Wendy Knits

The Rivulets Sock pattern is now available free in pdf format — here and from my Free Patterns page. Enjoy!

A few of you have asked me for more information about my Charlotte, NC trip. The basic info is on my “2009 Travel and Teaching Schedule” tab up at the top of the blog. (Heh. I just typed “blob” instead of “blog.” Twice.)

There is more detailed information on Charlotte Yarn’s Special Events page. I hope to see a bunch of you there!

About that sock I showed yesterday . . .

That was evidence of my negative progress. I had done 2″ of a pattern and decided it wasn’t quite right, so ripped it out. I’ve since made some better progress with an altered pattern.

The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Sea Sock in the “Phoenix” colorway. This is a fingering weight yarn that is 70% superwash merino,30% seasilk. It’s a joy to knit.

The pattern is my own and is inspired by a new friend. Said friend is a busy mom of an adorable little girl. She also has a challenging career. She mentioned over the weekend that she loves the idea of handknit socks as a stamp of individuality you can pair with your business wardrobe. So I’m calling these socks “Muriel’s Socks” in her honor.

In this photo, I’ve just taught Muriel to knit (mwa-ha-ha!) and am demonstrating the glories of Plurk to her (double mwa-ha-ha!)

See how dangerous I am? (Dr. Jackie, take note of the level in the whiskey bottle.)

Why I Love Craig Ferguson

Need I say more?

Lucy Sez:

“Stretch!”

I arrived home last night at about midnight from my wild weekend in Oklahoma!

I got to Oklahoma City late morning on Friday and was met at the airport by Tempted Yarns Stacy, her sister Muriel (who is now on Plurk as BFFofWendy), and Stacy’s beautiful daughter. We drove into the city to have lunch in Bricktown, at Toby Keith’s restaurant. We were joined by OKC knitter Courtney (who is now on Plurk as YarnTramp) and we had a wonderful time laughing, talking yarn, and comparing purses.

We spent a couple of hours Friday afternoon at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It’s a beautiful memorial to the victms of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took a couple of photos. The reflecting pool:

And the Survivor Tree:

Then we headed out to Guthrie, the site of the Knit Out.

We stopped by the shop, S.W.A.K.:

I felt strangely at home when I saw the front window.

And again when I saw the cash register:

Keely and the gang were great — made me feel right at home.

We dropped off my stuff at the B&B where I stayed. I had one of the honeymoon suites:

Yes, that’s my bottle of whiskey sitting on the table.

I like to be prepared . . .

That evening was the welcome dinner for Knit Out attendees and a very good time was had by all.  I was delighted to meet the other teachers, Joan Schrouder and Mags Kandis, as well as all the very friendly and welcoming knitters who came to the event. Keely had arranged for Stacy to do a trunk show of her gorgeous yarn, and she also had a big basket of my new Lorna’s Laces colorway, WendyKnits Sunrise, in Shepherd Sock.

The rest of the weekend passed all too quickly, in a blur of classes with wonderful knitters, great meals, laughter, and late nights of knitting and talking til the wee hours. I taught Muriel to knit on Saturday night. She was amazing — she picked it up in a snap!

You gotta have a souvenir, right? So I managed to snag some of Stacy’s yarn for myself.

And Muriel gave me a great souvenir!

We had a Sunday morning class and then the farewell luncheon. After classes, I posed for a photo for the S.W.A.K. “Wall of Fame” and also created the traditional S.W.A.K.Kiss for them.

I felt like Adam Richman on “Man Versus Food.” It was the whole “Wall of Fame” concept that did it!

All too soon it was time to return home. As much fun as I had, it’s still good to be home!

I saw that Lucy was tracking my flights online:

And she’s finally taken some time out from shadowing my every step to play with her toys!

Tomorrow it’s back to work and back to real life.

Ever have one of those days when you have a serious case of writer’s block? Why do I mention that now? Oh, no reason . . .

Yeah. I got nothing. Well, I do have a sock that is growing — see?

I am just barely into the gusset increases on my second Rivulets sock here.

Okay, it is time to invoke one of WendyKnits’ Rules of Blogging:

When you don’t have any blog fodder, post a picture of shoes!

These are Mephisto shoes. The style is “Kaisy.” They are possibly the most comfy shoes I’ve ever worn. Seriously. With the possible exception of my Mephisto “Leidina” shoes. Love Mephisto shoes!

Lucy Sez:

“I vant to be alone!”

Tune in tomorrow when I will tell you a secret!