One done..four to go

I plan to finish 5 scarves by August and am thoroughly enjoying knitting the first one while looking for more patterns. No plain ribbing if possible, but interesting, yet easy and reversible patterns. Here's the first one - Fiona's Scarf.

Pattern : One row hand spun scarf by YarnHarlot

Size : 10" by 63" (unstretched)
Yarn : Katia Azteca, 50% wool 50% acrylic
Amount : 2 x 100gm x 197 yds (used all)
Needles : 6mm

Here's a close-up view of the one row stitch which I totally recommend for anyone looking for an easy reversible scarf pattern. In fact, I'm almost tempted to knit the rest in the same ! Wonder how I'd feel after the 3rd one???

Norwegian Woods and Green Gable FOs

Another enjoyable Sivia Harding knit - my Norwegian Woods scarf

Pattern: Norwegian Woods Scarf by SiviaHarding
Size: 60" x 27" (blocked)
Yarn: Dream in Color - Baby (Laceweight), Flamingo Pie colourway
Amount: 560 yrds
Needles: 3 mm

Green Gable from the cotton yarn bought in Ho Chi Minh City. Notice how the colour pools when I knit across the raglan section and the variegation stablises after? Lesson learnt.

Pattern: Green Gable

Yarn: 2 strands 4 ply cotton (1 variegated 1 white)

Size: 36" Length: 23"

Amount: 350 gms

Needles: 4 mm

More Yarny Loot

And to think I decided there wasn't anything much I wanted when I first went into the shop!!!! Maybe it was because I didn't quite like the shop assistant on the 2nd floor but got rather chumy with Ming on the 3rd.

Ten balls of any yarn is heavily discounted at this place, so you're looking at 2 balls each of 5 colourways of Katia Azteca planned for gift scarves for friends of YL leaving from August through February 09. Then I saw a gorgeous swatch out of the Filo Filu which I'm sure would knit up to a sexy slinky evening shawl..Couldn't resist that.

Ming persuaded me into buying the Japanese Knitting symbols dictionary and a book of 250 pattern samplers (mostly cables) when she found out I couldn't knit from Japanese patterns. I might give it a try one of these days... and there's a magnetic pattern marker too.

Remember the cheapie cotton yarn from the last post? Here's the green-white colourway growing very fast into Green Gable.. I'm using 1 strand of variegated with 1 strand white on 4mm needles. Would you believe the pile of knitting here is out of a single ball of each colour? This picture was taken when I was about to join the 2nd ball of green-white. Gosh! I'm still amazed I can get half a Top out of a RM 2 ball of yarn!!!

Yarny loot

I found the 2 ladies of Le Thanh Ton St ! - as recommended by craftycathy in Ravelry's Asian Knitters forum. They're street peddlers alongside the famous Ben Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh, just 10 mins from Caravelle Hotel where I stayed. Very convenient.
Gosh! it's amazing I lived to post this blog. I had no clue about crossing roads where (really) hundreds of motorbikes were coming towards you from every direction. Terrified, I would wait patiently at the curb for other tourists (esp bigger Westerners) then get myself strategically sandwiched in the middle while waiting for them to start the dash!! I did that at no less than 6 junctions.


The ladies were always packing up by the time I arrived there in the evenings, so never actually got to see all their wares. The quality of their yarn was OK and there's loads of cotton, all in lace or fingering weight though, nothing heavier. I didn't have time to look at wool which were all from China.

Here's the loot after 2 trips to their stalls...33 x 100 gms of 4 ply cotton sold loose and by weight.

Each is less than US$ 0.65!!! and I've no idea what to do with them yet. Bought 10 the first day, went back to the hotel to knit up a quick swatch, washed it for colour fastness and was quite impressed with the subtle sheen and softness. The next evening I went by taxi :) for another 23 balls.

All packed and ready to come home...