The Knitty's Fetching, a pair of fingerless gloves for my mom. 

Sally Melville comes to Williamston for a weekend of workshops

Wonderful Sally Melville 

Could this get any better? Threadbear set up this wonderful weekend of workshops with Sally Melville. I couldn't resist! I signed up right away for all of the workshops. I also made reservations at a nearby Bread & Breakfast, Topliff's Tara Wonderful hosts, wonderful restoration of an old farm house; llama owners, too! Stayed with Sally and 3 other fun knitters who were from the east side of the state. Great time, went all too fast.

Workshops were:
What is creativity?Creativity Workshop--Friday, September 22nd @ 6:30 until 8 p.m.
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We all use the word "creativity", but most of us do not know what it means. It seems some ephemeral quality with only others--much loftier folks than us--have an ability to access. But the truth is that it lies within each of us to be creative and that it is a source of joy to access our own powers and abilities.

Once we understand the nature of creativity and feel encouraged to develop our own, we need to appreciate the stages we will encounter. What are they? What happens in each stage? How do we get a running start? Where might we get stuck? How do we move forward once stuck? And finally, where might we end up.


First Choices/Basic Shapes--Saturday, September 23rd @ 10 a.m. (3 hours)
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No matter how advanced and accomplished we are, we run the risk of producing garments that look awful. Why? We make a decision in the first twenty minutes of the project that dooms it to failure! What are these decisions? Yarn, color, stitch pattern, and silhouette.

This workshop explores those decisions, so you'll know which decisions are best for you. It then follows with basic pattern drafting, so even if you don't design your own garments from scratch, you'll be able to make a more flattering neckline, a sleeve the right length, and a garment that fits!

Stripes and Stripes That Aren't--Saturday, September 23rd @ 2 p.m. (3 hours)
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Stripes....oh so easy to knit! But who can wear them? The truth is that everyone can both knit and wear them. This workshop explores ways to build strips and play with simple stitch patterns so you can work easily with color and produce some of your favorite knitting and most flattering garments.

Advanced Shaping--Sunday, September 24th @ 12 noon (3 hours)
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While there's nothing wrong with basic drop shoulder pullovers (they provide a fabulous, wide-open canvas!), there are other shapes and styles to consider and master. This workshop covers the discussion, measuring, calculations, drafting, and knitting for the set-in sleeve, the saddle sleeve, the shirt-tail bottom edge, and the vest-pointed bottom edge.


Sally explaining a knitting technique 

Kerry Blue in my handspun Shetland

My Big Kerry Blue being blocked! 

I finished my Kerry Blue, from Martha Waterman's Traditional Lace Knitted Shawls. I added a different border. It is lovely. The yarn is not as soft as merino, but not scratchy at all. I love it!



Close-up view 

Christmas knitting is upon me!

Last Christmas the kids admitted dismay at not receiving any socks. I explained, well you never let me know that you liked that ones I made in the past. Then I heard praises. So, I had them search my sock stash and pick yarn to their liking. I started knitting them this August, so I would be able to finish in time. Now I think I can give them at their birthdays, and have slippers for Christmas. Planning is everything!


Socks for Eric, Opal yarn  


Socks for Dawn, Opal yarn  


Socks for Mom, Plymouth Encore, worsted weight and Fun Fur yarn 


Socks to be for Travis 

Well, there is a glitch... for Travis, I had to cast on more stitches then the kit called for, so now I have to enlarge the pattern. Lengthwise is fine, I can figure out how many stitches to add, but about those rows... it is taking some time to tweak... I will get it. I have 'til February.


Pattern 

I had to have some fun...

My hand-dyed sock yarn knit up!  

My Lakeshore Knitting guild held at Friends of Wool, dyed Henry's Attic Kona sock yarn... here is my creation! And didn't those socks turn out nicely? I am so happy with the results.


My first hand-dyed skein of sock yarn 

And now what you have been waiting for: my Christmas knitting - slippers! For the Herink family, I am using yarn from Blackberry Ridge, a very nice chunky wool yarn and pattern provided. I can knit one up in two evenings easily. Only 6 more pairs to go!!!


Slippers for Tom 

My compulsion to plan the next knitting project whilst in the midst of my present one

The next project? 

Does this yarn not grab you? It is from an ebay seller, Over the Rainbow. A beautiful colorway in a laceweight. It think it wants to be the Mariposa shawl, a free pattern from Southwest Trading company. As seen on this website: http://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/South_West_Free-Mariposa_Bamboo_Shawl_Free-1549.html


Unfurled 

Time for some straightforward knitting

My handspun becoming a Kerry Blue shawl 
After my struggles with twisted stitches (twist the knit stitch on the right side, and twist the purl stitch on the wrong side, and cable as necessary), I opted for some nice easy garter knitting. Well, ok, garter lace knitting. My handspun yarn, Shetland fleece from Judy Colvin in Montana, http://www.bitterrootranch.net, was calling to me from my project basket. I had been shy about starting Martha Waterman's Kerry Blue from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls, because, well, it was an old pattern from a book which unfortunately had quite a bit of errata on it (on the Interweave website). But with help from people in my yahoo groups, here I am knitting it. I started with 12 stitches on double points, then went to a 16 inch circular, then a 24 inch circular. Now I am using a 32 inch circular and have 400 plus stitches and 60+ rows to go! This is a great pattern right now for me because there is a lot of garter knitting and the lace patterns are quite easy to do.


other side 

It must be summer because I am knitting cotton!

Sleeves for the Flower Box cardy 
Here are the sleeves for Maddy Laine's Flower Boxes. I am using the yarn from The Endless Summer Collection, Lara, purchased from Elann along with the pattern, which calls for a sport weight yarn. Perfect. But these sleeves are much too long, so I put this project away until I had the right needles. I am using 4.0mm, and need to go down to 3.75mm for the body. So in the meanwhile, those needles were busy knitting this sweater:

Summer Cardigan, front 
This is from IK, Interweave Knits Summer 1997, Mary Spanos' Summer Cardigan. It features a twisted rib, and twisted cables! I almost went mad, but got my money's worth out of this yarn since I knitted the cabled sections over and over.... The yarn is super-duper cotton/silk from Adrienne Vittadini's Marissa, which is no longer being made. I purchased this from the Threadbear,in Lansing, Michigan. Thank you Rob for offering such an informative weekly email, which is how I found out that he had purchased all the remaining yarns of Marissa. I had to have it!

Summer Box cardigan, front closeup 

Summer Cardigan, back 

Summer Cardigan, back closeup 

The Double Chain Cable Pullover is done!

Check out all that crazy seed stitch! I really enjoyed working on this pattern. I've made a mental note to try out other Vermont Designs, http://www.vermontfiberdesigns.com/, in the future. 

Cable completed 

This yarn is yummy and soft and light. It is spun "hollow core" and is really light for a worsted weight yarn. I haven't blocked it yet, but I don't thinnk it needs it.

The Color On Color Scarf is a winner!

My local knitting guild, Lakeshore Knitters, encouraged its members to bring in their knitted items to show at the local county fair what the local area knitters are up to. I brought my Color On Color Scarf, and won first place! What a wonderful positive affirmation for me and my knitting. Happy day!