Tag Archives: Knitting & Spinning

We had some hot days, relatively speaking, last week:  hot enough to keep clouds & fog from forming in our marine layer.  Bright blue skies, bright sunlight.  Great for going to the beach, of course, but….rotten for knitwear photography!

We (meaning Dave & I) need to do the photoshoot for the Malabrigo MFPP booklet.  I’d wanted to do it last weekend, but that just didn’t happen.

Now the cooler temps are back, so is our cloudy marine layer.  Photoshoot planned for Sunday!

The eBook will include a cardi, fingerless mitts, a hat, and a cowl.  I expect to publish it in the first week of September.

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A lesson learned this week:   Don’t spill the dog’s fish oil onto anything.  Especially not the small rug on which his food & water dishes sit.  And don’t toss said rug into the washing machine, even on hot & with extra detergent.  (Just throw it away. Which is what we did eventually.)  And especially don’t let your husband (who’s just trying to be helpful) move it from the washer to the dryer…without smelling it & realizing the whole thing smells fishy.  Literally.

Apparently sometimes people accidentally put fish oil caps in their pockets (with the rest of their vitamins) and forget them.  Vinegar (multiple wipes) and fresh lemon juice (multiple wipes) seem to have fixed our dryer odor issue.

Rigel’s on fish oil now.  He should’ve been, just for his skin allergies, but now he’s on it for his newly diagnosed glomerulopathy — he’s losing protein through his kidneys.  He’s also on antibiotics and  enalapril.  He’s acting, of course, completely normal — this issue showed up on routine preanesthetic labwork.  We’re not sure of the cause — that’s often the case, there are so many things that can cause this.  But again, he’s acting his normal happy bouncy self.

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Knitting-wise, I added a pattern (the afore mentioned hat) to the Malabrigo project.  I’ve finished a hat for the next big book.  I’m working on a hat for the Hitch collection (all the other projects from everyone got done, but this was a last minute fill-in).  Lots of hats for someone who doesn’t ever really wear them, lol!

Tech editing-wise, Hitch is taking nearly all my time.  As noted before, I’ll post on the tech editing page when I’m able to take on new tech editing jobs.

Congrats to #4, Sheila!  I’ve emailed you.

Wow, I was reviewing general updates and found the last one was, um, the beginning of June.  And here I was worrying I was doing these too often.

So…I’ve been catching up on all the non-book related designing and stuff.  I’ve sent off the patterns for the MFPP eBook to the tech editors (yay!).

A couple patterns got released over the past month — the Ravens in Snow fingerless mitts (now available together with the full mitts) & the Byzantine Cowl.

Ooh!  and Fresh Designs Men came out. My Abalone Cove hat pattern is in there.

Hitch:  I’ve finished one of my own patterns for Hitch & am hard at work on a second.  (After that, I’m going to be focused, design-wise, on book two, at least for the next month or so!)

The patterns coming in from the other designers are simply amazing.

The photoshoot is August 8th in the Chicago area, right before Stitches Midwest.  (I’m hoping to work with a local vintage clothing store for clothes for the photoshoot — I’ll keep you guys posted on that too.)

Note…Shannon was heard to say that, if someone asks at the Cooperative Press booth at Stitches, and we have proofs on our iPads, well, people just might get a sneak look at some of the photoshoot pics.  Not to be a tease or anything.

KALs:  The Wrought Mitts KAL ends in a week!  If you’re a speedy knitter, there’s still time….

The next KAL, by vote, will be the Wrought Socks.  You guys love your twisted stitches, eh?  Me too!

I’m tempted to start a KAL for the Peacock Stole a month into it, and have KALs run for two months each but overlap.  Thoughts?

Travels & Conferences & Signings, oh my!

There’s still room in my beaded knitting class at Knitculture this Saturday.  I’ll also be signing copies of California Revival Knits.

Chicago Yarn Crawl: I’m happy to say I’m joining in the fun!  I’ll be visiting two stores as part of the Yarn Crawl.

I’ll be doing book signings at Loopy Yarns in Chicago 2-4p on Sunday, Aug 5th and 5-7p on Monday, Aug 6th.   I’ve never been to Loopy Yarns so am excited about this!

On Tuesday, I’ll be at Wool & Company in St Charles from 3:30-6:30p!  So excited about this, too — Wool & Co was one of the first yarn stores I visited when I really started knitting again.

Stitches Midwest

As noted, Cooperative Press has a booth, so I’ll be doing signings, hanging out etc there.  I don’t know if we’ll have a set time for signings yet, but you know what?  You want me to sign your book, I’m beyond thrilled to do so.  Regardless of official times or not.

Tech Editing:  Sorry, guys, totally wrapped up in Hitch.  I’ll post here & update my tech editing page when I’m taking new clients again.

I just got the go-ahead from Kate at Dragonfly Fibers to let you guys know about this new pattern! It’s a club exclusive right now (but Kate told me she’ll accept club sign ups as long as she still has the yarn) — and let me tell you, this base, the soft twist Djinni, which unfortunately Kate can’t get more of once she’s sold out, was just wonderful to work with, so I highly recommend joining & getting the kit.

I submitted a proposal for a stranded cowl to Kate based on this photo.  Kate dyed up three lovely colors:  Burnished Brass, Reflecting Pool and Peacock Feather.

The cowl is reversible, and so cozy!

Peacock Feather & Burnished Brass side

Reflecting Pool, Burnished Brass & Peacock Feather side

It’s not up on Ravelry yet — we’re waiting til everyone gets their packages — but it’ll be there soon.

If I don’t write this now, I’m not gonna.

Saturday was the first real day of the show.  The summer show is definitely larger than the winter show — mostly, I understand, because the larger companies are debuting their fall/winter products — and of course there’s just more of that when it comes to knitting.

It started a little slow – for some reason the fashion show was going on during show hours, so of course most people were checking that out rather than starting their shopping.

We did get a CP pic at the booth:  check out Shannon’s post here.  I was so happy that Sarah, of Cephalopod*, and her honey Sam were there to help out!  Sarah & I have a mutual adoration thing going.  I’m constantly amazed & inspired by her honesty & soul-baring articles, and, well, she likes my designs.

Kim of IndigoDragonfly* was also around, and I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with her — she is so funny, and so sweet, and I love that I can make SF &/or TV or film -related references and she of course immediately gets them.

For me, this show was all about Cooperative Press &  California Revival Knits.  I have yarn support for my next couple huge projects, so I wasn’t really needing to try to coordinate that.  However, I loved being able to thank the yarn companies in person for the yarn support for California Revival Knits, Hitch, and my next book.  (Thanks to Jeni of Fyberspates*, who’d I’d not met before, and Amy of MadelineTosh*, ditto, & who are both providing yarn support for Hitch!)

Also, I was able to show CRK to friends who’d not yet seen it in hard copy.

And talking of friends —  over the weekend I was able to say hi to a bunch of folks who had booths! In no particular order:  Felicia* from Sweet Georgia, Anne Kuo Lukito, Brooke* of Sincere Sheep, Kristin* of Shibui (and thank you for that extra skein of Staccato for Hitch — I needed it!), Jeane of Elemental Affects, Katie* of Blue Sky Alpacas (can’t wait to do something with their Metalico — that stuff is GORGEOUS), Shepherd Susie from Juniper Moon (and her lovely, amazingly talented assistant & in-house designer, Caroline), Roxanne* (and her sweet hubby, who’s doing a lot of the dyeing — and coming up with some gorgeous moody colorways) of Zen Yarn Garden, Stacey* & the gang at Knit Picks, the folks at Harrisville*, the gals at Anzula (who sent me home with some lovely yarn to play with)…I’m sure I’m forgetting people and I apologize!

(Oh –what does * mean?  They’re all providing yarn support for Hitch!)

We had lunch both Saturday & Sunday at the North Market.  There’s a dizzying amount of choices.  I had pork & noodle dish from the Vietnamese restaurant one day, and a salad from another vendor the next.

Saturday night was a the Craftsy party.  Can I just say they certainly know how to host a party? (And, one more time, thank you! )   Awesome cocktails, snacks (with an emphasis on local cheeses, breads, salami, and of course Jeni’s) at a cute bar (Mouton — SHEEP!), with awesome, adorable bartenders (who handled the crowd with grace & finesse), AND  located oh, about a 100m from our rental house.  There are incriminating photos all over the internet.

Sunday was more of the same at the show — except it was my birthday!  Ruth of Rock+Purl gave me some yummy chocolate, and I got lots of  happy birthday hugs.  Shannon took me out to dinner — Marcella’s — I had a delicious pizza & wine.  (Sarah had a really neat strawberry based cocktail with some really nifty foam that we all tried & liked).   Then we went to  Jeni’s for dessert, of course!

Monday morning my flight left too early to make it worth heading over to the show, so I slept in a bit, took a nice shower, gave goodbye hugs to all, and then got a cab to the airport.   I don’t think I’ve ever gotten through security faster than at Columbus.  Literally no one else in line.  The flights home were blessedly uneventful.

Although Convergence, the Handweaver’s annual conference, is not a knitting conference, it does deal with fiber & yarn — and has a marketplace full of vendors who carry all sorts of yarnie goodness.

Including knitting books.

I’ll be at the Carolina Homespun booth on Thursday 7p-10p and Saturday 11a-2p to sign copies of California Revival Knits, show off some samples, and generally hang out.  Come by & say hi!

I’m really excited to say I’ll be teaching my beaded knitting class at Knitculture July 28th!

I teach the crochet hook method of beading, which I love — it lets you put the bead PRECISELY where you want it.  I’ve been having fun with adapting motifs that would normally be stranded to beaded, and this class touches on that as well.

You’ll get a kit that includes the crochet hook (a 0.8mm ChiaoGoo hook, with a very comfortable bamboo handle), beads (in a very pretty purple colorway), and the pattern for the project (cuffs/wristwarmers, fingerless mitts or full mitts).  I’m planning on releasing the pattern soon on Ravelry….

Here’s a pic of the cuff:

You guys know I’m going nuts with deadlines (nothing new there) — I’m knitting what needs to be knitted, regardless of the season.

What do you like to knit, though, for the summer?

STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books is running a special 3-10 July 2012 on some of their titles, released as eBooks specifically with the intent of summer knitting.  Visit here for the blog with info, including some free patterns, and here to check out the books that are available.  I actually used to have a couple of these in my personal library — Weekend Knitting and Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  Both of those have a variety of quick but very lovely patterns (great for holiday gifts, from personal experience).

I received a copy of Knitter’s Home Companion by Michelle Edwards to take a peek at.

It’s the sort of book with which to sit out on the deck, a glass of iced tea (or your beverage of choice, lol) at hand, and just enjoy the essays.  Not being a mom, I’ll admit I skimmed over some of the first section, Motherhood, but I really enjoyed the remainder, especially Community.

The book also includes a plethora of recipes. I’m very, very tempted to try the Spinach, Onion, Sundried Tomato & Feta quiche.

The patterns are a variety of generally quick little knits:  a cute little chicken egg warmer, some pretty wash cloths, a variety of slippers and socks, and so on.  My favorite is the Zigzag baby blanket.

Happy knitting!

TNNA was awesome.  The end.

No, really, it was great!

As I’ve noted before, this was my first summer TNNA.

When the winter TNNA is in Long Beach, I can simply commute to it, so going is a no-brainer.  Columbus takes a bit more planning, costs a bunch more, and takes more time when you figure in travel.  I couldn’t find a direct flight from LAX to Columbus (I’ve since heard there’s a redeye on Delta, but I can’t sleep well on planes AND I heard it was very pricey), so flew Southwest with a layover in Chicago.

I got to the airport early then realized, after going all the way up to the security guy (who was super sweet), I only had one of two boarding passes.  My dumb mistake.  I had to run downstairs, print out the missing boarding pass, then run back upstairs.  The TSA guy had told me to come back to his line & to cut to the front, which I did (apologizing all the way, but everyone was really nice).  Security itself was a breeze, then I found my gate.  Plenty of time to spare.

And then…I looked up from organizing my stuff….and there she was.  Michelle, of Fickleknitter fame!  On my flight!  To be on both my flights!  I had a traveling companion.  What was going to be, at best, around 8 hrs or so of relatively boring travel all of a sudden turned into a fun time (both our fears of flying aside).  I had paid for Earlybird check in, so nabbed seats near the front of the plane so we could sit together.  I somewhat pity the other guy who took the window seat LAX /Chicago (the Chicago/Columbus guy was a bit creepy, so no pity for him), because Michelle and I talked nonstop for each flight.

After getting all our bags, Michelle’s friend Helen was able to drop me off at the Cooperative Press house (which you can see here, which is unfortunately NOT available for next year).  I met up with Andi (KnitBrit), then we went to dinner at Knead, where I had the MotherClucker sandwich (saved half for later), salad, a beer, and about half of Andi’s fries.  YUM!  I got to meet some of Andi’s industry friends, which was nice.

After that, we ran into Amy Detjen & Jaala Spiro, who gave us a ride back to the house & hung out a bit. Listen to their podcast here to hear some of what we chatted about!  Anna Dalvi showed up, after having driven for HOURS, and I gave her the remaining half of my sandwich.  We all stayed up drinking wine & chatting.   (Read Anna’s TNNA blog post here.)

The next morning we headed to Northstar in Short North for breakfast, awaiting Shannon & Elizabeth’s arrival from Cleveland.  The rest of the day was setting up the booth, having lunch, then hanging out by the pool until it was time to go get ready for Sample It.  (Sample It is when some of the vendors have samples, kits, etc (of course in our case, books) for sale to the yarn store owners.)  We had copies of California Revival Knits (TNNA was the first time I got to see it in person in hardcopy!), Kate Atherley’s Beyond Knit & Purl, and Anna Dalvi’s Shaping Shawls.  We madly signed copies for the folks who purchased copies.  Shannon took some pics of us at Sample It — check out her post here.

After that we headed to Marly Bird’s Yarn Thing Designer Dinner (YTDD).  Marly did an incredibly awesome job, lining up sponsors for the dinner, including donations to these humongous goody bags of yarn, needles, crochet hooks, books (I received a copy of Victorian Lace Today), and even a Namaste Skinny Mini bag.  Check out Alasdair’s TNNA blog post here; he got some pics etc, and was sitting at the table with me, Anna, and the lovely folks from Green Mountain Spinnery and from Soak.

Here’s a quick shot of just some of the swag — I’ve actually put some of it, like some of the needles, Craftsy tape measures, etc, away.  Or already into use.

more to follow….