Today was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and the Bowie Knitters rose to the occasion! We all showed up at the usual time in the usual place, needles, cold drinks and yummy snacks at the ready. It seems most of us were working on wearables today. I took a few photos, so here you go. As always, click to make them bigger and read the details.
I decided to work on my February Lady Sweater today
Marie had her February Lady Sweater today, too… but wasn’t working on it while I had the camera out.
Leslie was working on a beautiful ribbed top
Helene brought her sweater coat to show today
closeup of the top of the sweater coat
closeup of the hem detail of the sweater coat–stunning
Kathy joined us for the first time today
Melodye was casting on a new scarf project
Helene and Alice studying a pattern
Today we welcomed Kathy (is it with a K?) to the group, who brought along her Amazon Kindle
to show. Boy oh boy, do I covet one of these! Dina, who works in the publishing industry, worries about how this device and others like it are changing the way people read books. For me it would make a huge difference to have one, because many books are too bulky and heavy for me to manipulate. Sigh… the device is still too expensive for me… plus I have other big projects to work on later this summer. Can’t talk about that now, though. I’m veering off subject. Back to the knitters.
Helene brought her amazing sweater coat that she just finished and blocked, for all of us to ooh and ahh over. That woman’s knitting is amazing! Just look at it! Isn’t it stunning?
We even had a power outage at our Borders today, which made alarms go off and the air conditioner stop working. For the most part though, the knitters were undeterred and just kept on knitting.
I also got some more card making supplies today. some decorative papers, lots of hole-punchy things with different shapes, some glues and a paper cutter. I’ve decided for sure that my knitted cards are going to have some added flair. I can only hope that I can somehow make it work, that my fingers can do what I see in my head, and that I can create items that don’t look like kindergarten refrigerator art. Wish me luck on that!
One more thing to show you before I leave you for today:
Halloween Scarf
It’s a slightly better photo of the Halloween Scarf, complete with eyeballs. I wore it to work the other day and got some weird looks! But hey, it’s ready for the Harry Potter movie release next month. I’m hoping it won’t be 100 degrees that day.
Yesterday was the monthly meeting of our Bowie Borders Knitting Group. (Do we need a catchier name? “The Saturday Afternoon Mostly Once A Month Knit Group”? Hmmm. I’m open to ideas! Someone wanted to know what our group was called yesterday. Haha. We don’t have a name. How about, “Just Show Up And Knit”? I dunno.
Anyway, it was a fun afternoon! As usual I had my camera handy, and took some pictures to mark the occasion. Click to biggefy:
We were pleased to welcome two newbies to the group yesterday: Helene and Stacy. Helene impressed everyone with her beautiful stranded knitting, and the gorgeous dress she’s making. Most everyone was making something wearable… sweaters, socks, shawls, a dress… even my silly i-cord is going to be incorporated into a scarf. Rhoda is making good progress on her bucket bag, and Jo had some gorgeous socks on the needles that she was making with her own handspun yarn. Of course there was much chatter, yummy desserts, and plenty of pouring over magazines and books while group members helped each other with their knitting conundrums.
Not pictured with the group this time are Amber and Leslie. Not sure how they escaped my camera. Sorry!
Next week, June 13, 2009, is Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I didn’t get it together enough to list us as an official event, but rest assured, the Bowie Maryland Knitters Group (or whatever the heck we’re called) will be in our usual spot at 2:00 p.m., doing what we love to do best. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and knit a bit. We’d love to have you.
Tonight was the annual Stitch n Pitch event at the Washington Nationals ballpark. As luck would have it, it was a cross-town rivalry game because they were playing the Baltimore Orioles. (The O’s won, 2-1. But we left after the 8th inning, and didn’t know it at the time.)
Of course I had my camera with me and I snapped quite a few photos. Click the thumbnails to embiggen.
BoyZilla shows his support for Stitch n Pitch
Knitters in the Stitch n Pitch conference room. That’s Jane, a Rav friend on the left.
Yep, you can see my office from the Ballpark.
Even The Bird has to warm up before a game.
The presentation of the colors
O-oh say can you seeeeeee?
The Nats at Bat
And here’s the pitch…
My knitting enjoyed the ballgame immensely.
I got to Kinnear some knitters
Kinnearing again
This is Edith. She was sitting in the section across from me and I noticed the stunning shawl she was working on. She said it was in Vogue about 10 years ago.
Typical for Her Highness the Teen, the loudspeakers were, well, too loud.
But she perked up after a visit to the Build-a-Bear.
BoyZilla got his very own Nationals mascot, Screech. Note the miniature foam finger. Like boy, like bird.
This year, because the event was on a Saturday, we brought the kids along. BoyZilla got his one big wish… to have his very own foam finger! It was hard to keep a straight face when he said to the cashier, “This is my very first foam finger!” As if there will be many more. Wait, this is BoyZilla the Clown we’re talking about. Of course there will be more.
Her Highness the Teen had pretty much made up her mind that baseball was going to be boring, but by the 7th inning stretch was singing along to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with a smile on her face. Busted! She had a good time.
As for me, not much knitting got done. There’s so much to see at a baseball game, that I was too easily distracted by the sights and sounds all around me. Not to mention the smell of the Chili from Ben’s Chili Bowl. Ben’s is a famous Washington Landmark located next door to the historic Lincoln Theater in the famous U Street neighborhood. If you visit DC, you have to go here. Seriously. I’m glad they have stands at the ballpark to expand the tradition to so many others who might not experience it otherwise. Yeah, I had me a chili half smoke with cheese and onions. It was messy, and I had a big ol’ glob of chili on my nose when my friend Amy’s mom Ruth walked up to introduce herself to me. How embarrassing! I would have hugged her or something, had I not been completely coated in chili at the time, but man, that’s Murphy’s Law for you! Anyway, Ruth, if you’re reading this, it was lovely to meet you! (And that top you were wearing was Fabulous!)
The evening ended too early for me as always, and I already can’t wait for next year. Yay for Stitch n Pitch!
Well, here it is, the Friday before the Sunday that I’m going to see my friend Jen for the first time in four years. I’m excited! We have lots of catching up to do. A couple of weeks ago, as I was staring at a ball of hot pink sock yarn on my ball winder, I immediately thought of her. She loves Hello Kitty and and all things hot pink, so this scarf was just the thing:
pink scarf in progress
Except, what was I thinking? Of course, there’s no way I could have gotten it done in time. In fact, I’m not sure how people can get a whole scarf done in a few days or a week. On average, a single scarf takes me about a month, a pair of socks can take about two months, and even a simple felted hat takes me about three weeks. Clearly, this was not going to happen. But hey, I tried.
There’s going to be plenty of knitting time this weekend, though. Our pool opens for the season, which is prime knitting time for me. Plus tomorrow night is the Washington Nationals Stitch n’ Pitch, where I’ll be in good company with hundreds of yarny friends. If you’re coming to the game, look for the goofy lady in a wheelchair with spiky hair, knitting furiously away on a hot pink scarf. That would be me.
Oh well, that’s tomorrow! For now, it’s another day at work. I’m chanting already: Come on, 5 o’clock! See ya!
Today was the monthly meeting of the Bowie Borders Knitting group. We met a week later than usual, because most of us attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last weekend. There was much new fiber and yarn to look at, plus some new books. And tales of rain, and muck, and mud. Lots of mud.
Happily, today we were all dried and sunny, and enjoyed a good time in the cafe, sipping yummy concoctions (we were about split on cold versus hot, but it’s that time of year). And knitting and crocheting. It’s always about the yarn, and the amazing things that we all find to do with it.
Here are some shots from today’s gathering. As usual, click to embiggen.
Heather brought her sister Jennifer along
Heather models her sweater
Jennifer knits a Clapotis
Trish knits her February Lady Sweater
Tammy is working on a baby shrug
Rhoda is knitting a felted bag
Molinda joined us today, too
Leslie shows her project
Jo is knitting an anklet sock
Amber joined us for the first time today
Alice was crocheting a rainbow-y afghan today
Ileana models her recently completed cropped shell
We were happy to welcome Heather’s sister, Jennifer, whose husband is a marine and between assignments. Hopefully we’ll get to see her again before she heads off to Chile! We really enjoyed meeting and spending time with her. Also a first timer today was Amber. I hope she’ll be joining us regularly because she seemed to fit right in as if she had been with us all along. (Our group is like that; everyone is always welcome and it’s easy to feel right at home.)
Dina was also there and working on a lovely mobius cowl with her Kauni yarn. (I have some marinating in my stash, too. The rainbow colorway. For That Cardigan. Someday.)
It was also great to see Jo again after such a long winter break. As usual, I was sad to leave. I’m already looking forward to next month!
Hi all, I’m finally resurfacing… to tell you all about my time at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! It was great fun this year, as usual, but soggy. The rain has been going on for 8 days now and frankly it has me a little down. Hence the blog silence. I’m sorry! But I wanted to talk about the festival before the week was out. So, here goes!
I was all set to go on Saturday, but I wound up being sick during the night in a most unpleasant way, so could not go to the festival until Sunday. Of course, it was POURING rain the whole time. I guess I should consider myself lucky, as this was the first time in my five times going that we’ve had weather that bad. It was cold, wet, and muddy. Ick. I’m surprised I’m not sick! But the festival itself makes me happy and it was still worth it to go. But, I will say that now that I’ve done the festival once in the rain? Once was enough. I don’t think I need yarn that bad!!
Trish with Jess, Casey, and Mary-Heather from Ravelry
The first stop was the Ravelry meetup in the Rabbit Building. I’m not sure I would call it a “building.” It’s more like a covered pavilion with a gravel and dirt floor. The mud getting into the place was horrendous, and if I had had any sense, I would never have gone, but since when have I had any sense? No way was I going to miss the Ravelry crowd. It was great to see everyone again, and this year they were all modeling designs by Ysolda Teague. Jess had on this amazing little purple shawl that was so lovely! She took it off and showed it to me. It was beautiful, and it even looks like something that I could do, even with my limited lace skills. There were pictures all around, and it was great to see everyone again.
Ysolda Teague and Trish And why were the Ravelry folks all wearing Ysolda Teague? Why, because we had the pleasure of being in the company of Ysolda Teague herself! How wonderful! She was adorned from head to toe (literally!) with examples of her beautiful knitwear, and oh my gosh it was SOOOOOO beautiful in person! Ysolda was modeling another version of the same shawl that Jess was wearing, along with the matching hat. Both are available in Ysolda’s book, “Whimsical Little Knits.” I was so enamored of each of these patterns that I got the book right away when I came home. Luckily it was available for immediate digital download. I am all about the instant gratification.
Ysolda was also wearing her Coraline sweater, which she told me even comes in my size, and oooh did I get excited. It’s lovely and now I want to make one. She was also wearing a pair of long, lacy socks which might have been the Rapunzel Stockings. I hope she didn’t get them ruined in the mud!
Speaking of mud, the rain was so persistent and the ground so wet and boggy that boy oh boy, did I ever get stuck in the mud while trying to get out of the Rabbit Building. I can’t believe the size of the hole my wheelchair dug into. I was mucky and muddy for the whole rest of the day after that! But hey, it was fun! Except that I don’t think my wheelchair is a huge fan of water. I started having an electrical short early on during the day. So once again I am in my old, clunky chair that makes me generally grumpy. Sigh.
Here is a collection of images from around the festival that day:
basket weaver in action There was a guy weaving handmade baskets,
a collection of sock designs and a plethora of sock designs and sock yarns.
bags of colorful yarn on a shelf And of course, there was lots of yarn!
Oh, and lots of cute sheep to pet:
Baah!Baah!Baah!
And there was music! That’s one of my favorite things about the festival. The sounds of music filled the air from just about everywhere. Here was where Maggie Sansone usually performs, except that the one time I got close enough to film, she had actually stepped away. Maggie’s Celtic music is a real highlight of the festival. You can check her out on iTunes, among other places. But here is some of what I got to hear:
Of course, I bought lots of yummy fiber and yarn. More about that… but in another post. Right now it’s past my bedtime, and there’s a new episode of Lime and Violet calling my name. I’m glad I’ll be listening to a podcast while going off to sleep. It’s storming again. Ugh.
