Knitting Resolutions, Revisited

This is the time of year that we all post our knitting resolutions. I do need to visit my own, and to see what my progress is. I know I have done okay against some.

Last year's resolutions were:

1. Practice knitting continental by finishing more washcloths, then starting and completing an entire project in continental. (Started this last year, need to become even better.) --> Oooh, did not do the last part. Need to keep this one on the list.

2. Restart fair isle projects and finish them, with good gage. --> Uh, no.

3. Knit a pair of socks every month. --> This one fell apart sometime around April. Hey, it was worth a shot. I just fell so far behind by doing other projects, and I am not the fastest knitter. I think I will drop this one.

4. Learn to dye. (Already scheduled for a class on March 3rd to learn to dye my own self-striping sock yarn. Yee!) --> I did take a dying class, but did not feel I learned enough to just up and do it without having to do alot more research. So I will revisit this topic this year. It is a keeper.

5. Start learning to design own patterns. --> Yes, I did take design classes at Stitches East, and will start working on my own baby hat patterns soon. Now that I have a kid on the way, I can feel more motivated. Plus that dreaded first trimester energy slump seems to be waning.

6. Complete another Morehouse Farm Sweater kit (from Stash). --> Started but did not finish. Need to keep on the list.

7. Go to Maryland Sheep and Wool. (Hotel already booked!) --> Done. This one was too easy.
8. Learn to crochet. --> Started to learn from a friend but I did not stick with it. Too many other knitting obligations like the sock a month got in the way.

Now to establish this year's resolutions:

1. Design and publish two of my own patterns.

2. Complete another Morehouse Farm Sweater kit (from Stash).

3. Restart fair isle projects and finish them, with good gage.

4. Start and complete a project in continental. This should be combined with resolution #3.

5. Dye on my own.

6. Use of some of my insane sock yarn stash by knitting baby items.

7. Put more of my stash and projects on Ravelry. --> Such a huge undertaking. I am just trying to still hide the stash in what is left of the new nursery (my former sewing room). Yikes!

8. Knit and/or quilt two baby blankets. One for stroller and carseat, one full sized.

9. Avoid Christmas knitting requests. This year, I will just say no. The only knitted Christmas presents will be surprises.

That is not bad. I still need to do alot more growth and learning in my knitting. I will also be helping a friend to learn to knit, so that will be nice.

I also promise, just because I am having a baby, that I will not ignore my childless friends. I will also not be one of those mothers whose only possible topic of conversation is what my child's poop is like (color, consistency, odor). I can't handle that. I must keep up with current events. Oooh, and a warning...I will be dragging the tike to knitting groups, as soon as WE are able. That is, after we are both on a schedule with sufficient rest.

I also have to catch up on so much that I have left undone since Stitches East. I need to write up Stitches East Class Review. I will try to get it done this weekend. In the meantime, here is my one picture from Stitches East. Two gals on Ravelry, Booksherpa (on the right) and Sweetness (on the left). They were really fun to talk to. And in the middle is my travelling knitter buddy, Mary. She is the same friend I go to MDSW with.

Crikey...

So my internet has been down at my house for a few days. I found out yesterday via email that I did not get the job I interviewed for. Or, at least, I was not in the top two choices out of ten interviewed.

Maybe they did me a favor. Maybe it is not a good sign when the ad asks for engineers and architects to apply, but then they ask you in the interview what it is an environmental engineer studies and does (for a living). Not a good sign.

The good news is that this frees me up to help my DH with his business, and to actually focus on launching a design business, and maybe another commercial real estate business for us. Oh, and then there is that whole issue of me deciding on whether to get serious about graduate school. Time really does fly by. The older you get, the faster it goes past you. You start to wonder what the heck did I do last year? :)

The lack of internet explains why I have not posted lately. I am also on the road again, so I will try to get to another yarn store and get some knitting done. It took two whole days of chugging airborne to purge that chest cold. That is major! Usually it only takes 2-3 doses. But now I am exhausted from back pain and sleeping on a really hard hotel bed. I can't sleep on hard mattresses. Ugh.

I looked into my Stitches East Homework:
1. Find an easy to follow pattern and a hard to follow pattern and bring both.
2. No Homework
3. No Homework
4. No Homework (oooh goody! I may be getting away with this...)
5. 5 swatches as follows:Swatch 1: With smooth worsted wt yarn & appropriate ndls, CO 13 sts. Work St st for 1”, ending after a purl row. Slip sts onto holder.Swatch 2: With smooth worsted wt yarn & appropriate ndls, CO 28 sts. Row 1 (RS): *K1, YO, k1, ssk, k6, k2tog, k1, YO, k1. Repeat from * across. Row 2 & all WS rows: P across. Row 3: *K2, YO, k1, ssk, k4, k2tog, k1, YO, k2. Repeat from * across. Row 5: *K3, YO, k1, ssk, k2, k2tog, k1, YO, k3. Repeat from * across. Row 7: *K4, YO, k1, ssk, k2tog, k1, YO, K4. Repeat from * across. Row 8: As row 2, repeat Rows 1-8 twice, ending after Row 8 of pattern. Slip sts onto holder.Swatch 3: With smooth worsted wt yarn & appropriate ndls, CO 22 sts. Row 1 (RS): P8, k6, p8. Row 2: K8, p6, k8. Row 3: p8, slip next 3 sts onto cable ndl & hold in back of work, k3, k3 sts from cable ndl, p8. Row 4: As row 2, repeat Rows 1-4 until measures approx. 4‰ from beg, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. There is more, but I won't go there. Ugh. I know, I know I am a whiner. But my eyes just start to glaze over. I can't bear to read it until I do it.

Well, I better either try to go take a nap, or get in some gym time to make this pain go away. Wish me luck on the latter. :)

Long time, no blog...

I am so sorry you guys. Seriously, all this illness and traveling has worn me down. And now, all of the antihistamines I am on really make me tired all of the time. I wake up at 7 am, have two hours of energy and then feel like crashing everday. I will try to do a short catch up on some things today, but I think it is going to take awhile for me to catch y'all up.






I had a lovely time on a knitting getaway down at Isle of Palm, SC. Really, our only trips away from the beach were to go eat and to go to the lovely Knit yarn store in Charleston. The owner, Gay, and her staff are lovely people. Seriously. Gay takes time to sit down and talk to her customers, knit with you, help you, whatever. And so does her staff. One of the women in the shop actually made coffee and gave me some when she heard me whining about a headache and my needing to find a coffee shop while everyone shopped.







(Y'all, I honestly thought it was a caffeine headache. That is, a lack of caffeine headache. I am famous for getting these because my cardiovascular system is 98% liquid caffeine. And you other consulting engineers out there know what I am talking about needing to drink copious amounts of caffeinated liquids. But it turns out the headache was really due to the pressure dropping since Tropical Storm Barry was deciding to visit us. Which is now a new type of headache I am becoming famous for, as do many other people in the Greenville area. There is something about this geography that gives one hurricane headaches. But we didn't know that Barry was coming to see us at the time, because honestly, WHO watches the TV when you are at the beach. If you do, your beach priveleges should be revoked!)







My mom and I have an ongoing joke about taking pictures of our toes in different oceans around the world. You can't go to the beach without at LEAST sticking your toes in the water and sand. :)









Anyway, Knit has a great selection of books (so many books!), needles, and yarns! I *finally* picked up some Schaeffer Anne Sock Yarn that seemed worthy enough to be purchased. (When I saw it at Stitches East, it was not as impressive as some of the others I needed to allocate my limited funds to.) I also picked up some addi turbo needles (I can't find sizes 4 and 5 circs in this town to save my life so I must travel to find needles.), and a Lantern Moon Molly bag in red silk. But I can't show a pic of the Molly bag...the piping started fraying on the first day I used it. So it is in a box so it can be returned for a new one.


We had such a fun time at her store. Sitting with local knitters and talking about all things knitting. You can't beat that, ever....And a word of advice: if you ever go on a knitting retreat, make sure someone packs a ball winder and swift (as I did).


The night I got back from the beach, I tried on some aikido uniforms that I had ordered. About 4 hours later, I broke out in a serious case of hives...I won't go into why I had to order polyester/cotton blend uniforms as opposed to the usual 100% cotton ones...but lets just say I suspect the blend and chemicals used on it as the culprit. I am also going to spare everyone the gory details about the progression of my hives. I went to my dermatologist the next day, and they swear it was all the seafood that I ate. But after speaking to a family member who worked in allergy medicine, and other friends, we are more sure it was the uniforms. But I am going to plan a trip to an allergist sometime soon, because my allergies may be getting ridiculous. I think I AM turning into my mother. I am getting more sensitive to things, and that is no fun kids.


So, the irony is like a freakin' hammer. I had to cancel going to my aikido camp because I broke out in hives from trying on aikido uniforms that I had ordered for camp. Not only that, my hands hurt so much that I could not knit for 3 days. And even after that my hands would itch whenever I used them. Ugh. I guess I needed the rest anyway.


I think the final thing today is that I have signed up for Stitches East classes a few weeks ago. I am going to be taking alot of design classes, as that is where my area of interest is in right now. I need to push myself to learn more, as I always have ideas but need to get off my butt in putting them to paper more. Anyone else going to Stitches East this year?

There is alot to be excited about today...but also some sad news

Bovidae Farm Trip, FO, new sock yarn, Stitches East signups, and I think some more....

On Saturday I trekked up to Bovidae Farm in Mars Hill, NC with some members of our local knitting groups. It is best to visit Bovidae Farm in a group, because they like for you to call ahead and arrange a visit since they are a real-working farm and have alot of work to do! Anyway, we all made lunch dishes and drove up there and ate lunch on their wrap around porch, and petted their corriedale and merino sheep. Most of the flock is corriedale. I forgot my camera, so I will post some pictures when one of the other ladies on the trip sends some to me. They process and dye their own wool, as well as sell some other yarns in a little yarn shop in their cabin. Very nice people...what else can you say about people who let a group take over their house and knit! Hey, at least we brought food! I picked out some worsted weight in their Lichen colorway (dark sage greens and brown to match my eyes) for the rogue sweater. I will have to wash it first because the lanolin in the yarn will drive my allergies nuts.

It is funny, but in this light it looks more of an emerald green. Anyway, it will look great on me no matter what the lighting is.

We decided to leave Bovidae early to visit a yarn store up the road called Yummi Yarns in Burnsville, NC. The ladies in the store were very nice (I think they let us take over their shop for two hours), and they have an impressive selection of yarn, from high end to more modest yarns. Louisa Harding, Rowan, Noro, Hanne Falkenberg Kits, Colinette, Lamb's Pride, etc.. Too many to remember. Anyway, I had fun playing fashion model for the Hanne Falkenberg Trunk Show. I am glad it was there, because I got to try on many styles and narrow down what Iwould really buy if I was ever lucky enough to do so...some day I will own Diva or Mermaid. Man, am I a sucker for scandinavian designs. I will really need to save up for them, as they run ~$250 per kit!

They don't have a website yet, so I will post the info here: Yummi Yarns, 7 So. Main Street, Burnsville, NC 28714, 828 678 9890

I also finished my Inside Outs yesterday! Finally! It took forever since I have been working on many projects and traveling too much!

Yesterday, I also received my Sundara Yarn Petals Collection for May. It is gorgeous! Let me tell you, this girl has an eye for color you won't believe. And this kit is modeled on Dahlias, which I love. I have even planted some this year. I am so tempted to jump into this right away.

And last but not least, I signed up for my Stitches East classes this morning! And I got all of my first choices!! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I am going to take alot of design classes this year, to work on my New Years Knitting Resolutions. It is time to take off the training wheels and dive in. I know I can do it and already understand some design. But I have not really done much of that yet. Mary and I also have already reserved a hotel, so we are good to go!

We found out last week that our best local yarn shop, IMO, Yarns Forever, is closing its brick and mortar doors. I am saddened by this, but realize that this is also an opportunity for the owner. She is going to instead focus on expanding her growing wholesale and retail hand dyed yarn business, and on starting an alpaca farm. Have no fear, she will keep selling yarn through her websites for Yarns Forever and Creatively Dyed. It is unfortunate, but the local market is not enough to support the overhead of a bricks and mortar store. So, to all of my local readers, please go by and support her while she closes out the store. I know that many of you have not had the time to go there yet, but please make the time. She is open for a few hours on Saturdays, so please try to fit it into your schedules.

My red daylillies are totally in bloom now. Each has about 3-4 flowers per plant, and more buds waiting to bloom. I am excited. It is time to go and feed them some liquid fertilizer, and to plant my tomatoes and herbs.

I think it is time to slow down and spend some time at home. I have been on the road way too much. I need to feel a little more grounded. :) Plus, DH is starting to forget who I am!

Stitches East Review

Just returned from a 5 day trip for Stitches East 2006, where I was helping a friend run her yarn store's booth. This post is a little late as I am still catching up on sleep and have just started blogging today! It was a great experience, and wanted to share my thoughts with you all on a few things. I am not a vendor, nor do I work in a yarn store. Just a fellow yarnaholic.

Classes:
I took three classes while there.

• Learn to Love Intarsia with Sally Melville - A+ Class. Sally is friendly, personable and teaches many useful techniques in a short amount of time. These techniques are useful for intarsia as well as other types of projects. This would be a good class to supplement your reading of her third book, The Knitting Experience: Book 3: Color (The Knitting Experience), before you have tried to tackle any of the projects in it. Those in the class who had already done some of her projects in the book STILL learned how to better accomplish the techniques. This was my best class at Stitches.


• Fair Isle Knitting with Beth Walker-O'Brien - A Class. Beth was great, made you feel like you were being taught by a friend. She is also friendly, personable and made sure that she moved all around the classroom to help everyone. She demonstrated techniques from many locations in the classroom, as well as to small groups. Everyone in the class had practiced knitting in the hand they are not used to knitting in well before the class, so we were able to move at a fast clip. (I highly recommend doing this by knitting a few washcloths, like the "Back to School" free patterns on Knitty.com using inexpensive Sugar N' Cream yarn. You will be respected and much liked by your classmates for being prepared AND you will get more out of the class by already mastering this.) She shared her contact info with everyone, so that we could email her at anytime with questions. Be advised that she is getting divorced, so that you can find her under her maiden name Beth Walker at future Stitches events.
  
• Intarsia without Fear with Edie Eckman - B Class. I thought this was a good class until I took Sally Melville's. Edie will teach you a few traditional techniques with humor and patience, while Sally Melville will teach you many more techniques.

I feel that The Market could have been run a bit better than it did for the vendors, from my observations. It seemed there wasn't enough communication with the vendors on the procedures for setting up and breaking down. You could tell that no one with real logistics or planning experience was put in charge of that operation. :) I hope they can fix this in future Stitches East. It will make it easier for the vendors to participate. Also, vendors did not receive doorprize entry forms for the customers, nor were they giving them out with every purchase when they did! As a result, many people did not get to enter into the drawings as much as they should have. So be sure to ask for these next year!
Food - Either plan on eating great french fries and greasy food at the concession stand, eat at the great pubs across the street, or pack your own lunch. I did the latter two choices. Also, Starbucks is located on the third floor, so be sure to hit that for caffeine-assisted learning!

This is obvious, but budget plenty o money for your purchases, and bring a list of what you wish to see and buy. The Market is a great opportunity for you to see all of those cool yarns and gadgets you have heard about but can't find locally. The list also helps you stay on budget! I found extra yarn money by cashing in my coin jar before the trip. (Don't laugh, it works!$60 worth! Thats 3 skeins of sock yarn!)
My Stitches East purchases:

• Socks That Rock by Blue Moon Fiber Arts - I bought 4 colorways of the lightweight 100% Superwash Merino Sock Yarn: Lucy, Fred Flinstone, Metamorphic, Blue Brick Wall (a gift for a friend). I also bought one colorway of their Seduction Sock Yarn, which is 50% Merino and 50% Tencel, in Nodding Violet. I also bought three of their sock patterns: Central Air, Cedar Creek Socks, and Lavender and Lace. If anyone has worked any of these patterns, please let me know your thoughts.

• Tiny Toes by Interlacements - I bought one colorway #402 Taiga. It is a variegated green colorway.

Super Socks & Baby by Tess Yarns - I bought a colorway with greens, blues and purples, but since it did not come with a label, I do not know what it is called. I am guessing that it is the Rainforest colorway.

Sunflower Kit by Decadent Fibers - this is a needle felting "recipe" for me to make sunflowers to decorate my house.

A "K2TOG" magnet from ModernYarn - I find this romantic, like my husband and I knitting our two lives together....okay a touch of gooshiness, sorry. Moving on....

Even though this is my birthday month and had a birthday present budget set for Stitches from my DH, I had to limit my purchases, as I had gone to SAFF the weekend before and spent way too much there. I will share my purchases from that in a separate post!