Hiya Hiya Love: They’re here….

I was pleased to note that the Hiya Hiya Sharp large set is now available. The needles in that set range from size 9 all the way to 15.

And while I mainly knit with small needles; 000 – 4. I do (occasionally) knit items with much larger needles and bulky yarn. The majority of the projects I make using large hooks/needles/bulky yarn are created for my daughter. If it wasn’t for her, I most likely wouldn’t purchase the set.

Of course, I could purchase them now but since I put limits on my wants I’ll hold off until early 2013. I guess you could say that my Knit Picks needles are a distant memory. The truth is, I haven’t touched them once I received my first Hiya Hiya needles in the mail. My Knit Picks interchangeables might work perfectly for my daughter. She has expressed an interest in knitting so this might make a great starter set for her.

I’m really impressed with the needles. Some Hiya Hiya reps have set up a few forums on Ravelry. One of the Hiya Hiya Reps, Qianer Huang, is also a designer. I must say that it’s nice to see that Hiya Hiya reps have an active presence within those groups. Last week, I posted a comment on the Hiya Hiya wish list. My question was answered within hours by someone from the company. I like good customer service.

I still plan on writing a review about the Hiya Hiyas (eventually) but I’m giving myself plenty of time to test drive them before that happens.

Once I purchase the large Hiya Hiya set, I’ll be sure to buy bulky yarn. I rarely keep a large supply of that in my stash. I’ll then pick up the size 11 circular needles and cast on the above Sylvi project. I adored this cloak the moment I set eyes upon it this spring. I mentioned it’s a cloak right? I love cloaks/shawls.

I honestly think that it has an Elvish vibe to it, don’t you? I could easily see Arwen wearing something such as the Sylvi cloak.

In Lord of the Rings many of her outfits were long/flowing and so I imagine her version would be much longer. Since I love the same type of outerwear, I’ll make mine longer and do believe I’ll change the sleeves to be wider, and perhaps have an added feminine touch… we’ll see. Naturally, I’ll hand sew a gorgeous lining into the cloak. This way, I can wear it when the weather gets cold. Of course, this means my modified version will take much longer to knit and sew. It also means that I might be frogging the parts that I modify until I get them ‘just right’ but I’m in no rush. This will be a truly enjoyable knitting journey.

In other news…

I have plenty of works in progress both crocheted and knitting. I was able to experiment with crochet colorwork thanks to Sarah’s lovely pattern test. It’s been a extremely busy weekend for my daughter with piano recitals, singing at our Lutheran church, so I’m not sure if I’ll get to post my crochet or knitted projects today… hopefully I’ll be able to do that tomorrow.