And Finally

Just a few pictures taken from where I was sitting at some of the group. I didn't turn around and take pics of the other side. It was a great weekend, but it will be good to be back to Knit 4 Together today for regular scheduled knitting.

Sweaters Seen

There really wasn't that much opportunity to take pictures, but I managed to here and there. These are a couple that were interesting to me for specific reasons.

You will recognize this from the Swing Swagger Drape book. This sweater was not knitted by the lady wearing it! But, she is the recepient of it. The knitter tried it on for all of us and we confirmed what her family told her about it, only in a nicer way. This jacket is not for those who are hippy. It is best worn on thin bodies.

This is the Einstein Coat. The knitter said she wasn't crazy about it and decided to jazz it up a bit. I love it! I'm filing this idea away for future knitting.


This is the actual knitter of the first sweater.

The Project - Hand Mitts

Susannah was an excellent teacher. I realized after Friday's dinner that I had taken Japanese Short Rows from her two years ago at Stitches Midwest.



These are the start of mine. To get gauge, I had to use a 00needle. But, late on Saturday, I decided I'd risk it and now I am using a size 1 instead. Much easier on the hands.


These are my tablemates.

Some of the mitts that Susannah brought to show and some books.






On Sunday morning, we walked around the classroom to see what color combinations everyone had come up with. There were some colors you would never think about putting together that really were cool to see together.



These are some tiny mitts that a man from Finland knitted using this technique. Unbelievable how tiny they were. And I was whining about a size 00 needle!


And last but not least, these are the mitts that Susannah has knitted. They are all out of Satekili yarn, which feels and looks unbelievable soft.

A Little Stash Enhancement

I really did not go so overboard, just a little here a little there.


For a scarf, if I could just find where I put the book.



Some patterns that I had been looking for. The Pure and Simple are possibilities for the Tall Guy.



A Sow's Ear had this as a scarf. I'm adding an extra width and a ball of yarn and am going to knit it into a wrap.



Some really cool beaded ornaments. This one is just for fun and is for me when I get a chance.

Not bad huh!

Driving Down The Back Roads

On our way to Frontenac, we traveled several two lane roads. It was interesting to note that most of the trees in Wisconsin and Minnesota had lost their leaves. We were expecting more color, but there wasn't much. On Friday morning, we were on such a road when we went by the Pumpkin Patch. It appeared to be a place where there were alot of kids from school taking advantage of the sunny weather for a field trip.

They sold pumpkins, apples, taffy apples and other goodies. There was a petting zoo wiht potbelly pigs, sheep, and goats.

We took a little time out to pet the sheep and expect her wool.


This pumpkin house is what caught my attention as we were going down the road and made us turn back initially.

A nice little side trip.

Yarn Crawling

Sue and I left Thursday morning around 10. We did not have to be at Villa Maria until Friday at 5pm. Always game, we decided to do a yarn crawl...love it. Found some great shops on our way, spent a little, but not a lot, and had a whole lot of fun doing it.

Stop 1 Thursday afternoon, Lakeside Fibers. In the middle of the shop was a boat with yarn in it. Some great yarns and designs to look at.

Onto the hotel to check in where we fiddled around and then decided that we had better hit a couple of the other shops since they stay open until 8 and 8:30 on Thursday nights.
That would give us more time on Friday to stop at a couple on our way.


Stop 2 was the Knitting Tree. A skinny store with yarns along both walls. The cool part of this shop were the front windows. They had all kinds of pink in both windows for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pink ranged from yarn to completed garments of all ages in pink, books in pink, pink purses and pink lights. It was quite eye catching.
I just wished I had thought of taking a picture of the facade at night.


Stop 3 at the end of Thursday was Stitchers Crossing. Some great yarns and a whole lot of quilting!


And now, my favorite in Verona. The Sow's Ear, Stop 4

This is a yarn shop and coffee spot all wrapped into one. They open at, are you ready? At 6:30 AM, yes, I said AM. There is no personal service in the yarn shop until 8, but you can still come in and buy yarn. The coffee and food is to die for, I had a Choco Carmel O that was fantastic and I was wishing that I had gotten a large one and could have bottled it.

We received great service from the young gal in the yarn shop. She was so helpful when we told her what we were looking for and steered us in the right direction.


Stop 5 Salem Stitchery and Knittery

This shop was outside of LaCrosse in the country on a farm. She has loads of cool cross stitch that reminded me of how much I like it, but not enough time to do it. While she does not have loads of yarn, she has tons of colors of Cascade 220 and really cubbies for displaying the knitting needles and stuff....an antiquer's delight.



Our sixth and final stop for the day was Baskets of Yarn. I picked up a really cool pattern book of beaded knitted ornaments that I'll show you later this week. The owner was very helpful and emailed me a pattern that I wanted for a bag.

Yes, there were some purchases but neither Sue nor I went overboard as we are really trying to stash down. I'll give you a report on those on Tuesday.

Get Ready

It's going to be a few days of the Minnesota Knitters Days Recap.

Villa Maria in Frontenac Minnesota used to be a girls boarding school. The accomodations are dorm-like rooms with twin beds and a sink in the room, community showers and restrooms, meals in the basement served cafeteria style out in the country. We were knitting so much that we did not get to take any walks on the property but I hear it is quite beautiful.



Our classroom is the top row of windows. Sue and I were lucky that our room was just down the hall from our knitting room. It came with a couple of asian beetles and a squeaky bed but as Sue put it "at least the squeak was from the bed and not a M-O-U-S-E.



We look pretty good after a weekend of knitting! I did something I generally don't do. I went to bed at a decent hour last night. Simply amazing!



Lake Pepin and the Mississippi River was our view from the classroom. On our way up on Friday, we drove along the River, it was a magnificent trip with the sun shining and the anticipation of what the weekend would bring.

Wish You Were Here

Sue and I left on Thursday around 10 am and made our way to Madison. We went to four yarn unique yarn shops. On Friday, we went to Sow's Ear in Verona..they open at 6:30 since they have a coffee shop as well....WoW! I had a mocha carmel-o, yummy....this is the kind of place I want to have. We left Verona and hit three yarn shops along the way, and tried to stop and two others that were now closed. What a great yarn crawl!

Made our way to what was once a girl's boarding school (picture rooms like small dorm rooms) and had dinner here....good food, small rooms, but hey, I've got internet access.
The drive along the river was beautiful, but most of the trees here have lost all or most of their leaves, so not too much color on them. But, amazing Mississippi River!

Last night we met the other campers and heard a little about what we were going to be doing this weekend and then a few of us stayed up til around midnight knitting....having fun and will blog with pictures at some point.

Off To MN Knitters Days


Will blog when possible or Sunday whichever comes first.

Planning On What Knitting To Take

I am trying to figure out what projects to take along to MN Knitters Days this weekend. I know what I want to be knitting on.

I want to be knitting on the Mushishi yarn, but I can't make up my mind. I have in my mind what I want to knit. I don't want the stripes to go around me with it. I am leaning towards a side to side type sweater where the stripes go up and down and then a shawl collar. There are several patterns out there, I just don't have them. I could adapt, but today I don't think I am in to that. And quite frankly, I have spent way too much time thinking and knitting differently possibilities.


Another Wabi Sabi is in the running. Generally, I don't make the same thing more than once, but this one I might make an exception. I wear my first one to death. I love it for work and a shorter version might be kind of nice.


The Tyrolene Jacket is still in the running. One more look at Ravelry and maybe I'll have an idea as to what the striping will look like in Garter. If if is subtle, this might be a possibility.


This one didn't make the cut. It started at central front and was working towards the cuf. Just didn't feel the love for it.


So for now, two shawls will be my focus. The Batkus is knitting up fairly quickly and will be a good take along project this week.


And the Folk School Shawl is a nice diversion and I want to be wearing it soon.

Too many projects and whatever I choose, I always wish that I had packed something else. Maybe, I'll tuck the Mushishi in and stumble across one of my wish list patterns tomorrow enroute.

Finished!


The twins sweaters are done. Now, it's my turn for a sweater.

What to knit?

Just Between You And Me

So the tall guy asks for a sweater. He never asks for a sweater. He wants it out of cotton. I say cotton won't be warm for winter. He says wool is too itchy. I don't have any cotton in the yarn room in a color that would be good on him. So, I pick him out a nice brown from Webs. He's a big man so I am thinking it will take somewhere on the other side of 2000 yards for him for a cardigan. I let him look at the colors, he prefers the blue, so I change the order to blue. Webs has enough of the yarn for him.

Then, I get to thinking about Berroco Comfort that I have knitted and finished the twins sweaters out of. Comfort comes in a worsted and is in a blue. I show him the Comfort, he wants the tan instead. He says it or the other one I showed him in the afternoon, whichever is cheaper. Mistake...I tell him they are about the same. If I order the Comfort he does the quick math and says that is $100. I tell him again they are about the same, the first one I just have to order more balls because it has less yardage than the Comfort and is cheaper per ball but in the long run, they would cost the same amount.

He says that is too much to spend on a sweater to sit around in. He thinks his hooded sweatshirts will be fine, he doesn't need a sweater to just put on....if only he knew....lets just keep the rest between you and me.

Spin In Saturday

This was my first time to attend the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin In at Black Hawk College. I've known about it forever, but never went. This year a couple of knitter friends (Debbie and Jenny) wanted to go so it gave me an opportunity to see what it was all about.

I was really amazed. I had a good time and will go back for. For the cost of 18.50, I got snacks, like oatmean raisin cookies (my fav cookie), a great lunch (that I couldn't eat all of it, there was so much) and could attend two classes. More about those later. There were some great show and tell to see in crochet, knitting, spinning and other mediums. There was an Estonian shawl that was to die for!

Right off the bat as we were wandering the many fiber related vendors, I connected with friends I had not seen in ages. Leslie, Lynn, Joy, and all the way from Iowa Greg (from Knit Camp 2.75 - that was the surprise of the day)

The vendors were mostly fiber related, you could buy any color or type of roving, but there were others. Soap makers, button makers, wheels and spindles, books, beaded jewelry (from Twisted Chicken, my friend from Leslie), sheep related stuff (don't you love my bag), kettle popcorn (from friend Joy) and yarn too.

We chose to sit and knit in the morning, but after our afternoon class, both Debbie and I decided we should have taken the spinning wheel class...I think she might dive in, I'm still going to wait. I have way too much yarn to knit.


In the afternoon, beginning spinning class, we made an ez drop spindle.

Then we learned very rudimentary skills in spinning. I would have liked a little more to the class. Debbie did really well with her made spindle, but since I brought mine that Cheryl had gotten out to Mielke's, I used it. I'm getting better, but the consensus was that I need to spin every day. I have this problem with it going really nice to really thick....

What a great Fall Day it was spending with friends and seeing old friends....I think I'll go again.

Happy Birthday Jean!

Tomorrow

Going to Black Hawk College for the Bishop Hill Fiber Guild Spin In. Don't know why I'm going other than I have never been and talked a couple of knitting friends to go with. I'm taking my spindle to see if I can relearn how to knit. Also, taking my knitting in case I just want to knit the day away.

I'll let you know if it is worth going back next year!

It's chilly tonight. Time for some chai tea and more knitting on the baby sweater.

Still Knitting

on the two baby sweaters. Started the sleeves tonight....probably won't finish until Saturday night...thats my goal. To have them done, buttons sewn on and blocking by Saturday bedtime.

Cool Central IL weather today let me wear a sweater that I made for Summer but it was too heavy to wear then. Love the cool Autumn weather. Don't like having to give up my sandals!

And Less Time On The Computer

I just sat down and am doing the basics on the laptop tonight. Checked in with facebook, harvested some crops, checked a couple of blogs, checked in on Ravelry and posting.

Last night I did a similar thing. I figure if I spend less time wandering the internet, I'll get more knitting done.

We'll see.

A Slap Along The Head

I almost went stupid yesterday. My head was spinning and consequently I didn't pick up knitting at all. I sure thought about it. Talked about it with Linda and Karen. At the end of the day, I talked myself down from casting on yet another project.

You see, I have that table full of projects that need to be knitted. Couple that with the fact than next week, I am going to Minnesota Knitters Days via Madison yarn shops so you can bet that some sort of yarn will jump into my hands.

So, it's back to focusing...you see when I concentrate on A project, I tend to finish projects. Back to baby sweaters knitting!

I Drank the Kool-Ade

Thats what happens when you spend the weekend with a designer. I am now wanting to start a whole new slewful of things. Not only do I want to knit more of Jared's designs, but I want to start do an Aran from EZ and/or take my stitch dictionaries/cable books and design my own.I want to steek the sweater using the crochet method.

One of the cool things that I learned on Saturday morning was that Jared, too, uses diagrams of his sweaters to knit off of. Something I do alot ever since I learned it from Judy Chan years ago. Also, how important swatching the cable sweater is and other swatching.

I always swatch and 9 out of 10 times it is a fairly large swatch. But, Jared recommends doing several swatches in different needle sizes and living with them for a couple of days. Even though, our tendencies is to launch right into the project.


The problem with drinking the koolade? I, already, have a tableful of things that are in progress, that are like my top ten for wanting to do.


First of all is to finish the babies' sweaters since the twin girls have now been born.

Did I mention I was off today? I'm going to spend the day knitting and playing and just plain enjoying myself with maybe a trip to Hobby Lobby.