Getting Back on Track

Well, outside the blog, I'm pretty much on track. I guess that's how blogging fell by the wayside. Plus entire summer days spent outside with the kids. Plus tennis elbow (due to knitting, a concept that the doctor found hard to accept) kept the summer knitting to a minimum. And to try to catch up on four months' worth, it's just too much even for bullets. Kids are fine, I'm fine, knitting's good...and I'll just pick up here.

Stitches East

Always a good time, traveling with Mom and my sisters. Excellent shopping even though we missed some of our regulars: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, The Skein Attraction. We LOVE cocoknits--I'm working on Petra right now.


(This is the first 8 inches of Petra that I ripped out this afternoon because my gauge is off by one stitch).

We also had a great time with our new friends Wendy and Amy of Woolworks. I bought yarn for the most gorgeous scarf designed by Amy and I swear, I'll be lucky if I can make it--the laceweight mohair is killing me. That stuff is sooo slippery and if I try to take out any stitches or rip back, it knots up, and I keep having to break the yarn and start over. I will NOT be defeated, though I don't know that I'll have enough yarn left to knit the thing!

I invested in several pairs of the Signature Needles: 7" straights in US 6 and US 7, stiletto points, for knitting the lacy scarves I bought from Woolworks, and 6" sock needles in 2.25mm and 2.75 mm. They are beautiful (although maybe a little slippery for the mohair)! Cathy and the women there were just delightful, and we spent a lot of time with them (Thursday night, Friday morning, Saturday morning) figuring out our purchases and buying more.

It was totally cool meeting Miss Babs and Jennifer. I had promised to come by with my Waterfall socks from the Woolgirl sock club, but couldn't wear them because my Dansko clogs were too big plus the suede was running onto my socks and I didn't want to ruin handmade socks.

We also spent time with and bought a lot of yarn (all four of us!) from Katie and Sharon of Yarn Love and Three Irish Girls. Their colorways are too gorgeous! This is Fresh Celery in Yarn Love's worsted and roving (maybe Maiden?) for thrummed mittens:



My sister, embryo1 on ravelry, loved the Maiden colorway so much, she bought it in sock yarn one day and in worsted (for mittens) the next, and didn't realize it until she got back to the room and reviewed her purchases! We all had a good laugh over it, especially when my other sister, borntoknit on ravelry, nixed certain attempted purchases of mine because I always buy the same colors these days.

This year, my purchases were mainly sweaters, a big departure for me. I'm knitting Petra in a chocolate brown Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Chunky right now.

In the pipeline are Loppem in Berroco Palace; a Filati sweater; and Tang in Malabrigo (which reminds me, I need to order a sweater stone). I did buy a few more skeins of sock yarn. I also bought a tabletop swift (handmade by Knitting Notions (all my surfaces have beveled edges so the swifts and ballwinders pop off in the midst of winding and wreak havoc) and a new ball winder. We set it up in our room and loved it! New policy: we bring a swift and ball winder to Stitches.

Stitches East Accommodations

We stayed at the new Hilton and here's our report card:

Convenience: A (nothing like being connected to the convention center. We still have vivid memories of 2007's bitter wind as we struggled back to the hotel with all our bags).

Rooms: A (modern, clean)

Service: D (My sister and I had to tag team the front desk and work our way two managers up the chain to get the connecting rooms that we booked but were not booked properly nor confirmed properly by Hilton staff at central booking and the hotel, then had snarky comment from second manager. Not to mention the line of 20 people behind us shooting daggers with their eyes. Terrible breakfast Day 1; ok breakfast day 2. Room service couldn't get our dinner order right. Redeeming note: our new best friend, Assistant Director of Food & Beverage who came to our room after room service fiasco and listened to all our complaints, whether food-related or not, and took good care of us).

All in all, it was a delightful trip. Next knitting adventure: Yarnings on December 6 to meet Debbie Bliss!

FO report:

1. Valentine's socks from my Woolgirl sock kit from January. I ran out of yarn and when the 1/2 skein arrived, I threw it in my project bag and left it. But I've been motivated to finish things (!) and finished them up yesterday. The color is actually more vibrant than the picture indicates:


2. Clapotis. That thing has been on the needles for two years, only to be forgotten on the blocking board when we left for Stitches East. Here it is on the blocking board:


3. Muno. To replace Boy E's broken Muno. I finished this about 10:30 p.m. at night and woke him up to give it to him. He was hardly awake yet so delighted, it was charming!


4. Second Koigu Kersti garter stitch scarf:


UFO's:

1. Ombre scarf in Rowan Colourscape chunky:
This is totally mindless although I ended up a stitch off and ripped out until I realized that was stupid--it's a stockinette stitch scarf with an increase at the beginning of the row and a decrease at the end.

2. Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Cardigan. All I need to do is set in the sleeves. This is a picture of the seamed side:



After I cast on and knit a few inches, I found modifications on Ravelry and decided not to rip out, but I probably should have done it. The pattern does not match at the shoulder or side seams, but since people won't likely be looking down at my shoulders or under my arms, it won't be much of a problem. I know it and will just ignore it.

On a final, non-knitting note, thanks to Lici for tipping us off to this clock to keep the kids in bed (or at least their room) until a decent hour that falls anytime after 6:30 a.m. (yes, I've been up with them at 5 a.m.). It arrived today, and they are all fascinated--too bad I can't figure out to program it with three four-year-olds climbing all over me to play with it and one three-year-old pleading for one for her room. That's the next order of business.