Amanda Knits

I made a swatch for the baby jacket. I have had cotton bleed before, but this was amazing.

After a few minutes in the water...

Then I lifted it up and squeezed it...and this is one of the lighter pictures.

I soaked it again (it was soaked in hot and cold water for nearly two hours) and these bubbles showed up on the surface of the yarn. I don't think I've seen yarn do this.

I knew this cotton would shrink. The problem is that my washer combo drier doesn't really dry clothes so much as bounces them back and forth in wet air. So I washed the swatch in the hottest water possible and dried it for as long as possible. It still came out sopping wet (sigh!) but it had indeed shrunk about 15%.

Now I've changed my chart to make up for that difference. Let's see how this turns out...

I also realized post-swatching that I didn't have enough yarn. So I stopped by the yarn store again and managed to get more red and navy yarn. This was exciting because I don't know my Korean colors yet and there was a man working there rather than the woman I worked with before. I am pretty sure that dye lots...well, yeah, no such thing. So near the end of one ball I'm alternating every two rows to prevent a very obvious line.

I started swatching and sketching for Claudia's baby girl.

I used these two photos as inspiration. The first photo was taken of a wall in Insa-dong. The second photo was taken at Goryeo palace on Seongmo-do.

Those are lotus blossoms, important in Buddhist thought. I think they're gorgeous and I think they'd make a great motif for a girl's sweater or jacket. I've neither designed nor knit baby clothing before and the canvas on which to work is so small!

Right now I am thinking of making a little cardigan with ties but no buttons. I am fashioning it after variations of the traditional Korean hanbok. I think...

A friend of mine, Claudia, is having fraternal twins. One of each. I know she's the type who would appreciate some handknit baby things. She got 4 hats at her shower, so hats are out. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to make for her. I am going to design it myself. Not a blanket, not washclothes. I'm just not sure what to make yet... I'm going to have to mull it over.

I talked to Claudia and asked her what colors she liked and what she wanted. Maybe she's just gracious, maybe she's serious, maybe it's the fact that she's going to be not-pregnant in less than 48 hours, but she said, "I've never seen anything you've made that I've not liked, you've got good taste, so just go with whatever you like..."

Fabulous.

Today, after tae kwon do class, I stopped by the Really Local (10 min walk or so) Yarn Store. It's in the middle of a busy market area. It was raining so I couldn't get a good picture of the outside of the store, where there were huge cones of yarn draped in plastic, but I did get a picture of the inside, as well as the woman who helped me out (the owner, probably).

There are zippers hanging from the ceiling, rolls of elastic in the upper right, and large cones of thread in the upper left. The "table" on the right is really full of buttons and beads. All of the yarn is in plastic, which is good because it's clean but...it makes it hard to fondle the yarn. No needles, no books, no notions that I could find. If I understood her correctly, she created all of the store samples.

The owner was helpful and I learned the Korean word for cotton (면). The store had a lot of cotton, quite a bit of acrylic, wool way up high (crammed in the corners), and tons of bamboo yarn! I've never used bamboo yarn! Some novelties, too, but more of the rayon/lamé type, not the feathery type. Much of the yarn was quite thin. I like thin yarns, but some of these may have to be doubled up...

One fascinating yarn was this "Millennium Snow" stuff. It was actually fine black bugle beads all strung together. I tried to get a good picture, but I didn't want to take the yarn out of the plastic just for a picture. (And yes, those other yarns read "Best Pul Tubes.")

I eventually ended up with some cotton yarn in navy and red. There's 100±5 grams per ball but yardage? There's the number 10/9 on it, but I can't find that number on any machine yarn charts. Luckily I spent a whopping 1,000 won on a 1 kg kitchen scale (and I am sure this will be very accurate for $1.08) so I can always measure off 10 meters and weigh that to figure out how much yardage I have...)

I bought 8 balls of yarn for 2,500 won each. I asked if I could get it all for 18,000 won (no prices on anything, foreigners often get overcharged, market haggling is expected) and she said no. I then did some mental math and realized that 20,000 won for 8 balls of yarn was a good deal. So I forked over 20,000 won and she came back with 1,000 won, smiled and said, "discount" in Korean. I thanked her several times and now I'm on my way.

This shows slightly truer colors of the yarn. It's not as pink as the above picture, nor as orange as the picture below.

Now, to start swatching. This should be interesting as ALL of my stitch dictionaries are across the planet...

The Va Va Va Voom Shell is knit in Elann's Endless Summer Lara cotton. A unique ribbing pattern combines with a diagonal mock cable pattern for a shell that fits and flatters a woman's figure.

The ten page .pdf pattern details which sort of cast on and decreases to use (no "reverse shaping" instructions here!), has two different neckline options, and comes in sizes 32" (35", 38", 41", 44", 47", 50"). The pattern is easy to follow (no need to "circle your size") and easy to read (size 12 font).

Want to see more photos? Want to see it in a different color with different yarn?

Click on the photo above or the Patterns tab to purchase. Instant gratification!

My friend Trish test knit "The Pink Thing," which has been renamed as "Va Va Va Voom Shell." She used Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool and added four inches in length to the design. I think she did a beautiful job, and I appreciate her test knitting it for me!