Yarn Hunting in Kuyshu

It has been almost a month since I came back from Kuyshu. I wanted to post sooner but lately I've been involved with my kids' studies. We had a great get away during Chinese New Year holidays over there, despite the cold weather. Yarn hunting wasn't so abundant as I expected. I found very few yarn shops during my visit. First stop was Yuzawaya in Fukuoka. It's located in the district of Tenjin on the 6th floor of a department store named Mina (if I'm not mistaken). Not comparable with its store in Tokyo at all. There weren't many yarns that I would like to bring home. A lot of the yarn stock weren't sufficient to knit a long sleeve cardigan (very few stock left out. I believe there was a sale going on just a few days before leaving little yarn for me. Sigh...Here is a little tour of the shop. The buttons selection were amazing. Unfortunately, no time to dedicate to these colorful rainbow display.
In a way, it's good that I don't sew. It would be heavy to bring some samples of these fabrics home.
Not satisfied enough with Yuzawaya, I decided to ask around about more yarn shops. And finally found this little shop nearby. It's a small shop with a high end selection, mostly Italian yarns. I didn't find any yarn to buy. They were too expensive.
I was lucky that I found couple knitting magazines that were just released on the day. And they happen to be my favorite titles. :)
As we travelled further south to Oita, where DH wanted to refresh his memories of the old town he had worked before. It's a smaller city, things haven't changed much after more than 10 years, as I recall. Walking around the downtown area, I spotted this yarn shop. Looked nice with the sale bins but so sad only acrylic yarn, the ones to knit dishcloths or some mohair yarn. I only got some Clover bamboo straight needles to complete my collection. I have now a complete set of clover bamboo straight needles in Japanese size ( except size 1, not much of a possibility to use super thin needles) ) and they have the size mark in the top. Some of my needles bought previously only had the mark on the shaft (? the long part) and it's almost invisible after constant use.
Well, in a way it was good that I didn't get to buy much yarn. Something that I realized when I got home and looked at my yarn stash. The ones I got last year in Japan are still untouched.
At least I got two packs of merino wool from Yuzawaya. The wine color I got 13. It should be enough for a long sleeve sweater. The beige only had a pack of 10 available. Perhaps will suit a vest.
I finally bought the embroidery scissors. Having seen it previously in Keito dama magazines ads. I had wished to own one for a while. It's just too expensive for a small scissor ( about $36) . The store only had one in stock, so that helped me to decide quickly though I still think it's too costly for a tiny scissor. Spotted some nice bamboo buttons that followed me home. I also bought 3 very pretty mother-of-pearl flower shaped buttons but unfortunately I lost them.
The best part of my trip was a night stay at Yufuin Hot Spring. We stayed at this traditional style hotel that was very relaxing. I had the chance to soak myself in the Onsen 3 times. It was just so wonderful. The spring water leaves your skin so smooth and silky feeling. And to make you feel even more relaxed, the supper is served in your own room. Next photos were taken on a little stroll at the main street in Yufuin. It's so interesting, they had shops with animal theme, like cat, dog, owl and even a bee shop!
And if you are feeling hungry to see the cake shop ( bottom right photo) , you'll need a second closer look because they are instead mini towels rolled as cake forms. Didn't find any yarn shop but spotted some hand knitted gloves.
Not much knitting going on in my corner. I think I stopped knitting for too long. I feel that my hands are feeling all rusted. At least, I have a scarf and a hat to show in this post.
I like this hat very much, except that I pulled the string, to close the top, too tightly. Thus, yielding this big lump on the top. Otherwise, I like the cabling border. It gives that special touch to the hat.
Both the scarf and hat were knitted using Diadomina yarn. The patterns are from this book.

Lately, I 've been distracted by my Keito dama and World Knitting collection. Somehow, they never cease my enthusiasm to look at the designs over and over again. I 'm looking for inspirations to bring my knitting mood back. I don't think I could have enough of these magazines in my lifetime. I decided that I will start to buy less of other titles that I keep bringing home wherever I go to the book shop. Well that sounds to be an old story but at least I am getting conscious about it! ;)

Lastly, some knitting magazines that DH got at Liberty in London for me. I had just requested the new Rowan but he found the other two magazines at a bookstore. I couldn't think of what yarn to ask him to buy when he called from Liberty. Do you think I am suffering some kind of yarn withdraw lately? There are three designs that I want to knit from this Rowan, Astral (that has been already started in my needles), Geno and Purity . ( The designs can be seen here) I hope I can finish my wips ( almost ufos). That should bring up my knitting mood level back to normal. Let's hope so!

About new projects and knitting collection

I've been thinking about knitting all day long since I am back to my usual knitting motto. ;) Using again Debblie Bliss baby Cashmerino to work on my latest Lotus cardi. The bottom left photo is more reflective of the true color of the yarn.
I had in mind for a simple design but I didn't spot anything suitable in my books. A lot of work flipping in my monstrous book collection these days. I decided to come up with my own design. Looks to be very simple but designing is not an easy task. With all my initial excitement, I forget to do the inset pockets. I was way up to the shoulder line by the time I noticed the mistake. However, I really wished to have pockets. Then my only alternative was to have sewn on ones. I took the risk even though I knew how bad my sewing skills could be.

Now I am working on the collar. There is a problem, it keeps rolling up on the back side of the neck . I'll need to check on that later. I decided to give myself a little distraction. Something brainless, like this scarf.

This was one of the first winter 2007 books I bought. I was attracted by it's clever construction. It's easier to knit than it actually looks. First knit a right triangle piece and pick up stitches on the hypotenuse side. Repeat the action until desired lenght. I am using Diadomina yarn in color DD 313 that I bought in Hokkaido last year. I am thinking in knitting a matching hat from the same book ( another nice construction, hopefully coming soon) since I have 6 skeins of this yarn.

Now showing some new items in my knitting collection. Got these from London via husband before Xmas. I wrote detailed info for him to easily get these items for me. Apparently, he had to call me once at the shop as he got all confused about the names. Then I spoke to a saleslady to get what i was hoping for ( Tapestry and Kidsilk haze). Though hubby selected the colours for me and even throw two bonus magazines ( Tapestry and Rowan pure wool). I wanted to get the Kaffe Fasset sock yarn ( even though I don't knit socks!) but they didn't carry it.

Next are some souvenirs from Spain my dear sister sent to me. She makes extra effort to look for knitting magazines or yarn when she is travelling these days. One magazine is called Diana ( Spanish) and the other Maglia ( Italian).There was also Knitting beyond the edge by Nicky Epstein that she added later in the pack .

Couple weeks ago I went to Shanghai with husband. It was a super quick stop of only two days to take care of a few personal matters. I had that little hope for yarn as you know me even though husband had told me there would be no time for yarn hunting. I did a quick search in Ravelry and found some info in the forums. On the second late afternoon, we had a little free time and husband asked me where I wanted to go. Of course we went yarn hunting based on the info I had searched. Unfortunately, we walked many streets to find only two yarn shops. One was closed and the other one didn't had anything appealing to me except for Henyuanxian yarn that I still have a good stock in hands.

I spotted an ad while in the metro train station. I took a photo of the ad despite that a train was approaching and we still needed to figure out which direction to go. Strong positive yarn thoughts, always bring me yarn! I wished that they were real than virtual though....

Well, I didn't come back empty handed. Found a tiny yarn shop nearby the district I was staying. I asked permission to take this photo. So fun that the ladies are all happy and knitting together.
As you can observe in the photo there weren't a good selection of yarn to choose. The owner looked so enthusiastic that she would sell me something. I didn't want to disappoint her so I got this lot of purple cotton yarn. It's very thin thread and it looks like export yarn to Japan. There weren't much choice of colors, either bright pink or blue.

I also bought couple crochet books from a bookstore. It's more for eye pleasing or inspirational tool because the patterns in the book are just stitches charts. No sizing or details info of the designs.

Thanks for your comments! It's always nice to hear from my knitting friends and receive encouraging words from new readers! I try often to reply to my comments but a lot times i don't get a return address from blogger.

Now it's time to go knitting! See you next time!