First F.O. for a new Knitter!

This is my good friend Subarctic Mama! She is holding her first ever F.O. - a hat for her little girl Cedar! Yea! Obviously, she is new to the world of knitting. She had to head down to Anchorage for the day and we got to hang out together and visit and knit. It is always so good to see my dear friend and to be able to help her with her first knitting project. I hope this will lead to more knitting goodness for her!

F.O. - Baby Hat for Jared

This is Chaotic J Mama. She is holding in her hands my finished object from my President's Day weekend in Tacoma, a baby hat for the baby she's expecting in April. She is one of my former students who is now working towards becoming a teacher. Baby Jared will be her second child, I didn't knit anything for her daughter Ana because that was before I was a knitter. She seemed very pleased with the hat and I hope that it will help keep Baby Jared both warm and stylish!

Valentine's Dinner & the Scarf Presentation

Here's the whole group, having our fabulous Valentine's Dinner at Maxwell's Speakeasy and Lounge in Tacoma. We were such a large party that we ended up scoring our own private dining room. Pretty sweet!
Here I am with my Aunt Frances. this was after she opened up her scarf. She really liked it and was pretty overwhelmed by it. But, she told me that she had just gotten a skirt that would match the scarf perfectly and that she had a blouse to compliment it too. So, she has her whole outfit ready to go now!
Finally, this is my brother-in-law Paul with his new girlfriend Kerry. It was great to get to meet Kerry, she's a fun and smart woman. What's also fun is that Kerry's mom works at the same high school where Arctic Knitter and I work! Small world indeed!

Madrona and the Magic of Lucy Neatby!

This year at Madrona I only took three half -day classes, and two of them were taught by Lucy Neatby. She is by far one of my favorite teachers because I learn a lot of cool things in her classes that I think help me as a knitter. The two classes I took with Lucy this year were Double Knitting and Short-Row Wizardry. They were both fantastic! The other class I took was with Ruth Sorenson, on colorful mittens. It was also a great class and a lot of fun and I received some beautiful knitting patterns for mittens from it and some great ideas for how to use color. I only have photos from the Lucy Neatby classes though, so there you go.
Here are Arctic Knitter and I with a cheesy self-portrait. Don't we look like we're having fun?!
Here is Arctic Knitter hard at work in the Double Knitting class! This was a great class, I have wanted to learn how to do double knitting for some time now and I'm excited to get to try some more. Once I finish all the other projects I have going...Here is Sandy, knitting away and pretending she doesn't know me. She doesn't like it when I take her picture, so I tried to be stealth. This photo was actually from the Short Row Wizardry class, which was also fantastic!

Here Arctic Knitter does some Vanna work modeling a pocket that was created using double knitting. What a slick way to make a pocket! I just learn so much! I liked all my classes, but I was most taken with the double knitting class. Since my own little double knitted swatch I created in class isn't much to look at I will know show a collection of Lucy's creations, mostly using double knitting. There are a couple of things I love about double knitting - I love the thickness that it creates in items, great for hats, mittens, scarves, apparently it doesn't work for socks though - something about the heel turning messes it up. However, Lucy did say that you can double knit the sole of a sock and that sounds really great and cozy! I'll have to give that a try! The second thing I love about double knitting is how the process creates a negative image of the pattern. I don't know why I find it so intriguing, but I do.

Here is a scarf Lucy had on display using double knitting.

And another scarf - I am just mesmerized by the negative image thing! I'm a goof!

This scarf also is double knitting, but because one of the yarns is so fuzzy it is not as easy to see.
This is a scarf, the pattern is called Sea Lettuce. It does not use double knitting, it does however use a ton of short rows, the other class I took from Lucy. It is a really cool pattern because it is this long seaweed looking scarf with fronds when it is laid out and then you can roll it up like this and it looks like a sea anemone. I was so taken with this pattern that I bought a copy of it.
The sweater that seemed to be all the buzz at Madrona this year was this one - Venus Rising. It is a Lucy Neatby design and it uses the Kauni yarn. Now she described how she used the consistency of the color repeats to help her get these solid blocks and that she actually knit it with the yarn tripled and there was a slip knot involved, but I can't remember how it all worked out. It is a pretty sweater though.

I had a lot of fun at Madrona this year! Three classes was much easier on the brain overload! Of course we weren't there for all four days this year either. And I didn't have a sinus infection this time, so that helped. I don't know yet if I'll attend next year, I'll have to wait and see what the economy is like, who the teachers are, what the classes are, and just if it is doable. I will say though that I did resist! I didn't buy a single skein of yarn while I was there! I'm quite proud of that!

F.O. - Frances's Lace Scarf

It's finally finished! Yeah! My aunt's lace scarf - and here it is:

Okay, that picture didn't look like much. Here is a better one that is closer up, but still before blocking.

Here it is after I washed it, I've always got Winston hair to remove from anything I knit, and I'm using my new blocking wires to block it.
Here's a close up on one end using the blocking wires. What is this wonderfulness? Well, it is the North Star Scarf pattern from the book Arctic Lace. The yarn is laceweight and it is 100% cashmere by Jojoland. It is so soft! It is fabulous, and all the while I've been working on it whenever others of have seen it the inevitably end up touching it and then rubbing it against their cheek, it's THAT soft! It took about 420 yards of yarn, so a little over one skein. I have around 370+ yards left to do some other wonderfulness with. After blocking it will be around 57 inches long and 9-1/2 inches wide. I'm giving it to my aunt Frances for Valentine's day. I think she'll be surprised.
It was neat to use the blocking wires and they definitely will help for more consistent blocking. But, threading the wires through the sides of the scarf was tedious! That part gave me a back ache. Oh well, the price one pays for beautiful knitting!

In other knitting news I've started these:


They are the popular Leyburn sock in STR lightweight in the colorway Rocktober. They are a gift for one of my good friends. I bought this yarn two years ago with her in mind and just haven't knit fast enough to get anything done. I was also waiting for a pattern that really went with this yarn and I have found it! This pattern is great with busy colorways and it highlights the colors really well. My friend loves fall colors, so I think she'll enjoy these socks.

I have another knitting project on the needles, but I can't talk about it yet. I'll post more when I can. Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I've been dealing with some health issues that have slowed me down. I'm getting better, I'm doing a lot better than I was a week ago, but it is a slow, day to day kind of healing.

I'm headed to Madrona in 5 days! Woo hoo! Arctic Knitter and I are headed there again to meet up with Sandy and have a knitterly weekend filled with knitting goodness. It will be my first real test of not buying any yarn, but I think I'll do okay. I do want to pick up some sock blockers. I need another set for me, at least one, and I need a set in DH's size - buddy's got big feet - and you know what that means...giant socks! ;0)