Month: February 2008

Okay, not only was Stitches a lot of fun but the drive up was a lot of fun! I had Tracy laughing so hard that she almost crashed at one point. Of course after the fact it’s not something that’s all that funny but at the time she sure thought so!

So, we got to our hotel in Sunnyvale after midnight, checked in, put on our jammies, did some exercise to really wear ourselves out & proceeded to talk until almost 3am. Whooboy, did that lead to a giddy day at Stitches!?!

We got to the convention center a little after 10 & tried to come up with a plan. It was overwhelming. We decided it would be best to take a good walk around and then start our purchasing. We had a map, a notebook to remember where we had seen certain items & we had determination!

After all our planning on not making any purchases until we’d seen most of the booths we totally went straight to a Buttons! booth and bought some buttons.

Clear glass with metal edges. All 8 for $6. Nice!

Then we spent our time meandering, looking for certain yarns, booths, accessories. Then we realized, DUH, we hadn’t been to the Ravelry booth yet! Holy Crap Batman! What were we thinking?!?

We hightailed it over there and ran smack into Casey! Tracy was a bit starstruck, I wanted recognition ;o) That sounds so snarky doesn’t it? At least I am honest about being prideful! lol

His friend took the picture for us. We hung out for a bit, hassled him, hounded him, picked his brain. We were just peppering him with questions! It was rad.
Unfortunately Jess was taking boxes out and we didn’t get to meet her. Although, I will admit it, 5 hours later as we were leaving we saw her walking back into the convention center & both froze. We totally couldn’t ask for a picture! Lame dorks that we are, we acted all cool and walked on pretending we were interested in something else. I bet they are just floored by their celebrity at this point. I would be, after I drank it all in until I was drunk with joy. Again, honesty.

Here are a few more of my purchases from the Marketplace:

Newton’s cashmere/merino in red. The price on the hank says $15.75, we paid $6 a hank, 320 yards per hank.

This is their bulky acrylic in the most heinous orange! It was only $2 a hank and I bought the 3 they had. Tyler will love it when it becomes something. That boy & his love for orange.

Of course we made it to the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth and dug in. I came out with a hank of str lightweight in Carbon Dating

And a hank of str mediumweight in Rare Gems. Specially dyed colorways for events that are just randomly mixed in with the rest of the yarns.

Again, orange, but with light blue mixed in this time. It will become something for myself. Or possibly a couple pairs of socks for Tyler and myself.

On our way out the door, directly across from the Ravelry booth, hanks & hanks of gorgeous sock yarn caught our eye.

This is 100% wool, Ellens Half Pint sock yarn in color New England Autumn. 500yards for $18

And here is the same yarn but in the Alaska colorway. Soft & smooshy, just gorgeous! Great price for such lovely dyed yarn.

Oh & of course there was a pattern purchased, from the Knitwhits stand.
 

So cute & versatile!

I am kind of surprised we didn’t buy more books or patterns while we were there. But, we were so overwhelmed by the amount of yarn to digest there was no way we could focus on it all!

Overall it was a great success & we had a rad time! Next year will be even better.

Tracy and I are going to Stitches West. We leave tonight, stay in a hotel, go to Stitches tomorrow. We aren’t planning on any classes just the marketplace. It’s a first for us! We’ve never been to one before & I am pretty excited about it.

I finally took a picture of the Gedifra sweater on my own body.

As you can see it’s a bit big on the upper arm raglan part. It’s alright though, it’s comfy and I love it! Sorry it’s crappy but I had to enhance the contrast to get the cabling to show up. It is a hard color to photograph indoors at night ;o)

I have been working on a pair of socks for my mom who just had knee replacement surgery. They are from the last shipment of the Woolgirl Sock Club 2007. The yarn, Zen Yarn Garden Squooshy in color Blush a woolgirl exclusive, has a wonderful hand to it but the colors are pooling & spiraling like mad. I wouldn’t have continued if I thought mom would care at all but I am sure she won’t.

It’s hard to tell in the photo but the cable pattern is hearts. It’s a fun yarn & pattern to work with so I am just ignoring the spirals.

There are baby gifts being worked on that must stay a secret because recipients read here. So you all will just have to be patient.

I am hankerin’ to start a new sweater but I am not sure what to start so the Venezia will be picked up again. I don’t know why I really lost all motivation to work on it. I think once I get it in my hands again the love will return!

Tracy & I will take many photos I am sure so check back in next week for some Stitches excitement!

Saturday Tracy took a bunch of pictures for my ravelry projects page. We also had a little fun taking pictures of eachother. If you know us at all you know how animated we are in our talking. Stories can be so exciting!

 

Sadie took this one of the 2 of us, I like it. I like all pics of the 2 of us.

(I am not really that much taller than Tracy, I am standing on the kids playset, just thought I would throw that out there ;o))

I had just made a ridiculously stupid face & boy am I glad she didn’t catch that on ‘film’.

Kind of like this picture, I think it’s what the kids see when I get upset at them.

Hands flapping & everything. Maybe not quite that smile though. The neck is right on…how lovely.

Here are some pics of finished sweaters I have done in the last few months.

And some oldie’s I pulled out to have pics of.

Tracy got a few good shots of Sadie, I love showing off how beautiful she is!

And one of Trevor with his cool patch on his forehead trying to keep his fever down.

Look at the glazed eyes, nice. He has a cold with fever that is a killer. It came on on Saturday and he’s still home from school today. I did take hi m this morning and by 11am they called & told me to come and get him. His cough was too much I guess.

I finished the Gedifra sweater yesterday but haven’t had a chance to get a good picture of it. That will come soon, we have plenty more sweaters to take pictures of!

Instead of starting another sweater I decided I would work on perfecting a runner’s sock pattern I am writing and get back to the Venezia.

Oh & I finished a blanket that Tracy & I have taken turns knitting on since 2004. Yes
, you read that right, 2004.

That will also have a picture coming soon.

I hope all of you are out there battling all these crappy colds going around, take care!

After a lovely day in Solvang with Rowan and Suzanne on a yarn fieldtrip I got the hankerin’ to start something that I could finish quickly. As I told Tracy that I wanted to do a weekend sweater she suggested that I take a look at the Licorice Whip pattern.

Ages ago I had printed out the pattern and now with ravelry it was easier than ever to find & take a look in my stash to see what I had on hand in the correct weight. Lo & Behold I found I had a lot to choose from! Choosing a Araucania Nature Cotton in a drab olive green/yellow color I asked Sadie if she’d like a new sweater. She of course answered yes & off I went to cast on.

That is the neckline at the bottom of the picture. I chose not to do the sleeve lace insert and instead am doing them in solid stockinette. I love the simplicity of the top down raglan sweater. Roll collar and cuffs always make for a fast finish.

I am hoping to be done with it tomorrow. I am already halfway down the body under where I have separated for the sleeves. I hope to have the body and part of a sleeve done tonight. Lofty plans? Maybe!

oh…you wanna see what I got in solvang?? you know you do
Our first stop was The Village Spinning & Weaving Shop

On the right, the hank and on the left, the 2 wound balls of
 Peruvian Tweed Alpaca, Natural colored 100% alpaca 2ply worsted weight, 600 yards

Our second stop was Rasmussen’s where upstairs they have a good selections of yarns, fabric and needlework supplies.

I found 6 hanks of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Color 42, Rosehip. It’s exactly the color of the picture; a nice bright reddish orange. Just enough for a girly fit Cobblestone Pullover.

Now to actually finish something so I don’t feel guilty for all these sweater plans!

I have been working on the Gedifra sweater mostly. I am finished with the back and front, the first sleeve is about half done.

I love this sweater. The color is exact in that picture. It’s so green & perfect! Perfect for St. Patty’s day.

I took 4 days off of the sweater knitting to make some socks.

I forced myself to find a pattern for Tracy’s Silkie Socks that Rock yarn in Gingerbread Dude. I love the simplicity of the pattern and the fit is great. It’s the Fanny sock pattern, here it is on ravelry and here it is on her website.

This is the first pair. The second pair are just about identical.

I made 2 pair out of one ball. Same pattern but with these changes for a better fit:

1) I cast on and did the ribbing on size 0’s instead of 2’s like the rest of the sock so they fit tighter & hopefully stay better on the ankle.

2) I did the ribbing on the arch and anterior of the foot only, not all the way around like in the pattern.

3) The second pair of socks have different colored toes because I ran out of the Gingerbread Dude yarn during the toe decreasing.

Overall I am very happy with the simplicity and quickness of the pattern. I will for sure be whippin’ more of these babies out. I always have leftovers of sock yarn that aren’t quite enough for another pair of full socks but this just may be the way to go. They took between 22 & 24grams of yarn. Not shabby!

I took the time to kind of try on my venezia sweater to make sure the bodice won’t be too tight. It went onto my shoulders & over my head fine so that is good enough for me to keep going on it! When it’s hanging off the needles it looks so ridiculously tiny. Well, it stretches nicely. Good to know! Now that I am back to 100% health I will be picking it up and loving it like I should.