Wednesday Website

The Wool and Processing

I've enjoyed so much learning about Jamieson & Smith's real Shetland wool.  If you want to read more on their blog head on over here.

Things For My Bucket List For April

For my never ending bucket list, I started a rudimentary paper calendar of all the knitting events that I would like to go to.  I'm a bit late to the party, but the ones below are for April, all past, but it is always great to look forward to next year, isn't it?

Yarncon in Chicago.  Easily a day trip from Central IL.  https://www.yarncon.com  This year it was on the 18th and 19th of April.

There is also a Fiber Event fairly close that would be a nice weekend trip, it is  this same weekend as Yarncon.  It appears to start on Friday and end on Saturday, so one could do both with some creative driving.  It is in Greencastle, Indiana and has been going on for many years.  Greencastle is not a super terrible long drive, and friend, Chris, from BriarRose Fibers vends over there.  It would be super cool to see her again and check this event out as well.  http://thefiberevent.com

Yarnover in Minnetonka.  Not a day trip, but a one day event.  Put on by the Minnesota Knitters Guild.    https://www.knitters.org/whats-yarnover  I should kidnap you Linda from Washington next year and we should go up.  We can see Susan while we are there and watch her shop in person. http://theraineysisters.com/?p=6750  April 25th, this year.

And then as long as we are in the area, we would most definitely have to hop on over to StevneBe's for the FiberFest.  http://stevenbe.com/blog/register-now-for-fiber-fest-2015.html  I gotta get to StevenBe's some day!

Stitches South in Nashville at the Opryland Resort and Convention Center.  Friends took me there when I was back in high school for a Summer trip when it was still just called the Opryland Hotel.  It could not have been very old.  I visited again with adult friends back in my early adult years and it was just as cool as it looks now.  How fun would this trip be?!  Sad part, I would probably have to forgo Yarnover as it appears they are the same weekend.  This definitely would NOT be a one day trip, but wouldn't it be fun to do it!?

That's the April bucket list, I think I'll do something novel and actually put them on my electronic calendar now!

Gotta Love The Shipping Packaging

I've blogged before about the packaging of yarn purchases that come from vendors.  Here is another one, don't you just love it AND they used my favorite color for the printing.

Thats all I got for this rainy Saturday!  Happy Weekend!

Finally Finished Friday

The watermelon socks are done and ready to be worn!

So It Would Not Be A Surprise

If I posted that I have yarn for Shetland Shawls

Or if I posted I had one

Or two Shetland Shawls on the needles,

Or that I really want to cast on another

But, it might surprise you to know that I've been knitting on socks instead

For now!

Wednesday Website

Real Shetland Wool

Prep and Landing

Don't you just love that cartoon at Christmas?  It makes me laugh every time I see it.  But, I think it is a good title for a blog post as well.    I signed up for Denise Bell's Class at Stitches Midwest, The Unst Effect: Shetland Shawl.  Denise goes to Knit Camp and I have known her for a couple of years.  Not only do I super love her yarn Lost City Knits, but I super admire her shawls that she has designed and knitted.

I've had a couple of Shetland Shawls on the needles for awhile, so it seemed like the perfect class to take and well, since, I know the instructor, I thought it would be super fun to take a class in an avenue of knitting that I am really interested in.  One of the pre-requisites for the class is that you have some experience in knitting with lace yarn.  Now, I am not sure if icelandic lace weight really qualifies (not that it isn't lace, it just has a different feel than your typical soft laces) so I decided to do a bit of prep for my class this Summer.

I started out by hauling some of my books that have Shetland in their name.

And then I found more.

All of the new finds were books that I have collected from Schoolhouse Press every year at camp.

Sharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting  is chock full of information.  It may take me awhile to absorb it all.

There were so many possibilities out there that it was time to consult the experts and write some thoughts down.

I did a bit of swatching on Denise's Lost City Silk.  I consulted with Denise via Facebook, and probably about the time she was responding, I decided the silk needed much more than garter to show it off.  Denise was of the same opinion.  It really needs some lace to do it justice.

That and a size 3 needle and all that garter might take a year or two to get the center square done.  Back to prepping and perhaps landing something later.

Bucket List

Do you have a bucket list of places you would like to go?  I do.

Hawaii - I want to get a condo by the beach so I can get up in the morning and watch the waves roll in while I drink my Kona coffee and knit.  I want to take walks on the beach, venture out and sight see, have lunch out and come back and have dinner cooked for me and watch the sun go down with a nice glass of wine.

I want to attend every knitting event on my calendar.  I want to have the money to attend all of the events that are on my calendar.  LOL.

Ireland -  I want to see the green everywhere in Ireland.  I want to buy Irish knits, sit in an Irish pub and drink Irish brew.

Norway - Since a child, I have always wanted to go the country that is shaped like a spoon.  Since marrying into a family of Norwegian decent, I've wanted to go there even more.  I'd like to learn how to speak Norwegian too.

The Faroe Islands - This makes the list just because of the shawls.  I love the way these lay over the shoulders.  Marilyn van Keppel turned me onto these  at knit camp.  She throws one of these babies over her shoulders and looks so elegant in just a simple outfit.  Cheryl Oberle kept it going with three designs of Faroese Shawls and a couple of others from her Folk Shawls book.  And then last
September, Meg featured one in Wool Gathering, of course I had to cast one on.   With this many cool shawls, who wouldn't want to go and see the land and the history they came from.

The Shetlands - my latest entry on my bucket list.  This group of islands north of Scotland has me so intrigued.   I want to knit every shetland shawl I see lately.  I am reading about sheep and knitters and the dialect.  I am obsessed with this latest bucket list entry.

Does it seem odd that my bucket list revolves around knitting?

Happy Birthday!

To Baby Boy A (right) and Baby B (left) on your 32nd Year, we love you!

Where Have All the Fours Gone? (to be sung to the tune of where have all the flowers gone)

Long time passing, long time ago….

I take it as a sign that I should not be casting on anything new if out of three sets of needles I don't have any in my Knit Picks Caspian set.

None in my worm bag that houses the fixed Chiagoos and  other loved fixed needles.

And none in the red lace Chiagoos Interchangeable set either.  I swear I have at least two size four needles (I bought an extra sometime ago because I was always using them.)

Fours must be my new best friend.

Wednesday Website

Shetland Sheep - The Beginning of A Blog Series

This will give you a bit of a picture as to some things I want to incorporate into my knitting in the next few months.  And if nothing else, the pictures are adorable!

So This Is What I Did

After spending a half of a morning and a half of an afternoon, surfing Ravelry and my patterns, I wound the skein back up.  Put it with it's siblings and put it on the shelf.

The lone lighter skein (it doesn't looks so light here, does it?!) became part of a swatch.  Yes, I swatch big.  Yes, I soak and let it dry.  And then I measure it for my sweater.  I did an extra big swatch, since part of the pattern is garter and part is stockinette.  That way, I'll know if I have to change a needle while knitting it.

  I ordered the Sea Salt Colorway that I really wanted.  And reminded myself, that if i needed a project to work on at the shop I have my Churchmouse Yarns Scarf that really could use being finished ( it is a year old almost after all).

And I have this little shawlette in progress that could use some more love.

The End!

On Not Settling

So I settled for this yarn a couple of weeks ago at the shop.  It is not what I wanted, but the consensus was that I could get some more to add to it.  The color of this Madtosh is White Wash.

I figured it would be a good project to knit at the shop when I was out there (you know how I like to knit on yarn from the shop I am taking up space up on Saturday mornings.)  What I really wanted is the color way similar to the actual picture of the sweater I want to knit.  (The shop only had one skein)

One of my knitting friends had bought some White Wash for a shawl and she thought she would have an extra skein left from a shawl she was knitting.  Mine is on top, hers is on bottom.  Both are White Wash. (I know I could alternate skeins, but I don't wanna, (she says with a whine in her voice).

So, I cast on another Wool Peddler's Shawl this morning for Hospice, thinking I'll change this one up a bit at the bottom.  (Cause I've knit a few of these triangular shawls).

Oh, but wait for it!  Today at lunch I was a bit chilly, even though it is drop dead gorgeous outside, inside it is a bit cool while sitting still.

Soooo, I threw on my Birds Nest Shawl while I was eating lunch. I think I might like these wraps a bit.       

It covers my arms and comes around in front to keep me warm and snuggle in.  The only thing I might change up on one is to make it a bit wider so it comes further down over the back just a bit further and not quite so long as to come down to the patient's knees.  I won't use the same lace pattern for the Hospice Shawl, but I think I can find something fun and fairly mindless that can be knit at the shop with.

I think my yarn now wants to be a wrap  and I am now free to head over to the internet and buy the yarn I really want.  Moral of the story, again, do not settle for what you want!

Sharing Something Special

Of course, I know St Patrick's Day was about a month ago.  But, I can now share our card that we got when we were visiting the kids last month.  (Even though, I am not putting it out there in any other social media for now, I'm letting the kids have that when they are ready to announce).

To say we are over the moon is an understatement.

Due date early October which means I'll have to miss Yarn in the Barn.  There are some things I'll give up knitting things for.

Wednesday Website

http://www.knitmoregirlspodcast.com/2015/04/directors-cut-galina-khmeleva-2010.html

I've been listening to this episode of the Knitmore Girls Podcast to and from work the last couple of days.  I love listening to Galina speak and talk about knitting and her life.  If you have a bit more than an hour, give it a listen.  What I really took out of it is that I want to knit an heirloom…It may take me a while but thats what I want to do.

Whats On Tap This Week?

Ok, lets be clear, I don't plan on finishing all of these projects this week, they are rather where I am concentrating my knitting right now.

First is a Lang Pullover that has been on the needles since last Spring.  I used three needle bind off on the shoulder seams yesterday.

At first on Saturday night, I did the bind off as the instructions said, and even started sewing them together, but just was not crazy with the look.  I need to pull out the hints that I have filed away somewhere about dealing with these stair step bind offs and how to cure it.  I was just too impatient to do it this weekend, maybe next time.

The pattern had the sweater being knitted in pieces, but I've converted it all to in the round until the splits.  I started picking up the sleeve at the armscye and intended to knit it top down, but  the purl row was going in the wrong direction in comparison to the sweater body.  I ripped it out and cast on at the cuff and am going to knit in the round to the split at the underarm.  The sleeve is taking more time than I thought it was going to, but it should be some great knitting in public knitting this week.

My ongoing Faroese Shawl needs to be ripped back again.  What is it with me and this?  I seem to be doing a bit of that lately with this shawl.  It is going to be my before bed knitting project, you know with the t.v. off and just relaxing before going to bed.

The next in line for Hospice Prayer Shawl/Blanket.  In prep for knitting at the Hospice Home this Thursday.  An easy blanket to knit in public too.

I need to swatch my Madelinetosh this week so I can block it and cast on for a sweater to knit on while at the Knit 4 Together this week.

Slowly, but surely the Addicted to Pi Shawlette is coming along.  I have another shawl I am dying to cast on, but I have made a deal with myself, I cannot cast on it until this one is at least ready for blocking.

Rustic Beauty for the Hospice Home is finished, but waiting for blocking.  I dislike blocking so much.  I wish I could find someone to send mine to that would block for them for me.  I'd pay for that!

And finally, Twister has the knitting all done.  Now, it has to be lightly blocked and sewn together.  I'm going to have to make myself do this now.  As indicated above, I dislike blocking…and I am not a real fan of sewing up either.

Thats quite a bit to concentrate on, but I really feel like I have a focus now on what I want to be knitting on right now.