The Virtual Knitter

 It’s been a looooong time - too long, actually - since I’ve posted.  Well, I’m back.  Work and life are both so busy right now that it’s difficult, but maybe I can get some momentum going to keep on top of things.

 So back to the title of this entry.  You might be wondering what “journey” I’m speaking of.  Well, it’s not a trip - it’s a spinning wheel!  Yup - next week my Journey Wheel is scheduled to come out of production and get shipped to me!  For those of you who don’t already know, the Journey Wheel is a super cool portable spinning wheel made by the Bosworths (also makers of fine spindles, and other spinning tools).  I’ve never actually spun on one, but have seen them on a couple of occassions and became instantly intrigued.  And yes, I’m crazy enough about spinning to order one without ever trying it out.  Well, I know that even if I don’t end up loving it, I can sell it for pretty much the full price I paid for it anyway, so what have I got to lose?

 I ordered it back in February, during the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival.  I saw a couple more Journeys in my classes there, and fell more deeply in love. There’s something that really appeals to me about being able to fold it up into a nice tidy little box - looking nothing like a spinning wheel.  Then, when you’re ready to use it, you just pop it open and within seconds practically, voila, you have a fully functions DOUBLE DRIVE spinning wheel!  Yes, the double drive feature is another thing that appeals to me - to date, this is the only truely portable wheel I’ve come across that comes in double drive. 

 Anyway, back to my tale.  I ordered the wheel in February, which placed me in the schedule for the fall production run to be shipped out in October of this year.  Alas, I received a message from Sheila Bosworth last week asking me if I wanted to move up to the Summer run since they’ve had a few people cancel their orders (I fear this might be an effect of the current state of our economy).  I jumped at the chance to take delivery sooner - the downside is, of course, that I have to pay for the wheel all that much sooner.  Oh well - small price to pay for the added enjoyment I’ll get from having it ahead of schedule.  I’ve just learned today that it should be shipped out on July 30th, with a ship time of approximately 6 days.  So, my Journey wheel is about to begin it’s own little journey across the country!  I’m really looking forward to receiving it - I expect to be posting pictures of it here sometime soon!  Keep your fingers crossed that it gets to me safely!

First off, a blog migration update:

Slowly but surely, I’m moving my comments over to my new blog home.  I have to do it manually (see my lightbulb moment in my last post).  Meanwhile, Wordpress has released their upgrade, and I hope to install that soon, so I don’t want to bother moving the rest of the comments since I’ve just done my pre-upgrade backup . Once I get all the comments moved, I’ll shut down the other blog and redirect any traffic over here.  I’m sure happy with my move so far!

And now the knitting:

As far as knitting goes, I’ve been slowly plugging away at my 2nd stranded knitting project.  I’m knitting the small leaf hat from Ruth Sorensen’s packet of hat patterns that she put together for the Madrona Fiber Arts annual retreat.  I didn’t take her class there - instead, I purchased the patterns at Acorn Street, a local resource for Kauni yarn.  My first stranded project was also from this packet - at this time it’s serving as the header for this site.  Unfortunately, as my first ever stranded knitting project, it ended up being too small.  This is due to the fact that my initial gauge swatch and subsequent calculations were based on flat knit un-stranded stockenette.    Unfortunately, my stranded knitting knit in the round, turned out to be much tighter.   Although I’m very happy with the way it looks, it doens’t really fit my head.  I’ll hang onto it as a sample, but unfortunately will not be able to wear it.  See the photo of both below.

I’ve long wanted to learn stranded knitting but only recently felt ready for it.  Sure, I’ve been knitting for 4 years, but due to my hobby ADD, I’m not a very prolific or focused knitter, so have stayed at a level of just beyond beginner.  Now that I’ve attempted it, I’m hooked.  One reason I want to stick with it is the fact that it really is part of my heritage, being of Norwegian (and Viking) descent.   I’ve always admired the Scandinavian knit motifs so it’s really fun to know that I can recreate them myself!  Now I’m off to continue perusing the “Stranded” group gallery at Ravelry…

Unfortunately, it looks like there isn’t any way I’ll be able to import the comments from my old blog.  I didn’t have many of them, but I’ll miss them anyway.  I tried to use the RSS Feed method to import them, but they came into Wordpress as blog entries.  And there’s no way to create a comment in the Admin panel.  Oh - I have an idea (I need a little lightbulb emoticon!)  I think I can just visit my blog and recreate them by using the comment function and then going into my Wordpress dashboard and editing the time stamp!  I’ll try that and see how it works.

 Meanwhile, I’m not having much luck editing the CSS to fix the bullet issue for muliple line items in a list.  I may just have to work on a work-around.  Or get rid of the custom style for bulleted lists completely.  Anyway, back to the move!

Well, I’m almost moved into my new blog.  If you read down, you’ll see the post called “Wordpress Here I Come” which is actually the last post on my old blog before the move.  I have successfully moved all the posts from Kitty’s Knitterbox over to The Virtual Knitter. There are still a few things I need to do before I’m completely settled including:

1. Manually move the comments from the old blog
2. Resize a few of my photos
3. Physically move some of the photos and update the code in any affected posts so I can completely shut down the other blog - several of them are hosted on that blog’s platform
4. Figure out what to do in the top area of this blog where I have the eyeball picture right now.  I might add a plugin that allows me to put in a random rotation of photos in that spot
5. Change the color of the sidebar type since I’ve changed the header and other colors in this theme.  The redish orange was great with the theme’s original scheme but not the one I’ve got now.  However, the little carrot symbols are actually pieces of art, so I have to do some extra manipulation there.  Maybe I’ll change it out to a different little bullet intead.  Hey, maybe even a ball of yarn!  A really tiny one.  Hmmm.
6. Update the blogroll and some other things in the sidebar that are just left over from the theme I’m adapting for my own use

Migrating my posts from their old location to the new one turned out to be pretty easy once I figured out how to do it.  Simply because it is recommended on on the Wordpress site, I purchased “Wordpress for Dummies” by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.  I was quickly able to learn there that my only real choice, other than manually copying all my entries and pasting them here, was to export them via an RSS feed and use the Wordpress tool for importing from a .txt file created from the source code of an RSS feed.  It actually worked really well.  There were only two problems, one of which I was aware of going in.  The one I knew about was that the comments would not import using this method.  The 2nd was that I had a few posts from my old old blog (Kristi Knits) that I had manually migrated over when I started Kitty’s Knitterbox.  Even though I had edited their date stamps so that they reflected when I had originally written them, the came into the RSS feed with the date of when I had moved them.  Fortunately, it was very quick for me to open each of them in Wordpress and edit back to the correct dates.  Otherwise, it worked amazingly well.

So far, I’m pretty impressed with Wordpress. I have a feeling that I’ll be a great Wordpress evangelist!

Stay tuned for more as I move things over from my old blog, Kitty’s Knitterbox.  Happy surfing!

Hi - just a quick note to let folks know that I am in the process of moving my blog over to a Wordpress platform.  I’ve been using the blog software from my hosting company, and I’m not completely satified with it.  I’ve been testing out Wordpress and decided to make the switch. 

Also, I’ve changed my plans for www.virtualknitter.com.  Instead of building out a site, I’m just going to move my new and improved blog to that site.  I’ve started the transition already.  See you there in a few days!

Well, my good intentions of keeping on top of my Blog have fallen by the wayside once again!  Anyway, lots of updates are long overdue, so I’ll attempt to catch up now. 

First of all, I really owe everyone an update on www.virtualknitter.com.  As it stands now, I’ve come to the realization that I just can’t do as much as I had hoped with that site.  In typical Capricorn fashion, I set my ambitions very high!  But I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m wise enough to know that sometimes I have to scale back on what I’d like to do.  Since I’ve taken on some additional commitments that are very important to me, I’ve decided to just let VirtualKnitter.com evolve very slowly.  You might say it’s just incubating right now, and I’m not sure what form it will take upon final birth.  I do know that I am not going to pursue creating the worlds best guide to LYS and fiber arts related stores.  Why?  Well, simply because right after starting to gather info for my directly, I learned of a fantastic one that’s recently been published.  A directory pubplishing company has created a guide specific to LYS and has also created an online version.  I checked it out and found it to be very good, so there’s absoulutely no reason for me to pursue that endeavor.  My sole reason for wanting to do it anyway was because I hadn’t found any guides I liked.  Now that one exists, it just doesn’t make sense for me to try to create one too, especially given my limited resources and time.  I’ll track down the info for that site and post it here shortly.

You might wonder what other commitments are going to be taking up my time.  Well, specifically - WALKING!  I signed up for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk taking place in September.  I’ll be doing a lot of walking in preparation for the event, when I’ll be walking 60 miles over 3 days to raise money for breast cancer research and detection.  Visit my personal page to learn more (and make a donation, if you’re so inclined.  I haven’t really personalized the page yet, and our team name is still a bit up in the air, but for now, we’re the Glamour Pirates.  My friends Barb and Naomi have signed up with me.  We each need to raise a minimum of $2200 in order to participate.  Having done oen of these before (in 2001), I’m hard pressed to say whether raising the money or training for the event is harder.  They’re both challenges, that’s for sure!  I did my first official “training walk” today - just a little 4-mile jaunt.  However, since I’ve been rather slug-like this winter when it comes to fitness, it was plenty long enough!

And in my fiber life, I’be been spinning away.  I continue to be very active in the Eastside Spinners.  I also took several spinning classes at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival last weekend.  I ended up spending way too much in the market place - I’ll post some pictures later of the scruptious goodies I bought there.  Right now, I’m spinning a Merino Silk blend from Fleece Artist that I picked up at one booth. 

Well, as usual, I have lots to do, so that’s all for now.  No pictures this time!  I’m breaking in a new computer (a wonderful little Tablet PC) and don’t have everything transfered over yet.  I’ll post more later in the week when I’m feeling a bit more organized.

Hello! Yes, I know - I’m not keeping up with my blogging! I always pledge to do better, but then things get crazy and I wait too long. But I’m back!

Anyway, I mostly wanted to give a little update on the Virtual Knitter .  First of all, I still have to do the drawing for the free ball of yarn - thanks to all of your who gave great suggestions for the content of my site.  I’ll get that drawing done in the next few days and notify the lucky winner. But now for the update…

I’m still a long ways off from coming up with a concrete plan - or a site design for that matter. I had envisioned using this as a vehicle for learning more HTML skills and building the site from scratch. Well, I decided to put that idea aside for the time being in order to start working on some of the content first and worrying about that later.  So I signed up for Go Daddy’s Website Tonight service in order to use a site template that’s pretty customizable yet allows me to publish things much more quickly. At some time in the future I’ll likely transition over to a more homegrown design as that’s much more versatile in the long run, but for now, this allows me to concentrate on other aspect of the site.

Based on suggestions and my own desires, I have decided that one of the fist elements I want to concentrate on is creating a database of LYS and other fiber arts suppliers and resources. The lack of a really good place to go on the net and find geographic lists of LYS has really frustrated me over the years. So, I’ve pieced created a secure online form where LYS owners can submit their information in order to be included. Now I’ve just got to get the word out that it’s there.  It can be accessed by visiting my site at www.VirtualKnitter.com and navigating to the “LYS Database Form” or directly here:  Virtual Knitter LYS Database Submission Form.  Please pass this on to anyone you know who operates either a brick & mortar LYS or an online store. I’d love to get their info as soon as possible. Creating this database will be an ambitious project so don’t expect to see it posted right away.  However, I’ll try to keep people who submit their information updated on the timing as best as I can.

You’ll notice when you visit my site that it’s still the same old ugly header that I threw up there to get started.  I have some concepts in mind for what I want the final design to look like. I feel that rather than make something that’s a little better than what I’ve got now, and then replacing it again when I decide on a final look, that it’s more important to keep things consistent so people recognize that they’re back at the same site until I introduce the real deal. You’ll also notice on the form page, I’ve got a security icon down that the bottom of the page. Since I’m asking people to submit their contact information to me, I went ahead and purchased a security certificate for my site. You can be assured that your data is safely encrypted and I’m the only one able to access it once you submit it to me.

Well, that’s all for now. Please submit your information if you’re a shop owner.  Or if not, please pass the link on to anyone you know who is, and request that they submit their information.  Thanks! 

Disclaimer - This is my first review so be easy on me! Since I’m a very knew sock knitter, you may wonder what business I have evaluating sock yarn. Well, keep in mind that even though I’ve only recently started knitting socks, I’ve been wearing them for decades! Also, I hope that my experience spinning and my familiarity with the qualities of different fibers will lend me some credibility!

Review – Noro Kureyon Sock
I wanted to love the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, but alas, I do not. I like it very much, but I do not love it – at least not as sock yarn.  The colors really do sing to me, as Noro colors usually do. Unfortunately, Kureyon’s signature colorways can only be achieved by means of a singles yarn, and singles do not make an ideal sock yarn. You can continue to read my full review, or scroll down to my conclusion below.

Detailed Review
I’ve carefully swatched the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in order to provide this review. I have not yet knit an actual project using the yarn, so this review is based solely on my experience with the swatches. Once I complete a project, I’ll append this review if necessary.

Noro Kureyon Sock does not disappoint in the color department. Noro has done an excellent job of replicating their Kureyon colors in this new sock weight version of the yarn. I find their colorways to be nothing short of ingenious. In fact, were it not for the Noro color palette, I doubt very much I would hold their yarns in such high regard.

However, despite their success with its color, I’m not all that impressed with it as sock yarn. Yes, I believe it will make some beautiful socks – at least to look at. But they might not be so beautiful to wear. Or even to knit, for that matter. Why? Well, because this yarn just isn’t very soft and it lacks the “bounce” that most wool or wool/nylon sock yarns possess. I’m also a bit concerned about its durability. Obviously Noro shares this concern, since they’ve included a warning in the care instructions! Sock yarn should be durable, so for the manufacturer to suggest that the yarn might be fragile is bothersome. 

I’ve heard that ideally, 2- or 3-ply yarn is best for long lasting socks. However, Noro Kureyon Sock, just like its big brother Kureyon, is a singles yarn. It does appear to be fulled a bit, as I’ve heard Noro does to create stronger more balanced singles, which should help a bit in the durability department. However, it is still quite fragile, easily breaking when tugged. In fact, one section pulled apart while I was gently trying to loosen a small tangled blob that came out of the center pull skein.

For my first swatch I cast on 36 stitches and knit in stockinette stitch. I washed by hand in cool water using a mild soap, spun out the excess water with a short spin cycle in my washing machine, air dried and then ironed gently using the lowest setting on my iron (as suggested on the label). 

I’ve been achieving a nice density with thicker sock yarns using US #1 needles so I started with #0 Crystal Palace Bamboo circulars. Due to the roughness of the yarn, the drag on the bamboo needles was considerable, and the result was a less dense fabric than I prefer for socks. The gauge came out to 8 stitches per inch after washing and blocking.

Since I wasn’t happy with the first swatch, I tried a second one using US #0 Addi Turbos, which are ever so slightly smaller in diameter than the Crystal Palace needles. The drag was greatly reduced with the metal needles and I was much happier with the results. Although the gauge was only marginally different at 8.5 stitches per inch, the fabric was just dense enough to be suitable for socks.  Keep in mind that depending on your own knitting style, your gauge could be either tighter or looser than my own.

	Swatch 1	Swatch 2
	Yes, these are both from the same ball of yarn! This shows an example of how varied the colors are within a ball. This is typical of the beautiful Kureyon colors.

I kept a control swatch to compare the softness before and after washing. My swatches got only slightly softer with the initial wash, but I suspect that with subsequent washings they will continue to soften up to a point. I could definitely tolerate socks made from this yarn, but people with sensitive feet will likely find it uncomfortable. It does knit up to be noticeably softer than it initially feels coming directly off the skein.

Typical of many Noro yarns, Kureyon Sock is not of a completely uniform thickness, as you can see in the picture below. This gives it the more rustic look that I think of as a trademark of many Noro yarns. I like this quality but others may not prefer it, especially for socks. Fortunately, I found no stray pieces of vegetation as are often encountered in standard Kureyon. I suspect that the process of blending the wool with nylon has eliminated this problem (although as a hand-spinner, I really don’t think of it as a problem myself!)

	As you can see, there is a great deal of variation in thickness! The piece on the far right shows where the break occurred.

And finally, based on my swatches, I think the color transitions may be a bit longer than I prefer for self-striping socks. However, a true evaluation can only be made upon completion of either an actual sock or a full size tubular swatch so I’ll have to report on those results later.

Conclusion
I think Noro may have missed the mark with the name on this one. I don’t doubt that it will make absolutely lovely socks. But practical socks? No. I think they would have been wise to follow the trend they’ve established with the Noro Silk Garden line and called this Kureyon Lite instead of Kureyon Sock. Sure, some  knitters will be happy to make socks with it, but I think its true calling may lie in the creation of other types of projects. I personally can’t wait to try knitting lace with it!

They’ve really delivered on the color, but the roughness and low durability may not be best suited to socks. I predict many sock knitters will be disappointed in its texture and lack of springiness. Hopefully enough knitters will be adventurous and use it for other projects in order to guarantee it’s success, because it really is a lovely yarn. I predict I’ll play a role in doing just that!

Go forth and knit!

Kristi

Good morning!  This quick message is simply to serve as advance notice that I’ve got a mini-review of the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in the works.  I completed one swatch on size 0 needles, but have decided that I need to also do one on smaller needles as I was not completely satisfied with the fabric density after washing and blocking.  I don’t have any size 00 needles so I’ll attempt to pick some up today at lunch time so I may be able to wrap this up by end of day tomorrow.

I’ll leave you with a couple of  teaser comments though.  First of all, the color transitions, in true Noro fashion, do not disappoint!  Second, this is not your average sock yarn.  And with that, I’ll bid you a Good Day, and a Merry Christmas, with a promise of more to come in a day or two!

Kristi