Giant Stocking

The pattern for the Giant Stocking is available through Ravelry for free, so you can download now.

Have fun!

Stitches Recap

Stitches was all that I wanted it to be this year.

The Connecticut Convention Center is new, interesting, plenty of very nice, well-maintained bathrooms, and the Mariott Hotel (which is connected to the Center) is also nice and new. We had a corner room on the 17th floor with great views that looked east and south. The hotel was very welcoming: our room keys had the Stitches logo on the backs, and the light-up sign board outside the center had the Stitches info rotating on it. The overall feeling was that the convention center and the hotel were glad to see us, which is not always the sense at other hotels.

I took a 6-hour design class with Barry Klein from Trendsetter Yarns. He is delightful: very knowledgeable, and he's able to impart that knowledge with humor and great patience with those students who either don't get it or ask kind of dumb questions. The first half of the class was spent using yarns together to see how they work. He encouraged us to pick yarns we wouldn't normally choose; initally I found it very hard to choose the yarns, then I jumped in, grabbed a safety yarn and two that I wouldn't use in a million years. My swatches turned out beautifully.

The second part of the class was no knitting (fine for me because I did something to my wrist),rather it was looking at pictures of clothing while Barry talked about what detail(s) drew him in. Usually, when I look at a photo in a catalog, I look at the whole sweater and think about how I can replicate it. Barry had us thinking about detail: in fact, take those photos that you like, cut them up, and then pick different pieces of them: cuff, collar, drape, etc. It really opened my mind up.

My last class was with Edie Eckman and again was no knitting: Where do they get those numbers? Interesting class in how to figure how much yarn you need, etc., etc.

The Marketplace seemed a little more subdued this year: I don't know if it was because the space was bigger so the show seemed huddled in it or whether there were fewer vendors. There were a lot of new, more local vendors, and some of the regulars (like Brooks Farm) weren't there because of a conflict in scheduling.

I got some yarn at WEBS (and was able to share my gift cards with Colleen), a few skeins at the half-price place, and my big splurge was from Coloratura Yarns: a huge skein of worsted weight merino and silk in a blue/lavender/white colorway. What drew me in to their booth was the sample sweater in that yarn: a cable-fronted long (almost tunic length) sweater with a ribbed collar. It was gorgeous. I went back later to check the pattern sizing; the measurements for the smallest size sounded too big, but Bjorn said "Try it on". I did, and it was amazing. I looked and felt 20 years younger. The guys who own Coloratura said I should have worn it in the Fashion Show the night before. And that did it: the cash came out of my wallet as soon as I took off the sample.

And I won a book at the Fashion Show: Jane Slicer-Smith's new book which has wonderful designs in it.

Now to Hartford: the downtown is not at all residential the way Philadelphia is, so after the rush hour, it's pretty dead. Colleen and I had located a restaurant a few blocks away and weren't afraid to walk (like many non-urban attendees). We found the streets to be empty of people, but well-lit and there was a lot of car traffic. The most difficult/annoying part of the walk was how long we had to wait at traffic lights for the pedestrian crossing lights. Not a walker-friendly city. We had dinner the first night at City Steam, excellent burgers, relaxing atmosphere.

On Friday afternoon, after our classes, we walked over to the Wadsworth Atheneum to see the Allure of Lace exhibit, a small (two room) exhibit that was packed with visual and mental stimulation. There was no knitted lace, but it was inspiring and interesting nonetheless. We were curious as to why Stitches didn't do any cross-promotion on this, and I found out later that if we had presented our Stitches badges we would have gotten half-price off. Oh well.

Friday evening was the Fashion Show and Dinner, and as they have for several years, the two events are divided rather than rolled in to one. Obama was in the area so the traffic was bad and the models were delayed, so the show was late getting started which meant that dinner was late getting going. The food was much better than at Baltimore, but it was just served too late.

Saturday night we went back to City Steam and then had our private, in-room show and tell where we each take turns laying out our purchases and describing them. Much, much fun.

Sunday was a leisurely breakfast, check out, load the car, and then a last swing around the Marketplace; we stayed for the Grand Prize drawing which neither of us won, and then headed home.

I'm already looking forward to next year.

Patterns and Stitches

Now that my knitting for StellaPop is finished, I can focus on my own designs. I returned to a design I had started before the push of knitting full-sized sweaters in sock weight yarn hit, and here it is: my Unisex Striped Hoodie, available (again) on Ravelry.

The construction of this sweater required taking detailed notes so that it made sense, and there was a certain amount of frogging and re-working. Also, my initial concept of varied stripes didn't look as good in reality as it did in my mind (what does?).

I feel like I've gotten my design mojo back as I'm going full speed ahead with another design. That will have to wait until I get back from.....

Stitches East!

Tomorrow, Colleen and I drive up to Hartford for classes, shopping, knitting talk, hanging out, shopping, touching yarn, shopping. We both feel like kids on Christmas Eve.

And speaking of Christmas, New Year's follows, and for this year, my resolution is start to knit my way through Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and write about the patterns and the experience here. There are 500 different patterns in this book which means more than one a day; I don't think that's going to happen, so we're probably looking at a two-year project. And along the way, I'm going to learn more about how yarn sits on the needles than I ever imagined, even after all these years of knitting. Between this and my 50-Sock project and designing, I think I can keep myself busy and out of trouble.

Wish me luck.

Current Work, Patterns, and Yarn

I've been busy, working on knitting for StellaPop and also working on my own designs.

My Sunset Lace Stole is in my Ravelry Store (and you all know how easy it is to join Ravelry). This turned out very well, and I'm pleased because I can wear it as a stole or as a scarf in this transitional weather. The yarn is Article 960 from Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing, color #128 Passion, and it is wonderful: fine, light weight mercerized cotton with a great hand and an amazing color progression.



I also put out my pattern for Binky Buddy, also available in my Ravelry Store, and I think it's a good one, too.

Feliz aniversario

Today, four years ago, Allie and I were flying down to Houston, changing planes to go on to Leon, being picked up in Leon and driven to San Miguel.

The next few days were some of the most intense of my life, up to that point. Other than bringing Allie in to the world, leaving her in a foreign country was the hardest thing I had done with her. Sometimes I still can't believe that we actually let her do this. But as she reminds me,

"I had a great time and I didn't get hurt."

Feliz aniversario, Allie, and may you always have a great time and not get hurt.

Plagues

Although it's not Passover, we have been beset by plagues.

A couple of weeks ago, on the eve of going down to Charleston, I noticed a splotch on my chest, just below my collarbone. I thought something bit me. I also had a couple of red dots on my shins, which I thought was a reaction to the sun, melanin-deprived person that I am. The splotch on my chest sequed in to a splotch with rings and different colors; someone remarked that it looked like a tick bite (from where????) and someone else remarked that it looked like.......ringworm.

So here we go with the pros and cons of the Internet: I was able to access images of ringworm, and shithook----that's what was on my chest. Oh great. And on top of that, I had some other rash on my legs and arms. Terrific.

Then Henry had some weird stuff on his face, and thanks to the Internet, I was pretty sure he had himself a case of ringworm. And this all meant that Chuck, the newest addition to our family, had brought ringworm with him from the shelter and given it to me and Henry. Oh shit.

I got an appointment to take Henry to the vet, and I knew this was not going to be easy: the last time I took him in, I thought I was going to have a stroke, carrying him over there. He weighs 22 pounds without the cat carrier. I work out. He's still heavy. Then I realized that Chuck really should get checked out, too, unless I wanted to make two trips to the vet.

So we came up with Pet Solutions:



It's Patent Pending so don't rip off the idea.

It got us to the vet. I was given lotion to smear on their faces twice a day, and shampoo that I'm supposed to bathe each of them twice a week with. The smearing part is easy. The shampoo part sucks.

And I still had this itchy rash on my arms and legs. The chest splotch was subsiding, but the extremeties were still extreme.

Back to the Internet. And I'm 100% sure that what I have isAtypical Pityriasis Rosea which presents with a "herald" patch, very often mistaken for ringworm (!!!), and a rash. There's nothing to be done. It clears up in 6-8 weeks. It seems to be easing up, at least on the legs. We're at two and a half weeks now. I think there's hope.

Meanwhile, Henry's face looks like crap and doesn't seem to be improving; I sometimes think it may be getting worse which means another trip to the vet using Pet Solutions to get there.

If it's not the Parenting Train, it's the Pet Train.

Big Pile of Yarn Crap

So a couple of days ago I was so pleased with myself for doing the short-row, set-in, top-down sleeve on my sweater. Today I finished the sweater and began sewing the side seams, and guess what? I discovered that I had knitted a crap sweater.

The sleeve caps look like crap, and over all, the finished product just doesn't make it. The wonkiness that I thought would be ok just isn't; it's ugly and misshapen.

I have started and re-started this sweater so many times. I want a gray cardigan that looks amazing with one great deep red button.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that I was going to end up making (yet) another
Mr Greenjeans. I was trying to avoid falling back on that terrific pattern that never fails and be creative and make something new, but my first instincts were the right ones: Mr Greenjeans has never failed me.

Tomorrow I will frog the sweater (which is shoved in my workroom wastebasket), rewind the wool, and begin, again, with Mr Greenjeans.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be happy.