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Archive for the ‘knitting’ Category

Show Time – Stitches West 2014

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , , , on February 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

BTW...I want Melissa's boots!!

BTW…I want Melissa’s boots!!

It’s preview market night….there is a line to enter the market floor…..knitters are every where!  I capture the beginnings of the crowd and burst into glee when I realize Melissa Leapman, one of my favorite people/instructors, is part of that crowd. Thursday night was busy, Friday was over the stop. We – Maggie, Heather and  I – barely stopped all day. Some of the Friday workshop group met for drinks and dinner Friday night….great fun but no photos…one of us was sick and it didn’t seem right to shoot photos. It was so great to so many old friends while retailing in Maggi’s booth…..I didn’t capture everyone on film. It was great to see Shelli from Knitterly in Petaluma and Liza Souza….both every so briefly but glad to connect. I do love our knitting community.

Oh…..and I did buy something (if you look closely at the photo of Lyn from Cabin Fever/Shetland Yarns you will see the model)….only one thing but it was a kit that I couldn’t resist.

Let’s “shop”!

Thursday night line-up
Maggi and Heather 2014
Me…modeling “Ronda” Book 10
The knitters have “hit” the floor
Do you see Melissa?
Love Melissa!
Tassel Shawl in Linen
The booth
One of the new designs 2014
More of the booth
The shopping has begun
Me…Carolyn…modeling the Flaherty
The Flahtery in blues and purple
The models garments
Customer wearing her MaggiKnits
Terry and Maurie – Skein Lane knitters
Maurie and her sister
Alice knit this!
Alice
Shetland Yarns
Lyn – Cabin Fevers/Shetland Yarns
This is on my wish list!
I love this tattoo….but I wouldn’t get one
The show is winding down!

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Stitches West 2014

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Me (Carolyn) modeling new MaggiKnits shawl

Me (Carolyn) modeling new MaggiKnits shawl

Oh….I am so excited…it’s Stitches West time again. Many knitters and retailers will be descending upon the grounds of Santa Clara’s Convention Center Feb 20 – 23. In fact, the retailers and teachers are there today setting up to be ready for all of us possessed knitters who start arriving tomorrow. My excitement is heightened by the fact that I will be retailing with MaggiKnits again. It was so much fun last year (and previous years)….delighted that Maggie asked me to work with her again. I will get to have my “fix” with retailing in the knitting community as well as see so many old friends. I felt a lift in my spirits when I left my “day job” today knowing I was heading to the larger knitting world in the morning. Hurray!!!

You can find Maggie, Heather and me in Booth 613 at Stitches West. Come see us!

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Finished!

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , on February 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

News flash in from PJ this week…..”Just in case you thought I don’t ever finish something!” Now that did bring a smile. PJ finishes much and I am delighted that she shared her photos (added a couple of mine) to enjoy!  PJ knit her version of the Honey Cowl using 100% merino “Sock” yarn by Malabrigo. The sweater and cap were knit in Bel Canto….now a discontinued yarn.

You can see more of PJ’s work and comments on Ravelry at PJKnitsUFOs .

PJ
View 1 – Honeycomb Cowl
View 2 – Honeycomb Cowl
Matching Sweater and Cap

The Honeycomb Cowl found on ravelry.com is a big hit with several in this knitting community. You’ve now seen a couple on this blog….there will be a couple more showing within the month. I’ve knit 3 inches of 320 stitches on sock weight yarn….only 8 inches to go. Click, click!!

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Another Birthday Celebration

Posted in Birthday Celebrations, Friendship, knitting, tagged , , , , on February 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This week we celebrated Bonnie’s birthday with gifts, cheer, champagne, rain and more knitting. I am sure some of us got at least a couple of rows knit. My Honeycomb Cowl has 320 stitches so I was quite happy to get two rows knit, particularly with all the celebration. Happy, happy birthday to Bonnie!

The Birthday Girl!

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It’s done – Maurie’s Prayer Shawl

Posted in Crafting, Friendship, knitting, tagged , , , , on February 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Maurie had a vision – she was inspired by colors from a rug/throw that she has….then she and her friends knit this prayer shawl for a friend of theirs. The brilliant colors are from Brown Sheep’s dye room….the yarn is Cotton Fleece. Note that each edge has complimentary lace edgings – two different patterns – English Lace and English Torchon Lace. Both patterns can be found at ravelry.com.

Maurie – Prayer Shawl with brilliant Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for Prayer Shawl
The Prayer Shawl is done!
English Torchon Lace
English Lace
The Prayer Shawl – Fanned

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Birthdays……two of them!

Posted in Birthday Celebrations, Events, knitting on February 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

Two birthday girls – Kimberly and Sarah caused us to uncork the champagne once again. We had two Fridays in a row to celebrate. We even found time to knit. Be sure to check out the love wristlets that Sarah knit and is wearing! Happy, happy birthday…..

FMKG
The gang!
Sarah – the birthday girl!

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It’s “Thumbs Up”!

Posted in knitting, tagged , , on January 30, 2014| 4 Comments »

Carolyn’s Hitchhiker

I’m so excited that this lovely “fussy” Hitchhiker scarf designed by Martina Behm is done. (You can find this pattern at Ravelry.com). I love the yarn and the results….so why fussy?? It was an 8-row pattern with 4 increases during those 8 rows. Now how tough is that I ask? For me it was a challenge. When I knit garter, which I like to do, I often drift off to another land…..in this case it often meant that I forgot one of my increase stitches. How did I resolve this? I put markers on the needles to count stitches every 8 rows and I knew that each 8 rows must increase by 4 stitches. If I failed that simple test…..one could hear “frogging”!

As I mentioned in a previous post I love this yarn gifted to me by Maurie….many thanks! The colors are perfect and I will enjoy this for many seasons. One day my internal thermometer might cool off and then I will wear lovely garments like this closer up on my neck. So…..in the meantime I put my vanity aside and just enjoy the knitting designs!!

Oh….that reminds again of PJ’s thoughtful advice to me re: cowls. I want to knit the Honeycomb Cowl that is another popular design that you can find at Ravelry.com. I loved PJ’s rendition….a double wrap cowl. She suggested that I consider more stitches for this double wrap. She used a sock yarn and 280 stitches….I am using a sock yarn and 320 stitches. The sock/fingering weight yarn is that lovely choice my “personal” shoppers made at Interweave-Lab last fall. The stitches are cast on and I am on row 4 of 320 stitches. Stay tuned!

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The Vintage Poncho

Posted in knitting, tagged , , on January 25, 2014| 1 Comment »

Poncho Pattern
My nieces 1972

In a recent post I mentioned the marathon poncho knitting that I did in the mid-1970’s. It wasn’t a Vogue pattern after all….it was Columbia Minerva Leaflet #2520 “In Ponchos”.

My friend Nan wore her “Aran Isle” poncho to church a few weeks ago and I recognized the pattern immediately. It was the same poncho design that I knit about 40 years ago for my sister , her daughters and myself.

I love our neighborhood/church grapevine…..CJ loaned me a copy of the same pattern !

Nan
The details

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Ear Muffs

Posted in Christmas, Crafting, knitting, tagged , , , , on January 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

IMG_0985You might recall that I mentioned that I had four belated Christmas gifts (headband earmuffs) in the making for Idaho nieces and nephew. I cracked the whip one Saturday in early January and I was able to finish and send the gifts. Check out my nephew’s video thank you! I have a couple tips for you in making gifts for those who live long distance. For the two ear muff/headbands on the left I pinned the adornment on so that the girls could remove/change at a moment’s notice. For the one on the right I left a long thread so that my sister or her mother could crochet the correct length for the loop (so that it would fit around the head perfectly).

It was Susanne and Terry who inspired me to knit these muffs. We saw Terry’s version a couple posts back.

Terry wanted warm ears
Model Diane
Mohair over the ears!

Now here is Susanne’s. She says, “Abbi loves having a grandma that can knit!!!  We saw one of these in the store, asked grandma to make it & viola!”

Grandma Susanne

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What’s “cooking”?

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , , on January 14, 2014| 1 Comment »

We do cook….and we do knit! Many of us refer to our knitting patterns as our knitting recipes! Here’s a bit of what’s cooking at the moment.

Kimberly - Honeycomb Cowl

Kimberly – Honeycomb Cowl

Some of us….Kimberly, Jean, PJ and Laurel are knitting (or just completed) the Honeycomb Cowl  published by Madelinetosh and featured on Ravelry.com. This simple 4-row pattern, worked in the round, produces excellent results. You have two choices for the number of stitches to cast on…it all depends on whether you want to have a single “wrap” around your neck or a longer cowl that you can wrap twice around. Oh……I have just added this pattern to my “do list”…..will knit with the wonderful yarn that “my personal shoppers” picked for me at Interweave Lab Knit last fall.

PJ has repurposed a merino sock yarn for her version, Jean’s version is a brown wool yarn, and Laurel is knitting her version with Brown Sheep’s Superwash Pride in Mint.

My (Carolyn) Hitchhiker Scarf

My (Carolyn) Hitchhiker Scarf

I think I mentioned recently that I was a season or two behind (on many fronts)…and that I  embarked on knitting the lovely merino sock yarn that was gifted to me by Maurie when she returned from working in Germany a few moons ago. I’ve loved this yarn but couldn’t decide how I wanted to “feature” it. I finally embraced the ever-popular Hitchhiker scarf. My tune now is much like “99 bottles of beer on the wall”…..I am humming “32 thumbs on the hike and only 11 to go”! Who knows why but I had a bit of a “brain freeze” in the beginning and a couple of the thumbs weren’t quite right! I had a knitting melt down and frogged back to almost the beginning. I am quite happy now and will be wearing this soon. In fact, I am now catching up on Downton Abbey and plan to start Season 3 after a meeting tonight. Looks like I will make a dent in “only 11 to go”!

New Sock for Bonnie

Bonnie recently purchased this lovely colorful packet of mini-skeins of yarn….I think it was at the Interweave Knit Lab last fall. She has designed her sock with her color line-up choices and she is custom-shaping. I love this sock and the custom fitting!

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