:: Tools of the trade. Part 2 ::

    I bet you never knew that the waste/scrap yarn that we normally use for provisional cast on sometimes comes in color and be a special one. In Japan, both Clover and the neon colored ones below by Munsell (a Yuzawaya company) make these colorful provisional cords. Provisional cord is very slick and comes in different thickness, and quite often just requires putting the stitches onto needle and then pulling the cord. It is so smooth that it comes off right away without need to unpick it one by one. Neat and very time efficient! I came across these for the first time in my machine knitting, since my Brother machine had one included in its tool kit. And bright stitch holders are just colorful notions that are also by Munsell.

Being a fan of everything versatile - function + appeal - I really got excited when I saw this! A cool sterling silver necklace with real pearls, but it is more than just a necklace. A friend in Seattle, the designer behind "Along the Briny Beach" has created this cool functional jewelry for knitters!


You get a long sterling silver necklace with a chain that wouldn't tangle in your knits (like silk mohair sweater I am wearing in a photo) or your hair and a teardrop shape pendant that looks impressive on its own or when it is housing 6 real pearl stitch markers. One of which is different when you need to use a marker to indicate beginning of the round. Smart and thoughtful!
When all the markers are off and being used, there is still a pearl sitting at the base of the teardrop that doesn't compromise the shape and appeal of this necklace! I love that Delores is offering so many custom lengths and colors of the pearls to choose from - so many tastes, so many choices! How about turquoise? The hip color for Spring this year!


Scissors for knitwear are quite important to have around. Especially those small ones. However, remember these are not good in case you are traveling!
From top to bottom:
Clover thread clippers are great for clipping short bits of yarn, but I've cut thin leather with them too. Very handy!
Merchant&Mills Wide Bow Scissors were a gift to me and they look rather extravagant. They are made in UK. I haven't used them yet, but they are a great size and look.
Gingher 3.5" Scissors - those who sew are very familiar with the brand name of these scissors and they are ones I use most. Tiny, sharp and rather minimalistic design that I like. Made in Italy.


Blocking and finishing of the knit item is as important as knitting your stitches at the correct gauge. Soaking the fibers of the yarn in your knit item helps all your stitches relax and for over 5 years I have been a Soak wash devotee. Being in Japan, I have discovered some new flavors they use in food like Yuzu, which is a citrus that grows here and used largely in cooking and absolutely delightful, tart, fragrant yet light. When I heard that Soak got new flavor Yuzu I couldn't be more excited! I used Soak for washing all of my handknits and store bought knits. For work knits I use Scentless for many people can be allergic to different flavors (models or people who handle the garment in production). Personally, I have always liked Celebration scent and relatively new - Lacey scent. And now I am adding Yuzu to the list. Accompanied with Handmaid, a lotion that is great for when your hands dry out after knitting for many hours. Some agents that are used while processing yarns can affect the  skin on one's hands, so some Handmaid to the rescue and put some silk or cotton gloves for even better effect. Travel size Soaks are also great, just carry one in my purse in case the klutz in me spills something on my clothes. Works great as a stain remover too and I don't have to feel guilty in ruining my clothes!


Rolls Royce of blocking pins, at least to me! These are absolutely amazing, I think I have collected at least 4 sets of these and they are amazing for their "fork", bent at the angle, the metal part moves and that way you can pin and pin to get a more even edge. These are made by Clover and their US site indicates it as a new product now! Worth the price and I don't use my T-pins much anymore. Why? For each 10 T-pins I have to only use 5 of these steel pins. I have been using them for over 2 years now and I am not going back to anything else, because these are my absolute favorite, so get them when you can! I keep them in a nice deep bowl, so when I am ready to block I just grab it and set to work.


So here are my favorite tools and notions! I hope you find something useful for you and share with me if there is something special you found and I absolutely need to have!

Happy Knitting and I am back to packing boxes!

:: Tools of the trade. Part 1 ::

I know many of you who knit are always in search of better tools and things that make our knitting life easier as in our stitches more even and knitting itself smoother. I am always on a hunt for new tools that makes my knitting process enjoyable and finished garments a success!
During my life in Japan I have discovered several interesting items that I haven't encountered in the US market before and I thought today I would share my new finds as well as my old favorites. With the impending move back to us I made sure to stock up on some, but I really hope that these products will be available in the future in the continental US as well.

As any ideas start from a sketch or a doodle in a notebook, I found these particular notebooks extremely convenient. The dot grid inside allows you to build a grid if you like or to draw a chart or to create a schematic for your design using dots as visual points. A5 compact format allows me to always have it with me. They are from Muji, a Japanese chain store that literally is translated "No Brand". There are 3 stores and online store in US already, so hopefully you can get your hands on them too.


Erasable pens! Maybe many of you have heard about those, but I discovered them only recently. They are tricky though - make sure you do not expose what you have written to extreme heat, as Wendy of Knit'n'Tonic blog discovered for herself - your writing will vanish!
But these are great "pencils" as they are smudge-proof and have great line definition. Pilot Frixion gel ink in a pen tends to run out quicker than any normal pen, so make sure to get plenty of refills!


Pilot Frixion also has an erasable highlighter marker - isn't that awesome?! Mark what is necessary and when you are done, just erase it!
And for more permanent result I use Pilot Jetstream. All of the pens above are of my favorite 0.38 mm line gauge. Thin yet, not too thin.

Knitting needles are the #1 tool of any knitter. I have about 60 different kinds and materials and last year I met their replacement. Certainly, I still have the old ones sitting in their case all neatly organized, but I haven't been using much of them except for the very small sizes since I got my hands on Addi Click Long Lace Tips Interchangeable Needle set.
Holy motherload of knitting needles! Skacel did it!
Besides a fashionably trendy hot pink case there are 8 needle sizes of shiny, smooth, long and POINTY needles. Ranging from size US 4 to US 11 which includes mostly used sizes by me I do not need to use any other needles! It's so compact that it's easy to travel with even for a short distances. Interchangeables make life so much easier!


The shiny army of pointy needles is crucial to my knitting because I am a combination knitter or "picker" and having a slick sharp point makes my knitting significantly faster. Skacel created Clicks with several options for the sets, there are bamboo, regular and shorter lace tips  - to each their own depending on your preference and needs.

And the cords.. the cords are magical and smart! The tiny holes on both ends of the cord allow you to pull through a strand of yarn if you need to create a lifeline. Just knit a row and the strand of yarn "lifeline" is simultaneously being carried through that row of stitches. Saves time and headache when it comes to ripping lace in case of a mistake.


Skacel has made it available for anyone to purchase extra cords and tips if necessary. My Long Lace tips Clicks set came with SOS cords of different lengths and a connector, but I decided that I needed more cords and the extra cord sets come with an extra connector. Connector essentially helps to create a longer cord in case you need one and you don't have a 60" cord in your set, for example.


But I see more useful applications for those connectors. Something that comes in very handy if you need to use that size needle tips for something else but they are occupied in another project. All you need to do is take the needle tips off and secure your stitches by locking the cord with stitches on it into a loop with the help of the connector! Voila! And you have a makeshift stitch holder! Or a funky necklace! :D


And you bet that me and my Addi Clicks are inseparable! I think regardless the price if you knit a lot and realize how important it is to have quality tools that feel great in your hands, better your knitting experience and result they are worth every penny!

When it comes to notions I am a known fan for Clover products and I use many of them on a regular basis. I have been using Locking stitch markers for years and they are my "work horse" markers as they serve as markers and can be used as pins when I need to hold knit fabric together when seaming.
However, I was given as a gift these Merchant & Mills black bulb pins , that I use to attach tags for my garments during trunk shows, but their unusual shape actually allows me to use them as a handy stitch marker if I don't have others on me. There is a limitation of course what size of the needle they would fit, but I thought it was cool way to utilize the "universally useful" statement on its box.


The Clover affair continues into my collection of crochet hooks that are either teflon-like covered hooks that come in many sizes and steel hooks that are sometimes are also called "needle hooks" for finer gauge crochet. Or as I discovered they are great to use when you work with beads in your knitting. A while back when I got the steel hooks on etsy they were only available in Japan, but now I know they are widely popular and sold in US. I don't crochet much these days except for cast on and borders, but their ergonomic handle is quite comfortable!


I prefer to use good old double pointed needles when it comes to knitting in the round of small tubular parts of the garments or accessories. And although I have several Clover Bamboo Takumi Velvet DPNs, I have been using a lot and enjoying my set of Blackthorn DPNs made out of carbon fiber composite. Carbon fiber composite that is used in making some of the jets and airplanes and I guess living on a Naval Air facility for the past 3 years satisfied the geek in me when I am using these. Light as wood but behave like metal, they are very unusual and certainly hoping to grow my collection of these through time.



More about my favorite tools of the trade tomorrow!

:: Cirles + Dots winners! ::

I know I have been so absent from my poor blog that many may start wondering if I am actually alive.
Alive and just so extremely busy. As it happens our time of 3.5 years in Japan is coming to an end this month and it is very bittersweet. However I am excited to be getting back to my old stomping grounds in Alexandria, VA. Teach more and re-connect with my local knitting community in the area. I have missed a lot of it as well as I missed the people - friends, students and customers. I am looking forward to be able to teach more nationwide now and still surprise you with new exciting collaborations and designs. Meanwhile, I am trying to wrangle a sea of boxes and deadline that I am horribly late on.
Thanks for bearing with me and please follow me on Facebook for more recent updates.

And now the drumroll please for the winners of Circles + Dots Giveaway!!!

Congratulations to Deborah, who won an entire Circles + Dots collection and Quince & Co Tern yarn to knit her own Gyre scarf!

Deborah, please email me infoATolgajazzyDOTcom to claim your prize as well as let me know your color choice preference of Tern. Happy Knitting!

Thank you so much again for all those participating! More exciting giveaways on the way!

:: Circles + Dots ::

    When I think of the time Pam Allen has asked me to design a collection for Quince & Co I kept telling myself "is this real life"? I suddenly got transported back to the times when I was starting my knitting career and looking forward to every issue of the IK that she curated at the time and browsing through numerous books that she authored in the the local yarn stores. And now I get to do this! This excitement is quite often followed by some amount of self-questioning - would she like these sketches or not? To work with someone who has been in the industry so long has tremendous amount of my respect and reverence and I certainly didn't want to disappoint. When all the sketches got accepted (!!!) and the next stage was to pick the colors for the whole collection I couldn't contain myself as things just got even more real.

The inspiration for the Circles + Dots palette served this image for the Finch release as it comprised a harmonious combination of brights and neutrals, especially those hues of turquoise and orange, the colors that my blog used to be. And although I studied art at school for several years my sketching skills often leave much to be desired, however they conveyed the intent.



As you can see some designs went through transformation. The entire process is about making decisions what to add or what to get rid of in a finished design and it is done so to improve the wearability of the actual knits.
My initial idea was to make this collection a story of exploration into knitwear where dots and circles are represented in all kinds through various knit techniques. My interest in polka dots in particular started back in 2011 when I designed my Mizutama shawl in search of wanting to create a polka dot looking shawl without going the obvious route of intarsia. It got me thinking that there are more ways possible to create circular shapes with various looks and patterning in knitwear and I wanted to gather them together for a collection in such a manner that would show the correlation but have different placement, yet feel cohesive and "together". 2 garments and 3 accessories comprise this collection. I thoroughly enjoyed working the gradually decreasing in size eyelets for Flotilla Mittens and working the three-dimentional texture of Cowry Hat. Even more so developing a special stitch pattern for Effervescence Cardigan, the stitch that looks both eyelet and cables at the same time.
This creative process is slow and lengthy but all the efforts are worth it in the end. When I saw the final images, I was really stunned by the great light , composition and complimenting styling done by Quince & Co that brought the entire collection together in a beautiful narrative that I am very proud to be a part of.

I will let the images speak for themselves though, you can view an entire lookbook to enjoy pretty photography here

Compass Pullover




Cowry Hat



Effervescence Cardigan



Flotilla Mittens



Gyre Scarf



You can queue and favorite all the garments and view the collection on Ravelry here.
And please share your thoughts and impressions about Circles + Dots with other knitters in Olgajazzy designs group on Ravelry. I would love to hear some feedback and color choices for your own knits from this collection!
This collection is available as an eBook for 18.00 directly from Quince or via Ravelry and all patterns are also available individually.

And to celebrate all my fans and knitters who have been supporting me all this time me and Quince & Co are sponsoring a giveaway!

THANK YOU to everyone for your kindest compliments and comments, giveaway entries are now closed.
Please leave a comment below of what you like the most about this collection for a chance to win an entire Circles + Dots eBook (all 5 patterns) and  beautiful wool and silk blend Quince & Co "Tern" yarn in color of your choice for your own Gyre scarf!

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY KNITTING!!!

All images in this post are © Quince & Co/Carrie Hoge

:: Carl Bengtsson ::

I have discovered this amazing style of photography which I really really liked. I am not really sure how this effect is reached, it is probably a way of processing the images. But it feels very different (to me), very sharp and crisp detailed texture, which makes many colors just pop!

Carl Bengtsson is the author of these wonderful images.
I especially admired this knitwear oriented (of course!) photoshoot for Madame Figaro magazine.

:: Winter walk in Enoshima. Part 2 ::

To continue the story of our walk on Enoshima island...

Ever since starting to notice the amazing designs of manhole covers in Japan, now a mandatory photo of the manhole cover on the island. Looks like cypress trees.


Our visit coincided with winter tulip festival at the garden and it was truly great.


To view all these vibrant colors among dull colors of winter.




The Sea Candle is what they call the lighthouse atop Enoshima Island. Since the island itself it quite elevated, we could see Landmark Tower all the way in Yokohama. Which is amazing, it's almost across entire Kanagawa prefecture.


Linear texture on the observation deck is quite modern and minimalistic.
But the sun was going down and once it was gone it got quite cold.


So it was time for some jasmine tea and a french toast in a neatly located cafe by "Miami Beach Square" in the garden.


And as we were leaving the dark grew thicker around and the lights came on. I know Xmas and New year holidays are all over, but the illumination still remains to cheer up visitors.



As we were walking away from the island, the view of the lighthouse became even more spectacular. So it was great to explore the entire island through day time and enjoy its appeal during night time.