited Buenos Aires and shopped at a few of their local yarn stores. Their unofficial yarn district had about 15 yarn shops within a 2 block area, along the 900 block of Scalabrini Ortiz. . The stores were all set up in a similar fashion, with counters around the perimeter of the stores and the yarn stacked from floor to ceiling behind the counter – out of reach from the customers. Each skein of yarn was neatly in its place.

When you enter the shop, you take a number. You will not receive any attention from the store associate’s until your number is called. But once it is your turn, you will receive your associate’s full attention until you are satisfied. They will pull as many skeins as you want and help you choose the best yarn for your project. They will share an immense amount of information with you (but only if you speak spanish!). One thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the yarn is not labeled, which makes it difficult to determine gauge or yardage, it is all based on weight in grams and kilograms.

At first, I wasn’t sure that I liked the idea that I could not touch and feel the yarn on my own. I had to stand behind the counter and just wonder about the yarn. But my mind started to quickly think up what I could create with the yarn based on the color. When it was my turn with the associate, I was more prepared with ideas and actually had a purpose in mind for the yarn (which is uncommon for me!). I ended up digging through a few different skeins before I decided on only five skeins. The yarn was much less expensive than here, but *sigh* I just didn’t have enough room in my suitcase.

Yarnbombing

Dawn — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:23:03 +0000

Hundreds of knitters around the world have begun wrapping their huge woolly creations around public property like trees, street signs and lampposts.

They then take photos of their colourful “art” and post them on internet sites for fellow knitters to view and comment on.

One of the most ambitious pieces of work saw a woman spend an entire week covering a disused single decker bus in colourful swatches.

The phenomenon, called Yarnbombing, is thought to have originated in the US but knitters are now beginning to cover British streets in woollen ‘tags’.

Quite often dozens of balls of coloured wool are used to make huge sleeves or cosies which are then stitched onto a fixed object, sometimes done under the cover of darkness.

Artist Sarah Hardacre, 31, from Salford, Manchester, has taken up Yarnbombing in her spare time.

She said: “Yarnbombing is all about using the street for making art.

Smitten Mitten – Perfect for Valentine’s Day

Dawn — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:58:53 +0000

These mittens are absolutely adorable and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, they would be perfect to knit up for you and your mate. Cocoknits has the free pattern available on her website. Click here to view the pattern for these gorgeous mittens!

Noro Striped Scarf

Dawn — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:13:23 +0000

I had to share this scarf with all of you whether you knit or not. It is so gorgeous just to look at! It knits up quick and is so much fun to watch the colors take shape. I knit the one in the left picture with yarn purchased from
MsYarn.

Brooklyntweed has written out the pattern for the free basic 1×1 ribbed striped scarf. You can find his article here.

Brick Washcloth

Dawn — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:19:14 +0000

I recently made these washcloths. I needed a fun washcloth because the ones in the store are just too plain. Here’s the pattern so you can make your own Fun Washcloths!

Materials:

Peaches & CrÃ¨me: One ball each color A (Hot Pink) and color B (Light Pink)
Size 7 Needles
Size: Approximately 9 1/4″ X 9 3/4″
Gauge: 4 sts. = 1″, 8 rows = 1″

Directions:

Cast on 45 stitches (loosely) with Color A (When asked to slip stitch, do so purlwise)

Row 1: (Color A) Knit

Row 2: (Color A) Purl

Row 3: (Color B) K4 Slip 1*K5 Slip 1* Continue between *across to last 4 stitches, K4

Row 4: (Color B) K4 YF Slip 1 YB *K5 YF Slip 1 YB* Continue between * across to last 4 stitches, K4

Row 5: (Color B) P4 YB Slip 1 YF *P5 YB Slip 1 YF* Continue between * across to last 4 stitches, P4

Row 6: (Color B) Repeat Row 4

Row 7: (Color A) Knit

Row 8: (Color A) Purl

Row 9: (Color B) K1 Slip 1 *K5 Slip 1* Continue between * across to 1 stitch, K1

Row 10: (Color B) K1 YF Slip 1 YB *K5 YF Slip 1 YB* Continue between *across to 1 stitch, K1

Row 11: (Color B) P1 YB Slip 1 YF *P5 YB Slip 1 YF* Continue between * across to 1 stitch, P1

Row 12: (Color B) Repeat Row 10

Repeat these twelve rows until desired length is reached finishing with rows 1 and 2.

Bind off loosely. If desired, crochet edge on each side in Color A