Wednesday Website

http://thefiberfactor.com

At first when I heard about this contest, I didn't give it much thought.  But, last weekend, I thought I go over to the website and see what it is all about.  Then, I was watching all of the contest stuff, the challenge and the judging.

Now, I am anxious to hear the next results.

And there is a knitter from Bradford IL in the contest.  I don't know her, but that isn't too far from us, so hey, of course I am rooting for her.

A Tale of Two Knittings

It is absolutely drop dead gorgeous today in Central IL.  As was yesterday!  And with a great breeze blowing, it can be warm and cool.

But it has been a tale of two knittings today, the outside project, because when in the sun it is a bit warm.

Which requires a cool little drink.

And when I move to the shade or inside, it is another piece of knitting that requires some knitting on it.

And a little bit warmer drink.

Options, a knitter has to have options.

After dinner, we will head back outside to sit a bit to enjoy every last bit of this day.  I can only hope that we have a repeat of this weekend soon!

I Don't Know What It Is Going To Be

But it is going to be some cool shawl.  I met Denise at Knit Camp.  She is from Oklahoma and it was her first time at camp.  Come to find out she has her own business of dyeing yarn.  She had the most gorgeous shawl knit out her yarn.  The colorway was Honey Dew. Yardage is 1000 yards.

When I went to her website Lost City Knits, I could not make my mind up.  And because I couldn't make my mind up, I went with my gut and fave colorway - Cerillos.  We all sure hope she comes next year and is a vendor at the Saturday market next year!

I finally got my glasses back.  Don't think I showed you all what I see from my side.  Now, don't you think they are super cool!  I love em.

And they go with almost all of my yarns, but then you knew that didn't you?!

Do Not Take Anything I Say Seriously

 Just when I resign myself to knitting what I have, someone calls me and lets me know that yarn for a shawl that I have been looking at all Summer is finally in.  It took me about an hour to make my way to the yarn shop to pick out my colors.

Then, a project that has been on my mind since I found out that the gal who does my hair is pregnant with a boy, had me heading over to pick the colors out for this afghan for her.

It is a great time to use all those beautiful blues from Cascade Pacific.  This afghan should go fairly quick since it is done with two strands of the yarn and size 11 needles.  And mostly stockinette.

The afghan is from this book that I have posted about before.  I really am lovin the designs in it.  And the Pacific I am knitting it from is so super soft!

And while I was picking out stuff for a baby boy, I just had to pick this up for a peapod to go with the afghan.  Those darn peapods are so cute and everyone loves them for those first photos.  This one is going to look really cool next to the afghan.  And again, a night or two of knitting and it should be good to go.

Isn't it so much fun to have so many choices to knit on!  Wait until you see tomorrow's post, there is more, more, more!

Wednesday Website

http://atangledyarnknitter.wordpress.com

Probably not for 2013 because it is evident I cannot hold to it for this year, but I am thinking 2014 should be my year of stash busting.  Think about it, you may want to join me in my quest next year.

I've Stopped Counting

I probably have enough WIPS to finish one for every week for the next year, well at least the rest of this year.  But, I am not beating myself up about it, nor am I going to let anyone else.  After all, I know for a fact that I am not the only one. And it gives me a lot of joy to start knitting on something new.
And knitting needs to be fun.

While cataloging my WIPS this past few days and coming home from camp, I pulled out my Pi Shawl from Knitter's Almanac and I have been having a lot of fun with it.  It is quite mindless knitting right now and what I want to be knitting on at the moment.

When I first pulled it out and blogged about it, I did not realize that I had started a second color on it.  I remember when I first cast on many years ago, that I was trying to use down some cakes leftover from my Pelerine that I had knitted.

When I really opened the Pi Shawl up I realized that I had already switched to one of the colors that I had left over from the Pelerine.  I am really anxious to get this knit into it so I can switch to the brown for the very end lace part of it.

Who would have figured digging a project out from many years past could be so much fun.  I am hoping this is a trend and not a fad so that soon, I'll have more WIPS finished by the end of the year, that is the calendar year and not the fiscal year.

I Guess I Had A Couple of Pics

Pure and simple I have stolen this pic from Linda L at Knit Camp.  She and a group of her cohorts spearheaded this project.  An afghan to celebrate the 40th year of Knit Camp.  She sent all that wanted to knit a square for the afghan, a cake of Unspun Icelandic.  We then knit two blocks, one block to go into the afghan and the other to be put into two smaller afghans and several pillow tops to be put into the raffle.  I tried my best to win one of the afghans, but that didn't turn out so good.

As part of the project, we all put together a page for a nice binder for Meg.  Linda then sewed most of the squares together.  She pinned our names to the back of each square so that Meg would know just by looking as to which one each knitter/camper did.  Linda also photographed each of the blocks and put them into the book by our page.  

What a work of love was this project and I am still amazed at the work that went into it.  Kudos to Linda and her team.

One of the projects that I was working on for most of the weeks leading up to Camp was my Folk School Shawl.  It wasn't until I was showing Linda it in our room that I realized how big it was.  I even gave thought to ripping it back right then and there and pleading that I had left it at home.  Part of Show and Tell is sometimes to get help with a project and I am glad I did.

Meg helped me style it and now I am loving this shawl!  By the way, that is Linda L to the left in the above picture.  And she is wearing Cusco which I am loving.  Something that I had not realized about it before is that done in a large gauge, I really like it even more.  You know what that means, cast on!!!

It is no secret that I am a fan of Cheryl Oberle.  But, I do believe this is the first pic we have had together.  I love her yarns and especially Just Beautiful Alpaca.  And where in the past and still now there are several jackets from the jacket book that still need to be knit up, I am liking her shawls from Folk Shawls and most definitely have the Stora in Unspun on my list for the future.

And here are dear knitting camping buds, Elizabeth and Sandi.  I was so glad to see Elizabeth this year as she had some things to deal with last year and could not make it.  They are sharing Sandi's shawl to get warm.  You know it had to be cold on this day, because Sandi is never cold!!

And finally for now, here is a quick pic of Susan Rainey with one of her show and tell pieces.  Susan and her sister Sally were our camp buddies, we sit back in the back together and spend after hours together eating and knitting.  Usually, it is Kim and Susan, but Kim could not  make it as she was waiting for her first grand baby to make an appearance.  I can identify with that one.

Sally and Susan's show and tell was amazing as is all of their knitting.  We have a hoot of a time with them and enjoyed being with them again this year.

Well, that is it for now I think from Knit Camp a week later.  Once the DVD comes, I will take you down memory road again.  Until then, Knit On!

July

July is many things.  It is the second half of the year.  Here in Central IL, it is the Heart of IL Fair which typically brings the hottest weather, 2nd to the start of the school year.  It is little less than a year from next year's knit camp.  It is the start of for me a new year of knitting.  After camp, I get this charge to knit shawls.  Right now, I want to knit with my stash and get it down. Specifically, my Unspun Icelandic Collection.

 And this morning I got the urge to try my hand at Elizabeth's Knitting Almanac again.  My original copy is getting a little worn.

But, as luck would have it, I have a new updated hardback copy that I got last year at camp.  And it has color pictures.

For July, did I say it is the hottest month in Central IL, is the Pi Shawl.  Seriously, what were you thinking Elizabeth?  She is quite right, it does make great travel knitting, but I am not doing any travel anytime soon, but but, with hot weather brings cold AC and I seem to be cold all the time, well almost all of the time, so maybe a big ole Pi Shawl is not a bad thing.

Best of all, I have two already on the needles from several years back, so I don't have to mess with the casting on bit, just have to knit the endless rounds.

This creamy one I must have started one of the very first years Linda, Char and I went to 2.75 camp.  I remember knitting on it during the trip up and probably during camp.  It is a nice simple mindless Pi Shawl.  I have not yet decided if the last of it will be different colors or all cream.

This lovely was one of the Ravelympics projects from 2008.  I remember buying the yarn the first year at camp when Schoolhouse Press debuted these new colors.

 I have a bit of all of the colors in the other Pi Shawl  that I am dyeing to use for maybe the Overblouse, but I have to wait to cast that on to make sure that I have enough for the end of this one.

Back in my mind, I remember Amy Detjen saying that it takes forever to get around those last few rounds, so it may take me longer than the Olympics to finish it.  I don't believe I bothered to try it after that revelation.

A quick tour of Ravelry this morning after searching on Schoolhouse Press' Unspun Icelandic has given me quite a list of things that I can knit with my Unspun Icelandic, there are some great possibilities there for working on getting my Unspun Icelandics down.
Pi Shawl
Icelandic Overblouse
Brioche Vest
Pelerine
Cheryl Oberle's Feather and Fan Triangle Shawl
MVK Icelandic Shawl
Hurry Up Last Minute Sweater

 And best of all, there should be one or two that will be just great for next year's camp for either Show and Tell or fighting the icelandic temperatures in the hotel.

What Knitting Camp Does To You

You come home and you want to knit everything.  You want to finish projects you have started, you want to get some semblance of order in your knitting.  You want to become a better knitter.  So you start with a pretty nice looking bunch of bags that look good on your bag tree.

You strip it down.  You lay the bags all over the place.  You go hunting for WIPS to put in bags.

And you get something that is not as pretty as the bag tree once was.  But, you get crap together in one place.  And you say to yourself that you are going to work on these projects first.

But, then you remember this really cool scarf pattern you saw at Camp and you have the perfect yarn sitting there in the summer shawl basket and you just have to cast on.  But, just enough to see what it is going to look like.

And then you think of a sweater in the EZ/Meg way that is in progress and you think you might need a little something with very little thought that needs to be put into the knitting and so you haul it out of a bag.  Oy, do you see how fractured knitting becomes after knit camp?

And now you know why I have so many WIPs.  But, I don't feel bad about it.  Sally Rainey was telling us how many she had when she stopped counting.  I am not alone.  And I love camp.  But, now it is time to go back to Summer knitting.  At least for the next month.

And My Camera Remained Silent

Normally, after Camp, I would have about a weeks worth of pictures to show and tell about.  But, this time, the big camera remained in my room and next year, it will probably stay home.  The thing is, Al, one of our campers takes pictures the whole weekend and then graciously sends all a DVD of them in a few months.  He gets some great pictures and I just figured this year I would do it a little differently.  I'll wait til I get the DVD and then spend a little time reminiscing about the weekend.

 I think a lot of people were of that mind this year, because as Amy put it, it seemed like Show and Tell went much faster this year because people weren't having to stop at all the picture stations.  I am not sure if that was it, but we did Show and Tell in record times this camp.

It was a great weekend, and as always, I came home with tons of ideas that I want to do.  I always look at my skill set a little differently when I come home from camp.  I add to the list of things I want to knit on, and really in my mind want to push my self to some kick ass Show and Tell next year.

Every year, Camp deepens our friendships with those we are getting to know and brings some new friends to the mix as well.  I am looking forward to camp already for next year, but for today, I gotta ge my mind mix back to going back to work.

Check out these websites for pictures and camp stuff.

http://natalieservant.ca/2013/07/knitting-camp/

http://feralknitter.typepad.com/feral_knitter/2013/07/the-wanderer-returns.html

It has been a great two weeks off and thank god, there are only two days I have to work this week before a weekend.  After that, it is a bit of stretch til Labor Day.  But, I have my knitting to keep me busy all of it!

Knit Camp - Shopping

Between the shop set up by Schoolhouse Press and the other vendors on Saturday, I managed to add to my Library and of course the yarn stash.

Meg showed this book on Friday.  Before going to camp the last few weeks, I've been exploring shawls of various shapes and sizes. 

One has been the shetland shawl.  For several years I've loved one that Meg has had at Knit Camp.  It was EZ's Concentric Circles Shetland Shawl.  I bought the exact same color yarn a couple of years ago planning on making my own.  Since then I have added a lovely turquoise one that was to be my camp 

project this year.  I did knit on it a bit, but not as much as I wanted to.

 I thought this was an appropriate purchase given the direction I have been kicking around this summer.

The other book was Stahman's Shawls and Scarves.  I really thought I had this one already, but it was another Faroese type shawl book.  I am really into these Faroese Shawls now that I am back from camp.  I saw quite a few over the weekend and it really has me wanting to cast on one.  They are so practical for keeping warm and you can bet you will see one on me soon.

We always get a tote each year on Thursday night, so I really did not need to buy one, but seriously, how could I not add this one to my collection...

Saturday was vendor day, and I knew going into it that there were two booths that I would shop first.  Turns out they are the only ones I shopped.  What can I say I am a fan.

From Chris at Briar Rose Fibers.  These three beauties are going to be the Brick Road Afghan. More than likely not until later this Summer, but I've been wanting an afghan for sometime of my own.

Another Wistful made it's way home with me.  This one is going to be Ann Hanson's Caissa.  I've wanted to knit it for about a year, but needed a tonal rather than a variegated.  This one is going to be super fantastic with jeans!

You know I would have to add some new yarns to my collection from Cheryl Oberle.  This first one is going to be the Faroette shawl.  It is a new one for me that I have not used before, OM.

This Dancing Colors is green has been on my radar for about a month, since seeing it on Cheryl's website.  One of the Fundamentally Faroese Shawls by Cheryl Oberle is among the shawls that I am looking for it.  All I really knew was that I wanted this green!

And one other OM from Cheryl Oberle.  Well, you know why I bought it, now don't you!?

My mind is just reeling with the possibilities I have to choose from and what to cast on first!

Knitting Camp Contest

A couple of months ago, I teased you with some orange tissue wrap.  This is what was in my tissue.  A super soft merino that was dyed especially for me.  The yarn was so dang soft and I loved knitting with.  And whatever she used to make it smell good had me squishing it and smelling it whenever

I could.

Camp Contest this year was Night Skies.  We had a lot of entries that showed the constellations and other wonderful night time ideas.  I knew last year that I wanted to do something with a sunset, because coming home at night at just the right time I see some pretty spectacular  sunsets.  I found my yarn through Magic and Moonshine etsy shop.  She dyed this for me by special request.

The shawl is the Bermuda Shawl.  There were a lot of short rows, but I sure had some fun watching this shawl grow.

Out of 26 entries, I placed 13th.  I pretty pleased about that as there were some great entries all the way around.  And the prizes for 13th included a couple of yarns and this cute book...how perfect could that be?!

Next years contest theme is Secret Garden.  But, I think I will give it some time before I start thinking about the next one.

Knit Camp Day 1

Linda from OK gifted me today this beautiful yarn she handspun.  It brought tears to my eyes and I was without words.  It was her show and tell and when Meg asked her what she was going to knit with it, she said that a friend of hers had similar tastes on colors and patterns and had admired it.   She was going to gift it to her. She walked over to me and gave it to me.

I was over whelmed at such a wonderful treasure.  Tonight, I am fondling it and for a bit I am going to just admire it and squeeze it and pet it.

For next year, it will come back to camp as a finished object but for now, I am totally enjoying its beauty.  It was such a special gift and I just amazed that it is mine.

Thank You dear friend!

Gone Campin

This Camp Thing Is Tough

Thats why I started taking a few days off before camp.  If I worked up until camp departure, I would never get any work done.  But, on the other hand if I was more of a one project knitter, I wouldn't be in such a turmoil to decide what to take.

So I grabbed some coffee  - that way three cups ago.

And my blankie - it is hot and humid outside, but inside with the air on and me still in my jammies, it is a little chilly.

I sat down or rather hovered over what I think I might want to knit on while away for at least 3 1/2 solid days of knitting.  It is tough for me, because I do not want to get up there and not have just the right project to knit on.

What is not going is my K4 Together project.  I'll save this for when I come home and want to knit on something at the shop on the weekend.

 

 What is going for sure is my TDF project out of Briar Rose Fibers Wistful yarn.  I got it last year from Chris at camp and I need to knit on it a bit everyday at Camp as part of the Briar Rose Fibers group over on Ravelry.  The pattern is a variation of Cheryl Oberle's Cusco.

Tangerine Rose from the Knit Swirl book is making the trip.  This is some good knitting for during the day.  It is from Cheryl's Dancing Colors yarn.  I sure would like to have this to wear this Fall/Winter, even if it is a lot of knitting.  I tried Linda P's on last year at camp out of a different yarn.  These Knit Swirl jackets seem to look good on everyone.

Another one that is making the trip and one that I hope to knit quite a bit on is my Scallop Shawl from It is always an adventure in knitting.  This same shawl is knit up at Knit 4 and everytime I get cold out there I flip it on.  I have had the yarn forever and have cast on this same shawl a couple of times, but now I really want a shawl of my own.  This is going to be the go to knitting this weekend.  After last weekend, it become real apparent to me that I needed a throw on shawl that could go anywhere.  I am taking all of the yarn for this one because I really hope to make some great strides in getting this one done.

This one has made it into the cut, but now I think I am going to take it out.  I think I have enough projects that I do not need to start another.  It was going to be a Purl Ridge Cowl by Stephen West for one of the gals I work with for her birthday in August, but I have decided that it and another very similar yarn are going to be Purl Ridges for Christmas Gifts for the two ladies who I supervise instead.  So there is plenty of time for them.

And a last throw in is my Concentrics Circle Shetland Shawl.  The patter is by EZ and the yarn was purchased last year at Camp for a totally different project.  It has to go because after all it is Meg Swansen's camp and when there you have to sort of immerse yourself in the moment.  This one is a fairly simple knit, but you do have to take care to get the circles in line.  Not all of the yarn for this is going with, I just don't think it is going to be needed.

And finally, the black Just Beautiful Alpaca is on the fence.  It has been in and out of the yarn room more times than I can count.  It would be a great little project for in the classroom too, especially given the great light that will be there.  This one is slated to be Jared Flood's Tweedy Baby Blanket.  It is based on EZ's shetland shawl and I loved knitting it last year in Debbie Bliss yarn for Miss Mona Lisa. I have enough yardage to knit a substantial shawl which I want to double is a nice blankie for our trip to and from Iowa.  At this typing it is in.

So, you can see why I need so much time off to work through this whole process.  The nice thing - I am not alone.  And the double nice thing - I'm driving!