Tallinn Twist

Just an update. I decided to call the nameless easy Estonian rib hat the Tallinn Twist and posted it on Ravelry a week ago. While I must admit, Kathrow's suggestion to called it "Screwy" was catchy, "Tallinn Twist" fits my Knitter's Journey Travel inspiration theme. (For those of you who don't know, Tallinn is the capitol of Estonia.) To date, 184 people have downloaded the pattern,it has received 93 hearts, is in 14 queues,and there are 5 projects already underway. I guess that's what happens when you offer something free. I'll be posting it to my Knitter's Journey site soon to see if that helps generate a little traffic there. My website needs so much work, it's a bit overwhelming--which I suppose is why it never gets done. Requesting your patience please. It will get done. Eventually.

Experimental Charity Hats

Well my annual Mitten Tree gig is just around the corner, and I hardly knit anything for this worthwhile charity project, so I got busy this week and knit a few hats and mittens. Here are the hats. Always easily bored, I decided to experiment with something new. I grabbed some Noro Silk Garden that I had in my stash and created this hat using an Estonian spiral ribbing. This first hat came out smaller than I thought it would, but it is for charity and it will fit someone, probably a 2 or 3 year old, I would guess. I tried to maintain the spiral pattern up to the top, but had difficulty seeing it in the lumpy Noro yarn, although I liked the color changes combined with the spiral pattern. I decided I needed to try this pattern with a less lumpy, long colorway yarn.

Now, like any good knitter I have lots of stash. I have dozens and dozens of skeins of lovely wool, much of it handpainted and beautiful, but other than the Silk Garden, how much of it do you suppose I had on hand in a long colorway? You guessed it, zero, zip, nada. So of course,like any good knitter, I had to run to my LYS to purchase new yarn rather than use up any more of the dozens and dozens of skeins in my stash. (Did I mention this is for a charity project?) I bought one skein of Universal Yarns' Shades and one skein of Wisdom Yarns' Poems to continue my experiments in hats with Estonian ribbing.

Here is my second hat, sized for an elementary school age child, it used approximately 1/2 of the Shades skein. As you can see, I decided to add corkscrew tassles. I love it! The pattern is so ridiculously easy that I'm thinking of offering it as a free pattern on Ravelry. It will be interesting to see how many people will want to knit it up.

For my third and final experiment, I decided to try combining the Estonian ribbing with a patchwork top to create a flat top tocque. I used the Poems yarn in a rainbow mix, and this is pretty darn cute as well, although my picture doesn't do it justice because you can't see the tocque shape when it is not on someone's head. The hat is just a bit small for me because I made it child sized for the charity project, so that's why you don't see me modeling it. I tried it on the cat, but she isn't a very good model either. While I like this hat, I prefer the corkscrew topped experiment number 2. Also, I had to use every bit of the yarn to make the child sized version 3 tocque, while the Shades yarn used in version 2 has enough yardage to make 2 child size hats or an adult hat with a good amount of leftovers. I can't wait to post experimental hat #2 on Ravelry. I'd love to see how many fans it gets! My only dilemna--what to call it?? Corkscrew Cap seems appropriate, but I try to name my knitting patterns with travel related names (All American Baby Hat, Eiffel Tower Gloves, etc.) to promote the Knitter's Journey theme. Perhaps I should call it Estonian Rib hat, but that sounds blah. Any suggestions out there?

Eiffel Tower Gloves

Ooh la la, Do I love these gloves! They are soft and luxurious and just that little bit glitzy. Tres Chic! As the name implies, I was inspired by the famous icon of the fashion center of the world, Le Tour Eiffel. Can you see the little Eiffel Towers? I used the same Angora that I used in my Dust Bunny sweater and I love the feel of them.

I am not sure my pictures do them justice. I'm not that good at closeup photography. I'll try taking a few more pictures and see if I come up with something better. I will be posting the pattern on Ravelry soon.

Chicago, Chicago that Toddlin' Town

I seem to be spending a lot of time in the Chicago area. I was there yesterday for YarnCon, and I'll be there again in May when I teach and vend at the new Hands On Retreat.

YarnCon was fun, easy and interesting. So fun to see the crowd skewed towards younger knitters. You know, we knitters always tend to wear our wares at these events. At Stitches and other established knitting events, you tend to see age 50 and older women wearing lovely shawls and fair isle sweaters that show off their years of knitting experience. But at YarnCon, you see 20 and 30 somethings wearing funky hats and colorful scarves made in wild handpainted yarns and with innovative stitches or quirky patterns (like space invader scarves and guassian hats).

The event was easy for me because it was just one day and not far to travel. It's certainly a lot easier to do than the typical 2 or 3 day fiber festival, although it was a bit of a challenge to unpack the car and be set up in an hour. My husband tagged along to help. He's a trooper, but it would have been more fun if one of my knitting buddies could have come along. . . They would have appreciated the booths of the other vendors. There was handpaint everywhere. I didn't shop though. Too busy. That's a good thing.

I have not yet blogged the other Chicago event that's coming up for me. I am so excited! I'm going to be both an instructor and a vendor at Hands On, which takes place in near Midway airport in May. I will be teaching both knit with wire bracelets and "Mitten Masterplan." I really love knitting mittens. I've developed a class on designing your own mittens that I've taught at my local yarn shop and now I will be teaching at this new retreat. Although it is a brand new event, Hands On is a mitten maker's answer to the Sock Summit, and I feel so lucky to be teaching there!

I tend to give away as gifts or donate most of the mittens I make, so I don't have many mittens on hand for Hands On,but I've got until May to make some more. I'd like to have a variety to show my students--super simple to difficult, colorwork, texture work, children's and adults. I'm very, very excited about a pair of gloves I just designed. I have just one glove done, so I'll hold off from posting pictures, but they are going to be beautiful. They are made with leftover angora from my Dust Bunny sweater, so they are soft and elegant as well. I can't wait to finish them and show them off.

Well, this is a bit of a rambling post. If you have any interest in mitten knitting. Check out the Hands On site. If you are interested in attending, sign up now! Registration began Friday night and some classes are already sold out. They are not maintaining a waiting list, so book now!

Pictures - Finally

I got some pictures from my sister from Wisconsin Sheep and Wool (See September's post) Here you see: 1) Me in my booth - and my cousin who stopped by to say Hi.
2) Like I said, it was sheepy.
3) My puppy love, Winston. I hope he found a new home.

Wooly Headed

This is just a quick post to explain what I've been up to. Busy, busy, busy is all. Too busy to blog. I was at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend. It was my first time as a vendor at this event. It's definitely the sheep-iest of all the fiber shows I do. I loved the sheep and the sheep dog trials. In fact, I fell in love with a border collie puppy named Winston who was looking for a home. He looked at me with his big brown eyes and snuggled in my arms and fell asleep. I knew it was never going to happen, but I did actually call the DH to see if I could bring him home. Of course, we would never get a dog. We are cat people and our cat is not dog friendly (or other cat friendly for that matter). I must have been under the influence of all those sheep at WI Sheep and wool because I was certainly being wooly headed.

No pictures from Sheep and Wool, sad to say, I still haven't found my camera charger. I may need to buy a new one. My sis was at the fair to help me (Yes,the same one who helped me in Madison--proof that she still loves me after that little sisterly adventure). She took a few pictures. If she sends me photos, I'll post them here.

I do have other things I should be posting pictures of. I have a rather large finished object, The Many Buttoned Vest from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Vests was started and finished since my State Fair post. Well, it's 99% finished because I don't have any buttons for my Many Buttoned vest. I'm envisioning some celtic looking brass buttons, but I have yet to find them.

I have been crazy busy with school (i.e. my job) and school (i.e. grad school). The only reason I'm writing now is because I'm taking a 5 minute a break from writing lesson plans. (Uhm, okay, 20 minute break, and yes, it's because I'm procrastinating on writing those lesson plans.) Sigh . . .better get back to it.

State Fair

I went to the State Fair yesterday with sisters Liz and Donna and Liz's grandkids Alex and Marcus. What a great time! The State Fair has something for everyone, and each of us had an agenda. I, of course, had to see the knitting. Donna, who once owned a horse and has been in equine withdrawl ever since she gave it up, had to visit the horse barn. Liz wanted to spoil her grandchildren, and Alex and Marcus were determined to be spoiled. We all had our wishes granted.

I was glad to see Knitting has moved out of the cavernous Wisconsin Exhibition Hall to the cozier Horticulture, Culinary and Craft building, but I do wish the Fair would do something about the display cases and how they display the craft exhibits. I make this same complaint every year. Knitting, quilting, sewing, and woodworking are all jumbled together in the display cases with no apparent rhyme or reason to the arrangements. I wish they would group the winners by class and category so you could easily see what separates the Blue Ribbons from the rest of the crowd, but alas, I don't think the State Fair people read my blog! As usual, the vast number of knitting entries reflected older knitting traditions and simple but well executed patterns. The top winners were definitely worthy of their awards though. I was especially impressed by the colorful and intricate first place socks.

We all enjoyed the horse barn and were lucky to visit at a time when the horses were being taken out of their stalls to be readied for show. The Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales were breathtaking. We even had a chance to see the Budweiser Clydesdales pull their wagon, complete with Dalmation dog riding shotgun.

Our visit was centered on the interests of Alex and Marcus, ages 4 and 7. We rode the Skyglider and visited the tractor exhibit, which included 100's, if not 1000's of matchbox size tractors on display, tractor tricyles for the kids to ride, and a kiddy "tractor pull" competition. It was little boy heaven! We watched as Alex rode a camel and Marcus rode a pony, and both children bungee jumped on a trampoline.

We did our best to support the economy. We ate corn and corn dogs, funnel cake, ice cream sundaes and creme brulee. All of us bought some sort of souvenir--Donna bought colorful leashes for her grandkids, Liz got a purse, the boys got toy cars and light up guns, and I got craisins, goat cheese, cranberry mustard, and a badger t-shirt. What can I say? When you say WI-SCON-SIN, you've said it all!

Fiber and Folk 09 - The Report

It's hard to believe I've been back from the Fiber and Folk Festival for a week. I'm always a bit wiped out when I come back from an all weekend show. So after a few days to recover, take inventory, do paperwork, I'm ready to blog about it.

I absolutely love this show! I love the vendor mix and the folk music. I couldn't believe my good fortune to catch the music of Peter and Lou Barryman. I used to go see them at the Club de Wash (are they still in business?) when I was a student in Madison many moons ago. It brought back old memories and made me feel young, although most of the songs they sang were about growing old. I'm right there with them! Sigh!

My friend Rosa accompanied me on this trip. A shout out to Rosa for her energy, enthusiasm and easy going personality! What can I say about someone who doesn't complain when I insist that I have to drive back to Milwaukee upon arrival in Crystal Lake when I discover that I forgot to pack my display baskets? She is up for sainthood. AND, I must say, that woman is a knitting machine! She knit 5 kits while manning the booth without batting an eye!

Thanks to Rosa helping me, I was able to teach a class on Friday. I had 8 students, and they were all very enthusiastic about the class. They loved the fact that they walked away with a finished bracelet. Here are pictures of their finished work.
I'm very proud of all of them.

These pictures come courtesy of one of my students. They are the only pictures I have from this year's Fiber and Folk because I packed my camera, but the battery was dead and the charger was at home. Memo to self: make check list before packing for shows, include display baskets and charger for the camera.

Fiber and Folk Kick Off

I'm just about set to leave for the Midwest Fiber and Folk Festival in Crystal Lake, IL. The Fair lasts Friday through Sunday, but there is a preview evening for students on Thursday night. I enjoyed this fair last year, but I worked it alone and didn't get to see anything besides my booth and the bathroom. This year I will be taking my friend Rosa with me to help in my booth. I couldn't do it without her because I will be teaching a class on Friday afternoon. I packed lots of additional kits, probably too many, but I can't help myself. I keep buying beads and yarn, and I have to sell it so I can buy more beads and yarn. I'm excited that I have a spot in the gym this year. Last year I was in the tent outside and hot sticky weather with thunderstorms in the afternoon kept the crowds down. Air conditioning is one of those niceties that we tend not to appreciate until its not there. Well, better run. I have 100 or so kits to label before I pack the car.

Welcome Uncle Sam

I finally wrote up the Patriotic Baby Hat pattern that I blogged about in November. It is available through my Etsy shop, here. What, you say it's too late to knit a hat for the 4th? Hah! Get ye to a yarn shop and start knitting! Seriously, it makes a great gift for any American baby when you don't know the gender of the unborn child. Or, especially, for military moms and dads. I really do like this hat. I may need to go back to the computer to work up big kid and adult sizes.

P.S. Thanks to my colleague at work for allowing her daughter to be my model. Desperate for a model, I went to the school Daycare and looked for any awake babies, and she was the only one. Fortunately, her mom agreed that I could use her likeness. Even more fortunately, she is cute as a button!

Dust Bunny

 

Here it is--Stardust in black angora . . . I've decided to rename it Dust Bunny, since it was collecting dust as a UFO for a while there. I began this little cutie in January of '08 but lost my enthusiasm quickly and set it aside a number of times. I finally finished it last week. What made me set it aside was that I was worried that it would be too small, not that I wasn't getting gauge, but you know how you have a pattern with set dimensions and you have to decide to make it either too big or too small? Well, I decided this style would be better too small rather than too big so I made the smaller size, but then the really worrying part was that I gained more than a few pounds between the time I started and the time I finished. I need not have worried. It fits beautifully and it is so soft, I feel like I'm being hugged by a bunny when I wear it. This was an intermediate difficulty pattern but the sewing was difficult, mostly because I knit it in a very fluffy black angora. That, combined with old eyes and not so great lighting makes the finishing tough. The seams are respectable though.

Bridal Jewelry

I joined Etsy recently, (you would think I would have done this ages ago!) and the Etsy Knitters Group is organizing a "knitted wedding" album. Both my "Chain, Chain, Chain" necklace and "Chips and Stones" bracelet in quartz crystal and pearls would be perfect. I just donated the finished items shown in these pictures to the fundraising auction at the school where I work, and they sold for an overbid price. I have kits available to make more, but I'll have to get busy making another set. Now that June is upon us, I think the finished items may sell better than the kits.

I have to admit, I prefer to sell my kits over the finished jewelry because I always want to create something new and different and don't want to make the same thing twice. However, this bracelet is so pretty, I don't mind doing it again and again.

Journey into the Past

I had a wonderful rendezvous the other day with my college roommates. The three of us haven't been together in at least 25 years. (Oops I guess I just gave a clue to how old I am.) Linda and I have kept in touch, but neither of us knew where Bonnie was after she moved, married, divorced, and moved again. Thanks to Facebook, we have found each other again. While Linda lives across the country, Bonnie is still here in the Midwest, just 20 miles from me. We had a loooooooooong lunch (from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.!) catching up with each other and just enjoying each other's company.
This is my second reconnection to the past within the last year (I saw my college beau in March last year) and it somehow makes me feel connected and affirmed. I keep singing the Brownie song in my head, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

Camp Minikani Encore

It's Camp Minikani time again! This year I taught the gemstone flower pin craft that we did for Mother's Day last year. Since Moms or Dads are at camp with the students we couldn't exactly call it a Mother's day surprise, which took a bit of the excitement out of the project for some students. The girls loved the project because they wanted to claim the pins for themselves, but most of the boys weren't convinced to make a pin for Mom when she was right there helping them with the pin. Oh, well. They seemed to have fun, and no one found it too difficult. I wish I had some pictures of some of the finished products--some of them could have been sold on Etsy or Ebay. Here you can see me in the process of making a pin and leading the group through the steps. They worked hard and almost everyone finished in the short time we had to complete our projects. I'm proud.

Knitter's Journey to Savannah

I picked up my needles and flew South last week to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. I went with my husband, as usual, but unusual for us, we travelled with friends to enjoy a group vacation experience. Savannah is a lovely historic town, and the Spring weather and flowers make it the perfect place to visit at this time of year. There is much to see and do. My favorite part of the trip was simply the beauty of the flowers and historic homes.

I loved going for long walks to explore each day. We took a stroll through an enchanting colonial cemetery and went on a night-time enchanted ghost tour.




We went on a dolphin tour and were not disappointed. A small pod of dolphins played a game to race along with our pontoon boat for part of the tour.



I was surprised to find out how much I like southern cooking. We ate local regional cuisine most of the time. It was delicious, but not so good for the supposed diet . . . burp!



Of course, I had to seek out yarn. I found it at a small shop in Savannah called Wild Fibre that was close to where we stayed, and at a fantastic shop in nearby (well, okay, a 110 mile drive, but worth it) Charleston, SC. Knit was filled to the brim with fiber of all kinds and colors. I was surprised to find so much wool south of the Mason-Dixon line.





Our visit coincided with the Savannah Music Festival, and we got to enjoy all sorts of quality entertainment, including Blues, Jazz, Zydeco, and World music.




We even had a chance to be part of the entertainment by participating in a Shape Note Singing Songfest (above). On Thursday, our first full day, we enjoyed "The Blues was Born Here" with Phil Wiggins and Corey Harris, followed by a blues band that was put together by the Music Makers Relief Foundation and included Beverly Watkins. Please check out the Music Maker's Relief site, they are a wonderful organization that tries to help older musicians record and perform to earn a little income in their later years. On Friday, we heard the mellow jazz of Dianne Reaves, and on Saturday we enjoyed a Zydeco dance party and the music of local jazz singer Kim Pelote and her trio. My favorite music was that of Marshall and Anger with Vasen. This unlikely combo of a bluegrass duo with a Swedish folk trio created some incredibly jazzy, upbeat, footstomping, contemporary world music.

It was a fantastic week. If you hurry, you can enjoy it too. The festival lasts through the second week of April.

Report from Madison

Well I didn't get to meet the Harlot, but I did sell a lot of jewelry kits. It was a hectic weekend, and I must say I out-did my self in my ability to get stressed out and panicked over nothing, a skill that I excel at if I do say so myself. This post is simply a detailed saga of my self-induced hysteria.

Thursday: The stage is set for anxiety overkill. Instead of packing for the show on Thursday night, I work on my taxes until 11 p.m., trying to get things in order so the DH could take them to the accountant on Friday. Unable to balance the books, I go to bed without having taxes done or suitcase packed.

Friday: Already in a franctic mode, I am up at 4 a.m. on Friday morning, trying to pack my suitcase and organize the inventory for the Knit In before heading off to work. Fortunately, I am able to sneak out of work 1/2 hour early (hope the boss doesn't read this)and have time to almost finish packing just before Sis arrives. As we pack her car, Sis cuts her finger and bleeds all over the house. Unable to find a bandage, we make an unscheduled stop at the local pharmacy before heading out. We arrive at our niece's house in Madison at least 1/2 hour later than planned (having also taken a wrong turn and driving 10 miles out of the way). Darling niece and her husband and baby treat us to a pizza dinner and give us a gift certificate to stay at the local Holiday Inn Express. (The plan had originally been to crash at their house, but when I hold her we had to get up at 5:00 a.m., she remembered how she had this gift certificate for a local hotel, and wouldn't we like to use it?) I was getting very sleepy by 9 p.m., so we excuse ourselves to make our way to the hotel. We arrive, only to find that there is no electricity in the hotel, nor in the entire city of Verona.
Sis, "Let's go to another hotel."
Me, "Uhm, this is free. NO."
We check-in in the dark, not exactly having a sisterly bonding good-time. Fortunately, the lights come on after about 20 minutes and I am able to sleep while Sis reads.
Saturday: We are up at 4:45 a.m., shower, dress, eat breakfast, and leave the hotel shortly after 6 a.m. without asking the front desk for directions to the conference center where the Knit In will be held. After all, I have Mapquest instructions in my purse (from my house and not from the hotel, duh!). I think I know where the conference center is, and who needs the advice of a human anyway? We promptly get lost and do not arrive at the conference center until 7:10 a.m. I have, in the mean time, started to go into panic attack-bitch mode. Knowing I have just 45 minutes to set up my booth, I freeze like a deer in the headlights when I see my booth space and seem incapable of figuring out how to set it up for 20 minutes. I am nowhere near ready to sell when the first shoppers arrive at 7:45. I'm finally minimally set up and make my first sale around 8:30 a.m., at which time all the customers disappear to attend classes and listen to the Yarn Harlot. I do not have another sale until 11:00 a.m. Customers trickle in until noon, when all hell breaks loose as classes dismiss and 400 crazy knitters all try to spend their money before 1:30 p.m. when they are back in class. It is calm between 1:30 and 3 when business picks up again as the afternoon classes let out, but it is not as busy as I expected because an announcement was made to shoppers that the last shuttle bus to the park and ride departs at 3:30. The market closes at 4 p.m. and Sis and I pack up the car and are on the road back to Milwaukee by 4:45. We make the mistake of discussing politics on the way home. Somehow, through it all, I realize that I have made money and should be happy, and that my sister still loves me.

Can't Wait

Well, Sheep in the City was way too much fun. Spiderlady,(aka Jan from Just 4 Ewe) did an incredible job for a first time event. There was a yarn cake walk, a fashion show and a very silly, very fun Sheep to Shawl challenge of the Madison vs. Oak Creek guilds. I was there by myself as a vendor,and I had a bit of a rough time Friday because I was running behind on getting set up, and then had to teach a class. Jan had someone cover my booth, but I don't think I'll sign up again to teach without having someone to work the booth for me--just too hectic. Anyway, I worked hard, but had fun and even made some money while doing it. My Monday night knitting friends stopped in on Saturday and kept me company for a good part of the day.

I'm sooooooo excited to go to the Madison guild's Knit In this next weekend. I hope I get to meet the Yarn Harlot. I'm afraid I won't be able to sit in on her lecture because I'll be stuck behind my booth, but maybe, just maybe she'll stop by and buy a kit. Wouldn't that be a dream come true? My sister is coming with me. She will help me set up and cover me for lunch, but she will be enjoying the classes. It should be so much fun to have a sisters day together. We are staying overnight at our niece's, so that should be double the fun.Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait.

Hope to See You

I will be vending at Sheep in the City in Milwaukee this weekend, and then again at the Madison Knitter's Guild Knit in. I've been too preoccupied with Graduate school and my real job and haven't done a knitting show since Stitches Midwest. I'm going to enjoy focusing on knitting this weekend. I've packed a few new color combos of my kits that I'm excited about and I won't mind sitting in my booth all weekend if I can knit a few necklaces for my own jewelry box!

I know I'll see a few friends this weekend and I hope to meet some new ones. I'm especially excited about the Knit in in 2 weeks. My sister will be visiting from Florida and she's going to help me at my booth. The best part though, the Yarn Harlot will be there and I hope to meet her.

I haven't been posting because once again I've been either working or sleeping. Such is life. At least this weekend work will be play.

H-E double toothpicks week

Everyone has a bad day at work now and then. Life has been pretty good for me ever since I changed jobs 4 years ago, but I think my bad days have been saving up for this last week. The worst thing that happened: I was in charge of setting up a computer in the library for the younger students to watch the inauguration. My phone was ringing off the hook just before the students were supposed to come in and I didn't realize the time. Of course, there were technical difficulties (which would have been resolved if I had everything set up earlier) and we had no audio! Children and teachers scrambled to watch in other rooms and I was left with egg on my face.

The phones ringing off the hook is at the root of hell week. I was asked to do centralized scheduling for parent teacher conferences. Nice idea, but 37 voice mails and 176 emails before I walk in the door, and it just keeps coming . . . I am still not caught up despite working lots of (unpaid)overtime.

Just stressing. . .thanks for listening.

Domino hat

I enjoyed a two week break for the holidays and spent way too much time making this lovely hat using the domino knitting (mitered square) technique. I love the pattern. It's a variation on one by Maureen Mason Jamison called "A Flower for Annabelle" This is not the first thing I've knit in the domino technique. I made a vest a few years back that took 2nd place at the Wisconsin state fair. I remember now that when I made the vest I thought it was georgeous but too slow and time consuming, and I would never make another domino knit item again. This hat took the better part of my 2 week vacation to complete . . . way too much of my valuable time. But it is cute. Another problem--this hat is supposed to be for me, but it came out just a bit small. I only had a horizontal gauge to go by, and I had to adjust the length at the top by elongating the diamonds. Even then, it just covers my ears, though it looks perfect on my young knitting buddy here. She's hinting that she would like it, but I'm stingy and I think I'll keep it.