Trish Knits.com

Yesterday I had the good fortune of attending Stitches East in Baltimore, with my friend Dina from knitting group. I really had a great time! It was different from attending the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, because that show has a decidedly more local, and small farmer, flavor. This was fun because I got to meet so many people, vendors and friends, who came from all over for the event.

Almost right away I met Tina Whitmore from KnitWhits, which is one of my favorite pattern stores. She happened to have the blocking tiles set on hand, which I purchased and I also picked up a pattern and a little kit for a felted flower. It was great to meet Tina, too… whose work I have admired and much want to learn how to do. She and I seem to have a similar sense of color, which is, I think, what attracts me to many of her designs.

Trish and Alison Hyde

At long last, I got to meet the one and only Alison Hyde! Finally! We’ve been writing back and forth online for years, so it was really great to meet her at Lisa Souza’s booth. It was clear that this wonderful lady has many fans! She’s the author of Wrapped in Comfort: Knitted Lace Shawls, and I have the book already and aspire to knit something from it someday. In fact, one of the ladies who she made a shawl for was also there, and she was wearing the actual shawl from the actual book. That was fun to see! Anyway, it was fun to finally meet Alison and the great Lisa Souza.

At some point while I was in line at one booth, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that Vivian Hoxbro would be on hand to sign her latest book, Knit to Be Square: Domino Designs to Knit and Felt. Well, since I am a newly converted fan of Domino Knitting, I decided to make a break for it and head straight over. Vivian was a delight to talk to, and she was even wearing the abstract stole (Ravelry Link) from the book. It was cool!

I got the new book and she graciously signed it for me:

Knit to Be Square book cover

Knit to Be Square signed on the inside

I even had my very first Vivian Hoxbro square from my Mitered Square Babette Blanket in progress in my purse, and I was able to show it off. She commented that my fist square was HUGE (it is!) but I am going for a really big blanket. I guess we’ll see how it turns out!

Of course I got lots of yarn! There’s one more hank I got that isn’t in these photos, because Dina has it (phew… I thought I forgot it somewhere!) but I’m sure I’ll see her soon. As always, click on the photos to see a larger version and to read more details about each photo.

This was such a great day! It was my first time at Stitches and I found out on Friday that next year, the convention is moving back to Hartford. So it will probably be my last time at Stitches. So, I’m glad I have so many fun people and yarn memories. I guess they’ll have to last me a while.

Thanks to Dina for taking me to Stitches East! I had a blast! I just wish I could say that I can’t wait for next year.

Listen to this article

Last week was my first time. My first time shopping at The Loopy Ewe, that is. My impression of the shop til now was that it was mostly about the sock yarns and fibers, and it didn’t have much that would interest an ordinary knitter like me. I don’t know whether my impression was right or wrong, but every time I visited the site I got the feeling that you kinda have to know what you want to find something, and I found it hard to just browse.

But then I started hearing that they were getting in this huge amount of Cascade 220. In like, just about every color. That there would be a WALL of Cascade in their store. A WALL of Cascade is my dream. I want to be rich someday, and have a huge craft room with a Wall of Cascade. So I can go in there on any given day and just pick a color and knit something. That’s not too much to ask, it it? Nah, I didn’t think so.

So the good news is I found the Cascade on the site and looked at every page and had a hard time narrowing it down. Maybe I’m on my way to having my own Wall of Cascade. I’m happy to report that the service was astoundingly fast. It may have been my first time shopping there, but it won’t be my last. On with the photos:

cascade 220 neutrals

cascade 220 dusky lavender

cascade 220 faded denim shades

cascade 220 antique christmas shades

tegan had to get in the middle of the yarn photos

,,,and Zoe thinks she's hiding

Now I just need to convince myself to stop looking at the other colors… help me… Now to finish my hat so I can play with my new yarn.

(Today would have been my Dad’s 66th birthday. It rained all day and I missed him. If it had been sunny we were going to go to a carnival thing at my kids’ school, and I was looking forward to “losing” a balloon and sending it skyward. Oh well, the thought was there. Did you catch it, Dad? Happy Birthday…)

I’m always finding myself explaining to my daughter why she really needs all that math they teach her at school. Well, kid, here’s an example! It seems I have a problem making hats that fit me just right. I’m all about the guessing, and usually they wind up too big or too small. Well, duh. There’s math that can fix this problem. Really.

hat progress

My friend Lola came over for lunch today and measured my head while she was here. I’m 22 inches, just like I thought. Now, just so you don’t think I’m all remembering my math from Jr. High and stuff, I had to go look it up. Luckily it was pretty quick work finding a website that talked all about circles. Turns out that to figure out how wide to make my hat circles, it’s a simple division problem:

22 in. ÷ π = 7

So if I make the top of my hat have a diameter of 7 inches, that is the size that will fit my head exactly. Not bad, eh? I thought so too. Please let me bask in the glow of my brilliance for a while, eh? Don’t let me down for a day or so at least, by telling me that any 8th grader could do this. K?

Baby Yours

When the Yarn Harlot recently made a pair of baby sweaters for the owner of her favorite local yarn store, I must say I fell in love with the “boy” version. Just look at those cables!

baby yours sweater pattern and yarn

And the yarn is such a lovely shade of blue! It’s Nyame, in Socks that Rock mediumweight by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Love it! I might have to make this one up and dress a doll with it. The yarn is soooooo pretty! Sigh. I definitely am not on the market for another baby. I will queue this one up on Ravelry very soon.

Gotta run; it’s getting late and Kelley Petkun has the Mason Dixon Knitting ladies on her podcast this week. I am dying to listen to them talk about their new book!

Ciao for now, knit friends!

Ciao for now!

To add to yesterday’s post about the book on knitted tams, here’s some of the yarn with which I hope to unlock my creativity! I’ve always been tempted by the Knit Picks Palette family of yarns, but have never actually bought any before. I am envisioning lots of pretty tams and mittens with these. I love the purple yarns in this collection, but was surprised to find that I am particularly enamored of the pale pink color.Soooooo pretty!

Tonight is one of those nights where I am just falling asleep while sitting here trying to blog and knit. Gonna knit for a bit more now and then maybe make an early night of it. Ciao for now! *Edited to Add*–it’s 2:00 a.m. and did I make an early night of it? No, I’m just stressed. And colossally stupid. See you in the coffee line in the morning.

I’ve been chugging away on my baby sweater this week. Once, on Monday night at the swimming pool, I managed to drop a cable again, though not as bad as the first time and only had to knit back one row. But then, this afternoon, I was knitting in the car (as usual) and I managed to doze off (as usual), and I let my needles slip out of the cable section in mid-snore. ARGH. I haven’t fixed it yet. I haven’t got the strength.

The thing is, I think I’m just too tired. I’ve had lots of stress at home AND at work this week, and I’ve been averaging only about 2 to 3 hours of sleep each night. It sucks! But rather than bore you with the hot, salty tears that are my knitting existence this week, I thought I’d share with you that which lifted my spirits as I came home from work this evening:

It was my birthday present from my friend Carrie! Carrie had sent me a gift certificate to the Yarn Market and for the longest time I couldn’t decide what to do with it. I decided to get a bunch of different colors of Noro Kureyon. I plan to make a bunch of wild tams using Charisa Martin’s Lifestyle Top Down Hats formula and some wild color patterns. Should be fun! I haven’t knit a hat in such a long time, and perhaps this is what the doctor ordered to set my mood right again.

Also in the box was this wondrous little doohickey:

Wonder Knitter by Clover

It’s the Wonder Knitter by Clover (OMG! Have you ever SEEN their website? So many fibery gadgets to behold!) I have another cord maker by Bond, but I’ve never even taken it out of the package because it is limited to using thin yarns, and for playing with something like this I probably will prefer doing so with bulky yarns. In fact, I’m starting to feel the urge to collect cord makers (or spool knitters, or knitty noddies, or knitting nancys, or whatever you want to call them). Having a few antique ones would be fun. Guess I’ll keep my eyes open…

Finally, my daughter wanted to share what Tegan was doing today:

Tegan the cat sits on my photo drape and poses

Tegan is the one who always has to be in the middle of everything. I usually photograph my blog stuff in my kitchen, where the light is good, by throwing a tablecloth over a chair. Lately, Tegan has been beating me to the punch and jumping on the chair before I can ever get my knitting ready to shoot. I get the hint. Tegan wants attention. Happy now, cat?

I’ll see you when I’m more awake and my knitting is set right again. Ciao for now…

At least it feels that way to me. It’s my birthday! But it has been a really nice day filled with good friends and lots of knitting goodness. And I thought I was just going to have another boring Monday at work. Ha! The day started with me being able to make what I felt was good progress on this:

Ok, it might not seem like a lot, but this teeny little baby sweater has 183 stitches in a row, which is about as many as my brown ripple afghan! You can see the cable pattern just getting started on what will be the two fronts for the sweater. I am really crossing my fingers on this one, because it seems like I’m totally winging it! But, it seems like so far, so good. I’ll update from time to time.

A good friend from work then took me to Clyde’s for lunch, where I wouldn’t be overstating it if I said I had the best crab cakes I ever ate! It was a wonderful break from the office to go out for such a nice lunch.

Then after work I got home and my Mom and Tony were over, and the inlaws, Bill and Linda, arrived soon after. We had Tony’s homemade pasta sauce and meatballs, and Linda brought the salad, bread, and cake. It was all so YUMMY!

Then it was time for presents. My DH gave me these:

The Lucy Neatby sock videos! I figure I’m going to learn just about everything I ever wanted to know about sock knitting watching these. I can’t wait!

My in-laws gave me a check, but as it turns out, yesterday, I bought this:

It’s an Aiptek video camera on a flexible tripod. Our primary video camera is too heavy for me to hold, plus I wanted something small that I could keep in my purse. But the main reason I got this camera? I’ve been wanting to add some video demos to my knitting site. It’s going to take me a while to learn how to use the camera well enough to film my knitting, but I’m looking forward to it.

Then, when I got home tonight, this was waiting for me in the mail:

It’s the Tulip Baby Sweater kit in the “Jewel” colorway. I got enough yarn that I could probably make a couple of teeny sweaters or one in size 4. I’m thinking I have a niece who is just the right size. I’m actually so in love with the yarn for this project that maybe I will make it and put it up as art! Haha!

The last yarny thing for today was that my friend Carrie gave me a gift certificate to YarnMarket. That store has so many things I want that it will be hard to decide what to get right away. I might sit on this gift… but probably only a day or two! Thanks, Carrie!

Wishing everyone would get to have a fun day like I had today. I’m crashing. Night-night!

Yes it’s true; I’m a slow knitter. I managed a few more rounds on my sock toe at yesterday’s knitting group, but that’s about it. I could have done more today, but I do have this brown ripple afghan I’m working on. So I did a little on that, too. And I do mean a little. I don’t know what it is with me lately; I have all of these grand intentions of knitting for long stints and then I get distracted. Usually by the computer, of course, which, coincidentally, is where I am now… could blogging be eating into my knitting time? I’m sure there are thousands of knitters out there now who are with me on this conundrum.

Yesterday at knitting group, Shelley gifted me with this:

It’s Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Mystic Kelp colorway. Yum! It’s all purple-y and, and, and… I love it! Thanks, Shelley!

While at the bookstore yesterday I picked up one of these:

It’s a Moleskine Small Sketch Book, and I got it for keeping in my knitting bag, so I can make notes and quick little sketches of my knitting projects along the way. I heard Kelley Petkun talk about these little books once on her podcast, and I didn’t really think I’d need one until the other day, when I found myself needing to do some math related to the baby sweater I’m working on. The sweater is constructed using percentages, and since my gauge and stitch count are different than the original pattern, I wanted to make notes about my own numbers. I didn’t have any paper in my knitting bag (bad me!) and wound up writing in the actual book that the pattern was in. So when I saw this little thing in the store yesterday, I snapped it up. My percentage calculations will be the first thing in the book.

I’m feeling bummed tonight. I’m coming down off of a week off from work and now I have to go back tomorrow. I feel the stress creeping up on me. Ack! Make it stop!

More next time…

Today was a really productive day. My knit buddy Rhoda came over with her daughter, Sarah. They were on a mission. Today was the day that we were going to organize every ball of yarn I own, and all the little doo dads that go with it.

They arrived at about 10 a.m. and before I knew it, every bit of yarn in my house was dumped onto my den floor. Rhoda said she thought there’d be more. People always say that about me. Turns out my yarn stash isn’t that bad.

We decided to organize my yarn by type. So, all the wools are together, all the cottons, all the sock yarns, etc. I had attempted to organize my stuff recently and even started a box numbering system, but now, knowing that all of my cottons are together in one place, it’s somehow easier. I had enough wools to fill two Rubbermaid tubs, which didn’t surprise me. So that had to be split up. It did surprise me that I had as much cotton yarn as I did. Equally surprising to me was that I had such small quantities of both luxury yarns AND cheap acrylics, so, oh the dichotomy! They are in a box together. Also placed neatly into crates are my UFOs (that’s UnFinished Objects, for non-knitters who might be reading). I have one crate for the really hot, active projects, and one for the longer term projects. Now, everything has its place.

I also reclaimed a rolling cart/bin thingy from my kids, which has my needles, accessories, and related crafting supplies all neatly arranged. Now I have a place for all of it, it’s not in a huge jumbled mess, and I can reach it all! How cool is that?

We didn’t tackle the knitting library today. That’s a huge project all its own. But I feel like I’m well on my way, with a huge thanks to Sarah and Rhoda! Huggers!

Tonight I decided to be brave and try to wind one of my other Lisa Souza yarn hanks into a ball. My daughter gave me that, “Mom, you’re NUTS!” look as I began to drag out the swift, knowing full well my troubles from the last week. But I knew that the hanks from this one particular colorway of yarn seemed to be more tightly wrapped than the others, so I figured my chances of success would have to be pretty good. I was right.

My kids both found my new Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder to be a wondrous machine, and enjoyed immensely taking turns at the crank. I’ll have to get pictures of them doing this next time since they seemed to enjoy it so much. I am now happily swatching for my Elizabeth Zimmermann February Baby Sweater from Knitter’s Almanac. (Note to self: I’m using the 3 mm Harmony needles for my swatch. I can’t tell yet, but I think they’re going to be too big. I’m a loose knitter. Wonder how many repeats of the stitch pattern I’ll have to add to make the sweater fit an actual baby?)

New Baby Knits Book

BabyKnits Hats & Booties–by Edie Eckman, Bonnie Franz, and Debby Ware. Well, it’s new to me, anyway. I bought it yesterday while at my knitting group at Borders. I especially love the hat and bootie set on the cover, but as a mom of people who used to be actual babies? I’m not sure what I think about the ribbon yarn in terms of safety. I’d probably substitute with icords or something. That said, there are some SERIOUSLY cute patterns in here! Definitely worth a look if you want to knit something cute, and maybe a little fun, for baby.

More evidence of my complete undoing this week:

There’s no other word for it. Yarn Barf. This is the thing I hate most about knitting. The starting. Perhaps this is why I hate finishing so much? Because finishing something means starting something else. Now, I don’t mind the excitement of a new project. But for me, the excitement only comes AFTER the winding of the yarn and the casting on and the knitting of the first row. After that, it’s all good. But the setup? It kills me, every time.

I’m thanking God that this week is our knitting meetup. One of my knitterly friends has offered to come from afar and help me dig my way out of yarn hell. Thank goodness for good friends, or I don’t know what I’d do.

On a Lighter Note…

Today I found out that Franklin has a new book coming out, featuring the adorable and hilarious Delores. It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons Looks like it’s due out in October. Honestly, I don’t think I can stand the wait. But still…. thinking about that book sure beats the yarn barf alternative that’s facing me tonight.