Nihon Homework Completed and More!

Whew. I have finished my homework for the Nihon Vogue course - ready for next week's classes. The class sessions are full weekends (Sat/Sun 9-4:30) every 6 weeks.

I missed the very first session as I was on vacation in Bonaire. I'm relieved that I will not miss any other classes because you must attend 80% of the classes to pass as well as complete all 8 garments. I have to say that missing a class is also difficult because there is so much to learn in two days. It is really hard to catch up. I did take Jean Wong's Tailored Japanese Knitting class earlier this year at Madrona and that really helped. Without that, I think I would have been completely lost.

Thursday night I hooked up with Melinda and got a very important piece of info on the increases. She had one small diagram in her notes that made all the difference for me on when/where/how to do the Nihon increases. We met up at Village Yarn and Tea. The second Thursday of every month, they have a spinning gathering from 6-9pm. I got to hear about her trip to Shetland and she brought me back the cutest little fair isle sweater. Here it is on my wheel.

I do have photos of my vest. Plain stockinette(remember by K.I.S.S post?). It went quickly once I got the info on the increases. This is the advantage of using a worsted weight yarn. Here is a terrible photo of the vest.


I also have my yarn picked out for project #3. Project three is a round neck sweater with set-in sleeves. The design of the example in our textbook is a little...old lady-ish. The yarn I'm going to use is a silk/wool combination. I've had this yarn in my stash for MANY years. Actually my sister picked this up at a yard sale(when knitting was not so popular - but it was popular with me! You know, in the "old" days). The yarn is Tahki Chelsea Silk. I'm not sure how much the yarn cost - one skein had a 5 cent label. I have enough for a full sweater! Amazing.


I decided to use this yarn because the point of the Nihon class is to learn as much as possilble. I know that certain fibers grow in length over time. Jean has talked about adjusting the knitting to take this kind of growth into account-I want to learn first hand so I thought this would be a good choice. Also if I knit something plain-ish, this yarn doesn't need -much embellishment, it is pretty on its own. I would wear a plain-ish sweater in this yarn.

Note: I may change my mind on the yarn to use for project3. I also have some cotton fleece in the stash that needs to be used up. This is also a very good candidate.

On the subject of stash acquisition....

Thanks to Amy, she introduced me to the Plucky Knitter. I ordered two skeins of yarn from her and it is ggggrrrrreeeeeeaaaaat. The first is Good N Plenty. I love Good N Plenty(the candy, and now the yarn!)! Had to have that. Then I've been looking for a great sage-y green yarn for some socks to go with some Dansko's that I have. This is going to be perfect. See?

I've been considering a blog contest of some sort. The winner will get a skein of something from my stash. I'm still thinking about the details of the contest. Stay tuned!