By Wendy on November 3, 2009
For what?
For KnitNation!
Back in July, Socktopus Alice asked me if I’d be interested in going to London in July 2010 to teach at a knitting expo she and Cookie A were putting together.
Would I? You bet your Addi Turbos I would!
So yes, I am on the teacher list, and in very illustrious company. The event is July 29 – 31, 2010 at the Imperial College in London. There will be three days of classes, two days of shopping, and a Ravelry party.
The class schedule will be up in a couple weeks’ time, and class sign ups will be open on the 1st December.
You can go to the KnitNation Website to sign up for their email list to receive notifications. There is a Ravelry group: Knit Nation Summer Expo 2010 Group and a Twitter feed: KnitNation.
The end of July seems a very long time to wait, but I’m guessing it’ll be here before I know it.
Meanwhile, I’ve made some very nice progress on my Cloister sock.
Amazing what one can accomplish when it is the only thing one is knitting. But that will soon change — I’ve got a number of projects lined up and I will likely start at least one of them this week.
Lucy has taken to sleeping on her sheepskin, even though it seems way too warm in my condo. It’s averaging about 74 degrees in here and that is at least 5 degrees warmer than I like. The outside temps during the day have been in the 60s and I just can’t get the temperature any lower inside. But it’s supposed to be a bit cooler over the next few days. I live in hope.
I zoomed in on that peaceful scene to catch this:
Paw Floof!
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged addi, alice, college in london, expo, expo 2010, going to london, illustrious company, sign ups
By Wendy on November 2, 2009
I’ve released the Two-Thirds Shawl from its bondage. Here is Gwendolyn modeling her new shawl.
She’s stylin’.
Thanks for all your lovely comments about this shawl. It was great fun to knit, and not particularly difficult. The only arduous bit was that by the time I bound off there were 605 stitches on my needles. I confess to having a few hateful thoughts at that point.
But off the needles it is, and I am very happy with it. I love the way it stays on the shoulders!
And I’m down to one bloggable project (though that will change in the near future). This:
Wheeeeee! A sock! It’s a sock knit from one of the yummiest sock yarns around: Alchemy Juniper. The colorway is called “Tea Party” and I think it is just lovely.
I’m calling this pattern “Cloisters Socks.” If you do a google image search for cloisters, you may agree that it is a good name. Well, you’ll be able to tell better when you see a more up-to-date photo. That pic is from yesterday.
Lucy seems to have taken sleep to an art form:
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged colorway, google, google image search, hateful thoughts, shawl, sock yarns, tea party
By Wendy on November 1, 2009
Before:
It measures 24″ down the center back and has a 60″ wingspan.
After:
After a bath in warm water and woolwash, pinned out for blocking, it measures 30″ down the center back and has a wingspan of 70″.
To recap, this is the Two-Thirds Shawl (my own design) knit from Handmaiden Mini Maiden in the “Periwinkle” colorway, on 4mm needles. I used approximately 900 yards.
I did indeed finish the Bamboo Socks on Friday.
And Lucy is off for a nap with a friend after the excitement of helping me to block the shawl.
Have a great Sunday, and welcome to November and Standard Time. Wheeeeeeee!
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged colorway, handmaiden, shawl, warm water, wingspan
By Wendy on October 29, 2009
I am madly knitting along on the second Bamboo Sock and according to my calculations, I will complete it tomorrow.
See, on the first sock, I knit 99 rounds for the leg after turning the heel. I am currently on Round 80. I am averaging 26 rounds per day on my commute (to and from work), and I have 19 rounds rounds left for tomorrow. Piece of cake. (Mmmmmmmm, cake!)
Did you see what I did there? Math. Please hold your applause.
I almost always count my rounds when making socks. I facilitate this by attaching a row counter (via an 0ld stitch holder) to my sock in progress.
When I knit socks for myself, I know that to get the foot the proper length I need to work 56 rounds after completing the toe before I start the gusset increases. Then, after the heel turn I keep track of how many rounds I knit for the leg, so that my second sock will match exactly.
Now, if I am making a sock with easy-to-count pattern repeats, I don’t bother with the stitch counter.
Speaking of socks, there is a fabulous, comprehensive entry on short rows over on the TECHknitting blog, here.
Speaking of socks, I have jumped the gun and written up the pattern for the Bamboo Socks. It is a pdf download, here. It is also linked to from my Free Patterns page.
And now for something completely different. A photo of part of my desk at work.
The following important items are present in this photo (and easier to see if you click on the photo to enlarge it, if you really care):
- a plastic hair clip
- a rearview mirror
- birth announcement for my brother’s grandson
- photos of Lucy
- headphones
- my Stitch-a-Day calendar
- the label from a skein of Alchemy Juniper
- the list of Wollmeise colorways that I own
- a post-it note with my Mega Millions lottery numbers on it
- a letter from the Professional Hockey Players’ Association that I just responded to but am too lazy to file away
- headphones
- a postcard with a giant Dala horse on it
- my coffee cozee
- water bottle w/ filter
- phone charger
- ipod charger
- coke bottle caps
among other things.
This tells me I need to clean my desk.
Lucy is happy — her Momma will be home this weekend!
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged applause, dala horse, gusset, math, mega millions lottery, mega millions lottery numbers, piece of cake, plastic hair, professional hockey players, rearview mirror, socks, stitch holder
By Wendy on October 28, 2009
This past weekend I taught my leftover sock yarn class for the first time. A big part of the class is all about mitered shapes — how to knit ‘em, and how to attach them to each other to actually make things.
I have a mitered square piece that I started before class, and I added to during class. Here is what it looks like now:
I thought it would be fun to post a pic of it periodically. I don’t plan on doing much knitting on it outside of class, but thought it would be fun to keep track of my progress on it.
I’ve done my last teaching gig of the year, so don’t expect to see this again anytime soon.
About that class . . .
Included with the class was a handout with 7 other fun little projects you can create from leftover sock yarn. I posted a photo of them last week:
Since then, I’ve gotten a whole lot of emails asking if I’d make the patterns available for people can’t get to one of my classes. I wasn’t going to just yet, but have changed my mind since I’ve had so many requests. I’ve made the 7 patterns available as booklet and you can purchase it for $7.00 (that’s $7.00 for 7 patterns) from my Ravelry store. Here is the Ravelry link for the pattern booklet. These are all very speedy little knits that would be great for quickie holiday gifts and adornments. All details are on the Ravelry page.
I realize that there are some of you that might want just one of the seven patterns and paying seven bucks to get it seems a tad steep. Sorry about that! I did give a fair amount of thought to pattern delivery, and decided to go this route.
And now for some Assorted Random Bits.
Random Bit #1:
When I got home from work today, I found that Lucy had been arranging some of her toys.
She does this quite a lot. I always wonder what her purpose is.
Clearly she is worn out from that endeavor.
Random Bit #2:
A couple of weeks ago I got some free samples of a bunch of natural/homeopathic stuff — and this was one of the samples:
Notice anything funny about it?
Random Bit #3:
I’m a-working along on my second Bamboo Sock. My goal is to have this pair a done deal by the end of the week.
Random Bit #4:
It was pouring rain when I went to work this morning. At noon it was sunny with blue sky. Driving home from the train station it looked like this:
Crazy weather.
A Serious Note:
KnitNana Sallee sent me information on a member of her community, a young woman who has been missing since October 17: Morgan Harrington. There is a website with information about her here. You can probably imagine the horror her family is going through right now. I’m just helping to spread the word in my little corner of the world. Take a look at the site, keep your eyes open, and spread the word if you can, please.
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged bit 3, free samples, harrington, holiday gifts, homeopathic, little knits, lucy, pattern booklet, random bits, sock yarn, toys, young woman
