Best Thing About Stitches

The best thing, to me, about Stitches Midwest (even better than the yarn), was seeing all the knitters walking the Market floor wearing handknit garments. The garment of choice seemed to be shawls. I just don't see any handknits on the streets of Charlotte. It was also amazing for the ego to have people continually stop me to touch and marvel and rave over my pink cotton shawl. Mistakes and all! I even bought a couple of shawl pins for it and that makes it wear even better.

I also chose to be in the Student Fashion Show wearing the fuschia top and shawl I knitted last winter and basked in the compliments. I am in two knitting groups and of course we rave over each other's knitted creations, but in my day to day life nobody even "gets" why I knit, especially since purchased "handknits" are generally cheaper ....I understand knitted scarves showed up in The Dollar Store last year.... So the atmosphere of being surrounded by hundreds of knitters was amazing.

Design Change

I decided that the ribbing pattern I was using on the dark green cotton was a lot of trouble for very little wow factor; you just can't see a pattern in dark yarn. So I frogged the 4" or so I had knit. I decided to go for original design. I cast on 104 stitches, joined for the 'in the round' knitting and knitted 2" of k1, p1 rib, then switched to a crossed rib pattern. I do three rows of k2, p2, then I k2tog, leaving the stitch on the left needle, and knit in the first stitch again. No decrease. Then I do the P2. It looks like a minicable. Am very pleased and the pattern is completely mindless. I'll divide at the armholes and continue to follow the shape of the pattern I had chosen.

More Digging for Yarn

This is the other 75% off bag I got...it is Tahki Classic Cotton Dot, a worsted weight cotton and I've cast-on for a fitted pullover style vest.

Digging for Yarn

I lied; I DID buy yarn the first afternoon at Market. I was tagging along behind my friend, Helen, and she knows how to spot those bargains! One of the booths had a bin of what I assumed to be discontinued yarn packaged in bags of ten skeins with a price of 75% off and the knitters were diving in. Helen pulled out a package of Trendsetter Yarns Iguana and said it would make a great shawl. Nice and soft and a good Fall colorway. It is a polyamide/acrylic and says to handwash with no detergent, dry cleaning recommended. So it will definitely be a shawl.

Stitches Midwest

Stitches Midwest was a blast! Getting there was a pain, though. Delay, delay, delay....

First, our plane had to be switched out because of a biohazard on board (leaking toilet). When boarding was completed and the plane secured, the airport closed for a security breach. We were finally cleared for take-off and ended up being almost 2 hours late. So no gate at O'Hare. Forty-five minutes later we disembarked, only to discover that USAir's baggage carousel was out of order and the airline had to negotiate with Jet Blue to use theirs. Then the hotel shuttle did not come until we finally called the hotel and asked for a shuttle. Then our rooms were not ready until late afternoon. And on and on and on.

I was so stressed and worn out that initially I felt like I was moving through a dream at the yarn market. Completely overwhelmed. Plus, as a non-woolly person, everything seemed to be wool.

On Saturday, after a lovely continental breakfast in the hotel, I finally got my blood sugar leveled out and commenced to buy yarn!!! I'm going to share a purchase with you everyday for awhile.

Stitches Midwest

Early this Friday morning I will be boarding a

(hopefully a more up-to-date, one!)

with three girlfriends


And fly to Chicago to BUY YARN!!!

Knitting Guild

Our Knitting Guild met last night and after a wonderful 'show and tell', our latest charitable project was announced. This one benefits knitters and children alike. As a Guild, we are going to learn a new knitting stitch/technique each month and practice the technique by making 6" blocks. Sometime next year we will pool all our blocks and sew them into blankets for children in need. Last night we learned to make "mitered squares" and I loved the technique. I can see very successful dishrags knitting using this pattern! Nice, firm, straight edges and an interesting design diagonally across the square.

In a questionnaire given to members a few months ago, many said that they wanted to learn new techniques at the meetings. Kudos to the officers for coming up with an idea that addressed that and also allows us to help others.

Also at the meeting, there are two other members knitting MS3 and they are beautiful..one dark green, one dark blue. Much more shawl-like in size, too. My MS3 is actually going to be a wide scarf or narrow shawl. Take your pick! For that reason, I am going to hold off on finishing it until I see just what "asymetrical" means. Mine might need to remain rectangular and it might end up as a dresser scarf on a table.

Making Yarn More Inspiring

A long while ago I bought a huge ball of variagated green/cream cotton. I find it very uninspiring.

Today I was cleaning out and trying to reorganize my yarn in anticipating of purchases from Stitches Midwest next weekend. This yarn is the perfect color for dishrags for my kitchen but I only knitted one so far. Since I just bought a new ballwinder (again in preparation for the fiber trip) I decided to wind this ugly huge ball into nice yarn cakes. Now isn't this nicer?

Fashion Forecast

Get out your chunky yarns! According to the Back to School Fashion Forecast in the Style Section of our local newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, "Kitwear takes center stage this season....from knit dresses to thick cabled coats expect knits to be everywhere. The article says "the trend is toward 'outrageously thick and chunky knits, primarily handmade". These quotes are credited to Gloria Baume, fashion director of Teen Vogue.

The knitted fashion example shown in the article was a cropped cabled cardigan by BB Dakota (available at Nordstrom) with elbow length sleeves and one large knitted button.

Messenger bags are also going to be big, according to the article. Sounds like a knitting bag to me!

Weaving in Ends

Anybody who likes to weave in ends, raise your hand......hmmm.....don't see anybody out there! I, too, hate those ends. I despise threading my yarn needle and working the yarn in the back....I am not an orderly person and do it very randomly, unlike the nice photos in the technique sections of many books and magazines. Sometimes I hold the old yarn and the new yarn (or the tail of the cast-on row) together and knit. Of course that makes a thick part. (For socks I found a tip that recommends knitting the first round with the yarn and the cast-on tail from longtail cast-on. It is supposed to make the top of the sock stronger and stretchier. Don't know about that, but is sure beats weaving in the end later!)

Knitlist has a thread about weaving in ends and I was reading it. The two handed fair isle method was mentioned along with a link. The link was not working today, so I googled "weaving in ends" and this is what I came up with. I tried it, and it is slow but it works. Run, do not walk to this website and bookmark it!!! You will be so glad you did.