A Knitter's Journey to Provence

The view from Le Jardin Exotique in Eze

Springtime in St. Paul de Vence

I am back from a wonderful vacation to Provence and the Cote D'Azure.  This wasn't strictly a knitting trip. I was vacationing with Mon Cheri, and we had a full itinerary of sightseeing, wine tasting and good eating to do. But I am first and foremost une vrais tricoteuse and it is impossible for me to vacation without doing a little knitting and seeking out yarn shops.

Our hotel in Nice- Hotel de la Tour 

The first part of our trip was spent in Nice.  Our hotel was well located in the Old Town and was walking distance to many sights, including the park at the top of Castle Hill, the Flower Market, and the Promenade des Anglais.

The Flower Market in Nice

Locally made yarns at La Droguerie - Nice

Our hotel was also just a 5 minute walk from La Droguerie, a large yarn shop that is affiliated with La Droguerie in Paris.  Like the Paris store of the same name, the shop sells only its own line of yarns, but they are all wonderful natural fibers in vibrant colors. They also have an extensive collection of unique buttons and patterns of their own design.



This store is well worth the visit. It's centre-ville location at 29 Rue de L'Hotel des Postes is easy to find (2 very short blocks south of the main post office). The store is obviously popular with the locals. We arrived just 5 minutes after they opened and there were already 2 other customers in the store.

La Droguerie - Nice

Beads and buttons at La Droguerie

Lovely mohair - "plumette" at La Droguerie

La Boite a Tricot - Avignon

For the second half of our trip, my husband and I stationed ourselves in Avignon, visiting the medieval sights in Avignon and the ancient Roman sights at nearby Nimes and the Pont du Gard.
With a new project already on my needles and a full itinerary of tourism, I wasn't planning on taking any time to seek out yarn shops or knitting groups while in Avignon, but this one just fell into my lap.  We spotted La Boite a Tricot (44 rue de Fourbisseurs) as we were strolling the streets of the old town, just a few blocks from our hotel. This store carries well-known commercial yarns--
Anny Blatt, Bergere de France, Bouton d'Or, Phildar and Katia.
While all these yarns are available in the U.S. or on the Internet, they are all very, very French and a purchase here would make an appropriate and memorable souvenir for any knitter.

Show and Share

Once again I had a great time at the Madison Knitting Guild's Knit In.  Thank you guild members! It was nice to see many familiar faces.  I love doing shows and having a chance to meet and chat with my customers.  And I must admit, it is the customer compliments that keep me going.

This last weekend, not one, not two, not three, but four customers stopped by to show me their recently finished projects or tell me how happy they were with the kits that they had purchased from me. Here is one of my happy customers modeling her Chips and Stones necklace.

My photo doesn't do it justice. I took this pic with my phone.  I'm not that great at focusing with my phone camera. Since I normally have a digital camera with me, I tend to forget that I can take pictures with my phone. That also explains my surprise to find I had year old pictures from Wisconsin Spin In that I had never downloaded.  This one was so cute, I had to share.

I do not remember the name of my furry friend, but he certainly is an eyeful (and an armful)!

Blue Heron Bliss

I'll admit it.  When it comes to yarn, I play favorites.  My hands down favorite yarn for the last few years has been Blue Heron's Rayon Metallic.  It is a lovely lightweight handpainted rayon, spun together with fine metallic thread.  Eye candy for any knitter, I can't resist it.  I designed 3 patterns for it so far, and I have at least 3 more pattern ideas in my head, ready to be put to the needles. Here is a sample of some of the beautiful colorways I will be taking with me to the Madison Knitter's Guild Knit In, March 8th and 9th and to Yarncon in Chicago, April 6th and 7th.

Tornado Hats and A Whirlwind of Knitting

It's snowing outside.  The temperature is plummeting from unseasonably warm to uncommonly cold.  The wind is whipping up.  It is a good day to stay in and knit.  I think I will cast on for another Tornado Hat.  I've already knit 4 of these, but I don't mind making another, as they are so fun to knit.

My first tornado hat was made with an oddball skein of a discontinued yarn that I had in my stash.  I made it for the Mitten Tree Charity at my school. When I cast on,  I had no preconceived notion of the ultimate design. I thought I would make a simple beanie with a foldover brim suitable for a boy or girl.  However, the creative side of me just couldn't stand making a totally plain hat, so as I decreased for the crown, I decided I needed to add a bit of whimsy at the top, and the traveling stitch braid was born.

While I was pleased with that first hat, I gave it away as intended. (This photo was a quick snap before I tossed it into the donation bin).  I needed to start another hat as a prototype for the pattern that I had yet to write up, and I wanted to tweak the design a little bit. I changed the cuff from 2 by 2 ribbing to garter stitch and added traveling stitches to the body of the hat.  My second tornado hat was made with another oddball skein of yarn, this time from a yarn that is still available--Manos del Uruguay Classico.  Here it is:

By the time my second hat was finished, Christmas had come and gone.  Santa gave me a new coat, so of course, I needed a new hat to go with it. Here is the hat that I made to go with my new coat, made with Classic Shades:

Let me just say that not only did I enjoy making it, I love wearing it!  I have short, baby fine hair, and the braid hangs and feels like a ponytail.  Realizing that I enjoy wearing my tornado hat because it makes me feel like I have a real head of hair, I decided it would make a great chemo-cap for someone struggling with hair loss.  And so, I cast on for a fourth hat. Here is the hat that I made for a colleague at work who is currently battling breast cancer.  It is my favorite of all. I hope it makes her feel pretty!

Future Knitters

In December, I read The Mitten Tree and spoke to the senior kindergarteners about knitting, as I do every year.  They were a polite and attentive audience, as usual. I gave them a few hats and mittens for their Mitten Tree charity collection, and thought that was that--this holiday tradition that I so enjoy had come and gone without much lasting effect on my young audience.

However, the other day I got some  feedback that let me know I had indeed made a lasting impression.
As I was walking down the hall, one of my little SK friends ran up to me. "Mrs. P! Mrs. P!  I got a knitting kit for Christmas!"

"Me too!" Another little voice piped up.

"Wow, that is so cool!"  I replied.

On reflection, I realized that my slang is hopelessly out of date. When speaking to my five year old friends, I should have replied in the superlative used by today's children.   It isn't just cool, it's sweet!

Shameless Self-Promotion

I put together a little slideshow of my jewelry as part of an upcoming talk that I am giving to the Madison Knitting Guild, and I thought it was worthy of showing here. The kits are available on my site, knittersjourney.com.

Make New Jewelry, Keep the Old

Just like the old Brownies song, one is silver and the other's gold.

New, not yet in the store, is this Freeform Crocheted Flower necklace.

This design is a departure from my usual style --the crochet is a little more involved, the beads are Swarovski crystal and seed beads rather than gemstone beads, and it has a lobster style clasp rather than my usual toggle clasp.  The pattern has a bit of a different approach as well,  more of a technique tutorial  or recipe than a stitch by stitch pattern. Like no two snowflakes, no two flower necklaces should be alike!

Another new project with seed beads is this 3 strand bracelet.  A very easy bracelet, this would be a great knit with wire or crochet with wire first project -- (the pattern is written for both knit and crochet). I experimented with the clasp on this bracelet as well  -- it has a slide type clasp. I'm still doing a little tweaking/proofing of the patterns for both the Freeform Flowers necklace and the 3 Strand bracelet, but I hope to have kits for both available at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival in just a few short weeks.

And as for the old and gold?  I knit up a sample of the Falling Leaves necklace in gold.  Stunning!