Knitting Royalty ~

There are people in our knitting and fiber world that are considered celebrities. Given all of them that I am aware of, my favorite is still the Yarn Harlot. She continues to delight me and thousands of other fiber enthusiasts through her adventures shared by blog and book. We have been lucky to see her several times during book tours, and at both Sock Summits.

We saw her on this book tour and were delighted by her stories, of course. So talented in so many ways, and oh so funny..... There is still a mystery about what she is doing with all the little wash cloths that are knit for her - she mentioned she was doing something with them in a blog post before the tour, but I've not heard any update on that project....

Madrona ~

We were so lucky to be able to visit Madrona Fiber Arts again this year, for our second year in a row - that's how lucky we are! So excited to see all the creatively knitted shawls, scarves, sweaters, cowls, and just about any outer wear you can imagine was being worn by the fellow Madrona participants, including us! We also saw a few celebrities, most notable Stephanie, as she is our very favorite inspiration and a hoot. I also stood in line with Wonder Mike as I recognized his lovely voice, and told him that I loved his voice... and scared him, perhaps, and added that I listened to his podcast The Fiber Beat...and he appeared to be not so scared...I bought these lovely balls of fiber while standing next to Mike, in the same booth with the creator of my beloved Pocket Wheel.
I love these crazy colors and the price was the best deal for roving at the show! At last year's Madrona, I was still waiting for my own Pocket Wheel to be made and still seven months away from picking it up. Now I'm having such fun spinning and plying with it! Last year I was also captivated by the pattern Crow Prints shawl that I saw on a sweet lady while I was looking at yarn. She said it was an easy knit, but I'm stuck on mine... I wish I would have found her again!!

Steph in Seattle ~

Celebrity siting in Seattle this week. We were again lucky that Stephanie appeared at a local book store for her book tour. Unfortunately I had a night meeting I had to attend, so I missed it. Our group was represented beautifully with babies, knitwear and three generations of knitters (well, we're sure baby Annika will soon be a knitter)You many recognize Marion as she has two very lucky grand kids that you've met before. You met Sawyer here and here and here and here and here, and Annika here. Many thanks to the Yarn Harlot and her blog for documenting the event so well that I almost felt like I was there. This picture is from her blog, too. Did you hear that her book began at #24 on the New York Bestseller list?!!!

Cast on handspun ~

In the spirit of casting on, or perhaps not knitting for 5 days straight after my birthday gave me this pent up itch that needs major scratching....so....there is some casting on this week to ease that itch... We have the lovely handspun here, much better than the Horrible Handspun of my first learning.I think it is very lovely indeed, paired with the lovely Signature Needles!!Using Yarn Harlot's scarf pattern that I am fond of...it is looking great!

River cast on ~

Getting closer to the end of the Hazel Knits socks for my 16 year old, and I am thinking of the next cast on. That same 16 year old requested a scarf that is, "a circle" and that she could loop around her neck if needed. I thought, perhaps, she needed a moebius, so I did some research. Instead, I came up with Encompass by our favorite Yarn Harlot....and cast on!It may not look like much yet, but it is oh-so-soft and the stitch patterns are fun.Plus, it is always great to cast on at the river!Looking great so far, eh?!!!!!
Yes, I love this - on Signature needles too - Yippee!!!

Sock Summit 2011 ~

Whew.....Monday after the 2011 Sock Summit, and I'm not sure how to begin sharing this amazing weekend with you. So much wonderful and delightful bliss occurred for me (and for at least 2,000 other attendees - perhaps closer to 6,000). We arrived Thursday night, in time for some shopping in the Marketplace, plus the opening ceremonies where Steph and Tina shared their thoughts and stories of Sock Summit 2009 and turning into the planning of Sock Summit 2011. Plus we danced a little....I've never seen Star Gate, but Steph and Tina love the show....so we all were able to walk through Sock Gate.... certainly the Sock Summit had that "out of this world" feeling for all the time we were there..... I only bought one skein of yarn on this first partial day in the Marketplace....I was saving up for the first "official" day of shopping......

Venezia Vacation ~

Monday night, when I heard there would be a snow day on Tuesday, I thought that I needed a way to celebrate. As I sat in front of our fireplace with the grey/black clapotis on my lap, I realized what I needed.... a Venezia Vacation....


So I found my one ball of Webs Sale Venezia, and I cast on the Yarn Harlot's one row scarf, and I am loving this vacation!!!


P.S. The rosewood needles really help, too!!!

Beautiful yarn ~

Here's my beautiful yarn, cast on in our weekend scarf pattern made famous by the Yarn Harlot.

It looks beautiful, and the silk and merino are a joy to knit...

I wish this was worsted weight yarn, as this will take 100 years to finish...but may be worth working with this luscious yarn!

Ravelympics are near ~

Several of my favorite podcasts are talking about the Ravelympics that are coming soon. The Ravelympics are the Olympics for knitters. The idea is to cast on a challenging project during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and cast off (and finish) the project by the closing ceremonies. I've never participated in the Ravelympics or the Knitting Olympics created by the Yarn Harlot four years ago. I need to tell you that the "oops" or "whoops" sweater from a few Friday's ago is my Ravelympics project.

Does that mean that I plan to start it when the opening ceremony occurs? no...I've already begun...

Does that mean I plan to finish it by the time the closing ceremony occurs? no, are you crazy? It's a sweater for heaven's sake....

Then why am I calling it my Ravelympics project? Just so I could cast on and knit a sweater for me, guilt free, during February....

Knit for Service ~

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. and this "Service" weekend, I am knitting on my helmet liner for the troops.

It is a small way of providing service, but every bit helps. I recommend that you do some service knitting this weekend, as it feels really good.


Also, if you haven't checked out the YarnHarlot's blog lately, please do. She has inspired me and thousands of others to donate to Knitters without Borders/Doctors without Borders.

Sock Summit Farewell ~

The knitting fantasy weekend did come to an end...with an amazing panel discussion by women of creativity and talent and honor in the knitting world. We sat next to Famous Jess of Ravelry, and that was very cool! Her friend won the blanket raffle for Doctors without Borders, very cool, indeed. Famous women on the panel including Barbara Walker (I'm sure we all have one of her books) and Cat Bordhi (I have one of her books, too) Meg Swanson, Nancy Bush (I check her books out of the library.. and have yet to brave one of her sock patterns....but they are lovely) Lucy Neatby (who I already told you about ~ she's amazing) and Judith (who I'm not familiar with, but Steph would take a class on boiling water from her....high praise....) and I'm missing a few... it was an amazing few hours hearing them discuss topics, and so funny to hear Steph & Tina with the introductions and the comments in between...

Tina let it slip that this was "the first" sock summit, so we are all hoping for one next year, and I would vote for a Portland location again, as it was perfect in every way.... this was a weekend of fantasy in so many ways, and I hope the creativity and inspiration stay with me all year!!!!


As I have at least a year of Casting On with all the great yarn we bought! (actually, this isn't all mine, it is mostly Miss M's.....but I love this picture!)

Sock Summit Sunday ~

Sunday came around so fast, as if our weekend was in a time warp. We started the morning with a class by the amazing Lucy Neatby. As a teacher, she is patient and supportive. She gave us 'one on one' attention and treated each of us as important and worthy. (I will not name the very grumpy and impatient teacher we had on Saturday...She acted a lot like my 1st grade teacher who used to whack our hands with a wooden ruler....) Lucy was A+ in every way. The class went too fast, but we all seemed to learn her technique for the chimney toe ending for a sock...

Here is Lucy with Miss M.

Lucy & Miss M are bonding....


Lucy just being Lucy..... (she's awesome)


Here is a fun Kinnear picture of guess who and guess who's arm....

(Steph and Lucy's arm.....) pretty great, eh?

Sock Summit Sock Hop ~

To say that Miss M surprised us isn't saying enough. She amazed us and knocked us for a loop. On Wednesday night (when she should have been sleeping) she made poodle skirts for all of us, and they turned out amazing. She is a talented lady, and oh-so-creative.... we looked awesome...

We took the Max (Portland's light rail) over to the Art Museum and met two delightful ladies from New York and Toronto.... New York had on a beautiful knitted dress (can you imagine how long it would take to knit that?) and Toronto had on great knee high socks (can you imagine how long it would take to knit these?)

There were a few there with poodle skirts...

and we all looked awesome....

and we had our picture taken with Steph... and she is truly an amazing inspiration....(thanks Steph)

and we danced....

and danced....

and we had a blast, thanks to Miss M making us these awesome poodle skirts.....

(then we caught a ride to Powell's Book Store... but I don't have any pictures of that... probably a good thing...)

Sock Summit World Record ~

Although we arrived Thursday night, we were too late to register, but we still walked around the Portland Convention Center to get the details of the next day. We thought we might have to stand in line for tickets to participate in the World's Record of Knitting. As it turned out, we were early and able to get 3 tickets with no problem.

The event was amazing. The crowd was having a blast and Steph was in perfect form. I knit on a scarf...jitteryknitter knit on a dishcloth (don't ask) and Miss M started a scarf....

We did break the record with 935 knitters, knitting on 2 straight needles for 15 minutes....

Serendipity misplaced ~

Coming home from vacation was tougher than we thought it could be. Bad weather in Newark caused flight back ups and groundings all over the network, so we were stuck in the D.C. airport for a few hours. Of course I was knitting most of the time ~ so that was not too awfully bad.... Then after finally getting to Newark, we were stuck there for several more hours, and as we waited to find out if our plane was ever going to arrive from the south, so we could fly west, we noticed that we were in the gate being used by those passengers flying to Toronto. Could it be that Stephanie Pearl McPhee might be flying on this plane? Perhaps we might see her? She might be knitting, like me, in the gate waiting area right now.... Alas, although we checked every passenger that boarded, we did not see her.... So close, and yet so far.....

International cooperation ~

When we I couldn't find any yarn within the Washington DC mall area, I decided this required extreme tactics. Upon finding the Canadian Embassy, I inquired if their most famous ambassador, Stephanie Pearl McPhee, was aware that there were no yarn stores easily found within the DC mall area. I thought she was already working on this problem. Also, I knew that President Obama had already held a sock during a photo opportunity and campaign tour, so I think he is working on this problem too. Oddly enough, those at the Embassy could not divulge any of the strategies to get yarn to the DC mall. I am hoping this is in the stimulus package, as I was certainly ready to do my part for the economy of Washington DC!

Cha Cha is gone ~

We interrupt our knitting today to tell about the passing of one of chickens. I'm not sure I've told you about our delightful chickens, so a bit of history before going on. Two years ago, on Earth Day, our family did our part to becoming more sustainable by getting 8 little chicks at our Grange. My husband grew up on a farm and had chickens, but I'm a city girl. Our oldest daughter did tons of research on which chickens were prolific egg layers, and easiest to have around....and my husband began building a coop and aviary that would keep out raccoons (and probably bears... it is deluxe and secure). As part of the learning experience, we were to name our chickens after favorite authors. I named "my" two chickens, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (surprise, eh?) and JK Rowling. My husband named "his" chicken Julia Child (don't say it...). We realized that the kids didn't realize that these chicks were female, as they named "their" chickens Charles Dickens, Jasper Tompkins, Lemony Snicket, Doctor Seuss and Richard Peck. Early on, Charles, who we call Cha Cha (since that sounds more feminine) became distinct because she was the first to greet us when we would visit the coop. She was so curious and chatty and seemed to be trying to tell us stories. She learned how to jump on our outstretched arms, and was very social. She was also great at posing for pictures, even with my knitted hats! She's the one that would come into the coop while we were cleaning it, and chat the entire time. As we filled the nesting boxes with new straw, one at a time, she would investigate the newly filled box, one at a time, and chat about that too.

Cha Cha was a delightful companion, and I will miss her terribly.

(Here she is with Lemony, our black Sussex)