Month: October 2006

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Buying buttons in Barcelona

Merceria_santa_anaOn our way to the City History Museum of Barcelona in the old town, I was able to convince my husband to pop our heads into Merceria Santa Ana to check out a more traditional Spanish craft shop.

We didn’t get very far into the shop before we came across the button counter on the first floor. It quickly dawned on me that I might as well check their stock for something that might work for the Firebirds cardigan.

Many of the buttons were attached to cards that sit in bins on the counter sorted by type/color. There were also stacks of boxes with buttons behind the counter.

Barcelona_buttonLike every late Saturday afternoon, this place (and any other store on this busy pedestrian street) was very busy.  I sifted thorough the cards as quickly as possible, hoping my husbands patience wouldn’t run thin. While they had a really good selection of buttons and several claps, it was soon apparent that finding what I had in mind in a short period of time could be difficult. I finally settled on some buttons that seemed to fit the bill; ones with a dark metal tone.

Since my husband speaks fluent Spanish I had him do the talking.  Apparently, these buttons were not in the boxes behind the counter but had to be delivered from the stock room. As we waited for the buttons to arrive, one of the clerks working in the back room spilled what sounded like a full cannister of buttons on the ground. It got everyone’s attention including many of the clerks in the area who came to her aid. We all watched as many hands helped clean up the spill.

After what seemed like an eternity, my buttons arrived but the alert clerk noticed that they were the wrong color. He then placed another order with the backroom for the correct ones. As we waited for the second delivery, the place seemed to get even more busy with people starting a queue for the next clerk. Finally the long sought after buttons arrived and the clerk handed a hand written ticket to my husband, mentioning that we had to now pay the cashier and collect the buttons with the receipt. This confused my husband until I reminded him of the time we went shopping in Paris at a similar store. Apparently, it was the same system. You to tell a clerk what you want, they get it, write a ticket, you take the ticket to the casher to pay and then you collect the purchase with a receipt from the cashier.

By the time we got the buttons, I was no longer interested in checking out their yarn selection. Normally such experiences wouldn’t frustrate me but I felt bad about dragging my husband into the shop and then not making it to the museum in time before it closed.

Seattle_buttonNot leaving well enough alone, this weekend I went to a few yarn stores here to check out what they had. None had as good a selection as Merceria Santa Ana. I really wanted some clasps but all seemed to either be too big or made in shiny silver. I did however find an alternative.
Don’t tell my husband, but I think I’ll use the ones I found today.

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Like a sardine …

Plane_knittingJust got back from a week long holiday in Catalonia and the Pyrenees.

Firebirds didn’t make it into my pack so there was no progress this week.  However, I did find some buttons in Barcelona that might work out well.

I didn’t set out to make this a fiber holiday but did manage to visit a few yarn stores in Barcelona and two Mohair goat farms in the Ariège region.

More details and photos to come later this week.

On the flight over I asked if it was OK to take my knitting on the plane and was told at the check-in counter that Heathrow security probably wouldn’t let the needles through. When I heard this I decided to put my needles in my checked baggage.

Most of the week I was too busy to knit but was itching do some on the flight home so this time I decided to go ahead and see what would happen and risked having my needles taken away. I was pleasantly surprised when I made it through Heathrow security with my bamboo circular needles and was able to start the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits.

I’ve got to say, that while getting the needles on the plane wasn’t a problem, knitting while squeezed into a middle seat with my elbows tucked at my side wasn’t all that comfortable or fun. I finally gave up knitting mid-flight.

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Leftovers

leftovers

Gosh, I sure do have lots of yarn left over.

I ordered enough yarn for the extra large sweater thinking I would make a large. I wanted to make sure I didn’t run out of yarn so I thought ordering enough for one size larger would be a prudent idea. Turns out that I had  second thoughts about how wide the large is and  I ended up making a medium sized one instead.

OK, now for the truth. I’m showing this pile of yarn because I don’t have much progress to show. I got stuck on in the middle of the last band while making button holes. I made one and didn’t like how it looked. Now I’m not sure whether I want buttons or clasps. It’s a tough decision.

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Almost finished

Front bands

Thanks for all the wonderful comments and encouragement.

It’s almost finished but there are still a few more things to do.

* Finish the right front band
* Trim the steeks
* Darn loose ends
* Dress the sweater using a woolly board
* Find and sew on buttons (maybe)
* Take  and post a photo of me wearing it

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    Time to start thinking of the next project

    Firebirds: almost done

    The pattern says to cut extra stitches on the front of the body and the collar before starting the collar. Every time I anticipate cutting my work, I feel a bit queasy about the idea. So, I decide to only cut the extra stitches around the collar and finish it before cutting into the extra stitches on the front. After the fact, I’m thinking I should just get over my fear of stitches unraveling. It’s really no big deal when working with Shetland yarn. Working the collar with the front open would have been much easier.

     

    Time to start thinking about the next project

    I’ve been engrossed in this project for so long that it’s odd to even think about starting another one. Several months back I was going to start a sock project  but never manage to get it started. I’ve been promising to make fingerless gloves, so I guess that will be next.

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    Read the entire pattern before starting

    Second_sleeve_almost

    That’s now my number one advice to any knitter.

    Earlier this week I was looking at the pattern for “Lindsay” in Starmore’s A Scottish Garland and was surprised to see a section called “Stitches” that described exactly how the chart, steeks, edge stitch and cross stitch should be done. Right there in black and white, were answers a couple of burning questions that I had wondered about when first starting Firebirds. These were things that most patterns leave to the knitter to figure out on their own.

    After finding this, I grabbed my Firebirds pattern to see if that pattern also had a similar section. It turns out that the amendment  send with the pattern card refers to the pattern card for that part of the pattern.  I seemed to have skipped reading the pattern card.

    Here are the questions that I had.

    Q: There are some long stretches of one color in this pattern. How often should I weave in between color changes?

    A: When there are more than 7 stitches of one color then weave in the yarn being carried half way between color changes.

    Q:  How long should my yarn ends be when I change colors at the front?

    A: Leave a 5 cm tail.

    Starmore patterns are very detailed, easy to understand and mostly error free. I did however find one small error on my version of the Firebirds amendment when starting the cuff. It says to start the cuff on round 8 of the chart and then list the first row of the cuff as round 12.  I started at round 12.