Dear Lovely Knitters & Lovers of Lilacs,
I’m terribly sorry for having been away (still being away, alas). I’ve been without regular internet access for weeks & I’m therefore far behind on correspondence. Many apologies! I’ve been knitting & writing & travelling though, and I have lots to share with you, once my connection is re-established. I’ve also been experimenting with vlogs and book reviews, so look out for those!

Yesterday I went on a beautiful boat ride down the River Severn in Shrewsbury. We had tea and watched all the familiar buildings drift by (from a new angle), and waved back at all the landlopers. Seeing the riverside houses with their little personal jetties made me wish I lived by the river & could boat & not have to get entangled in all the road traffic. Didn’t Pepys use to commute by boat?

On Wednesday I rode my favourite train route to Aberystwyth & had ice cream & did the crossword on the prom. I love trains because they’re the only mode of transport (that I’ve so far discovered) that doesn’t make me motion-sick and on which I can read and knit as I please. Commuter trains aren’t very nice, but the old diesels that coast up and down the countryside are the best, for their views and their less-hurried passengers. The blue ice cream (bubblegum flavour) was quite disgusting, by the way, but the colour was very satisfying. The light in the UK makes colours look so much better than in Turkey. Even the contents of Grandma’s wheelbarrow look photogenic…

As do the blueberries I picked today…

Blue mosaic, blue gingham, blue skies, a blue bridge, blue ice cream, a blue-black barrow and blueberries. Bye for now! x

Have you read?

1. Slightly Foxed

Here’s a nifty project for the travelling knitter: a counting aid, a cunning computational device & a receptacle all in one! Put your knitting notions in the pouch, grab your knitting & head to the beach. Or knit one in time for going back to school.

I’ve always been interested in how knitters count, whether with M&Ms, chocolate bar pieces (my favourite, though a bit problematic if you have to rip), stitch markers, row counters, pen & paper, or a fancy iPhone app. A while ago Francesca of Fluffbuff shared a great low-tech trick for labelling swatches & I mentioned how much I love lo-fi solutions. The great thing about them is that there’s no right way to use them; you can get as creative with their use as you do with your knitting. For example, you could use your abacus to…

• count the rows you knit, in increments of 1, 5, 25, and 125 for each row of beads (up to 760, if I’m not mistaken).
• keep track of simultaneous increases & decreases.
• do soroban-style calculations; here’s a lady with a slightly crazy voice explaining how.
• “pre-code” your knitting pattern so that you don’t have to bring it along.

My Mum even suggested that you could use it visually, to remember surface shapes and patterns.

This is an easy-peasy project which any beginner could make. The whole thing is just stocking stich, after all. The trickiest part was the sewing, but all that took was a bit of patience. Don’t be scared by the zipper. This was the first time I’ve sewed in a zipper, and seriously, there’s nothing to it; if you’ve ever set in a sleeve, I can assure you that this is much easier!
I think it’s inevitable that the bead “swags” will sag a little. I actually like them that way because they look like a beaded fringe, and it doesn’t interfere with their use. But if it bothers you, you could always place a piece of cardboard or plastic canvas between the knitting and lining, to keep the knitting stretched out.

ABACUS POUCH / PENCIL CASE

You will need:

Less than 50m / 55yds of aran-weight yarn
4.5mm / US7 needles, or size to get gauge
21cm / 8in zipper
10 beads in a light colour
10 beads in a darker colour
1 large bead for zipper pull (optional)
Approx. 22 cm x 22cm / 8.5in x 8.5in fabric for lining (optional)
A tapestry needle
A sewing needle & thread

Gauge: 13 sts / 20 rows to 10cm / 4in.
Finished size: 18cm x 11cm / 7in x 4¼in.

A Word on Yarn & Bead Choice

I recommend an acrylic or acrylic-blend yarn, so that your pouch is less likely to sag or felt with use, or pill when you slide the beads around. Use needles smaller than the yarn calls for, to get a sturdy fabric. The beads need to be the right size to stay put when strung on the yarn, but should slide along easily when pushed. Large beads that stand out too far from the fabric make it difficult to gauge the length of the “swags”, so I recommend medium or smallish beads. Mine were 1cm wide.

Knitting the Pouch

String your beads onto your yarn in this order: 5 of the lighter shade, 5 of the darker shade, 5 of the lighter shade, 5 of the darker shade. The beads you will knit first are therefore strung on last. A small crochet hook will help, if you can’t get your tapestry needle through your beads. You’ll need to keep pushing your beads along as you knit.

CO 26sts.
Work 4 rows in st st.
ROW 5: K8, sl 10 sts pwise wyif, push 5 beads up to the last knit stich, so they lay in front of the slipped sts, leaving enough slack for the beads to slide k next 2 sts tightly, k6.
ROW 6: Purl across.
ROW 7: Knit across.
ROW 8: Purl across.
Rep. rows 5 – 8, 3 times more. Work in st st until piece measures 11cm / 4¼in, ending with RS facing.
Next ROW: P across. (This forms the fold).
Next ROW: P across.
Next ROW: K across.
Next ROW: P across.
Continue in st st until back measures 11cm / 4¼in from fold. Cast off.

Lining
If you choose to line your pouch, hem your fabric all the way around, then sew it 1cm / 0.5in in from each side of your pouch. You may want to stretch your pouch as you go.

Zipper
Open the zipper, pin and sew it onto your pouch. I recommend working by hand, unless you’re a sewing machine whiz. Try to sew just under the cast on & cast off chains, as they will border the zipper nicely.

Mattress stitch the sides of your pouch.

Tab
Thread the cast off tail onto your tapestry needle, and pull your needle away 25cm / 10in from the pouch. Twist this length of yarn, keeping the rest of the yarn untwisted (you’ll be using it to secure the tab, but trim it a little, if that makes it easier). When you have enough twist that the yarn kinks up on itself, fold it in half, and even out the twist. Then insert the tapestry needle near where the tab emerges. Fold the tab into a loop, and sew the loop down. Secure the threads with a knot. You’ll need to cut the needle loose, but it should be ok, as long as you’ve knotted it well.

Zipper Pull
Cut a length of yarn approx. 25cm / 10in long, and pull a loop through the eye of your zipper. Then pull the ends of your yarn through the loop to form a lark’s head knot. Thread a large bead through both strands of yarn, secure with a knot. Trim off any excess.

Weave in your ends & you’re done!

Note: If you need them, here are: Knitting Abbreviations & a Mattress Stitch Tutorial

Giant wall abacus
Popsicle Stick Abacus
Spool Abacus
Abacus-inspired Family Comman Center
Oversized Wooden Abacus
Binary Marble Adding Machine – So. Cool.

Have you read?

1. Free Pattern: Bow Pouch

First we took the tram to Çemberlitaş. The next stop says “Grand Bazaar” but the tram was so packed we couldn’t stand another stop. Don’t go on saturday afternoons!

At Çemberlitaş we asked for directions, and a shopkeeper told us to follow the mosque round until we got to Mahmutpaşa Street. Following the mosque around is fairly easy, but figuring out what street you’re on, is not. Your best bet, if you’re a foreigner, is to have “Kürkçü Han” written on a piece of paper, and show it to someone every few steps. According to my friend, it’s best not to take just one person’s word for it.

Walking down Vezirhan Street…

Passing Nuru Osmaniye Mosque on the left…

Turning left here…

Having entered Kapalı Çarşı by the Kürçüler entrance, we turned right, and this is the street we were on.

At the end of this street we turned right…

…and were finally on Mahmutpaşa. We asked directions again, and someone pointed out the tiny corner of red building in the distance. There it is!

So close…

…and yet so far.

Here at last. The entrance is right below the sign. You can see the Nako advertisement that everyone mentioned on the Ravelry forums. It’s actually an advert for one of the shops upstairs, which is where I ended up going.

Squuueeezing through the narrow entrance…

… and into the courtyard. We couldn’t see much yarn at first glance, so we headed upstairs.

A view from upstairs, with a lovely display of acrylic fun fur. Mmm…

Gülüm Yün was the first shop we came across when we went upstairs (after the acrylic fun fur), so I dove in. There wasn’t anything very different from what I get in Ankara, though there was more choice in colour. They did have some oddments of yarns which are produced in Turkey, such as King Cole, and some Lion Brand (not much Alpine about Alpine Wool, I’m afraid), but I doubt that will tempt tourists all that much. :) Here’s what I got (without duplicates):

Fridica wrote a fascinating post about Unitas yarns that are different but have the same label, and someone commented that they did the same thing in Turkey with the “export” label. You can see from my “haul” that I have 2 yarns that are “Ormo Export” but are completely different. I’ve also seen a “Nako Export” label. I think these are just surplus yarns that they package up and sell any-which-way. From left to right: Nako Saf Yün (pure wool), King Cole Riot (70% “premium” acrylic, 30% wool), Ormo Export (nothing on the label), & Ormo Export (85% wool, 15% acrylic). The unidentified Export yarn knits up very soft and has nice colour transitions. It’s similar to the Riot, which I also bought purely on account of its colours. It’s a bit like a cheap acrylic version of Rowan Tapestry. The turquoise yarn is actually very nice too, and about 4ply weight. I really look forward to knitting with it.

On the Map

Cemberlitas Tram Station to Mahmutpasa St

The red spot marks the “Kürçüler” entrance to Kapalı Çarşı (sounds about right!).

Down Mahmutpasa to the Kürkcu Han

Of course, you don’t necessarily have to go the way we did. If possible, avoid going at the weekend, too. As you can see, all the streets are very narrow. We were so tired of being jostled, that we didn’t look anywhere else. Unfortunately getting out of the Kapalı Çarşı area took us almost longer than getting in! It’s still a great experience though, and if you have the time & perseverance to look around, I’m sure you’ll grab many good bargains.

What to Buy in Turkey?

- Cotton. Everyone says this & it’s true. There’s some really nice cotton around, though most of it is mercerised. A brand called Rozetti recently released an aran-weight natural cotton that is really nice (I used it for some potholders). I’ve noticed some nice bamboo yarn too, though I haven’t tried knitting with any.

- Accessories. You’ll find some really cheap & colourful notions in Turkish yarn shops. Some of the local knitting needles & crochet hooks can be a bit rubbish, but there’s plenty of really nice, cute stuff. Surprisingly, I’ve also come across a lot of Clover products here!

- Embellishments. Turkish haberdasheries are wonderful. Buttons, ribbons, lace, and loads more is to be found in profusion. I recommend you fill your boots. :)

Other things to do in Istanbul

Have mint gelato on Istiklal Street.

Have a late breakfast at the weekend. This was at Savoy in Cihangir. We also went to Midpoint on Istiklal which had a beautiful view, and unlimited tea.

I hope this post was helpful, and that you’ll visit Istanbul soon. If you know of any other good yarn shopping destinations, let me know in the comments!

Have you read?

1. A Tale of Two Yarns
2. Summer Knitting

I’m posting this now because I will be away in Istanbul over the weekend, trying to convince my friend to seek out the legendary “yarn street”. Ooo. Next week I’ll also be releasing the super-cute, super-simple Bow Pouch pattern, so look out for that too!

Now in 3 different flavours!

If you can’t come to Istanbul with me, Jane Thorley’s article in the latest TWiR is the next best thing! Either way, have a fab weekend, knitters!

Have you read?

1. Yarn Shopping in Istanbul – Tarihi Kürkçü Han
2. Her Ribbons & Her Bows

Last week my boyfriend and I decided to take a spontaneous trip down to the Greek island of Cos (or Kos or Kωs), a few kilometres off the coast of Bodrum (also not far from Datça where I spent a week in the summer). We took the night bus to Bodrum, arriving early in the morning (it takes 12 hours), then took the ferry to Kos. We had less than two days, so we didn’t see all of the island, but what we saw was gorgeous. As always I was left wondering why I live in a stressful, monotone, stinky city. A few things I learnt:

1. You really don’t need weeks to plan and prepare a trip. In this case I had about 2 seconds to decide, 30mins to buy tickets, and 2 hours to pack.
2. My parents would rule them out immediately, but travelling on national holidays can be fun. The 28th was a holiday on Kos & there was bunting everywhere & we even got to see a parade and people in national costume. The 29th is Independence Day in Turkey & there was a free concert in the evening in Bodrum and fireworks too!
3. The end of October is officially the end of the tourist season. The weather was still good enough to swim, and there were plenty of places open, but they were all shutting up shop within the next few days.
4. I could go there and come back on my British passport. This was lucky, as my Turkish passport had expired!
5. People from Kos are called Koans. Which in my book is enough reason to move there. :)

Things to do on Kos:

• Visit the historical sites. We only had time to walk around the Agora, but the Asklepieion and the castle look very interesting too. Hippocrates was from Kos so you’ll see lots of things pertaining to him (including the famous plane tree, which we also missed).
• Eat ice cream. I can’t remember the name of the place, but oh my goodness Nutella ice cream! ‘nough said.
• Rent bikes. Bikes are the way to get around. There are great bike tracks around the island and speeding along the coast is so much fun.
• Eat yummy food. I’m pretty sure a Greek would consider gyros and souvlaki about as representative of Greek cuisine as a Turk would consider döner and şiş kebap, but they were still absolutely delicious!
• Chill on the beach. Go easy on the ouzo though!
• Find a yarn shop. I didn’t have time, so this is your mission, should you choose to accept it. :)

more photos in my Flickr set ➔

Have you done any spur-of-the-moment travelling recently?