31 posts tagged “knitting”
And a new pair of socks to go with it:
Yarn is Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Color 4-ply / 4-fädig #5440.
If you're reading this and you're on Ravelry too, I need some friends! I swear, I get it now. I've haven't had time to play too much yet between work and feeding children and all, but I've been scanning other people's projects and stash - the STASH! I feel like I'm snooping in other people's closets. LOL So much fun getting to see what type of yarn I share with other knitters, and what they've made out of it. Very inspiring!
Oh, and me and my knitting peeps made The Harlot's blog: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/09/22/last_stop_on_the_train.html
I feel like one of the cool people now. ;)
It was an awesome night. Just absolutely awesome. I had the best time hanging with my knitting peeps, hanging with other knitting peeps, and of course, meeting The Harlot.
Now I'll launch into what may quite possibly be the longest blog post I've ever made. LOL The adventure started with my pals Gillian, Meghan and Katrin meeting at my house. Once I changed out of my baby puke-stained shirt, logged out of work and decided on which WIP would be making the trip with me, we clambered into Katrin's car and we were off. We may have been high off yarn fumes or something, but it wasn't long before we decided we had to share our enthusiasm with the rest of the world -
I worked on my ribbed socks in the car -
(They're called birthday socks because the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Brights yarn was a birthday gift from the lovely Miss Gillian.)
We arrived at the Borders around 3:00 pm, four and a half hours before The Harlot was due to speak. We figured if we had waited to go later we'd have rush-hour traffic to contend with. And besides, what's better than killing a few hours in a bookstore with your friends, knitting and drinking coffee?
Here's a non-reversed version of our "Bust" wordage -
I don't know if Stephanie saw our proclamation or not, but later we heard a few other knitters talking about it as they came in the store, heh heh.
To our suprise, we were not the first Harlot fans to arrive; there were two other ladies knitting in line. In line for what, you ask? We weren't sure but we weren't about to miss out on anything, so we plopped ourselves on the floor proceeded to wait.
See the space behind us? Pretty empty, eh? Not for long -
Ha ha, that store was quickly chock full 'o knitters. See the baby in the middle? He was with his mom in line for hours, and not a single peep of complaint bless his heart. Hands down the easiest-going baby alive. I know my kids would have been scaling the bookcase searching for an escape route.
I finished the birthday socks in line -
Meghan worked on her first sock -
Gillian started a new sock using the coolest little rosewood DPNs from Lantern Moon (I'm going to break down and buy a set this week, I just know it) and showed off her fabulous one-of-a-kind "Virginia Is For Knitters" dishcloth -
We finally figured out what we were in line for - everyone was assigned a number for getting their book signed after The Harlot was finished speaking. So we were numbers 3-6 for meeting her in person, woot! After getting our numbers, we grabbed dinner at La Madaleine's next door, grabbed seats and waited for Stephanie to arrive.
Blurry shot of the crowd before the talk -
The picture doesn't do the whole thing justice, but there were easily over a hundred knitters there. It was a sight to behold. It was a lot of fun gabbing with surrounding knitters, chatting about yarn and showing off our work. We had the pleasure of sitting next to Jo, who was super nice to hang out with and hope to cross knitting paths with again. =)
Started new sock while we waited some more -
I may not finish them until 2009 at the rate I've been going lately, but henceforth these will forever be called my Harlot Socks. ;)
Finally, Stephanie was here! (My camera's flash was being a butthead, so I don't have a good shot of her standing at the podium but Gillian does, I think) She was awesome. (Have I used the word awesome enough?) She talks exactly the way she sounds in my head when I'm reading her blog (did that come out right?), and she's even more hysterically funny in person. She had lists, such as ways to respond if someone comments about your stash. She talked about the stereotypes knitters face from Muggles, about the cold & callous machinations of C.H.O.K.E. (Cultural Humiliation of Knitters Everywhere) and how often knitters are (foolishly) underestimated. Case in point: have you seen the total on her blog sidebar lately? She talked about so much more and I know any way to describe it would be a poor imitation, so you'll just have to take my word for it that she was fantastic.
After the talk was over, it was book-signing time and we were some of the first in line! Katrin got the chance to meet her first, and Meghan showed off her first sock mojo -
Then it was my turn to meet Stephanie. She asked me what my middle name was, then told me my mother was smart for naming me Amanda Marie because she named her daughter Amanda Lynn which sounds like "a mandolin", LOL. I presented her with my Virginia dishcloth (she said it was the first VA dishcloth she'd gotten) and babbled about how Grace called it the Dead Chicken state. I think I even told her "Welcome to the Dead Chicken State". Bwahaha. I swear, I think I'm cracked in the head.
(PS - Stephanie? If by some miracle you're reading this, you may notice a tiny dab of lipstick on the edge of the dishcloth. This is from the lipstick we used to draw on the car window. Hopefully that knowledge will make the smudge a little less of a flaw and more of an interesting "enhancement".)
Then Gillian presented Stephanie with her Virginia Is For Knitters dishcloth (in case you're wondering, it's a play on our state's "Virginia is for Lovers" motto). Stephanie thought it was great! Then Gillian got to pose with The Harlot and even got to TOUCH the famous traveling sock.
Love this picture. Love it! How cool is that???
Seriously, I can't say it enough. We had the absolute best time in the world, and I really hope I'll have the chance to meet Stephanie again. =)
In less than 12 hours, I will be getting to see the Yarn Harlot in person. So excited! Of course, my knitting pals and I are catching a lot of flack from the Muggles - "You're taking off work early to what? Knit? To see a knitting writer?" Yeah, yeah as a matter of fact I am. Keep giving me crap about it and you're never getting a handknit anything ever again. Harumph. :P
I just finished blocking my Virginia state dishcloth to give her, commemorating The Harlot's visit to what Grace has coined the "Dead Chicken State". Because if you turn a U.S. map sideways, Virginia apparently resembles the shape of a dead chicken. Through the eyes of a child... but damned if she isn't right. LOL
Gillian's also made up a VA-inspired dishcloth, and all I'll say is that it's nothing less than awesome. Must snap a picture of it to show off, along with all the other pics I plan of taking tonight of our big knitting adventure.
All's left is to decide what sock I'm going to take along to work on; I've got 4 (okay, 5) currently on needles right now, and I need to decide which one will take the least amount of effort to knit since I'll be knitting and gawking at The Harlot simultaneously.
Found you!
- You signed up on July 16, 2007
- You are #17337 on the list.
- 6812 people are ahead of you in line.
- 11992 people are behind you in line.
- 35% of the list has been invited so far
At least it's good to know that I'll still be cooler than at least 11, 992 people when I finally make it in there, hee hee. ;)
Been hitting up the local yarn shops this week, and picked up some new goodies. Jim suggested last night somewhat trepidatiously that it would seem illogical to spend money on yarn when you've just spent the last month complaining about never having time to knit anymore. I glared and called him a yarn hater. He decided it was best not to respond. ;)
Batteries in the camera are dead and I'm too impatient to wait for them to charge for a picture of the yarn heap on my table, so I'll give you a list of some stuff I've picked up. You'll just have to close your eyes and try to imagine all of the good fiberness.
- 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon #157. Not sure what plans I have for this yet.
- 2 balls Debbie Bliss SoHo #02. Working on my dad's extremely belated winter hat. (Or am I early if I say it's for this winter?) Think I need to pick up an extra ball.
- 2 balls Adriafil Knitcol in #43. Socks of course.
- 1 ball Austermann Step (with aloe vera and jojoba oil) #08 brombeer. I love German sock yarn. I'm excited to knit with this stuff. It's sooo soft and I got a great deal on it - 50% off!
- 2 skeins of Wisdom Yarns Poems #572. This is a belated birthday gift for my friend Colleen, who likes to knit & felt little furry critters. (I can blog about it because she's anti-computer so I know she'll never read this.)
- 2 skeins Universal Yarns Ditto #4807. Socks for me? Socks for Jim? Can't decide. Men can wear stripey socks, can't they?
Also bought 3 balls of Sugar 'n Cream last week. But yarn for dishclothes doesn't possibly count as stash yarn, right? Right?
PS - Still reading and loving Harry Potter. I'm reading Prisoner of Azkaban now, and just started reading Sorcerer's Stone to Grace - we've been reading a chapter at bedtime. =)
Waiting.... waiting.... what makes this worse is I signed up July 2nd (I know, I checked my IM history where I told a knitter pal about this groovy new online knitting place I'd found), but it apparently didn't take because I had to sign up for an invite again.
Found you!
- You signed up on July 16, 2007
- You are #17337 on the list.
- 11104 people are ahead of you in line.
- 1342 people are behind you in line.
- 32% of the list has been invited so far
I have to confess: the seventh and final Harry Potter book is about to be released, and I am just now getting to reading the first one.
I never planned to shun Harry Potter. My husband, sisters-in-law and brother are all fans of the books (and are all going gonzo over the last book's upcoming release), but I just never got around to finding out what all the fuss was about. I've seen two of the movies on the television and found them interesting, but know full well that as exciting as movies can be (as well as my HP-fanatic family's assertions to the fact), the movies pale in comparison to the books. But still, I didn't read the books.
There's a knitting book at my bookstore with knitting patterns devoted to Harry Potter. Marvelous stuff! I almost bought it - I mean, I know Harry Potter fans, right? But I just didn't feel like I could justify buying a Harry Potter knitting book if I hadn't read the books. Just didn't feel right. I put the knitting book back on the shelf, and despaired. (Okay, so I'm being just a little dramatic here.)
My best friend Gillian finally decided to take matters into her own hands. When I showed up at knitting group last Wednesday, she pushed a book across the table at me: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Take it, she said. Read it, and love it.
I'm reading it. And I get it now! This is a great book. I'm only up to Chapter 6, but I am loving it so far. (The previous chapter where Hagrid the Giant is knitting on the train - this pleased me very much) I'd have devoured the entire book by now if it weren't for those pesky things like children. And work. And hygiene. But I can't wait to find out what happens next, and am excited that I finally get to share Harry Potter mania with the rest of my Harry-loving family. =)
I know what you're going to say. "He's only little once. Knitting will stay, but he won't be a baby forever." I know this, and I'll agree with you with every breath left in my body - I've just recently admitted to myself that I took Gracie's baby years for granted, and I definitely don't want to repeat that mistake with Sweet Sam.
But - I still miss knitting. I miss knitting in the morning before it's time to fire up the laptop, I miss knitting over lunch, and I miss the quiet evening hours when I'd put Grace to bed and park it on the couch next to hubby and knit voraciously until bedtime. I've still got my weekly knitting group, but that leaves me a little more than an hour of knitting to tide me over the whole week and it's just not enough to satisfy the knitting itch.
I've got so many languishing projects, and no end in sight for finishing any of them. I counted 9 WIPs this weekend. That may be a drop in the hat for some knitters, but for me this is staggering. I'm down to 8 now, only because one of the WIPs was a dishcloth and I'm sorry, it just seems wrong for a dishcoth to still be on the needles. 5 rows and it was done.
This is what's left:
From left to right:
1. Sam's baby blanket. He's the proud owner of three gorgeous handknit blankets made by other very lovely knitters, so I've been tempted to pull this one out, except that I started this in the hospital by his birthmother's bedside, so I really feel like I need to finish it for sentimental purposes.
2. Big tweedy garter-stitch scarf. I don't know why I started it except that it was during our all-night Relay For Life walk, thinking I would spend the whole night knitting around the track. Didn't quite work out that way.
3. Tank top for Grace. Was so proud that I managed to knit 10.5 inches of stockinette while stifling the urge to jab myself in the eye out of sheer boredom until I remembered I have to knit another piece just like it.
4. Birthday socks. One down, one to go.
5. Husband socks. First they were going to be for Father's Day, then his birthday. Now I'm aiming for Christmas.
6. We shall not speak of the sweater that sits in that bag, it's too painful.
7. Felted slippers for mom. Supposed to be for her birthday in February but I've still got one slipper left to do. Luckily I was able to distract her from my lack of giftiness with a grandson, so she's not too upset.
Hmm, that's only 7 WIPs. Did I forget to photograph one, or did I imagine that there were eight projects? I'm afraid to search, I might find even more forlorn projects waiting to be unearthed!
Sigh. Yeah, that baby is just lucky he's so darn cute.
For the unitiated, this is Wilbur. Wilbur is G's friend, confidante and long-time companion. He goes everywhere she goes, and even gets buckled in with a seatbelt on car rides.
G begs me almost daily to knit Wilbur all manner of clothes and accessories, and with exception to a few reject baby hats I knitted and was willing to part with, I have steadfastly refused. Even the knitting-obsessed have standards, right?
Lucky for G, her Grammy's a sucker -
And Wilbur is now rocking a bodacious pink scarf!
