Friday, October 31, 2003

An earlier-than-usual post catches me without my make-up:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sarah

Thursday(ish), October 30(ish), 2003

At Rob's request, a belated Thursday post:

I taught Session 1 of Introduction to Entrelac at Woven Art in East Lansing this morning, Session 1 of Beginning Knitting in Charlotte this afternoon, and Session 1 of Beginning Finishing in Haslett this evening.  I'm whipped (but happy!).

Friday will be spent in my comfy chair with a big pot of tea by my side, a warm dog by my feet, and a purring cat in my lap, finishing up some projects so I can justify having started about half a dozen new ones in the last couple of days.

Later.

Sarah

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

I promised myself I wouldn't start any new projects until I finished something from my "What I'm currently working on" list over there on the right.  Since I haven't finished anything from that list, I couldn't possibly have started anything new.

Like the first twelve inches of a 3xChic pullover from the Fall 2002 issue of Knitty, using the Cascade Tweed 128 I won at ThreadBear this weekend:

Or the first two thirds of the Ruffled Scarf from Jenanne's free patterns, using Dazzle:

Or the "Just a Little Fizz" scarf from the same Knitty issue as 3xChic, using Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool Quarters in Wild Iris, which couldn't possibly be blocking on the ironing board in my laundry room right now:

And certainly not a swatch for the sweater at the bottom right of the photos on the Mango Moon kit:

No, I wouldn't have started any of those.  That would be cheating.

Sarah

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

But what about the yarn?  Did I stick to my no-yarn-buying pledge? 

Well, quite honestly, I wondered how I was going to handle that whole pledge thing.  Winning two door prizes was very helpful:

On the right is Son Number Two's sock kit -- two balls of Cascade Fixation in color 9843 (blues and purples) and the Tootsie's Footsie's pattern from Cascade Yarns.  On the left is a pile of ten periwinkle skeins of Cascade 128 Tweed and a Ridgeway-LITE pattern from Cabin Fever.  You may notice a purple theme throughout tonight's entry.

Since I went kind of overboard with photos yesterday, I staged a group photo shoot of my non-prize haul:

Starting with the upper left hand corner and moving around the outside in a clockwise direction: 

There were three lonely skeins of red Cascade Indulgence remaining on Monday morning.  Of course they had to come home with me to reunite with their three siblings who stowed away in my luggage last August.  They're not purple, but they are red.

A skein of Noro Silk Garden in color 74 (green/blue/silver/purple) and a skein of Araucania in, well, purple.  These will be swatched to see which one wants to become an Entrelac jacket for my Entrelac Sweater Design class starting after the holidays.

Felted Knits by Bev Galeskas.  I just HAD to get this book from Rob, the King of Felting.  A purple bag, pillow and slippers are pictured on the cover.

A free pattern from jenanne.com for what Rob calls a "sausage" scarf, along with two balls of Dazzle for two different sausage scarves.  Colors 5091 (metals) and 93 (blue/purple).

A Classic Elite pattern called "The Motor Route to Brighton".  Brighton, Michigan?  Doubtful.  Gorgeous pullover, gorgeous jacket, interesting felted jacket (and you KNOW how I LOVE felting!).  The pullover is pictured in purple.

On the inside left is a Mango Moon recycled silk kit.  I took it out of the plastic zippered bag so there wouldn't be a glare.  There are five hanks of the recycled silk and two balls of the periwinkle laceweight mohair.  I wound one of the VERY soft hanks of silk by hand, and knit a small swatch with the mohair and silk held together.  It's GORGEOUS.  When it grows up it will be a ribbed jacket -- I'll post a photo of the pattern soon.  This is unexpectedly my favorite acquisition from the weekend. 

On the inside right are two skeins of Meilenweit Cotton Fun sock yarn from the sale basket.  Purple, natch.

Oh, and I had already knit up the skein of Mountain Colors in Wild Iris (blues, purples and magenta) during my car trip back from Indiana: 

After blocking, I'll add a crocheted edging with the ball of Fizz from Crystal Palace Yarns, in the same colors.  This is the "Just a Little Fizz" scarf from the Fall 2002 issue of Knitty.  It's a gift for my neighbor, who watched my furry critters while we were gone this weekend.  I had hoped to give it to her immediately upon our return, but since blocking was in order, that plan fell through. 

So it sounds like my no-yarn-buying pledge was blown sky high, doesn't it? 

EEEEEENNNNNHHHHHH!  (that's supposed to be that loud, annoying buzzer sound you hear when the game show contestant gets the answer wrong)

Remember these?

They now belong to ThreadBear (Get yours while they last!).  The barter system ROCKS!

Oh, and big news (for me, anyway):  Rob and Matt have asked me to  teach a Beginning Finishing workshop at ThreadBear on Saturday, November 15.  Come one, come all!  Details will follow as they are ironed out.  What we know so far is that it will be a six hour workshop, and materials and lunch will be included.  Class project and price will be announced shortly.

Tamsyn was at the Tuesday night knit-in tonight, and had this to show off:

Her second Entrelac bag, felted and in use!  Hooray, Tamsyn!

And hello to the Czech Republic, Croatia (Hrvatska) and Hong Kong, who appeared on my stats page over the last few days!  And Hrvatska means . . . ?

Sarah

Monday, October 27, 2003

Took a little road trip this weekend.  We left our house an hour later than I had wanted to, then noticed one of the tires was low.  Spent another hour at a service center having it looked at (it was fine).  Finally got on the road around 10:30 Saturday morning.  After a five hour knit drive, we ended up here:

This is misleading, because I actually took these two pictures early Sunday morning.  When we arrived on Saturday, there were cars parked EVERYWHERE.

Rob met me on the porch with a huge hug.  I had to shove him aside to get in to see the house.  Last time I saw it, in mid August, it looked . . . well . . . pretty awful.  Worse than that, actually.  Now . . . well . . . holy cow!  I walked around for a few minutes with my mouth hanging open, in utter amazement.  The change is unbelievable.  I won't even try to describe it in words -- the photos will show you.  I lied -- I do have one word for what I experienced:  Paradise.

Inside I found Chris knitting happily away on a big comfy couch.  She had driven up to Columbus from Evansville, along with her friend Betsy (whom I had met at Stitches Midwest this year -- small world!) and their daughters.  Chris and I had been trying to meet up for a while now, and our paths finally crossed, briefly.  We didn't have much time to talk before she had to be on her way, unfortunately.  She was able to witness our amazing door prize coup -- within fifteen minutes of arriving, Son Number Two's number was drawn, and he won a sock kit, which I'm storing for him in my knitting bag (aren't I a good mother?).  I got to see Chris's beautiful Market Bag with the leather handles, and was honored with a viewing of the loving stitches she had used to heal a tear in her daughter's stuffed bear, whose name I can't remember (it wasn't Bear Bear -- that was an earlier version).  Obviously, Chris is a great knitter, and without a doubt, she's a great mom!

Here we are:

Our goofy photographer must have looked through the wrong end of the binoculars camera and ended up with a long distance shot of us, but I was able to zoom and crop a bit.  Not enough, though -- what's up with my pants?  Behind us is the tower of mohair (Rumba and La Gran).  On the left is Cascade 128 Tweed in bags, and further left (out of sight) is a bunch of cool frou-frou (fancy) yarn.  Some of the yarn you see in this photo is now in my possession (yarn pics tomorrow). 

The shop was PACKED all day, but after hours I was able to get a photo of the first room on the left as you leave the front room and walk toward the back of the house.  Indulgence on the left, some Cascade 109LE and the very cool Araucania at the back, and the sacred wall of Noro peeking out on the right.  Out of sight on the left was Classic Elite, Sirdar, and something else that I can't remember.  Some of the yarn you see in this photo is now in my possession.

I have to take a moment to mention how wonderful my family was.  They dropped me off at ThreadBear at about 2:30 Saturday afternoon, entertained themselves at the hotel (the Holidome on Jonathon Moore Pike -- two swimming pools, a whirlpool, pool and ping pong tables, two video arcades, and a putting green -- all right outside our room), and then picked me up for a late supper and a little knitting before bed.

I arrived back at ThreadBear early Sunday morning, where I got to work straightening shelves, chopping vegetables and mopping the floor (how the hell did THAT happen?).  While I was in the middle of chopping two bushels of green onions, with tears streaming down my face, in walked Teresa, whom I had met VERY briefly at Stitches Midwest, along with Denise of Locqueen Knits 2, looking fabulous in head to toe camo.  We were able to visit for quite a long time.  Denise is joining the TKGA Master Level 1 knit-along, and we talked about Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp (I went on and on about it, as I tend to do).  Teresa brought a piece of her Old Shale Coat, as I had requested.  It's beautiful, and I can't wait to start mine.  What fun!

Here we are in a corner of the front room:

Behind us is Cascade Pastaza and more frou-frou yarn.  Out of sight on the left is every color of Cascade 220 in existence, along with Cascade Sierra.  In front of us is the Black Water Abbey trunk show and yarns, which I managed to miss photographing completely (doh!).  Some of the yarn you almost see in this photo is now in my possession.

Here's proud co-owner Matt in a very handsome hand knit vest (Mountain Colors?), at his station behind the computer.  Behind him is the front door, and to my right (as I'm taking the photo, not as I'm sitting here blogging) is the big front window (see the photos at the beginning of this very long entry).

Also to my right is another comfy sofa, as demonstrated by Tate and a line up of Philosopher's Wool items (and someone's knitting and purchases!). 

Connor had taken up residence in the library.  This is the second room on the left, after the Noro room.  I managed to photograph the library without including the book shelves lining the wall on the left.  Trust me, they're there.  That's Margaret knitting away in yet another comfy spot, and a beautiful shawl keeping the television cozy.  Some of the books you can't see in this room are now in my possession.

On the opposite side of the house from the Noro room and the library is an open, central area -- on the right as you walk through the house.

I've shown you that yarn before (there's the frou-frou yarn, along with some Debbie Bliss), but here's a view of the whole room.  There's more yarn on shelves behind the checkered sweater -- Jamieson wool, some spinning fiber, and, um, I forgot (you can't expect me to remember ALL the yarn!), with more Philosopher's Wool models strewn about.  Eva (whom you'll meet in a minute) and an unidentified knitter are on the biggest couch I've ever seen, and Teresa is in the best chair in the house.  Oh, and that's Rob's arm on the right -- he's asked that I only photograph him in pieces.

I'm now standing beside the table in the previous photo, and facing the other way, toward the back of the house (see the beautiful Kilim jacket in the center as a reference point). 

Kathy (?) is now in the best chair in the house, and we see Low Helen and another unidentified knitter yucking it up with Matt next to the Koigu altar (please pause for a moment of silence . . .).  In the back right corner (out of sight) is Kersti and lord only knows what else.  On the right side of that room is some Cascade 128 (I think) and a little bit of Canada's finest -- the Philosopher's Wool section.  Out of sight to the left, just before this room, is the stairway that leads to what will become Matt's and Rob's private living quarters.  In the back left corner is the doorway that leads to the bathroom, the kitchen, and the tiny back room where Matt and Rob currently sleep.  Amazingly enough, none of the yarn in this room came home with me, but only because about sixteen skeins of the Koigu already came home with me when I visited in August.

There were more door prizes, and my number was drawn (sorry, Chris!) -- a sweater kit, this time.  I'll show it to you tomorrow.

I also spent a lot of time getting to know Eva, who lives close by (no fair!) and spent most of the weekend knitting up one skein wonders -- the Madeleine bag on Saturday, a Black Water Abbey hat on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and the beginnings of a JConklin Designs scarf intermittently throughout the weekend.

Here we are in the front entranceway (the door is to our left, your right):

Behind us is baby wool (see that, Sweatermom-to-be?), more Cascade (that stuff is EVERYWHERE), the scrumptious Elsabeth Lavold silk/wool yarn, and the Mango Moon sweater kits.  Some of the yarn you see in this photo is now in my possession.

Here's another shot, so you can see more of Eva's ultra-cool ThreadBear satchel (you can get yours here), and a bit more of Rob.

And one last shot of a very happy me alongside some very successful businessmen whom I am honored to count among my very best friends.  I wish nothing but the best for you guys! 

Behind us is a bit of Noro and the Mandala shawl from Philosopher's Wool (Matt's favorite of all the P Wool samples, I think).  Some of the Noro on the wall in this room is now in my possession.

I have somehow neglected to include photographs of the opposing towers of sock yarn just behind the front room, including the gorgeous hanks of Mountain Colors.  Some of the yarn that I neglected to photograph is now in my possession.

One more mention of my wonderful family:  After dropping me off again on Sunday morning, they hit the outlet mall and a movie, then popped in to check on me in the afternoon before heading back to the hotel for more swimming.  They ordered a pizza and watched a football game in the evening, while I went out for a very silly meal with Matt, Rob and Low Helen (thank goodness the restaurant was deserted, and I'm SO glad there's no audiotape or videotape of the evening's festivities -- let's just say that after a long, non-stop busy weekend, we were all very giddy -- BURP!).  Afterward, I was dumped unceremoniously back at the hotel, where I actually interacted with my neglected family during half time of the football game before turning in for the evening. 

This morning (Monday), Matt picked me up for a few more hours of friendship before I had to head back to Haslett.  Monday's action was MUCH more relaxed than the weekend's had been, but there was still a steady stream of visitors to the shop.  I wrapped up my new possessions, along with some yarn orders for my friends back home (Tracy!  Luann!  Kathy!  Terri!  I've got your yarn!) and some sweaters that had been on loan (Karin!  Colleen!  I've got your sweaters!), and when my family came to get me after packing up our suitcases and checking out of the hotel (did I mention how wonderful they were this weekend?), I was ready to go.  My visit ended as it had started, with a giant hug from Rob, and plans for a return visit in the near future.

Like I said . . . paradise.

More tomorrow.

Sarah

Friday, October 24, 2003

Deadline has been met, THANK GOODNESS!  I have a few loose ends to tie up around the house, and then we're off to ThreadBear tomorow morning for a MUCH needed getaway.  I'm looking forward to seeing the guys again, of course, and to meeting Chris (on Saturday) and spending time with Teresa (on Sunday).  I wonder who else is going to be there?  We're coming back home on Monday, so I'll fill you in then.

Remember when I mentioned I'd been getting a lot of exciting e-mail?

KnitNet's editor e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago to ask if the magazine could link to my blog.  I said "Sure!"  I've gotten a gazillion hits from their site, so that worked out great.  Hi there, KnitNet readers!

She then e-mailed to ask if I would contribute an article for an upcoming issue, which I agreed to do.  That was the deadline I had to meet.  It took a couple of tries, but my work was accepted this morning, and I'm SO EXCITED!  I'm going to have some writing published, which is something I never would have pursued on my own.  Oh, except for this blog thing, but that's different.  Isn't it?

As a direct result of the KnitNet blog link, I received an e-mail from Linda Largent, owner of the Little Red Schoolhouse Yarn Shop in Lansing.  Many years ago, I had visited her booth in the Little Red Schoolhouse Craft and Antique Mall when she was just selling hand knit items.  I hadn't realized that she has a full-fledged yarn store now.  Boy, have I been missing out!  She has a beautiful space with some great yarns and supplies, and wonderful pattern support.  Linda was interested in talking to me about teaching some beginning knitting classes.  I stopped by on my way home from teaching a fun class at The Yarn Garden in Charlotte (Hi Theresa!  Hi Lony!  Hi Kim!), we had a lovely chat, and, to make a long story short (too late?), I'll be teaching Beginning Knitting and Beginning Finishing for her starting in January!  That brings my grand total up to FOUR teaching locations!  My plot to take over the world is progressing very nicely, don't you think?

I've had more than my share of excitement today. 

I gave my boys extra kisses this evening, and when they asked what that was all about, I said "Mom's happy!".  Son Number One said, "Why can't you be happy all the time?"

Good question.  I'll work on that.

Sarah

Later Thursday, October 23, 2003

I've got photos!  I'll post these as quick as I can, then I have to watch ER, and then I have to get to work . . .

Tonight was the last session of my Introduction to Entrelac class.  My students had been very enthusiastic after Session 3, and had asked me to e-mail the Session 4 notes to them early, which I did.  So I wasn't too surprised when Beth and her mom Deenie showed up with these:

They had each made two, and all four were already felted!  Aren't the colors gorgeous?  I can't remember all the yarns they used, but I heard mention of Lopi, Cascade 220, and Donegal Tweed (Tahki, maybe?).  Oh, and I wonder if some were Lamb's Pride, because there was a discussion about the guy in Whitmore Lake (Forma) who has every color of Lamb's Pride in stock.

Tamsyn was ready to felt as soon as she walked in the door.  We had to take the traditional piano bench photo first:

I spent some quality time in the laundry room this afternoon, in the hopes that I would be using it for entertaining Entrelac felters, so down we marched.  A couple of short washer cycles later (Galway felts quickly):

Voila!  Tamsyn was very pleased with her first felting experience.

Next came Joan:

She won the non-existent prize for the largest pre-felted bag.  It was too big for a piano bench cozy.  Maybe a piano cozy? 

Or was it a shawl?

Joan's Lopi yarn took a little longer to felt, and the water turned bright red, but the colors didn't run together (thank goodness!).

Kay's passed the piano bench test . . .

. . . but didn't make it to the washing machine tonight.

Not quite ready for the piano bench:

Sweatergirl's Naturespun from her stash:

Tamsyn's second bag:

Eileen's, um . . . rats!  They've only been gone an hour, and I already forgot what all the yarns were!

Sharon's . . .

So, my memory is shot and I can't remember what kinds of yarn everyone used, but thank goodness I took photos, so I can remember the beautiful color combinations.  I often forget to take my camera to class, so I usually miss the opportunity to capture the colors and textures.  When I teach at home, my camera is already there!

Hey Rob, did you ever think I'd be teaching felting?  Successfully? 

Sarah

Thursday, October 23, 2003

I knew there was a reason why I had a rule about never accepting any work involving a deadline.

I'll post when I can . . .

Sarah

Monday, October 20, 2003

Okay, fine.  Be that way.

I've heard that one only asks advice when one already knows what the answer is going to be.

Y'all (or y'ins guys, as they say where I grew up -- right, Anne?) know me too well.  I'll be re-doing the sleeve of Snowfall.  But not until Wednesday, because that's Knitting for Hire day, or whatever the hell I declared it to be.

I spent a good part of today answering e-mails and updating my work website.  Someday soon I hope to tell you about all the exciting e-mail I've been getting.  A lot of great opportunities are popping up in my in-box!

Since today, being Monday, is my self-imposed Class notes/projects day, I printed off reams of class notes, knit two 54 inch lengths of sloppy i-cord (to be felted into handles for my Entrelac bag), and worked on my latest Toe Up sock at this week's parent/teacher meeting.

Good girl!

Oh, and I went grocery shopping -- a rare occurrence these days (what's for dinner, Mom?  Oh, I don't know -- what can we make out of this can of garbanzo beans and that crystallized vanilla ice cream?).

Mexico and India have burst onto my stats page in the last few days.  Hello!

Good-bye!

Sarah

Sunday, October 19, 2003

Good news and bad news: 

Good news:  I received my updated TKGA Master Hand Knit Level 1 instructions.  Yay!

Bad news:  The revision date at the bottom is 10/2003.  Boo!  I know the latest revision date anyone else had was 5/2003.  I'll try to find out what the difference is and let the TKGA knit-alongers know.

Better news:

One down, one to go!

The motifs aren't lining up where the sleeve attaches to the body.  I didn't expect them to, because I didn't attach the same number of sleeve stitches to the same number of body rows, but I'm going to have to decide whether or not I want to correct this.  It wouldn't involve too much fuss -- just reworking about 20 sleeve rows and the i-cord bind off.  I'll work on the second sleeve while I decide. 

Any opinions?

Sarah

Friday, October 17, 2003

Progress on Snowfall's sleeves:

Each sleeve will be four and a half repeats long (above the corrugated rib).

I added a two stitch "seam" to interrupt the jog where the increases disrupt the pattern:

I wish I had done the same on the body, but it's a wee bit too late now. 

It took some finagling, but the ThreadBear Open House weekend is officially a "go" for me and my family.  We'll have to shuffle between towns in order to make it work -- we'll be staying in Greenwood on Saturday night, and in Columbus on Sunday night.  Who knew that the Open House would fill every hotel room in the area? 

When will your guest suite be available at the house, guys?

Sarah

Thursday, October 16, 2003

First things first:

Sweatergirl, I hereby release you from the No Yarn Buying Pact entered into on Tuesday, August 26, 2003, at approximately 9:00 p.m. 

Is everybody happy now?

Suzanne asked a great question today:

"You probably discussed this elsewhere on your blog, so please forgive me for asking again, but which other designs have you knitted from The Knit Stitch?"

I'm looking at the project index from the back of The Knit Stitch.  Here's what I've made:

• Baby Albert Bunting/Baby Albert Coat -- I made the coat and put the bunting's hood on it, so I'm counting both of these
• Einstein Coat -- only a swatch so far, but will be started very soon
• Have Fun! Scarf -- will definitely make more of these -- a great way to use up some stash yarn
• Knit-down, Made-to-measure Jumper -- love this sweater!
• Minimum Scarf -- made out of Touch Me . . . mmmmm, scrumptious!
• Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater -- I changed most of it, but it's still recognizable
• Shape It! Scarf -- can I ever have too many scarves?  Not when they're made out of luscious yarns!
• Your Basic Bag -- nearing completion

And here's what I haven't made:

• Asymmetrical Vest -- sorry, I must be left-brained, but I just don't like it
• Best-friend Jacket -- ditto.  Yes, I could make these symmetrical instead, but I don't want to
• Caddy's Sweater -- I liked Sally's Favorite best of the sheer sweaters
• Classic Male Cardigan -- love the look, but made the pullover instead.  I'm sure I'll make this someday, though.
• Jen's Poncho -- I don't think I'm a poncho kind of gal
• Joel's Scarf -- all I can see are lots of ends to weave in (run away!)
• Knit-flat Hat and Mitts -- maybe someday -- not yet
• Knit-round Scarf -- looks like a poncho to me, and I don't show my knees to anyone
• Legwarmers:  Maximum & Minimum -- probably not
• Lots-of-choices Top -- I love this stitch pattern -- maybe next summer
• Maximum Scarf -- the Minimum Scarf made me very happy
• Mostly Knit-round Hat -- not for me, but maybe for someone else
• Not-so-warm Coat -- I prefer a So-warm Coat (Einstein!)
• Three-scarf Ruana -- if I make a ruana, it will be the one from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls instead
• Where's the Opaque? Sweater -- see Caddy's Sweater

Well, that was an interesting exercise.  I feel like I've been knitting my way through the whole book, but I've barely made it through a third of the patterns.  That's still got to be a record (for me) for the most patterns knit from one source. 

I've got a bunch of patterns picked out of The Purl Stitch, too.  I haven't decided what to make first.

I did some calculations for Snowfall's sleeves today, and got one cuff done:

I think I'll set this aside and make the second cuff next, so I can be sure that they're exactly the same.

I surprised myself by buying the Holiday 2003 issue of Vogue Knitting this week.  I let my subscription expire a number of years ago, and hadn't regretted it yet.  I've been thinking of letting my Knitters subscription die out, too, but I liked the latest issue -- I'm a sucker for texture.

I've been thinking about making a fancy-schmancy Rambling Rows afghan out of my stash.  The color I have the most of is RED, but most of it is tied up in my Red Stash Sweater.  Hmmm.  Should I give up on the Red Stash Sweater and make a Red Stash Rambling Rows afghan? 

Keiko just HAD to go outside this afternoon, and you know what she did?

She took a nap in the sun.  Good puppy!

Sarah

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Morgan is joining the TKGA knit-along!  Who else wants to join?

I couldn't work on my Entrelac bag today, for obvious reasons:

I needed something brainless for watching baseball tonight, so I worked on Your Basic Bag, which had been languishing in the bottom of a basket by my knitting chair.  It's still brown (a bad thing), but it's getting closer to being done (a good thing):

What you're looking at there is the strap, the front, and part of the back.  The strap isn't long enough (I thought I was smarter than the measuring tape, but I was wrong), but since it's already as stiff as a board I've decided I don't have to double the handle, so that will give me some more length.

And I swatched for the Einstein Coat, which will be the last thing I knit out of Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch before I move on to The Purl Stitch.  I love the blocky style of this design, and can't wait to wear it this fall/winter/spring/whenever-I-get-it-done.

Have you been to see Sweatergirl lately?  Bump alert!  Congratulations, Sweatergirl!

Sarah

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Son Number Two didn't want to get out of bed this morning, so I said "Come see what's outside Mommy's window."

And he did (please pardon the screens):

He took a quick shower while I threw a frozen waffle in the toaster oven, and then he had breakfast in my bed while we watched some more:

Followed by the tooth brushing and shoe tying ceremonies, and then we watched some more:

And then it was time to go to school.  We never did see the sun.  It started raining less than an hour later, and hasn't let up since.

I had lunch with my pal Terri today, who I hadn't seen in quite a while. 

After a lovely lunch at the Thai Kitchen, we ran over to Tuesday Morning for some fun.  Terri kept picking things up and saying "Tell me why I shouldn't buy this."  So I would, and she'd put them back down.  What a hoot!  Suddenly we both came to a complete stop, staring at one of the shelves.  There, in amongst the lead crystal candlesticks, the broken garden ornaments and the cheesy Christmas decorations, were two bags of Lion Brand Homespun in a vibrant blue/green mix, and multitudinous bags of white Lion Brand Wool Ease.  We each grabbed a bag of the Homespun -- marked down to $6.99 a bag, each bag holding three skeins.  Conversation was limited after that -- we had found Yarn in an Unexpected Place.  On Sale.  This was Serious Business. 

About three aisles later, I came to my senses and said "Wait -- I'm not supposed to be buying any more yarn." 

Terri said "I'll buy it if you don't want it." 

And she did.

This evening I was a good mom and went to the parent/teacher meeting at the elementary school.  I was late, and it was pouring down rain, and I ran into the building with my knitting tucked under my coat.  I tried to sneak into the meeting room quietly, but everyone stopped talking and started laughing at me.  Apparently, I had dropped the sock I was knitting, and was dragging it behind me (doesn't everybody take their knitting for a walk?).  It'll be fine, but it's rather bedraggled and will have to be washed.  Drawing attention to knitting is a good thing, but I could have chosen a better way to do it.

Hello to Lithuania, which was added to my stats page today!

Tomorrow is my busy teaching day, with classes in the morning, afternoon and evening.  I'm ready!

Sarah

Monday, October 13, 2003

I told you there had been some major progress in my knitting life, and here's proof:

The toe up socks knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport:

These turned out great and feel really good.

The toe up socks made with Stars and Stripes from Wee Woolies by Jolen:

Yeah, I told you I'd scrapped these, but I wanted to keep practicing my nifty heel.  I'm not impressed with the dye job on this yarn, but the color inconsistencies don't affect its ability to become socks.

Here's Snowfall, with the steeks crocheted and cut (except the armholes) and all the borders on:

Just needs sleeves and buttons now!  Speaking of buttons, I was having trouble making a buttonhole in the corrugated rib that didn't look sloppy.  I referred to my collection of knitting books, but die hard Fair Islers Alice Starmore, Ann Feitelson, Meg Swansen and Joyce Williams all failed me, so I had to come up with something on my own:

What do you think?  There are two buttonholes in this photo.  The top one is in a grey purl column and the bottom one is in a blue knit column.  Not bad, eh? 

It went something like this:  For the buttonhole that occurred in the grey purl column, I worked up to one stitch before the buttonhole (on a right side row), worked an SSK with the last blue stitch and the first grey stitch, did a double yarn over with both strands of yarn, then worked a k2tog with the last grey stitch and the first blue stitch of the next column.  When I came back on the next row, I knit and purled into the double yarn over, and went merrily on my way.  For the buttonhole in the blue knit column, I did the same thing but with SSP and p2tog.  At least I THINK that's what I did.  Now that I've written it down here, I'll be able to do it again.

I haven't shown you this for a while:

That's the smaller version of the bag for my Introduction to Entrelac class.  Almost done!

And finally, here's my Cardigan with Crocheted Ridges:

No, it's still not done, but it looks like it is.  The buttons aren't sewn on yet.  I made them out of plastic rings and some elementary crochet (the only kind I know) -- it's just like your crocheted cast on, Knitdad!.  The sweater borders (body, collar and cuffs) still need to be crocheted, but I'm stuck until I get my extra ball of yarn on Friday.

Jenne has joined the TKGA Level 1 knit-along!  She says she's had her materials for a while, but now she doesn't feel as scared.  See?  The moral support is working already!

Sarah

Sunday, October 12, 2003

I've hardly been home all weekend!

I don't remember Friday at all, but I'm sure I was busy.

I wasn't smart enough to take my camera to the Second Saturday Knitters' Night Out at Yarn for Ewe, but I did go, and it was fun, as always.  The cream puffs were nummy, and the company was delightful.

I did, however, take my camera to the Second Sunday Knit-in at Woven Art, where I was giving a presentation on Continental Knitting.  Here are some photos of the crowd at one point.  Let's see if I can remember everyone's name (spelling may not be accurate):

From left to right, there's Sonya (from behind), Diane, Ola, Jacquie, Karen, and a bit of Jane's hair.

Jessica, Christina, Jen, Marilyn, Alex's arm, and a bit more of Jane's hair.

The back of Jen and Marilyn, the top of Alex's head, Judy, Jane, Christina's back, and Jessica.

Can you see the beautiful quilted pieces hanging on all the walls?  Jessica Henderson (in photos # 2 and #3 above) is a very talented fiber artist, and those are her work.  Here are some better pictures:

The white spaces you see are openings in the fabric.

Here's my favorite one (purple!):

And some three-dimensional pieces on the mantel (along with a lovely pillow designed by Yours Truly!):

I failed to capture the intricate quilting that is done on each piece.  They're really stunning.

Switzerland, Tonga, the Russian Federation, and Estonia joined my stats page over the weekend.  Yowza!

Tomorrow I'll bring you up-to-date on my knitting progress.  There have been some significant developments. 

Stay tuned . . .

Sarah

Thursday, October 9, 2003

I got an e-mail from June P. (a TKGA Master Level 1 knit-along-er) today.  She reminded me that we need to make sure we have the most recent version of the TKGA Level 1 information.  The revision number at the bottom of the pages should say "May 2003".  Mine is a year older than that, so I guess I need to contact TKGA and have them send me the updated version.  From what I've been hearing, they send the packets out quickly, and the updated versions are free if you've already purchased the Level 1 program.

I had a comment recently from Barbara Sylvia, which reminded me of a conversation I had with Son Number One about a month ago.  He was doing his math homework, and asked me if I knew who Fibonacci was.  I got all excited, because I had just read quite a bit about him.  I explained what I knew about the Fibonacci sequence, which starts with the numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . . each number is the sum of the two numbers before it.  I told him that the sequence occurs in nature, in flower petals and seashell whorls, for example.  I often explain to him how I use math in my knitting, so I told him that Cast On magazine had an article about using variations of the Fibonacci sequence to design striped sweaters, and ran off to find the magazine so I could show him the article and the photographs of the striping sequences.  When I was finished, he said "No, Mom, that's not it.  He was Leonardo of Pisa, and he introduced the Arabic number system to Europe, which replaced Roman numerals."  My smile froze and I grabbed his math book out of his hands and scanned through the chapter he had been reading.  There was NO mention of the Fibonacci sequence at all.  My son was less than impressed with my impromptu math rant, and rolled his eyes when I suggested he should tell his teacher what he had learned about the REST of the Fibonacci story.  That's what he gets for having a math geek for a mom.

In my Toe Up Socks class at Woven Art this morning, I started a pair of socks for the owner, Nancy, using some of her hand dyed yarn.  I haven't seen the label for it, but it seems to be a very nice, springy wool.  She was interested in seeing how the colors would knit up.  Here's a progress picture:

And a close-up:

I'm thinking that it looks kind of like reflections of autumn leaves in a shallow stream on a bright sunshiny day.  Or it could be rusty blips on a blue and white splotchy background.  I like the first description better, though.

Portugal and Norway showed up on my stats page today.  Hi!

Son Number One took a copy of the SAT (Scholastic Aptitute Test) practice test questions to bed with him last night, for a little light reading.

Son Number Two aced his little math test today.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

Sarah

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

I taught Beginning Knitting at 9:00 this morning, Basic Socks at noon, paused for a few minutes to enjoy this glorious, sunshiny autumn day:

and taught Seamless Sweater Design at 6:30 this evening.

I teach Toe Up Socks at 9:00 tomorrow morning, and then I'm done until Sunday, when I'm scheduled to demonstrate Continental Knitting at Woven Art's Second Sunday Knit-in.

I have to go to sleep now.

Sarah

Tuesday, October 7, 2003

Hello to Belgium, Israel, Germany, Singapore, and Italy!  Y'all showed up in my stats during the last two days.  Cool. 

I got caught up on my Entrelac bag today, wrote up the notes for the last class session and e-mailed them to my Introduction to Entrelac students.

I played around with the heel of my toe up socks enough to figure out that I liked my original design best, and then I figured out a way to word my notes better to (hopefully) make them more understandable.  Still haven't re-written them yet, but as soon as I do I'll e-mail them to my Toe Up Socks students.

Then I made a huge pot of chili, a loaf of bread, some tabouli, a tossed salad and some peppermint iced tea in anticipation of the Tuesday night knit-in, while simultaneously housecleaning and doing spelling and math homework with Son Number Two.

Oh, and I got a haircut (all of them, actually!).

And after the knit-in, I printed out class notes for the three (THREE!) classes I'll be teaching tomorrow.

Excuse me while I take a little nap.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

Thanks for your input regarding what my new project should be. 

It's not time to start Charlotte's Web #2 yet.  It's scheduled for after Christmas.

Anjuli isn't in my near future.  It may not be in my future at all.  I sewed together an Anjuli for a customer, and there were a MILLION ends to weave in.  I wonder if garter stitch can be steeked?  Sure, why not?

I'd like to start Krystyna, but I'm having yarn issues.  I swatched for it last year but didn't like the feel of the fabric.  I've worked with Euroflax linen before, and I know that it gets softer and more lovely with each (machine!) washing.  I took the advice of a local knitting friend and washed the yarn a few times already, but my gut tells me it's not quite time to start this project.  Gotta go with the gut.

That narrows it down to the Red Stash Sweater and the Landscape Shawl.

I haven't introduced you to the Red Stash Sweater yet.  Here she is, what there is of her so far:

And a close-up of the different yarns and textures:

A year or so ago, I got the urge to use all of my beautiful red yarns in a striped, textured sweater.  Both the color changes and textures were going to be done randomly.  I quickly learned a very important lesson about myself -- I am completely unable to make a randomly colored and textured sweater.  I'm too, um, a.r. (that's short for being a perfectionist).  So instead, I scientifically mapped out a very precise arrangement of both color and stitch patterns, and happily knitted away, until I had to make a decision.  Do I do any underarm shaping, or do I realize that horizontal stripes are unflattering and turn this puppy on it's side?  Go ahead, turn your head sideways and look at the top photo again.  Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

And so it has been marinating for over a year. 

This was supposed to be a stash reduction project, but I ended up buying quite a bit of new yarn (and I LIKED it!). 

I think it's ALMOST time to work on it again, but not quite.

Which leaves the Landscape Shawl.  I had two yarn possibilities (from my stash!) for this:

The color will be black, obviously.  On the left is some alpaca in natural black that I got at a booth (The Yarn Barn?  The Village Spinning and Weaving Shop?) at one of the knitting conferences I went to years ago (Stitches?  TKGA?).  On the right is some Jaeger Extra Fine Merino left over from a sweater I made a couple of years ago.  Which to use?  The Jaeger has two strikes against it -- it pills (as nice merino is prone to do) and, more importantly, I don't have enough of it.  So it looks like I'll finally get to use that pretty alpaca.

I should probably pull out my McMorran yarn balance and make sure I have enough before I get started.

I'll do that tomorrow. 

Nighty-night!

Sarah

Monday, October 6, 2003

Teresa C. has joined the TKGA knit-along.  Hooray!  The more the merrier, I say.

Since today was Monday (and still is, for an hour or two), I was supposed to be working on class projects and notes (by official handknitter decree, dated 09/22/03).  So I did. 

I'm four rectangles away from being caught up on my Entrelac bag.  Still need to write the notes for the next session.  Even though it's not scheduled for another two and a half weeks, my students are clamoring for the notes so they can finish up their bags ahead of schedule.  Now THAT'S enthusiasm!  Apparently I didn't need to schedule quite so much knitting time between the last two sessions, eh?   

I completed the toe for my fourth toe-up sock, and worked on the heel of my third.  I'm not sure how to simplify the heel yet.  I tried something different today, which was all right but not as good as the original.  I've got two more things I can try tomorrow.  I'm not sure if it was the technique that was so difficult, or the way I explained it in my notes.  And then there's the fact that, even though I recommend light colored worsted weight yarn for the class project, I can't stop people from buying the multi-colored striped sock weight yarns, which makes the stitches quite a bit harder to see and manipulate.  Sigh.  I'll figure it out. 

I worked on my Cardigan with Crocheted Ridges today, sewing on the collar and the sleeves.  I have to work the last crochet ridges on the sleeves before I sew the sleeve and side seams up.  At that point, I will have run out of yarn, and I still need to crochet the edging and the buttons, so I've begged a knitting friend to pick up an extra skein of yarn for me.  I'm running out of yarn because I lengthened the sweater.  In yesterday's post, I pointed out what appeared to be a color change in the body.  All the skeins were the same dye lot (although that doesn't always matter, right TheresaW?). I can't see the difference in natural sunlight or under my Ott lamp, so I'm going to assume it's not a problem.

But the extra skein won't be delivered for almost two weeks.  TWO WEEKS.  Do I have permission to start my next project before then?  Please?  I do?  Great!  Thanks!

In that case, I need your help.  What should my next project be?  I'm still working on Snowfall, which takes brain power, so I'm thinking my new project should be something fairly simple.  The Einstein Coat?  Krystyna?  The Landscape Shawl?  The Lucy Bag?  Pick something, anything, from the list at the right.

I'm pretty good at doing what I'm told. 

Sarah

Sunday, October 5, 2003

This weekend's photo essay is entitled, "Bag O' Projects".  I had been throwing a bunch of projects that needed to be finished into a bag, and decided to tackle it this weekend.

Here's what the bag looked like at the start:

That's "Blaze" from the cover of Rowan Number 32, dropped off by Judy T., and waiting for assembly and a collar.

Here she is in all her finished glory:

What can I say?  It's brown, and I don't like sewing in set-in sleeves.  The yarn and sweater are gorgeous, though.

Next up:

That pile of white is my Cardigan with Crocheted Ridges from Blue Sky Alpacas.  I had been putting off finishing the crocheted ridges, but I won't let myself start anything new for ME until I get this silly cardigan done.  Here's what I accomplished this weekend:

And this:

So the pieces are knit and most of the ridges have been crocheted (and I have to admit, the ridges look kind of fabulous).  It needs to be assembled, additional ridges need to be crocheted down the length of the sleeves, and a crocheted border needs to be added around the whole thing.  That's all REVERSE SINGLE CROCHET (or ESREVER ELGNIS TEHCORC), which is NO FUN, in my opinion.  Oh, and it needs crocheted buttons, too.  And even when it's all done, I'm not going to like it, because the yarn knit up puke-ily (new adverb for your vocabulary) and didn't block out much better.  Knitters Review reviewed this yarn and had about the same experience I did (although they were too polite to say that it knit up "puke-ily").  I figure it will be a "wear with jeans" kind of cardigan, and that I won't admit that I made it.  Maybe if you're lucky, I'll show you a close-up of the stitches someday.  It looks pretty darn good from way back here.  Although -- please tell me that's not a color change issue I'm seeing in the top photo.  I'll have to check that out later.

What's next?

This sweater is from Plymouth Yarn Design Studio and is called "Rimini Rainbow Ladies Cropped Sweater".  It was dropped off by Suzy C-K.  The stitches and rows weren't very easy to discern with this bumpy yarn, but I am a trained professional, after all.  I assembled the sweater and added the collar.

It's very soft and cushy. 

Suzy C-K also wanted me to finish this:

It's "Doreen" by Berroco book #216.  No neck edging here, just shoulder and side seams to finish:

Easy peasy!  Or rather, easily Peasley! 

And that left:

Nothing!

Oh, and I managed to eke out the last few rows of Snowfall's body, which is looking a little bunchy and stringy right now. 

I did a three needle two stitch i-cord bind off at the shoulders (say THAT ten times fast!), a la the Faroese Sweater in Meg Swansen's Knitting.  I'm going to use the same bind off to attach the sleeves to the body.  But first, I think I'll have to do something about those steeks . . .

Hello to Sweden, which appeared on my stats page this weekend!

Sarah

Friday, October 3, 2003

Hi Penny in New Zealand -- I remember you!  I googled Aotearoa and found this and this and I had a link with cool music clips earlier but now I can' t find it.

Hi Emma in the U.K.!  You always leave such nice comments!

Hi Marrije in the Netherlands!  My husband works for ABN AMRO, which I have to assume you've heard of since I hear it's a rather large entity over there.  For my more local friends:  ABN AMRO is a Dutch conglomerate, and is the parent company of Standard Federal Bank in Michigan and LaSalle Bank in Illinois.

Oh, and, um, hi to Ruth in "the Great Country of Texas".  Goofball!

Thanks for visiting!   Finland and Argentina showed up on my stats page today.  Hello to you!

I made it to the neckline steek on Snowfall (hooray!), but didn't take a photo because it looked about the same as yesterday. 

I didn't want to disappoint you, though, so I took a photo of my view as I was knitting:

That's the Vine Lace pattern from the Koigu Fun Socks booklet, although I used six pattern repeats in circumference rather than the seven the pattern calls for, so they would fit me.  I made this pair of socks about two years ago.

And no, I'm not waiting for a flood -- I hiked up my pant legs to show off my pretty socks.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Sarah

Thursday, October 2, 2003

Well, I'm just so excited about working on Snowfall that I'm not getting anything else done.  It's been a long time since I started a new project and worked on it in such a focused manner.  It feels GOOD. 

(Note to my Toe Up Sock students -- I did start another sample today, but I'm not up to the heel yet -- I'll get there during ER tonight and work on simplifying it tomorrow afternoon).

Here's today's progress:

I'm hoping to get to the neckline steek tomorrow.  I'm anxious to get the body done so I can try out the crocheted steek method (once again, something I've been teaching but never actually used in my knitting) and put the borders on.  Then the sleeves, and poof!  A sweater! 

Here's a photo from Meg Swansen's Knitting showing that you CAN put a square armhole into a Fair Isle sweater!  Although technically, neither this sweater nor Snowfall would qualify as a true Fair Isle in Meg's world.

Since it's a new month, it's a good time to mention something I've been curious about since I first developed my website and discovered the stats page.

My web host is located in Hong Kong, and they're about twelve or thirteen hours ahead of us (give or take an hour for daylight savings time).  My stats page is updated around noon Michigan time (midnight Hong Kong time), so I check it after lunch each day. 

Are people in all those countries really looking at my blog?  Or is this just tracking random, international search engine type thingies (yeah, I'm a trained computer person, can you tell?).  In case those are real people out there, I want to say hello to my readers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand (Aotearoa), Japan, the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, France, and Denmark.  Anybody want to say hi back?   

I'll be greeting more countries as they appear in this month's stats.

I'm glad I can still get excited about silly things at my advanced age (I'm about five months older than Amy). 

Son Number One just came home from the mall with dreds and an earring.  That's the last time I let my husband take him shopping! 

Hey, but now my son's ready for Halloween!

And what does Aotearoa mean, exactly? 

Sarah

Wednesday, October 1, 2003

Okay, so the upside down heel in my Toe Up Socks class was a little harder than I had anticipated.  The morning class made it through everything within the allotted two hours (barely), but the evening class had a few issues.  Keep in mind that the morning class is made up of people who have just had a good night's sleep and their morning coffee.  The evening class is made up of people who have worked all day, may not have eaten supper, and just want to go home to bed.  Which class would YOU rather be in?  I'm going to have to tweak my notes yet again to make them more user-friendly, and see if I can simplify a few of the heel details.

In between class sessions and note tweaking today, I tore out about two inches of Snowfall.

Oh -- speaking of Snowfall, I think I should mention that IT SNOWED TODAY!  IT'S BARELY OCTOBER, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! 

Inhale.

Exhale.

So I tore out about two inches of Snowfall . . .

. . . and put the armhole stitches on holders (leftovers from the butt-ugly lovely soon-to-be-felted basket from yesterday's post) . . .

. . . and now I'm anxious to get going on this sweater again. 

But not tonight.  Sleep first.  Knitting later.

Ooh -- that doesn't sound like me. 

Sarah

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