Day: March 19, 2020

 

ICT DESTASH SALE IS CANCELED

Well hello!
I sure hope you all aren’t too sick of the website/social media/email bombardment from every contact you have. I know it’s an inconvenience and I certainly do appreciate you taking the time to click + read.

I received notice from the owner of Wichita Studio School, where my studio is located, that he is closing the building to the public. That means the iCT DeSTaSH SaLe is officially canceled, which is what I honestly expected to have to do anyway.

Today and tomorrow the building is being sanitized. Unfortunately, that does not include private studio spaces so I will be there Saturday when we are allowed back in, sanitizing our space and setting up for virtual lessons.

What this means for us:

For now, I have to cancel our in-person classes + private lessons.

I foresee having to move to virtual classes, which makes it hard for me to physically guide you, but it’s better than nothing!
I will be using Google Hangouts/Meet for virtual individual/group lessons.

Once we set up a time to meet virtually,  I will help get you set up if you haven’t used it before.

I will be keeping in touch via email, Facebook, Instagram so keep an eye out.
Thank you all!!
Don’t give up, we’ll all get through this time as healthy, more community-minded knitters. We have plenty of knitting to keep us busy!!

While I have had a lot of shop sample and class knitting that is simple, stockinette in the round I have found a few new video podcasts to follow.
Not only have I subscribed, I have binge watched hundreds of episodes (and they are NOT short episodes :o) ).

Let me introduce you to a few new friends:

Sockmatician – Brilliant, funny, chatty, interesting view on how knit stitches work together to make beautiful fabrics. Really fantastic tutorials!

Bakery Bears – I love this couple. Dan is a new knitter (not any longer, but when they started their video podcast) and Kay is a wonderful knitter human being that loves beautiful colors. And bakes. Yummy things!

Arne & Carlos – Scandinavian male knitters. Enough said. They are no-holds-barred up-front with their knitting and techniques. Great tutorials as well.

If you can’t tell, I am on a male knitter kick at the moment.

It’s all due to my dream of my husband and sons picking up fiber of some sort with some sort of tool to make something; spinning, knitting, crochet, weaving, I don’t care, just create something!

On my needles for the shop samples, and an upcoming spring class at Picket Fence Quilt Co, is the Anker’s Summer Shirt.

The Cascade Sarasota, a cotton blend, top is already up on a mannequin at the shop in a great denim color, and I love it!
The second version on my needles is using Cascade Llamerino in 3 of the natural colors; cream, tan, light brown. Because it is a winter blend 50/50 llama/merino wool I am doing a longer sleeve version. This yarn is absolutely wonderful to knit with, soft hand yet it has some nice body to it. I can’t wait to have it done and blocked!

One ongoing class I have right now is the Keeping Warm Sweater. We are on the long slog of the stockinette body in the round before we get to the super fun mosaic bottom border. I love knitting with the Mirasol Sulka Legato yarn. It is so soft and smooth on the needles, with the ChiaoGoo Twist tips I am really huming along (when I have a few minutes to work on it).

Oh, and Wichita Knitters’ Guild March meeting is in just 2 days; Friends, Frogging & Fixing is the theme for this month.
Bring a friend, bring something to either frog or fix! We’ll help you with your frogging and fixing, swifts and ball winders will be present.
If you bring a friend you will both be entered in a prize drawing, if your friend joins the guild then you both get a small gift and you both will be entered in the prize drawing. So fun!!
We are also finishing up the East vs West charity knit-off. Can’t wait to add up all the points for both sides!! Teresa, our past president, has been really gung-ho on this competition. And just so you know, I have a LOT of donations + knit/crochet items, all for the East side!

At our knitting retreat this past weekend I took a few hours to teach a couple of the gals how to take their measurements, how to do math for a different gauge for a sweater pattern, and then re-wrote an entire sweater pattern for the difference in stitches and rows, and adjusted for the knitter’s exact measurements; lengthen the body, lengthen the yoke (a full mosaic pattern), moved the decreases from the sides to the back to work with the shape of her bum and back.

Then, I come home yesterday and find that there is a new episode from The PassioKnit Spinner about the same thing!

Instead of fully posting a lesson here, I will happily share her great video. She is German so you’ll have to imagine she’s using inches, not cm. It’s all the same math, so no worries there!

Enjoy!!

 The PassioKnit Spinner Podcast – Bonus Episode “Sweater Maths” – YouTube

I have lots of time open in December for those last minute gift-knitting issues you may have!!
Gather a group of 3 or more of your friends that have projects needing attention and we’ll schedule a block of time.
Message me or comment below…

Haha, that song makes me laugh.

But seriously, let’s talk body.

I have gained weight. Muscles. Still scared shitless of fat. Dealing with the inevitable fact that the fat will appear eventually.

I am going to the gym daily. Rotating workouts. Worked legs yesterday and I am sore today! It’s about frickin’ time! I used  my max weights  from the start and just went. It worked. I can walk, unfortunately. I was hoping I would be so sore I couldn’t move but I guess moving is a good thing when you have to do stuff.

I have been incorporating a dynamic exercise into each workout; burpees, prisoner squats with knee lifts, lunge kick thingies that I am not bothering to go look up the technical name for. Gets a sweat up, not what I am supposed to be doing if my goal is to put on the muscle weight. I am not taking in enough calories to do cardio and burn calories, I am burning muscle when I do cardio so I need to be careful.

Still hate food. Nothing new there.

So, there you go. Little bits of progress.

Another test knit for Stephen West.
Patons SWS yarn

In my shitty funk (sorry, potty mouth is still hanging out) we decided to have some fun.
As you could see from yesterday’s post, we went to Yellowstone! Bison and bugling elk and steaming pots of orange juice flavored mud. They have a new visitors center that has a ton of amazing hands on displays and informational videos on the park and all its out of this world natural attractions.
Sadie loved the steam pools and bubbling pots. The boys loved it all. I only posted the pictures I took on my phone, pictures from the camera will get put up eventually. Still not a big fan of the desktop computer.
My back is still out so walking a bazillion miles (psshh, totally not an exageration) wasn’t the smartest thing and by hour 12 I was done. But, to be able to take the kids while the weather was still amazing, sunny & 70, was the perfect thing to do.
I am always astounded at the variance and uniqueness our little part of the planet contains. Nowhere else in the world is quite like Yellowstone. Just like the Sequoia Natl Forest is unique and awe inspiring. We are so blessed to have all of these natural wonders within driving distance, and the freedom to go to them whenever the fancy strikes us.
(I really wanted to say, “…whenever the hell we want.” But that just seemed rude, even for me.)
I knit the entire drive there, a whole hour and 15 minutes! Then I realized I am at the point in my shawl that I probably needed to start the crochet edging so I stopped. I really should get on the ball and finish something, anything.
Back to what I am posting about. Idaho may not be my place of choice right now but here my ass sits. So, we’ll take advantage of being here and do all we can to enjoy living in a foreign place 😉
Sadie decided today that yes, she would like to learn to ride a horse. Unfortunately the wind is blowing today and Molly, my Morgan, hates the wind so Sadie just had a quick lesson on balance and how to keep your seat. She can have reigns next time. My back had better be fixed soon so I can get some rides in before it is too cold. I miss riding and don’t want to think of leaving Molly here when we move back to California.
Today I finished reading the third book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Entertaining teen series. I read 3 books so I guess I liked them. I need to just restart the last book in the Outlander series and get it over with. I hate when series end. I have dreaded the end of this series for 11 years. I love the characters, love the story, feel connected to them. I guess that is to be expected after eating, sleeping, breathing over 10,000 pages. Then Stephen King for the winter, his classics always make me happy; The Tommyknockers, The Shining, It, just to name a few. Of course all my copies I have had since I was a teenager are IN STORAGE in California. As well as everything else I seem to need. Dammit.
So there you have my weekend. Yellowstone was beautiful and perfect, and I finished a book. TADA!