Wed night at ArtFibers

I have started attending a Wed-night knit-along at Artfibers here in Pinole, CA. Artfibers used to be located in San Francisco, but earlier this year, owner Roxanne moved the operation to the ground floor of her Old Town Pinole home. There, in three rooms on the ground floor and a studio in the back garden she sells some of the most beautiful yarns I have seen in a long time.

I started attending the Wed. night group there maybe a month ago. I finally took along my camera to document some of the swell things people are making. Last Wed., the group consisted of me, Jan, Stephanie, Jane, Chris and Roxanne. A merry bunch – of course, the Two-Buck Chuck and chocolate chip cookies were a big help. And while we didn’t solve the problems of the world, we did, for the first time as a group, start sharing some meaty background about ourselves. But I’ll never tell . .

So here we go . . .

Chris's "Upstairs Shawl"

Chris gets the prize for bringing the most projects! She had some finished socks, some half-finished toe-up socks and a new shawl.  The shawl – a luscious little purple number – is made from Artfibers’ Sylph and the pattern is called “The Upstairs Shawl.” Chris also showed off some socks she made with Colinette’s Jitterbug yarn using a pattern in Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. She also had some Ribbed Ribbon socks made with some Malabrigo sock yarn.

Jitterbug Toe-Up socks

Overachiever.

Detail - Sylph shawl

Jan's baby blanket

Jan recently completed this fantastic baby blanket with Berroco Pure Merino. The pattern is from a book called Knitting Basics. We all oohed and aahed over this because it appears to have been made in blocks you would then have to sew together – but it wasn’t. Also, the stitch detail of the Pure Merino was fantastic. I think she’s giving it to an expectant niece. She better be one swell niece.

Detail - Jan's baby blanket

Stephanie's scarf

Stephanie is the scarf-mistress! She has been knitting for 5 years and says she is beginner and only makes scarves. I ask you, does this look like the work of a beginner? She couldn’t tell me the pattern, but described it as something a friend helped her with. That’s some friend! The yarn is Artfibers’ Zoftig, a soft ribbon of merino wool and nylon.

Roxanne's tank top

And Roxanne is making a sweater she calls the “tattoo sweater.” I don’t know why. Roxanne – can you chime in here? It has this cool cable in the center. She adapted the pattern from one of her own designed she created a long time ago, she said. The yarn is her own Casanova, a cloud of tussah silk, mulberry silk and mohair. It has this lovely haze and the colors remind me of an autumn path. I love this yarn!

Jane's star stitch shawl

Jane is working on this shawl which she is making from Artfibers’ Carezza, a yummy blend of silk, baby alpaca and extrafine merino. The pattern is a star stitch. She’s just started, but we were all very impressed with the results and her vision for this shawl.

And what about me? I was working on the fifth of a series of fingerless gloves I am trying to design for our store, K2Tog. But that will have to wait for another blog post.

So if you’re in the East Bay, come join us on Wed. nights. I think Roxanne is starting a new Sunday afternoon groups, too – from 4-7.