Vacation Yarn!

Sister-in-law took me to the local yarn shop to check out what's happening across the States from my local yarn shop. She talked me into knitting her a tank top made from this ribbon yarn.  P.S. The yarn shop staff here have never heard of the color term, "Clown Barf" and I thought that was interesting. There was minimal fiber at this shop, only merino, and not much in the neon colorways.  Still fun to check out a new shop, and the staff was friendly and a lot of fun.

The Best Day ~

If you could dream up the best day, what would it include?  My best day would have great friends who are delightful as well as creative and clever, plus at least ten yarn shops along a most interesting road trip. Let's say that each of these yarn shops would give away a free pattern and offer sales on their yarn. As a bonus, let's have one of the shops offer a crazy sale of all one can put into a paper bag for a flat rate of $50.

Complete the day at the best yarn shop of all, and do some serious knitting while all the creative juices of the day are running around in our heads so we can't decide what to cast on first.....Yes, this yarn shop crawl has been the Best Day!

Yarn of my dreams ~

I first heard about Elsa Wool in the Stash and Burn podcast a few years ago. The way it was described, soft, sturdy, home grown on the sweetest sheep and spun in America invoked a dreamy view of yarn perfection. I wondered if I would ever be able to decide which type to order on-line, as there were too many choices and all sounded lovely.

Tolt Yarn and Wool answered my dreams, again. There was a table full of Elsa Wool, so I could touch and squish and ponder until I could make a clear choice. I spent my Christmas gift certificate from my sweetie on a sweaters worth of this lovely yarn...looking forward to swatching soon!

Tolt Mitts Success ~

The designer of the Tolt Mitts came back to Tolt Yarn and Wool shop, and I was ready with my finished Tolt Mitts. Although I knit them for my youngest daughter, she loaned them back to me for this event.

I should have taken some pictures of the event, but I was having too much fun chatting with the designer, Andrea Rangel, and the other knitters in the shop. Plus there was some serious yarn decisions being made by Patti and Lisa, and some lovely yarn came home in our car!  Since I didn't have pictures of the event, I am using the picture of the mitts out on the town....

Waiting for thumbs ~

These mitts are darling, and they are knitting up very fast. They are from our newest local yarn shop, Tolt Yarn and Wool, and my daughter picked out the pattern and yarn at our first visit. My daughter is excited to wear them, so she has been trying them on....

Except there are no thumbs yet, just the waste yarn placed where the thumbs will go...

When I get a chance to knit those thumbs....I do hope I can get the right thumb and left thumb to be the same, or at least similar (as the last pair of mittens I made had thumbs that were not quite the same).

Tolt Mitts ~

When I started these Tolt Mitts on two circular needles, I was a bit worried that they wouldn't work out the way my socks have worked.  The cast on and the ribbing were a bit awkward with such few stitches. Once past that, the color work went really well.

I can't wait to get to the thumb!

New Local Yarn Shop ~

While in Michigan, I missed the grand opening of our newest local yarn shop...but my friends were there and said it was an amazing place. I couldn't wait to visit, and checked it out my first weekend back here ~ what a GREAT shop!   Tolt Yarn and Wool is delightful in every way.

Lots of yarn, lots of samples, lots of light to check out the yarn and samples, and close to a great restaurant to celebrate a great birthday!

Plus a great pattern and great yarn to celebrate the grand opening!

 

Hurrah!  

Michigan Yarn ~

There was a bright spot in our Michigan trip, and that was finding out that our first grand-baby is due in May. To me, this meant that I needed to start some baby knitting, and I had an idea that I should start baby knitting with Michigan yarn.

Although I did find this yarn at their local yarn shop, it was not super wash so I didn't think it would work well for anything to do with babies...but I loved the crazy colors and it made me smile so I thought it would help brighten up the Michigan trip.

So I went to another local yarn shop and found this yarn and this yarn from Italy and a favorite pattern from my past, and had to start knitting....and the hat is so cute!!!!

Fabulous Fuchsia ~

I scored this malabrigo lace at my favorite yarn shop for 50% off during their anniversary sale. I will make the Jewel Cowl (free pattern on Ravelry). There is a beautiful sample in my favorite yarn shop, and each time I see it, I vow to knit this cowl.... I need to get beads and a crochet hook soon, so I can cast on!

As I was looking at it, while knitting on these socks, I noticed how similar the colors are....fuchsia is so lovely!

College Knit Night ~

After a great "girls night" with my 15 year old, we picked up our 18 year old this morning. We headed back to our favorite part of town to have a yummy breakfast, and she was telling us all about the classes she is registered for this fall. We parked next to our favorite shop in town, and pointed out our new favorite local yarn shop.

My 18 year old said, "Hey mom, we can go to knit night on Tuesdays!"  (Ahhhhh, if only I could!!!) She knows how score points with me!!!

College Orientation ~

My daughter's and I took a road trip to get our oldest to college orientation. While she was getting placed in honors calculus, we were visiting the local yarn shop.

I love this place!  I told the super nice staff person that she and I would become best friends for the next four years as my daughter was starting school there in September. She was pleased, and we found some great sock yarn to celebrate....it was a tough choice, but my youngest chose this one..

Lovely yarn by Fly Designs. Can't wait to cast on!

Yarn Crawl ~

This weekend was our local yarn shop crawl!  We always look forward to this weekend and have high hopes of hitting all 20 + shops.  We visited Serial Knitters Friday night, and Seattle Yarn, Bad Woman Yarn, Tea Cozy Yarns, Fiber Gallery and Acorn Street on Saturday. 

Here we are in front of Bad Woman Yarn, with all the lovely knitting items behind us. Patti is taking the picture and having just as much fun as we are. Free patterns at each shop and lots of ideas to ponder.  Best part of the yarn shop crawl is spending time laughing with friends and yarn!

Sunshine 2013 ~

My oldest had informed me before Christmas that her, "new favorite color" is yellow...so she was asking that her new socks be yellow, and she would like a knit cowl out of yellow.  This is great, as who doesn't love knitting with such a happy color?

Our favorite local yarn shop, Serial Knitters was having a lovely sale, and I picked up a skein of Black Trilliam and knit this cowl very quickly...as I wasn't sure how long her "favorite color" would stay yellow!

Bazaar Girls ~

We were sad to leave knitting camp at Fort Worden, yet looked forward to hitting the local knitting shop on our way out of town. Great little shop called Bazaar Girls, and they had lovely fiber and yarn. I found a sample swatch from my new favorite fiber providers, Taylored Fibers, and we could not find the fiber it came from.  So I emailed Barry and Linda that I had seen a swatch of, "Mostly dark brown, but hints of purple sprinkled through it" and Linda emailed right back and said they had some to send me... and if I liked it, I could just send them a check for the total.

Here it is.... 50/40/10 Alpaca/Corriedale/Mohair, and, yes, I liked it...(how could one not like this??)

and sent them a check, and ordered a bit more of their lovely fiber....some really super soft and yummy alpaca blends......

Here is some spun, more coarse and pokey than the alpaca blend with merino and silk, but the colors of the mohair are such fun!

Frolicking cuffs ~

I have officially started knitting the cuffs on these fabulous socks! I love the yarn and love the very pointy KA needles, size #1. We had to pick up these KAs at our favorite local yarn store just recently since this cuff pattern has some tricky rib splitting involved and I was surprised that super pointy needles made such a big difference in these cuffs!  Worth the investment, as KAs are not as expensive as Addi Lace, and makes the knitting so much better...otherwise these cuffs would have been waiting for a long long time for any action...

 

The socks are stunning, and my 13 year old loves them. She tried them on last night and said they fit perfectly!  Hurrah!   You may recall that my 13 year old picked out this yarn "for me" and gave it to me for Christmas last year....knowing she would be getting hand knit socks with this fabulous Frolicking Feet yarn! Smart kid, eh?!

Yarn Tour Inspiration ~

On Saturday, the JitteryKnitter and I did our Yarn Store Tour and were very excited to visit five shops out of the twenty one that were part of the tour.  We talked to several ladies that had been to all twenty one already, and some that would finish the twenty one by Sunday. Wow, that is a lot of driving and a lot of knitting shops, and free patterns and inspiration, and visiting with many many fun ladies!  My favorite part of the Yarn Shop Tour was spending it with JitteryKnitter, as we have such fun together. We get each other excited about more projects and more yarn and more patterns and....the need for more knitting time!!!

 

The items that inspired me the most were knit out of super fine cob web lace weight...perfect to wear in the summer as they seem to be made out of cobwebs... and best of all, I knew I had a project of my own made out of the very same yarn... yarn that JitteryKnitter had bought for me on one of her trips!  Hurrah!

Winner ~

On Thursday there was an amazing track meet. My youngest daughter was running the mile as part of the varsity team, even though she's only in 7th grade ~ 12 years old. As she was on the last lap of her mile run, the sky opened up with sheets of rain and, at the same time she burst into a sprint of speed. A beautiful sight to see, long legs pumping and long hair flying. Soaking wet, she came up to me at the end of the race and said, "I love running in the rain, this is great!" and she had another great event that day. (this picture is from a previous meet, as the rain prevented any good pictures - she is in the blue)At the end of the meet, I asked her if she wanted to go to my favorite yarn shop, just a few blocks away, to celebrate. She gave me a big smile and said, "Yes!" and really meant it - to my big BIG surprise. So we went, both soaked and happy, and now up for another adventure. I told her she could pick out whatever she wanted and I'd knit her socks, and she checked out the Hazelknits, the Madelinetosh and the Black Trillium and then held this skein up with one word, "Winner!!!!! Winner!!!!"
She was right - this yarn is beautiful, and I couldn't have chosen a more perfect color for her. Rain City Fiber, and it is lovely!
Around the corner we were checking the sale bin, and she found some screaming orange/red, so we decided we should get that, too....More lovely yarn for our champion track star! On to district meet next Thursday, and hopefully more great races and more yarn, please!!!

Tools to Practice ~

When I started knitting hats, I kept finding new yarn and new patterns to try. I couldn't knit those hats fast enough, so I started getting more Size 9 16 inch circular needles. As I look in my Bass Pro Extreme Worm Binder, I laugh each time I see how many Size 9 16 inch circular needles I have....what was I thinking back then? How long would it have taken to finish one hat before starting another one? (I see you nodding your head...right?) Well, a similar phenomenon is happening as I learn to spin. As I look at the silk I am spinning, and how much more there is to spin, I'm antsy to try to spin something else too....sort of like startitis of spinning, perhaps....

So I found these spindles on eBay (plus the squarish yarn gauge) however they do not have a notch on them....and that surprised me, as I've only spun with notched spindles. They make it easier for me to stop and start...... so I started to spin this black alpaca with silk.....ooooooooooooh, so soft.....

also started to spin this 50/50 merino and tencel (Rain City Fiber Arts) that I just purchased at our favorite local yarn shop, Serial Knitters.....this fiber is ooooooooooh, so soft as well...

.......do you detect a softness pattern here? Hey, did someone say, "pattern" - Is it a shawl???

Sweet Jazz and Tea ~

After a 'way too busy' week of no knitting, I was finally able to spend some quality time with my Sweet Jazz shawl. This is the one that begins by casting on 300 stitches, so knitting one row seems to take awhile, and the purl back is painfully slow. However.... I am loving this yarn and the colors are stunning.

As I was sitting in my favorite yarn shop, knitting away, I heard the ladies at the front table knitting and talking about "Nightmare Jazz" and how could it be so hard...and I tip toed up to the front and asked, "Please tell me you're not talking about the Sweet Jazz shawl being a nightmare?" Alas, they said that once one starts "knitting the gaps" there is some very tricky and fiddley bits to work through...but, good news is that they are at the shop to help me if I stumble...

Meliae done ~

Also accomplished during Sewing Expo weekend, Ta Da! As soon as I arrived home, I took out the blocking boards and set to work.

Yes, I finished the knitting on the Meliae, out of the gorgeous Baroness colorway by Hazel Knits. Oh-so-lovely yarn, and I loved knitting every stitch!


A little scary was nearing the end of the shawl I was running very low on yarn, and ended up with a teeny tiny ball - perhaps one yard in length...enough to make me panic about perhaps needing an intervention with Annelie at my favorite yarn store! I'm glad that I can go into the store with good news of a finished project, instead of a problem!!