yarn for Quartz vest

Reading top row l. to r.: cream 1a, seaspray 1291,

indigo 135, dark green 58. Second row: pine forest 82, ocean 33, pale green FC24, oyster 1284, russet 1286, natural 202, salmon 1289,

sage 141 and moss 29. Dark green and Pine forest are really close in color. The pine forest seems to have a bit of some other color added but otherwise they appear to be the same.

Quartz vest

Quartz vest from Celtic collection c1992 published by Tomato Factory. I bought it there at that time along with the book and it seems like a lifetime when a younger me made the decision to buy both of them. I feel as if that younger me gave me now a very big present. It's probably the oldest fairisle project still waiting to be done in my stash and I've decided that the time has come to knit it. At that time I bought enough to do the largest size and now since my children live in the far East where it's so warm, it will be made to fit me so I'll have a few extra balls. I notice that quite a few of the colors are going to be discontinued. 33 ocean is going, 1286 russet, 1289 salmon, 135 indigo, FC 21 lilac, dark green 58. Only 8 colors will still be available. Each label was for 1 ounce or 150 yds. When I bought the yarn from the store, it was still J&S but even then I now think it was undergoing a transformation to Jamieson. AS was the milk cow and she was being milked. I think her complaints were justfied as I look back 15 years later. But the store disappeared and the milkers lost their cow too. No one profited including the knitting world. Not only did we lose AS but we are now probably losing J&S as well. I am just very happy that I was lucky enough to be on the spot and had the good sense to buy this stuff then. I also bought several other items from that book and have made them long ago. I made Rannoch and have enough to make it once more. I made Marina twice, Luskentyre (still have to finish), allover vest and sweater, Catriona (have it in my stash still), Mara vest made and twice the Mardi gras cardigan. I'm thinking of making Mara vest once more for myself.

Tunisian baby blanket

I used 2 (100) gram balls of each color and a bit more than that for the gold. It's Teddy's wool classic (240 m in 100 grams). Hook was 5mm. Each section has 22 sts and was 82 rows long. Then I did sc around each length and then connected them. Then sc around again a few times and finally the crab stitch. The Tunisian stitch was the regular one and I just alternated the colors every two rows on the blue/red secions. Finished dimensions: 36"x36".

hooks and needles

From the left are Clover hooks, bamboo Tunisian hooks from Hamanaka and a 40cm circ bamboo hook also made in Japan. I've used the Tunisian hooks and they are wonderfully light and have decent hooks. I bought them at Cheer wools in Hongkong.

interesting circular needle

This circular needle, size 4.5mm, has 3 lengths which screw in to the bamboo points. It's made in Japan as is the Clover item which is meant to hold together the needles when not knitting.

Japanese yarn purchases

These were bought in Hongkong at various stores. The two on the right top are summer. Suvin gold is a nice cotton, very soft. The top one is a cotton and linen. Yarns on the left from top to bottom are Diakeito or Diamond yarns. Top is mohair and wool, bottom is 100% wool and bottom right hand is a wool,silk and mohair mix.

J&S discontinued colors

I got this colorcard from J&S today and it shows those colors in jumper wt being discontinued. This is based on some accounting done by the parent company which bought J&S and which has no idea about fairisles. It is a complete disaster to those of us who knit them and love them.