Heading Out

Catch you on the purl side of Stitches Midwest!  Have a great weekend, we are!!

Episode 28 The Gift of Shawls

If you are looking for show notes to my You Tube video # 28 The Gift of Shawls, they can be found on Ravelry in the pjknits group  HERE! 

If you are looking for the You Tube video, it can be found  here.

Sunday Planning

I did  a bit of planning yesterday.  It seems like whenever I come back from Knitting Camp, I get a bug to try some things.  This year, there are so many things on my list.  Invisible Stranded Knitting, knitting with my Shetland yarns and with my Carol Sunday yarns.

One that always is on my list and this year I want to knit some more Faroese Shawls.  I have knit two so far, one from Schoolhouse Press and one of Cheryl Oberle's.  The Schoolhouse Press version, I gifted to a friend that was going through a rough patch.

The Fundamentally Faroese by Cheryl, I wear quite a bit in the Fall and Winter.

I even knit a ette version by Cheryl, called Faroette.

At camp, one of the samples came up, which got me to thinking about some Shetland yarn that I have that I have been meaning to knit up into some Faroese Shawls for me.

I have several contenders for patterns, the red book is full of Faroese Shawls that MVK translated for Schoolhouse Press and the Schoolhouse Press Wool Gathering  #91.  #91 is the one that I have knit before, but I may want to knit it again for me, out of the red.

I have my bag ready to store my WIP once I get it going.

And last night I did my provisional chain cast on when I am ready to cast on.

On the next episode of pjknits on You Tube, I will go into more about the wonderful Faroese Shawls, please watch for more on my next Summer of Shawls trek!

Finally Finished Friday

Last week when I couldn't sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to get up and knit a Llama wash cloth for the bridal shower.  It took me all of three hours to knit it from Lulu the Llama pattern.

And thats all folks for this week!

Tuesday Tip

This is not an original tip, but one that the ladies from 3 Ply Podcast reminded me of recently.  

Back in the day when I totally would not knit from a chart, I used index cards.  I would write out each row of the chart on a card and then flip the index card when starting a new row.  It got me through a lot of lace and even the different rows of socks decreases.

I used a block of wood with a slit in it that I bought at Schoolhouse Press years ago to hold the cards up so I could see them when I was sitting at a table. 

 The block of wood was really for holding up the metal chart holder, but I found it came in handy for my index cards too.

Then, I happened upon these spiral index cards which were super cool because they sit up all by themselves.

Fast forward to the reminder on the 3 Ply Podcast where the tip came up again, and I remembered I still had one of these sets of spiral bound index cards in my drawer.  This time I pulled it out to write some pesky rows on the Party Top sweater pattern, so that when I was at Knitting Camp of out in public knitting, I could easily look down even when in conversation, keep track of where I was supposed to be.

Perfect!  

What's On Your Needles This Week?

Knitting along on my Party Top sweater this week, using helical knitting to change skeins each round.  I highly recommend doing this on hand dyed and indie dyed yarn.

And for Summer of Shawls, I am knitting away on my Shadow Shawl and loving the easy knitting, but still enough to keep the mind from wandering!

This is how I am spending the rest of the day now that all the laundry is done!  It has been quite the last 30 days. 

 ZK, our end of the year at work, Knitting Camp and just yesterday the hosting of a bridal shower.  I've got about a week and a half before Stitches Midwest weekend and six weeks from yesterday until the wedding.  

So, when I say the Summer will be over before I know it, you can understand why.

Knitting Camp - The End

Knitting Camp - Mini Workshops

Every year, campers volunteer to do mini workshops.  For the second year in a row, Susan Rainey, did her Invisible Stranding Method.  What can I say, it never gets old!  Pure genius!

Knitting Camp - Contest

As always the contest had lots of entries, some quick and easy and some very intricately crafted.  The theme was Mystical Creatures and here is the winner, Jane, who always does some incredible shadow knitting.

Knitting Camp - Show and Tell

So many fabulous knits, here are just a few.

Knitting Camp - Scenes From The Classroom

I am home from Knitting Camp.  What a great weekend spending time with old friends and meeting new friends.  Over the next few days, I'll share a bit of camp with you dear readers.

Listening, Watching and Knitting to Meg Swansen.

We are all in our places, with everything a Knitter would need for a day of pure inspiration.

And for some sights and sounds, watch the video below.

Finally Finished Friday

Sunshine Coast by Heidi Kirrmaier out of Savannah yarn.

Now, let me say, prior to blocking, I thought this was a fail.  Then, I blocked it and let it dry fully. Then, I put it in the dryer under the knit setting for about 10 minutes to fluff with other clothes.  Tried it on and love it!

Can I say how much I love this Moduloncho by Shana Cohen?!

So many ways to wear it and I can see so many times when I will throw it on!