MK CarrollDid you know? You can buy fleece, roving, and yarn grown and processed in Hawaii. You can buy directly from the farm at the Hawaiian Homestead Farmers Market on the first Saturday of the month, order online from Maluhia Farm (home of the Hawaiian Homegrown Wool Co.) or buy ready-to-spin roving from YarnStory in Honolulu.
I picked up 2 skeins of Nadezdha’s Crayon Box handdyed worsted weight wool yarn at YarnStory and have started swatching for a scarf. This colorway is “Ka’a'awa”, which can be translated as “shallow water” so I was looking for something evocative of that. This is called Harrow Stitch in one of the Mon Tricot stitch dictionaries I have on hand, and I think it’s working out rather nicely.
We have a little tropical yarnstorm going on in Honolulu over at the Kokua Market Natural Foods Cooperative – more details on the Aloha Knitters blog.
Modification of the orange-cranberry muffin recipe from the Post-Punk Kichen blog: replaced at least half of the orange juice with lilikoi (passionfruit) pulp (seeds and all), whole wheat pastry flour instead of white flour, reduced oil to 1/3 cup, added a teaspoon of orange blossom water, and a sprinkling of sugar over the tops before going into the oven.
These are fluffy, cake-y muffins with a wonderful fragrance and a nice crunch from the seeds. The batter ingredients react quickly, so it’s best to have the muffin tin ready before mixing, and scoop it into the tin quickly.
As I put my yarn stash into storage (again), I am reminded that I have plenty of yarn to work with and don’t need to acquire much more. Mom, on the other hand, has been knitting and crocheting much of what I’ve destashed at high speed. Last week I handed her a bag of oddballs of Karabella Aurora 8 that had been sitting in a box since 2007 (because it had turned into two complete balls and a small heap of small balls of only a couple of yards each) and this week she showed me the hat she knit up from the full balls and then topped with a dense, squooshy, carefully hand-snipped pom-pon made out of the small balls.
Well, that kind of productivity ought to be encouraged, especially when it means I can help support YarnStory, a brand-new yarn shop that opened just a few weeks ago in Honolulu. The shop hasn’t had a Grand Opening yet (the owner is waiting on several boxes of yarn), so I’m holding off on a full review, but here’s what I picked up today for Mom:
Brown Sheep Co. Kaleidescope, 80% cotton, 20% wool. Pink/red dominant is color KAL-20 ANAHEIM, Paintlot 0310, and Blue/purple dominant is KAL-10 BELIZE, Paintlot 179.
Yarn spun from recycled silk sari fabric
looking out over Hanalei, Kaua'i
I spent a recent weekend on Kaua’i and did a little yarn shopping while I was there. First stop was Hanalei Strings & Things, a little shop in the Ching Young Village Shopping Center in the middle of downtown Hanalei. It’s a very touristy area with lots of shops and restaurants, and parking can be a little challenging during lunchtime on a weekend. Strings & Things combines yarn and ukuleles – Amy Singer would plotz.
Entrance to Hanalei Strings & Things
Craft Supply of Honolulu’s King Street branch has closed, and Craft Supply’s Ribbon and Yarn Store has opened upstairs. Specializing in ribbons and yarns for making leis with, Craft Supply’s Ribbon and Yarn Store offers crochet and ribbon lei making classes, free with purchase of supplies. Classes are offered twice a day every day (except Sunday, when the shop is closed); for details on classes and times please call them at (808) 942-5044.
Yarns for sale include standards like Red Heart, Sugar ‘N Cream, Bernat (Baby Coordinates, Cotton Tots, Baby), and novelty/eyelash yarns from Crystal Palace and Trendsetter.
A small parking lot with free parking for customers is located behind the building; if you are driving east on S. King, the entrance to the parking lot is before the building. Nearby bus stops are served by routes 1 and 6 (check with TheBus for times and other possible routes).
1960 South King Street
(808) 942-5044
Monday – Friday 9am – 3pm
Saturday 9 – 12
Sunday CLOSED
So the yarn-tasting at the Hawai’i State Library downtown this past Saturday went well – but I didn’t take any pictures, and when I realized that, immediately thought “great, now nobody is going to believe me.” I had capped attendance at 25, figured we’d be lucky to get 20, and then 30 people signed up (and I think a couple more showed up).
Fortunately for me, Nadine Kam from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin was there, took photos, and blogged about it (thanks Nadine!)
Yarn ‘Tasting’ at the library (Fashion Tribe)
There were a couple of things I wish I’d managed to do differently – I’d wanted to talk more about knitting/crocheting for charity, and I also wanted to chat more with the attendees! I did get to talk briefly with a few people, but I wanted to hang out with *everyone* who attended – I hope I’ll get to see some of them at an Aloha Knitters meeting, ’cause like I said at the tasting, you people are the ones I need to talk to – you don’t need to be listening to me. Seriously, you should have seen some of the gorgeousness being kipped/cipped in that crowd! Thanks to all who attended, and for reals, I want to hang out with you all.
Most of the yarns in the tasting came from Isle Knit. The Maui Yarns came direct from Sara, and the Peaches & Creme came from Wal-Mart (and as I mentioned at the event, Wal-Marts nationwide are closing their craft departments – Ben Franklin has Sugar ‘n Cream; if they don’t have Peaches & Creme you might want to ask them about carrying it).
Oh, and someone had asked about a knit clothes hanger cover pattern in a book – I knew I’d seen at least one.
Twinkle’s Weekend Knits by Twinkle Chia, and Glamour Knits at Home by Erika Knight both have a pattern. However, the library doesn’t have those books at this time. There’s a free online pattern by Sara Golder (Easy Coat Hanger Covers), though!
A bit last minute, but just in case anyone has been wondering and didn’t get the updates on Ravelry, Twitter, and the Aloha Knitters Yahoo! Group:
Worldwide Knit In Public Day: June 13 2009 (today!)
Aloha Knitters will be meeting in the center courtyard of the Aloha Tower Marketplace from 2 – 5 pm. I’ve added the marketplace to the map below in case anyone needs directions (the red marker sitting in Honolulu Harbor). If you plan to drive, I recommend finding street parking downtown and walking over – the Aloha Tower Marketplace does have a pay parking lot, and it gets very full rather quickly. Also, the Kamehameha Day Parade is today – it starts in downtown and goes to Waikiki; by 2 pm I’m thinking downtown will have cleared up but just in case, you may want to allow a little extra time for traffic.
