Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Yuzawaya Eye Candy

I didn't acquire much at Yuzawaya, despite the fact that I spent two hours grazing around the yarn section. All of their yarn is stored in plastic bags, which is good for dust, but not terribly tactile. You can't just wander down an isle, poking and prodding....each bag has to be opened, yarn withdrawn to see the color and feel the texture, replaced into the bag, put bag onto shelf, move to next bag. Takes time and isn't as much fun as the Naked Yarn method used in most other places.

I bought a ball of Puppy Yarn's Lourdes, which has the interesting composition of 58% cotton, 31% silk, and 11% yak. It's quite soft and has a lovely sheen.

I will use it to knit this little purse, which I will be teaching in my lace class:


The pattern for this sweet little bag is a freebie from KnitPicks, and you can download it here.

I also succumbed to four balls of Count 5, a Richmore yarn of 76% mohair and 24% nylon. It is way softer than Kidsilk Haze and comes in the most delicious colors.


They also offer Count 10--a finer version of Count 5 in the same colorways.

And, as there are two new babies brewing here at Kurenai Kai, I bought a ball of gender-neutral green merino for booties. I love this yarn. It comes in three weights and 75 colors, and alas, can only be purchased at Yuzawaya--Munsell is their house brand.


I swept up every available package of my favorite stitch markers. They actually aren't stitch markers at all--I think they are supposed to be centers for crocheted doilies. Whatever. They are exceptionally small and thin and don't sproing off my needles like those little rubber band thingies I tried a while back.


Here is the packaging, should you ever be in the area and in need of superfine stitch markers for knitting lace:


And finally, I didn't purchase the little frog shown with the mohair--he and his buddies were being handed out in front of the Chiba train station by somebody dressed in a gigantic spherical Earth suit. Froggie was in a little bag with a package of tissues and a colorful brochure which, unfortunately, I couldn't decipher. I was truly delighted, as I have no other frogs here, and what is a blog posting without a frog somewhere, right?
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6 comments:

  1. yarnlotMay 7, 2007 at 5:32:00 PM EST

    The sachet will be very helpful in your lace knitting class...Thank you for sharing your yarn acquisitions!

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  2. AnonymousMay 7, 2007 at 6:03:00 PM EST

    I love a country where someone on the street hands you tissues and a frog.

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  3. LacefreakMay 7, 2007 at 6:19:00 PM EST

    I'm having serious yarn envy at the moment! That and frog envy. I spoke to Yarn Place again. She's going to E-mail you to work out the yarn/sending to Japan thing. If It doesn't work out, I can still go get and mail it myself. Sometimes low-tech is better!

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  4. AnonymousMay 7, 2007 at 6:21:00 PM EST

    I think maybe your stitch markers are what are called bone rings that are used as a foundation for crocheted buttons and maybe other things... Just a guess.
    eadaoine

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  5. SpinalCatMay 12, 2007 at 7:59:00 PM EST

    Hi,
    I was wondering if you could explain what sources teachers can ethically/legally use for class patterns. For example, on the Knitty site, it says to contact the designer for permission to use a pattern in a class. I'm just starting to get into teaching knitting and I am curious to know how these issues are usually handled.
    Thanks,
    Amy

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  6. fleegleMay 12, 2007 at 8:24:00 PM EST

    As for using patterns in classes, in this case, there is no problem. First, there is no payment involved, so the class could be considered a KAL. Second, every student has to download their own pattern, so I am not in violation of any copyright laws. If I purchased a pattern and made copies for the class, that is clearly a copyright violation.

    I know that pattern designers can make some strange stipulations. For example, I have an Heirloom Knitting pattern and it states that I cannot sell the finished product. I have no idea why she makes that restriction, but one must abide by the rules set by the pattern creator.

    ReplyDelete