Bounty from OFFF

Okay, here come a lot of pictures. While I feel like I restrained myself at OFFF, I still put a big dent in the pocketbook. Imagine what could have happened if I hadn't tried restraining myself! Scary stuff, that.

We got there by 11:00, but the mill ends rack at Blue Moon's booth had already been picked clean. Fortunately, they still had some goodies left, like this skein of STR lightweight in one of the Rare Gems colors. Rare Gems are skeins that were overdyed because the original intended colors didn't come out quite right. Most are one of a kind and all are wonderful. This one pretty much screamed at me from the bottom row of the rack, so I grabbed it. The picture doesn't do justice to the variety and intensity of color. I love it.

It was tempting to grab a TON of things from the Blue Moon booth, but I was trying to hold back, remember? Nevertheless, I did snag this hu-yoooge skein of Great Wall (60% merino, 40% bambu) in a color called In the Navy. It's a gorgeous blend of denim blues with subtle variation and has 1,240 yards. I want to make a warm shawl for the winter and I think this will fit the bill very, very nicely.

I had a list (yes, a list but that does not mean I'm an organized person. You should see my house!) and on that list were several shops I knew I wanted to visit. Next up was A Swell Yarn Shop where I spent quite a bit of time sorting through the XXL skeins (extra yardage for extra-large feet like mine) before picking out this color. You get 475 yards of loveliness, including a contrasting color for heels and toes. Believe me, there are a lot of gorgeous colors. It was hard picking just one.

Whew! It's a good thing fiber doesn't weigh very much or I never would have made it back to the car!

From here, the day sort of becomes a blur. I wandered from one place to another, pausing to watch the spinning contest, get some lunch, and generally enjoy everyone's company.

Butternut Woolens, however, was on my list. Took me a while here, because the sock yarns were lovely. But I finally could not resist two skeins of 50% angora, 30% merino, 20% nylon yarn in a color called Hydrangea. Sooooo soft.









I got sidetracked on a trip to the restroom when I saw this. Hey, in my defense, you would have stopped, too! From Fresh Yarns, 400 yards of Berry Bramble, 100% merino superwash sock yarn. The colors remind me of a Victorian Christmas and this may become some mini socks to hold lottery tickets or other small goodies.






Then there was a visit to Chrissy of Gardiner Yarnworks. Chrissy is moving from retail to wholesale with her pattern design business and was clearing out sock yarn. This skein of Zen Yarn Garden just had to come home with me. It's 50% superwash merino and 50% tencel in a color they call Teacup. Look for Chrissy's excellent patterns at a shop near you, or join us on the Sea Socks Cruise in May and learn more directly from her while enjoying a cruise to Alaska!

As I've mentioned before, I'm going to learn to spin soon. So Bobbie helped me find some good roving to start out with. To start off, I got a full one pound of superwash roving for just $14 from Mountain Shadow Ranch. There's blue, turquoise, brown, black, white, and magenta in the bag. Plenty for me to experiment with and, at this price, I won't mind if I make mistakes while learning.

Once I've learned, however, I bought two ounces of merino/silk roving from Aurora Colony Fiber arts (sadly no Web site). I definitely won't try spinning this until I'm sure I can get something fairly consistent. It's too pretty to mess up.


By this point, I was starting to get low on funds. But in a walk-through of the main building earlier in the day, I had spotted something I just had to have, so I went back to get it. I wish you could pet this stuff, because it's very, very nice. It's six skeins, 350 yards each of superwash lambswool, purchased from The Fiber Addict for a pittance -- just $3.50 per skein! I got plenty of it because I'm not sure what it will become and I wanted options. At that price, I could afford it, too!


And then I saw a beautiful shawl on display in another booth and just had to have the pattern. It says "for experienced knitters" on the front page. Hope I can live up to that! This picture doesn't do it justice, but it will give you an idea of how pretty it is. Pattern is from
Toots LeBlanc & Company and designed to be knit in their angora blend yarn. Who knows what I'll use. I think we know I have options in the stash!


As you can imagine, my bag was getting full by this point. But there was one more booth I wanted to visit and thus this lovely skein of sock yarn found a nook in the bag just the right size and jumped in. It's 546 yards of superwash merino from Angora Valley. The color is called "Reserved" and probably wouldn't have caught my eye except that they had a sample sock knit up in it and it looked great. All that navy blue with an occasional dollop of bright red to accent it. Something just felt right about that combo.

I forgot!

I took a little movie on my camera of Kim and the other junior spinners at OFF. It's very short, but sweet. :)


Sorry if you came looking for this. I took the video off because for some reason it makes the post show up as new over and over and over again in Bloglines and it's driving me nuts. :)

OFFF we went!

Yesterday was full of fiber, friends, and fun. But then what do you expect from a trip to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival?

By the time Chrispy and I arrived, Bobbie had already staked out a lovely area for us, suitably located under one of the big oak trees near the music and central to the main shopping areas and restrooms. Perfect!

The day is pretty much a haze because of all those fiber fumes, but I can report that I managed not to spend all the mortgage money. LOL First stop? The Blue Moon booth, where I limited myself to one skein of STR lightweight and one giant hank of a bamboo/merino blend. (I'll have stash enhancement pictures soon, I promise.) A visit to A Swell Yarn Shop was a requirement. I've been wanting some of their duet sock yarn for a while and they had the XXL skeins which are generous in size to accommodate those of us with (ahem!) large feet. I limited myself to one skein, but now that I know where to find them, who knows what the future will bring!

I'm not sure what order the rest of the day took, it's all kind of blurry!

Somewhere along the way, I visited Butternut Woolens. The subtle colors of sock yarn were gorgeous, especially the new greys, but I couldn't decide. Finally I got swayed by two skeins of a very pretty angora mix. It's a lovely combination of blue, white, and brown and I think it is destined to be at least one pair of fingerless gloves or maybe a warm scarf.

At noon, Tammy's daughter Kim participated in the Junior Spinning Contest. Kim is a very, very accomplished spinner! Tammy says Kim learned to spin just from watching Tammy and was proficient almost as soon as she sat down at the wheel. That's Kim, second from the left in the green top. These four young ladies were the only participants in the contest. A small contingent, but all quite determined and talented. They had 15 minutes to spin as much as they could. Then they were judged on such things as how much yardage they created, the consistency of the spun yarn, and a few other things that I can't remember. Kim created something like 59 yards of beautifully spun, fine yarn. She didn't win the big prize (a new spinning wheel), but she did win some roving and a t-shirt. All of them got ribbons. The spinning wheel went to the gal on the end who was using a drop spindle made from an old CD. She seemed to really be struggling with it, but boy was she determined! Now she'll have a wheel to really get going, which is very cool.

While we watched them spin, I remarked to Tammy that Kim looked so relaxed and so good at what she was doing that I bet she could easily get a job spinning for one of the local folks who markets handspun yarns. And you know what? At the end of the contest, when the prizes were handed out, the very person I was thinking about offered Kim work doing just that! It's pretty exciting. Of course school comes first, and I'm sure there are other considerations, too, but it's wonderful to see someone doing something they love and getting the opportunity to be paid to do it -- especially when that someone is almost 14 and the whole world is opening up to her. It warms my heart to see young people blossoming and Kim is definitely doing that.

OFFF wasn't the only thing happening at the fairgrounds this weekend. At the other end of the property, there was a good-sized contingent of Irish Wolfhound owners having a show of their own. This guy and his owner wandered down to browse through the fiber booths. Actually, this dog isn't an Irish Wolfhound, it's a cousin breed, but I can't for the life of me remember what breed the owner said it was! I do know, though, that it was a beautiful animal with a wonderfully calm disposition and seemed quite at home among all the knitters, spinners, and merchants.

Among the things I learned on Saturday, is the story of the kidnapped can opener. I'm not sure how I missed this story in the blogiverse, but I did. I couldn't figure out why Duffy kept wandering around calling out, "Looking for the can opener! Anyone have the can opener?" Silly me suggested she try asking at one of the food booths! LOL It turns out that she was supposed to meet the former holders of the can opener, which has now been deemed "Mr. Pink," at noon and they were running a little late. She thought perhaps they couldn't find her and that's why she was wandering and calling out for a can opener to magically appear. Anyway, it finally did make an appearance and as I understand it had quite a time socializing all around the festival area. Here we see it posing with Judy, along with it's very own small WIP and our PDX Knitting Bloggers sign.

There was so much more! I have more pictures in my Flickr album, although I probably should have taken a lot more. In my defense I was under the influence of not only all those fiber fumes, but the enabling presence of Bobbie and Barbara urging me on to the spinning portion of the fiber arts. I've already signed up for two spinning classes at The Knitting Bee next month and will be using a wheel generously loaned to me by Chrispy (via Bobbie who has been using it but just bought a wheel from Barbara), so it didn't really take a lot of effort for them to persuade me to buy some rovings.

I purchased four ounces of beautiful silk/merino roving from the Aurora Colony Fiber Arts booth. Then Bobbie took me to another booth (sorry, I don't remember which it was) where they had a hamper full of miscellaneous superwash wool rovings. For $14, you could pick out a pound of whatever combination of colors you wanted. Bobbie, being the extremely accomplished enabler she is, dug and dug in that hamper and pulled out some lovely shades of turquoise, blue, green, white, and a bit of fuschia for me. At that price, even if I'm not very good at spinning when I start, I won't mind making mistakes. Next year, maybe I'll be one of the spinners under the oak tree at OFFF!

Oh! When I was in line for lunch (choice of lamb kabobs, lamb stew, lamb sandwich, lamb sausage, lamb. . . you get the idea), there were some lovely ladies in front of me. As knitters tend to do, we chatted a bit. The subject of the Madrona Fiber Arts retreat came up. They had not heard of this and I couldn't remember details (I haven't attended it myself -- yet). I gave them one of my blog cards and said I'd mention it here, so ladies -- silly me didn't get or remember your names -- here it is! Yes, I'm an enabler, too!

And while you're looking at that, consider this. . . Sea Socks Cruise & Yarn Expedition 2008. We'll be sailing from Seattle on May 9, 2008 aboard the Celebrity Infinity and heading to Alaska, where we'll be visiting Ketchikan, the Hubbard Glacier, and Juneau, then stopping in Victoria, BC on the way back home. I cannot wait. The link above goes to the blog with lots of information and you can find port and pricing details here. Tempting? Well, it gets better. Patricia, the organizer, has already scouted out yarn-related excursions for us in every port, including opportunities to get your hands on some qiviut. And along the way, you'll get a goody bag that promises to be full of great stuff and instruction from folks like our own Chrissy Gardiner and Amy Singer. Mmmmmm!

Oh, my. I just discovered another cool thing! the Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild will be holding their annual workshop day on October 27th in Canby. There are lots of classes to choose from, including begining spinning, a dyeing workshop, and needle felting. You can see details about the event here. Costs are very reasonable. Hmmm. The two spinning classes I'm signed up for are on October 19 and 26. I think I might have to pack the wheel up and head to Canby for the workshop on the 27th as well!

Uh, Bobbie? Are you listening? SEE WHAT YOU STARTED???? LOL

It's been a busy weekend. After a full day Saturday at OFFF, I went to the World Forestry Center and dealt roulette for three hours at a fundraiser for Animal Aid, a local no-kill shelter. It was fun, but by the time I got home around 10:30, I was bushed! Today started out kind of slow for me and then I had to head downtown to deal blackjack at another fundraiser. Busy, busy -- but in a good way. :)

Tomorrow, I will try to get time to take pictures of the loveliness I acquired at OFFF so you can all drool on your keyboards.

I'm OFFF!

To the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, that is! Yes, the day has finally arrived and I am, I think, suitably excited.

If all goes well and I don't sell the car to buy more yarn, I'll be back tomorrow with reports of the festivities, stash enhancements, and general merriment that occurs.

WOO HOO!!!

Current mood: Very relaxed

Ahhhhh! Can you hear my big, deep breath of relaxation? That's what happens when you spend a weekend at a knitting retreat -- even when it's practically in your own backyard.

The weekend was wonderful. Myrna Stahman is a great teacher and creates absolutely gorgeous lace shawls! I learned a lot and enjoyed the entire experience immensely

Here's Myrna signing her book. I still don't have a copy, but I'm definitely going to get one. Myrna believes in treating her knitting with respect. To that end, there is no "right side" and "wrong side," but there is a "public side" and a "private side." It sounds much more refined that way, don't you think? Oh, and rather than "blocking" her finished pieces, she "dresses" them. We even got to see how she does that with wires since she finished a lovely shawl using yarn from Buffalo Gold that's 75% bamboo and 25% bison. Lovely stuff.

BTW, if you're looking for a set of dressing/blocking wires, I highly recommend the kit available from Handworks NW. Not only do they come in a tube for storage and include 42 wires in fine, medium, and heavy weights as well as stainless steel t-pins, but a portion of every sale (the set costs $39 + shipping) is donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. NAYY and all those disclaimers. I just think this is a great set at a good price with links to a good cause. :)

But I digress. . . back to the retreat!

We experimented with different kinds of yarns to see how they worked up in a lace pattern and learned that lace knitting is definitely not limited to laceweight yarns. We experimented with several different methods of casting on for circular knitting, creating swatches from at least two different methods.

Then we started in on a circular lace pattern in cotton for practice. I managed to finish mine and I love how the pattern worked up. I never would have guessed that the chart we were given would work into this pattern. The chart showed only 1/8th of the pattern. I'm used to charts and actually prefer them, but having never done a circular project, I didn't have a point of reference for the odd-shaped chart we were presented with. It was lovely watching it develop.

I was a bad blogger and spent more time knitting than I did taking pictures! Let me just say that the variations in size and texture of the different cloths that people made was wonderful. Different weight cotton, different sized needles, and different levels of tension in the knitting combined to make a great variety of FOs.

And there was lots of other knitting going on, too. When we weren't in class, we were sitting together and knitting on individual projects. I made significant progress on the Clapotis shawl, but still have a ways to go. There were sweaters and shawls and scarves and lots of socks in progress. Oh, and Gillian finished this wonderful sweater (shown here before weaving in ends and "dressing" it), which was a great accomplishment since she has had it in her UFO pile for about a year and a half. It's lovely!

The hard part is that the weekend is over, but I'm very far from being sick of knitting and I need to put it aside and work! Oh well, OFFF is coming up this Saturday, so I'll have another chance to let the knitting mojo take over for a bit!

Time to retreat!

As in a Knitting Retreat! Tomorrow starts a weekend that promises to be full of relaxation, learning, fellowship, and knitting. It's the Tigard Knitting Guild's Fall Retreat and this year it's all about lace. Myrna Stahman is in town and will be providing us with tons of information and new ideas.

The retreat kicks off tomorrow afternoon with a three-hour session titled "Adventures in Lace Knitting: Is this fiber appropriate for lace knitting?" Then on Saturday we will spend the entire, glorious day exploring the world of circular lace knitting.

I don't have a copy of Myrna's book yet, but it's been on my list of wants for a while. Maybe she'll have some copies for sale (she wrote hopefully).

I've managed to get all my editing work completed so that I don't have to worry about it for the weekend. Yeah! I've finished packing a bag with lots of different yarns and needles for the classes. Now I just need to. . .

• Pack some clothing (this is a sleep-over retreat)
• Remember to pack towels (it's at a retreat house that doesn't provide those)
• Gas up the car
• Go to the bank
• Go to the car dealership to get a part installed (it's covered under my extended warranty - yeah!)
• Go to the LYS to get a couple of DPN sets in sizes I need for the class and don't have
• Head to the retreat!

Whew! Hope I don't fall asleep in the first session! Oh, and I have my camera ready to go so I should have pictures to post when next we chat.

Have a great weekend!

Of obsession, gifting, Cat Bordhi, and reveling in Ravelry

Lots going on in the last few days! So, bear with me a bit and I'll try to give a Reader's Digest abridged version (no promises, though).

First up, Thursday night was the Tigard Knitting Guild meeting. Trish Andersen from Tanglewood Fiber Cerations was the guest speaker. She's hilarious as well as very, very skilled at spinning. Her basket of hand-spun goodness was a joy, as was her talk. She even taught us how to spin using nothing but some roving and a bent paperclip, which came in very handy on Friday night -- but more about that later. Trish only sells her handspun wholesale, so if you want some, you'll need to find a shop who carries it. If you're in Portland, you can find some at my favorite LYS, The Knitting Bee. Trish will be teaching a drop-spindle class there soon, too, in case you want to learn more.

In addition to the basket of hand-spun skeins, Trish brought some items made from her spun creations. One of them was the Alix's Prayer Shawl from Debbie Macomber's Web site. It was gorgeous. So pretty, in fact, that I immediately knew it was perfect for the two skeins of Sea Silk in my stash in the lovely Berry colorway.

This is where the obsession comes in. When I got home from the meeting, I downloaded the pattern, printed it, studied it a bit, and determined that it truly is a simple lace that I could easily manage. Then I went to bed. Where I had dreams about the pattern and the yarn together and woke up with little on my mind except for winding those two skeins into balls and casting on for that shawl! Yes, friends, I truly can be that obsessed. Unfortunately, I had a lot of work to do, so the most I managed was winding the two skeins into balls and taking this picture. Today, however, I did cast on and start, even though I should be working. Heck, I have all day tomorrow to work on that Monday deadline! LOL

I showed of the Monkey socks at the meeting, along with the wonderful aromatic cedar blockers I got from Deb (more accurately, from Deb's hubby, Bruce). Both were big hits. The socks are now properly blocked (and smelling slightly of cedar - mmmm!), wrapped up and ready to be gifted.

Which brings us to Friday and Cat Bordhi's book-signing event. The PDX Knitting Bloggers were amply represented and, being the shy, retiring group that we are, we sat in the front row, baby! Most of us got there early and quickly purchased a copy of Cat's new book (New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book 1) and got it signed before everything else started.

Cat was gracious and calm and wonderful, just as expected. She wears her socks well, don't you think? The book recommends that you make small socks using each of the new techniques to get a feel for them. Once you've done that, string them together and wear them, as Cat did, or use them for holiday decorations. Lovely!

There were lots and lots of sample socks showing the different techniques. If you haven't purchased the book yet, you might want to do so quickly. The first printing is already sold out (to stores, that is) and the second printing won't happen until October. So if your LYS or book store runs out of copies, you'll end up waiting a bit to get one. Even if you've knit a thousand pairs of socks, you are going to want this book. I can't wait to try some of the new techniques out. I just need more hours in each day!

Tina from Blue Moon Fiber Arts was our host and since traffic was terrible, the order of things got rearranged a little. Tina asked if we wanted to play a game -- a game that had skeins of Socks That Rock as prizes. Well, duh! When there's STR involved, who knows what we'd do to win some!

Tina asked us to look in our knitting bags ('cause you know we all had them with us) and pull out something unusual that is used in knitting. Kathy had just been showing us how to make i-cord using a plastic fork, so she was the first one up to the podium to claim a prize. I still had the paperclip and roving in my bag from the night before and demonstrated my spinning technique. That scored me the lovely skein you see here. More things appeared, including credit cards to figure WPI, hair clips to hold pieces together for seaming, and lots of other things. Lots of happy knitters went home with skeins of STR!

Oh, the color of my STR is Sherbert. It's very bright. I think I'm going to pair it with some black and do socks with some mosaic knitting pattern or fair isle or something like that. My mind is reeling with possibilities, especially given the new techniques in Cat's book!

By the way, Cat has created some YouTube videos showing a variety of techniques, including Judy's Magic Cast-on (which is mentioned in the book, BTW) and some of the techniques from the new book. These should help a lot of us! And finally, here are some more pictures from the evening.

I know this is a long post, but here's the final bit. . .

I'm finally on Ravelry! I spent a little bit of time today exploring and posting some of my FOs. There's a lot to explore and I think it's going to take me some time to get acclimated, but I'm so glad I made it there! If you're on, you can find me under the name Maxfun, which is the identity I usually use (sometimes with the number 47 after it) on the Web. Woo HOOOOO!!!

Okay, with that, I'm back to typing. Gotta make my Monday deadline! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Newsflash! Knitters invade Safeco Field!

Yesterday was the third annual Stitch n' Pitch day at Seattle's Safeco Field. Thanks to a bus sponsored by the generous folks at Lantern Moon, a bunch of Portland knitters got to enjoy the festivities. And even though the Mariners lost, I think a good time was had by all!

I took a lot of pictures, so rather than filling this post with them and making it very long, I put them in a Slide for your viewing pleasure.

We started at the Hollywood Fred Meyer parking lot. After several coolers and baskets of snacks were loaded on, we boarded the bus and were off. I'm ashamed to say I didn't write down our bus driver's name and my memory is like a sieve, so I apologize! Suffice it to say that he did an excellent job in getting us safely to and from Seattle despite horrific traffic, logging trucks that almost clipped us when changing lanes, and construction that narrowed a very wide freeway to a very narrow one lane. I'm sure glad I wasn't driving!

Diana and Joel and the other Lantern Moon staffers gifted each of us with beautiful Provence bags filled with a silk tafetta bag (you know how much I love these!), a crocheted cake keychain, Destiny circular needles, a skein of ShiBui Sock yarn (courtesy of Knit Purl), a scarf pattern (again from Knit Purl), some Soak wool wash (courtesy of The Yarn Garden), a Stitch n' Pitch needle holder, LiveStrong bracelets and a blinky pin.

Of course knitting came out of bags and Harry Potter books, too, and off we went. It took a while (remember I mentioned all that traffic?), but we got there with plenty of time to look around before the game started.

Our seats were very high on the third deck, in the very last section on the third-base side. We didn't care. It provided an interesting perspective on the game and we were knitting anyway. LOL There were a lot of booths selling yarn and books and kits and fiber and all manner of crafty goodness. You could even sign up to get a free chair massage. Debbie Macomber was there signing copies of her books and giving out her very own baseball cards. Since she threw out the first pitch, I guess that came with the package.

I tried to resist, but gave in and bought a few things. I did, however, manage to resist buying more Seasilk, although it was priced very nicely, since I have some in my stash that I haven't knitted yet. I got some sock yarn, of course! One skein in Mariners' colors, which was available in self-striping, variegated, or fair isle striping. I got the fair isle one. I also got a skein in WSU Cougar colors, which will be a gift for a friend. Next, I bought a very cute kit that makes five catnip mice. It came with the catnip and the bells and I think my cat will love the finished product. Finally, I could not resist a skein of laceweight hand-dyed merino in a denim color. Gorgeous stuff! And one booth, Pacific Fabrics & Crafts, gave me a free traveler's coffee mug just because I had a knitting project with me. Cool!

Fox Sports Northwest was in the stands talking to knitters and zeroed in on one of the men in our group. I wasn't close enough to hear the interview and haven't been successful in finding an online version, but if I do, I'll make sure to link to it here. Dudes who knit are way cool! Blast the stereotypes out the door, guys!

The ride home took a bit longer than anyone planned due to road construction and a drawbridge that was raised, but we made it safe and sound. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a day.

Stitch 'n Pitch day coming up!

Thursday, July 26 is Stitch 'n Pitch day at the Seattle Mariners. Sponsored by The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA), these events are happening all over the place. For the Seattle game, it's expected that around 3,000 crafters (not just knitters, but all sorts of crafters) will be in attendance. There will be vendors selling crafty items, demonstrations of crafts, teaching of crafts -- oh, and a baseball game against the Oakland As!

Thanks to Peggy and Mims over at the OregonLive K2Tog blog, I discovered that Lantern Moon is sponsoring a bus ride to the game. For just $45, you get to ride in the comfort of a luxury motorcoach from Portland to Seattle, receive what promises to be a wonderful goody bag from Lantern moon (including one of their lovely circular needles and who knows what other goodies), and tickets to the game. Now that has got to be a great deal, right? The bus will depart Hollywood West Fred Meyer, 3030 N.E. Weidler, at 2 p.m. on July 26. Game time is 7 p.m. and we'll return to Portland around 1 a.m.

There's still space available on the bus, so if you can free up your afternoon and evening on the 26th, contact Diana at Lantern Moon and make a reservation. I'll see you there! :) Now if I can just figure out which sock project to take with me!

Taking flight

Presented for your amusement, the first of a pair of Flying Gull socks. This pattern is my own, using a stitch pattern from a baby sweater pattern in The Knitter's Almanac. The stitch pattern is called Gull Wing and the yarn color is Sky, thus the name Flying Gull socks.

I charted the stitch pattern for knitting in the round, adding two two-stitch twists on either side of the leg to make up for the stitch count difference between the lace repeat and the number of stitches I needed for the sock. The pair of twists then splits at the gusset with one giving way to the gusset decreases and the other continuing down the side of the lace. The heel uses the eye of partridge stitch, which pairs very well with the lace. The mate is now the needles now. :)

I spent a few hours today with a group of like-minded women at Portland's newest crafty shop, Twisted. We met to support each other in our labors over the Mystery Stole 3 project. Ten of us were there and no two people were using the same yarn. There was white and black and jade green and a beautiful variegated blue and rust and alpaca and wool and laceweight and fingering weight -- you get the idea. All gorgeous! We tried working on them while we chatted, but no one made it very far. After a couple of times correcting errors, I put the stole away and worked on my sock instead. This lace is stuff that requires more concentration and less conversation! I'm not quite halfway through Clue 2 yet. I promise pictures soon (yeah, I know I've said that before)! :)


BTW, if you're in Portland, I highly recommend Twisted. It's a really nice, open, inviting space with a huge selection of teas to enjoy, workspaces with tables, some comfy chairs in the large picture windows to relax in and people watch as you knit, a very friendly staff, and lots of great yarn.

I ogled and petted lots of yarn, including some handpainted sock yarn. But in the end, I stayed a bit more practical (given that I have enough sock yarn in my stash now to keep a marching band's feet warm if I only had time to knit through all of it). From the large selection of Debbie Bliss yarns, I got a couple of cashmerino aran skeins in a lovely dark teal/blue. This is destined to become fingerless gloves for a Christmas gift. From the lovely collection of Trekking, I chose a skein of XXL in a mix of brown/white/light blue that one knitter said reminded her of chocolate and blueberries. That will become socks for a friend who has been pestering me to make her a pair.

Finally, is a skein of Blue Moon Socks That Rock in Sun Stone. It's just as bright and lovely as a sunny day. I'm going to have to pick a special pattern for that one! This wasn't purchased at Twisted, but rather was a prize delivered to me personally by Deb. How did I get that lucky? I made a donation to her fundraising efforts for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. The walk/run she's participating in is coming up on August 19th, so there's still plenty of time to contribute. Donations in any amount are appreciated. Every time the total increments by $100, she gives out a prize (random number generator and all that stuff). Anyway, that's how I won the STR, although the STR sure wasn't the reason I donated. :)

It's been a really nice weekend. I worked two casino nights, but only had one editing job to do. That left me plenty of knitting time, especially since I rode the MAX train downtown and took advantage of that time to finish up the first of the Flying Gull socks. Then knitting with the group today. Just lovely! Hope yours was good, too.

Beginnings and Endings

Every beginning has an end and vice versa. Sometimes the middle lasts a long time, sometimes it goes all too quickly, and sometimes, like in fairytales, it's just right.

This weekend marked a beginning and and end.

On the beginning side, we had the first "official" meet-up of the PDX Knitting Bloggers group. From seeds planted at the Yarn Harlot's talk when she visited Portland, Bobbie wondered if maybe all the local bloggers could get together sometime. Judy took the initiative and started the Yahoo group, and we were off. In two shakes of a lamb's tail, the group grew and now has a whopping 54 members!

Sunday, a bunch of us got together to knit and chat. Knit Purl graciously offered to host the gathering. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted and invited to the meeting room downstairs. Some of us (ahem!) took a little longer to go downstairs, because we I could not walk past the ShiBui sock yarn without buying some!

Downstairs, we were greeted by Darcy and crew who had iced tea and cold water waiting for us. I'm not certain if the cookies and brownies were from Darcy or someone in the group, but they sure were good! To top it all off, Darcy announced that there were stickers underneath some of the chairs and whoever sat in one of those got a prize. Oh, lucky day, I had a sticker! So in addition to the two skeins of ShiBui I had purchased, I was gifted with two more.

Knitting, conversation and general merriment ensued for the next three hours (which, by the way, flew by). I'm telling you, it does not get better than this. Great knitters, great bloggers, great snacks, great hosts, great yarn -- I'm overcome with the greatness! Kathy already posted a wonderful list of everyone in attendance and links to all the blogs, so I won't repeat it here. Besides, you should visit Kathy's blog; she has some good stuff over there!

Okay, so that was the beginning item for the weekend. I sure hope the middle of that one goes on and on and on.

Here's the ending item: The striped socks are finished! I even washed them and they are blocking now. Someone sent me an email after my last post about this (sorry, I seem to have lost it and can't remember who it was!) and said that the Regia yarn softens up considerably after washing. That's definitely true, thank goodness! They came out of the wash very nice and soft. Now as long as they fit my friend, all will be well.

I'd classify the middle on this item as just right. I started them on June 23rd and finished them on July 8th. Not super-fast, but given the amount of stuff I have going on, pretty quick.

Specs:

Yarn: Regia Strato , color 5743
Needles: Empress bamboo DPNS, U.S. size 1
Pattern: My basic 2x2 rib

Next up? Finish the the Mountain Colors Bearfoot SIPs and the lacy one's I posted a preview shot of before. Oh, and the Mystery Stole Clue #2 is waiting for me, too. I finally finished Clue #1 after having to rip out the last two rows due to a mistake I couldn't isolate. That's what I get for trying to work with black yarn after 10:00 at night!