Lily Chin and the Honeymoon Sweater

Check out one of my recent accomplishments. I call it my "honeymoon sweater" and it has a great travel story behind it...

Remember I mentioned that I ran into Lily Chin on Sunday at the NYC Knit out. Sorry I didn't grab a photo as Lily was all decked out in this gorgeous lavender crocheted frock that was simply to die for. I met Lily this past summer when I enrolled in her all day design class at the Phila. Knit and Crochet show. Please understand how hesitant I was about taking her class in the first place. I had heard rumors that she was a very fast moving, no-nonsense teacher. I've always dreamed of designing my own sweaters but I am "mathematically challenged". As much as I feared taking Lily's design course I had a tremendous need to do so...

In 1999, I dragged my husband Brian to Scotland on our honeymoon. I have traveled to Scotland more times and I can count. I used to date a Glaswegian. I didn't fall in love with him but I fell madly in love with his country. Brian didn't think Scotland was an appropriate place for a honeymoon. Since we were there, Madonna and Prince Charles both spent their honeymoons there too so we feel like trendsetters even if we don't own our own castle. If I was to say that Brian and I had a fabulous time, it would certainly be an understatement. We spent 10 glorious days just driving around, exploring all the beautiful sights. As a matter of fact, when we got home Brian changed his email address to movetoscotland@hotmail.com which I think sums up both our opinions of the place very nicely.

For those of you who have never been, I think there are more sheep in Scotland than there are people. While driving thru the highlands, it's not uncommon to have to get out of your car and shoo the fuzzy beasts off the road. Now the irony in all of this is, for 10 days as we drove along, I kept a eagle eye out for a yarn shops (aka sheep shops as they are called over there). I REALLY wanted to buy some wonderful wool as a souvenir of our honeymoon. We covered a lot of territory and asked a lot of locals but sadly, there were no yarn shops. I did find out later that much of Scottish wool these days goes into carpeting and sadly not into hand-knitting fibers

Very early on the last morning of our trip, we were driving down a remote road on the Isle of Skye when I let out a scream. Brian slammed on the brakes and there it was...a sheep shop!!! I gleefully hopped out of the car but it was Sunday morning and the shop was closed. I know my fellow yarn sisters can appreciate the tremendous disappointment that I experienced at that moment. It became overwhelming as I sadly pressed my nose against the glass of this beautiful little stone cottage and saw gorgeous yarns, just beyond my reach. I stared thru the window for some time. Brian grew impatient, telling me to "give it up". Just then a man popped his head from around the back of the shop, called us over and introduced himself as Theo in a thick South American accent. He was dying wool in huge pots over an open campfire. He said if we'd sit and have a cup of tea with him while he finished, that he would gladly open the shop for us. He kept Brian entertained with colorful conversation as I watched him dye and hang all of his wool to dry on the back fence with breath taking scenery in the back ground.

As we chatted he told us how he too had visited Scotland, fell in love with the place, married a local girl and settled down. His had learned the fiber arts back home in South America and decided to use his talents to open a yarn shop because his wife loved to knit. As he brought us thru the back door, I knew I had found home. It was a tiny thatched roof shop with two spinning wheels near the hearth, filled to the rafters with all sorts of luxury yarns in the most beautiful rainbow of colors. I immediately spotted some unusual purplish wool full of "sheep curls" as Theo called it. It was so soft and felt like my mother's old Persian Lamb coat...so Theo eyeballed me up and down, grabbed several balls with curls and he swore it would be "plenty to make a jumper" (aka "sweater" as they say across the pond). The price of this wool was "dear" but it didn't matter...I now had the perfect honeymoon yarn! Theo's wife Toni appeared and insisted we stay for breakfast. We enjoyed a wonderful visit as they told us about all the hidden local sights to visit that tourists never hear about. Brian and I both hated to leaving Theo and Mary's cottage but I must say the rest of the day turned into a wonderful adventure that we will never forget. Brian and I hiked in the higlands, explored all the sights they told us about, saw seals, puffins and some of the world's most magnificent scenery.

OK...honeymoon over and back to reality. The pressure is on to turn Theo's happy, honeymoon yarn into the perfect "jumper". I knew exactly what I wanted. I had a favorite short jacket that I wore during the week with business suits and with jeans on the weekends. I wanted to find a comparable pattern that I could recreate this jacket with my honeymoon yarn. First I couldn't find a the right pattern. Second...my honeymoon yarn was a complete nightmare to knit with. It felt wonderful in your hands but it went from the size of tiny crochet thread to thick inch curls. It was impossible to gauge. So instead of stuffing it with the rest of my stash, I put my prized honeymoon yarn on a self in my walk in closet. I would look at it every morning when I got dressed and every night as I put my pj's on. Just looking at it would instantly transport me to my happy place. On bad days I would run my fingers over the curls and smile.

Fast forward to the summer of 2006. I find myself sitting in Lily's class. Yes, she is quick, very no-nonsense and I did feel rather intimidated as class began. Technically it was a crochet design class but I had hoped to glean any bit of knowledge that would help me. As the class hummed along I began to feel less intimidated. Lily taught several different methods for pattern design saying how no one method is correct but that you have to do whatever it takes to make it work. So Lily gave me the permission to be free with my problem-solving...Hmmm I'm liking this idea! Later she demostrated how to take existing garments to create new patterns. she showed us how to draw a pattern, similar to a sewing pattern but relate it to yarns. That's when it hit me...duh...that bolt from the blue...when that little light bulb appears over your head like in the cartoons...and I remember raising my hand and asking her..."So Lily, what you're saying is that we can create a coloring book with our patterns and then just "color" in between the lines with our stitches?"...and Lily yelled... "Exactly!"....EUREKA!!!! problem solved!!!!!!!!

So I ran home (ok I drove home really fast), pulled out my thread-worn favorite jacket, did what Lily said, created a pattern on old newspaper, pulled out my honeymoon yarn and began to nervously knit. Absolutely no math involved what so ever! It didn't matter a bit about the gauge...I just knit between the lines, increasing and decreasing as necessary. Low and behold it worked!!! And as a side note, when I said that I was knitting nervously I wasn't kidding. When I was finished I had precisely 8 inches of my honeymoon yarn to spare. Theo was pretty "spot on" with his estimates too.

So when I saw Lily this past Sunday I attacked her with a huge hug and a big kiss on the cheek and I yelled "LILY CHIN YOU"RE A GENIUS!!!!"(I think I scared the poor woman at first!). I told her the edited version of this story. She was disappointed that I didn't bring a photo to show her. I finished my sweater just as Brian and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this year. I can't wait for the weather to turn cold so that I can wear my honeymoon sweater. It weighs a ton and it is SO warm which is great cause I'm always freezing. It's so cuddly and every time I slip it on I feel like I'm wrapping myself in all my wonderful memories that I created with Brian in Scotland. I'm hoping to find the perfect button/clasp when I'm over in UK as nothing I've found yet here in the states seems fitting.

So Thanks Lily...for helping to make my honeymoon sweater come to life!
...and I can't wait till your new book comes out so that make that gorgeous sweater tunic set!
Also just want to let everyone know that I hope to plan a trip back to Scotland to visit Theo & Toni for the Summer 2007!