Thursday, August 27, 2003

I started this about midnight on Tuesday, and finished the knitting at 5:00 this evening (with very little food, sleep, or blogging in between):

Does it look familiar?  It's another Fair Isle pillow, for another Introduction to Fair Isle class.  Son Number One requested one in all blues.  He specifically requested that hourglass design in the center, so I don't want to hear about it, Rob (Rob and I don't like it).

When my class met for Session 1 about a month ago, I very carefully made sure everyone's knitting wasn't twisted when they joined it into a circle.  Then I went home and discovered that mine was twisted (it happens to the best of us), so I tore it out and threw it in a heap.  I forgot (chose not) to work on it until Tuesday night, when I realized I had less than two days until Session 2, when I wanted to demonstrate cutting a steek.  You know, it just dawned on me that since we were going to cut it open anyway, a twist wouldn't have been a problem.  Can you hear me slapping my forehead?  Sheesh!  It would have been awkward to knit, though.

Before class tonight, I was a little apprehensive about my students' pillow covers.  I was expecting that all the knitting wouldn't be done, or that I hadn't communicated the two-color knitting technique effectively enough.  But boy oh boy did they ever come through!  You should see the different color combinations they chose -- all different, and all stunning.  You WOULD have seen them, if I had remembered to take my camera.  Everyone was either done or on the last stripe.  And Lindsay (the daughter third of my first daughter/mother/grandmother combo) had charted out and inserted the word "ALBION" into one of the stripes, which is the name of the college she's attending.  Can you believe it?  Awesome.  Class went very well, they had no problem with the steek options I gave them (doing nothing, machine sewing, or crocheting), and no one cried when cutting open their knitting.  Whew!

In more Stitches news, I saw some old friends and made some new ones. 

Jayna from Bay City, who drove Karin and me to Knitting Camp in Wisconsin earlier this summer (and got the dreaded "Camp Flu") was there, and we hung out a bit at the Market and had dinner together.  I saw Ann and Eugene from Philosopher's Wool in Ontario, who I've met quite a few times before (two workshops in Okemos, and a visit to their farm).  It was Ann who suggested we stay in a hotel down the road instead of at the resort where Stitches is held (less $ spent on hotel room = more $ to spend on yarn!).  In their booth was Marcia, a knitting teacher and employee of Yarn for Ewe in Okemos, who joined us for one of our late night pajama parties at the Best Western.  Marcia didn't buy herself any yarn, which I think is just wrong. 

Nor, apparently, did Teresa from One More Row and Another Latte, who I spied in the Jamieson booth on Saturday along with her entourage (my own entourage had abandoned me, and I was shopping solo).  Rob had wanted me to make sure a package he and Matt had sent up with Teresa made it where it was supposed to go, although I was in class that morning and didn't actually do anything, but Teresa assured me all was well.  I had seen her photo on her blog and in Knitty, and was able to pick her out with no problem.  She's one of the few bloggers I've met that I didn't already know (um, yeah), so I was sort of nervous about approaching her, but of course it was no problem and she was very sweet!

I also met the yarn reps from Cascade Yarns, who had been on the phone with Rob and Matt the weekend I visited them in Bloomington/Columbus (was that only two weeks before?).  When I introduced myself, and said that I knew the guys, Joan asked if I was the Sarah who really liked to felt.  I said no, probably not -- I'm a reluctant felter.  Then she asked if I was the one with the giant bag on the piano bench.  Oh, yeah, that was me.

I took an excellent class on knitting math ("Where Did They Get Those Numbers?") from Edie Eckman, who did a great job teaching math to knitters at 8:00 in the morning.  And here's Melissa Leapman, from whom I took "Fully Fashioned and Fabulous", which dealt with ways to use shaping (increases and decreases) decoratively.  Isn't she a cutie?

Okay, this post is way longer than I meant it to be, but I have to include this last shot:

What a goofy dog!  Keiko has been shedding like crazy, so she's not quite as fluffy as usual.  And no, I don't think she looks like Tate, Rob.

Sarah

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Where do I begin?

Let's travel in the way-back machine to last year at the Stitches Market, where I was the picture of self control.  The first day there, I went slowly from booth to booth, looking at everything, and writing any interesting items on the backs of the vendors' business cards.  That night in my hotel room, I went through the cards, crossing off the items that I didn't really want or need, and making an organized list of what I wanted to purchase.  Can you believe how organized I was?  The second day, I leisurely strolled through the booths again, this time buying the items from my list, and nothing else.  Can you believe how self-restrained I was?  The third day . . . well, let's just say that on the third day, panic sets in and you're afraid you'll never see any of this stuff again.  Let's just say that the third day was kind of a blur, and that I ended up with quite a bit more "stuff".  Let's just say that I now own a tiny little hank of cashmere in the most beautiful deep dark shades of purple and black I ever did see.  And it was the softest yarn I ever did feel.  Couldn't put it down.  So I paid $80 for it.  For one little hank.  Like, 120 yards, give or take.  Who's the picture of self control now?

Flash forward to this year.

I already showed you what I bought as soon as I walked in the door at the Stitches Market Preview on Thursday night (The Purl Stitch!).  So much for organized shopping.  At least Irene and I had agreed that we wouldn't buy any yarn that night -- we were going to be there for three more days, so what was the hurry?

Well, what if there were only a few hanks of a particular hand-dyed dye lot, and what if someone else bought them before we did?  That wouldn't do.  So Irene and I each bought some of this:

It's "Seeds" from Interlacements, and is 91% cotton, 9% polyester (the little slubs of color -- see them?).  We saw a simple sweater hanging there, looking all gorgeous, and just had to have some.  Won't this look great with jeans?

I think that was about it for Thursday, except for some light-up thingies for the kids.  Oh, and one of those dorky paper Krispy Kreme hats for my husband, just to rub in the fact that we had visited a Krispy Kreme without him. 

Side note #1:  I'm not completely evil -- I took a dozen home to him. 

Side note #2:  The first Lansing area Krispy Kreme opened today! 

Side note #3:  He's been wearing the Krispy Kreme hat around the house.  What a dork (hi honey!).

But Sarah, we don't care about the stupid Krispy Kremes.  What else did you buy?

Oh, right, sorry!  I bought these:

On the left is a McMorran Yarn Balance, which I had been wanting for a long time.  At the top are a children's book (I used to get them for souvenirs for my kids, but I realized that I was more excited about them than the kids were, so now I just get them for myself) and one of the Monica Ferris needlework mysteries.  On the bottom are a purple (yippee!) suede bottom and handles for a bag.

And I bought these:

A gorgeous hand dyed boucle (78% mohair, 13% wool, 9% nylon) in two glorious colors (richer than they appear here, but still very bright) from Cloverleaf Farms.  They are destined to be shallow necked, long sleeved pullovers knit side-to-side (which I've never done -- this will be an easy starter project) on big needles.  She also carries a deep purple color, but had forgotten to bring any with her, so I may be ordering some (you didn't hear that, tracy_a!).

And I bought this:

Cascade Yarns Sierra (80% cotton, 20% wool).  You can see that I've already swatched with it.  I wanted to use it for a pattern I bought (I'm not even going to tell you about all the patterns I came home with), but the gauge didn't work out right, so I decided to make another ChicKami.  I cast on for it just before lunch today, and will probably have the first of four hanks knit up before I go to bed tonight.  Did I mention that school started today?

And finally (well, not really, but it's all I'm admitting to), I bought these:

On the left is a 1 oz. silk "hanky" from Traci Bunkers of Bonkers Handmade Originals.  You peel a layer off, pull it into a strand, and knit with it.  The goal is a very soft silk scarf.  The color isn't coming through very well in this photo, but it's that deep purply black I'm so in love with right now, with some silvery gray thrown in for good measure. 

And on the right?  On the right is this year's last minute panic purchase.  Can you guess what it is?  I'll bet you can't.  Let me zoom in on the label for you:

Can you believe it?  It's spun from bamboo!  And it's really, really soft!  And I've got, like, 1500 yards!  And it only cost about $33!  This came from Habu Textiles in New York City.  I was in awe of everything in this booth.  It was like a textile art museum.  The fibers were absolutely amazing.  The owner was wearing a sweater knit from stainless steel!  I was so "bamboo"zled by the bamboo, I had to have it for myself.

At the Tuesday night knit-in tonight, tracy_a and I made a no-more-yarn-buying pact*, although we neglected to mention a date of any kind (I solemnly promise not to buy any yarn before __________). 

Do you think next week is too soon? 

Sarah

* pre-existing exceptions:  the credit I have at Stitch in Time in Howell, the yarn I have on hold at Woven Art in East Lansing, the yarn Nancy at Woven Art is going to dye for me as soon as I figure out how much I need, and the purple yarn mentioned in tonight's entry.

Monday, August 25, 2003

I have a little beef with my new Comcast e-mail program. 

I spent a gazillion hours (lowball estimate) over the past two weeks consolidating all of my e-mail address books into one, developing a distribution list, scheduling classes for the fall/winter season, and updating my website with class schedules and descriptions, new patterns, new photos, etc.  I made sure everything was done so I could send an update to everyone on my mailing list before I left for Stitches last Thursday, because the first class starts in the first week of September, and I wanted people to have time to get signed up.  I sent the e-mail updates around midnight on Wednesday and mailed the snail mail updates on Thursday morning before we left for Illinois.  I got home Sunday night to . . . nothing. 

Sweatergirl called late Monday morning to ask about a class, and when I asked her if she'd gotten her e-mail update she said, "What e-mail update?"  I made some phone calls and couldn't find anyone who had gotten my e-mail.  I was NOT a happy camper.

Apparently, there's a character limit in the "To:" box, and I seem to have exceeded it.  A lot.  My fault for having a healthy mailing list, I guess.

To make a long story short, I spent the afternoon sending little batches of e-mails to about 25 people at a time (some more than once, because I lost track of where I was on my list), and then fielding the returned e-mails that notified me of invalid e-mail addresses (no problem -- I'll go to the post office tomorrow and send off some more snail mail updates).

The happy ending to my story is that within about five minutes of sending the first e-mail batch today, I started getting responses from people wanting to sign up for classes. 

(insert happy sigh of relief here) 

In my comments for yesterday's post, tracy_a asked about the "view" on the way to St. Charles for Stitches Midwest.  Thanks for asking, tracy_a!  Here's what the view looked like on the way down:

As is true of every project of mine, it's not quite finished.  There are ends to weave in, and it needs to be blocked -- the straps are rolling under.  But it fits perfectly, and I love it!  What is it, you ask?  Why it's a ChicKami, of course!  The wide-strapped, non-shaped version, because I don't like to show off my underthings, and I'm non-shaped.  Here's an interesting shot of me wearing my new ChicKami:

See how skinny I am?  Looks can be deceiving.  This was the view in the magic mirror in room 59 of the Best Western Inn of St. Charles, Illinois.  See how skewed the door behind me looks, and how pointy my head is?  It was a VERY flattering mirror, width-wise.  We had fun being skinny for a brief time, and took lots of silly photos.

And the view on the way back from St. Charles?  It looked like this:

That's Charlotte's Web, with all the knitting finished!  Still to come:  weaving in ends (of course), crocheting the edging, and adding the fringe.  It's a little more stripey than I had wanted, but I'm not tearing it out.  I originally had all the pinks blend from light at the top to dark at the bottom, but decided to be a little more daring, and ended up with what you see.  I have more garden-y colors for my second Charlotte's Web shawl.  Have you seen Daphne's?  Hers promises to be gorgeous.

Tomorrow is the first day of school (I'm so excited!). 

Tomorrow night (hopefully), I'll show you what I got at Stitches (hooray!). 

Oh, and Mare, did you read the part where I said I'd be taking a little trip to the post office tomorrow?

Sarah

Sunday, August 24, 2003

Got home this evening from Stitches Midwest in St. Charles, Illinois.  I'll post details soon, but suffice it to say that I had a GREAT time!  Took two very cool classes (which I'll tell you about later), had some happenin' pajama parties (which I'll tell you about later), ate a lot of yummy food (which I probably won't tell you about later), and spent way, way, way too much money time in here (which I'll tell you a teeny bit about right now):

That's the building that housed the Stitches Marketplace.  And that's Sheila, Karin, and Irene (my travel buddies) on their way in for the first time on Thursday evening.  And what was the very first thing we all bought as soon as we walked in the door?

Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's out!  I have one!  Where are my needles!?  Where's some yarn!?  I've gotta get started!

Sarah

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

No photos, and no knitting progress, despite all the knitting that's been going on in my head.  Does anybody else knit in their head?  I can't seem to make it stop.  When I used to type for a living (remember typewriters?), I would find my fingers typing things all the time -- people's conversations, television shows, books I was reading . . . but I digress. 

I spent all of today, a little part of yesterday, and a big part of Saturday (at the beach) consolidating six (count 'em, six!) e-mail address books into a single solitary one.  What a relief!  Now I just have to work on setting up some distribution lists.  I want to get my fall/winter class schedule finalized and posted to my website, and get an e-mail sent out to my knitting students, before I leave for Stitches Midwest on Thursday.  My September classes won't fill if no one knows about them, will they?  Oh, and I have to pack, too.

Boring, I know.  Sorry.  That's my life.

Sarah

Sunday, August 17, 2003

Another weekend, another lake:

This is one of the Great Ones -- Lake Michigan.  My kids thought we were at the ocean, since they couldn't see the other side.  We went to Grand Haven, although we stayed in Muskegon, and the beach we liked was actually in Ferrysburg. 

I don't know any of those people up there, but I do know three of these bathing beauties (can you guess which ones?):

Can you guess what I was doing?

Another lake, another new project!  Here's how far I got by Sunday night (started it in the car on Friday):

Can you guess what it is?  The yarn is the two colors of Cotton Twist that I tried to add to my Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater earlier this summer, but that ended up in my stash instead.  I had trouble figuring out how best to make the color transition.  Is it okay to have stripes across your chest if you're not particularly busty to begin with?  I have enough yarn to put two more stripes in the center (one of each color), and still have enough for the straps, but I'm not sure it should be that stripey.  Any opinions?  What's proper design etiquette? 

I didn't make it to the Michigan Fiber Festival (Allegan didn't seem to be on the way from Haslett to Grand Haven, no matter which way I folded the map), but I did find some fibery splendor to wallow in, regardless.  My trusty yarn store guide (thanks, Knitters Magazine!) pointed the way to The Fibre House, which had lots of yarns I don't normally see, and which was having a fairly huge 50% off sale in the back of the store.  I didn't need any more yarn . . . but when has that stopped me before?  So here's my haul:

I'd been looking for the Sarah James Entrelac Jacket pattern, so now I can cross that off my list.  On the right is Adrienne Vittadini Adriana.  See those orange stickers?  Orange stickers = 50% off.  I got a dozen.  On the left is Schachenmayr Rainbow.  Here's a close-up:

There's a strand of black and a strand of white running the whole length of the skein, wrapped together with these bright rainbow colors.  I fell in love.  See the lack of orange stickers?  No orange stickers = 0% off.  I got ten.

Now I only have three days to save up for the market at Stitches Midwest.

Sarah 

Thursday, August 14, 2003

I'll write a little something even though I can't post it tonight. 

I live in Haslett, Michigan, just east of Lansing.  Our power went out shortly after 4:00 this afternoon, but came right back on.  I guess we were very lucky, because Lansing, East Lansing, and parts of Okemos lost power, and are still without (at midnight), I think.  Wherever our cable company is located is still without power -- so our cable modem is pretty worthless right now.  As far as I can tell, Lansing is as far west as the power outages reached.

So, I'm getting caught up on non-Internet based computer stuff.  I got my Knits and Purls Pillows pattern finalized and printed off two dozen copies on medium stock paper.  They look very professional, if I do say so myself.  Now I've got to get moving on these other patterns I've promised to write.

I'm updating my address list, in preparation for a mass e-mail/snail-mail regarding my fall/winter class schedule and other updates to my website.

We're still going to Grand Haven for the weekend, since the power outage didn't reach that far west.  I'll check to see if Allegan (the Fiber Festival!) is on the way.

If the cable is working in the morning, I'll post this before we leave.  Otherwise, you'll see it Sunday night (the power HAS to be back on by then, doesn't it?).

Sarah

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

I was a busy little photographer today. 

I took this picture to put on my Knits and Purls Pillows pattern:

and this one (Doesn't it look dainty?  We know better!) for my Introduction to Entrelac class:

I've been working my way around the Knitting Bloggers webring, and came across a couple of interesting things: 

On her website, Deliz was fretting about having broken her strand of laceweight wool.  I tried to figure out how to contact her, so I could tell her about spit splicing, but I was unable to without joining Diaryland, which I didn't feel I should have to do.  If anybody can contact her, put her in touch with me.  Sweatergirl, do you still have your Diaryland account?  Hello, Sweatergirl?  Are you out there?

And on Kat's blog, I found a link to this.  I may give it a try, substituting knitting projects for cross stitch projects, of course -- although I do have one cross stitch project still outstanding.  Son Number Two's birth sampler.  I won't tell you how old he is, but let's just say I'm a little behind in getting it done.

I knit some more on Charlotte's Web at swimming and drum lessons today (that's two separate lessons, by the way).  I'm ready to bring in the fourth color! 

What a linky entry this is!  I'm done now.

Sarah

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Charlotte's Web is moving along fast!  Of course, the rows are getting longer and longer as I knit more and more, so it will go slower and slower, but I'm already almost halfway done lengthwise.  Here's how far I am as of the weekly knit-in tonight:

Ain't it purdy?

Speaking of purdy, look at what Helen from Columbus, Indiana ("Low Helen", if you read Black Dog and Crowing Ram) is almost done making:

It's a Manos del Uruguay pattern, which I never would have purchased based on the photograph on the cover, but Helen has made what I think are some excellent design changes, both texture-wise and color-wise.  I just love it!

Here's a sneak peek at ThreadBear's new digs:

That's Rob, Margaret, and Ann (left to right), standing in the front room.  The front door is to the right in that little entryway you can see behind Ann.  The house used to be subdivided into apartments.  Walls are being torn down to return it to it's original state.  The original woodwork is intact and has never been painted -- it's stunning.  There are wood floors throughout the whole place -- gorgeous.  High ceilings (the suspended ceiling was being removed when we were there) -- breathtaking.  It needs some work, as you can see, but it's going to be incredible someday (hopefully, soon!).

And here's Wendy sitting in the front window, with what may have been the first knitting action in the new ThreadBear location!

And that's Matt's hairy arm in the corner.

I think that about wraps up the pictures from my Indiana trip.

Sarah

Monday, August 11, 2003

I've got a lot of pictures to share with you.  I may have to split this into a few days' worth of entries.

Mare asked if the scenery was nice on our trip to Indiana (it took around six hours to get there, thanks to some construction delays, and about seven to get back, due to construction, meals, gas, potty stops, and ice cream).  I have to admit that the scenery on the trip to Bloomington looked a lot like black i-cord (handles for my Entrelac bag), and lavender cables (Luisa).  The mountain-y drive from Bloomington to Columbus looked suspiciously like the beginnings of a toe-up sock (knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Tuscany), and the drive back from Columbus to Lansing resembled a Charlotte's Web shawl (in glorious pinky/purply shades of Koigu).

Here's what I brought back with me:

Notice the handles?  Felted by Rob himself (thank you, Robert!)!  But what's in the bag?

This:

Top row, left, are two skeins of Cascade 220 in blues that I hope will go with the blue shades of Plymouth Galway I'm using for Son Number One's Fair Isle pillow.  Rob tells me the Cascade 220 is superior to Galway (my current fave), so now I can do a side-by-side comparison.

Top row, center, are two skeins of Cascade Indulgence, the yummy alpaca and angora combo.  I'm going to re-knit my Lacy Alpaca Scarf -- I just don't like that Blue Skies Alpaca I was using.

Top row, right, is a skein of Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in the Ruby River colorway, to go with my other M.C. Ruby River yarn (Weaver's Wool Quarters), both of which will patiently wait for me to luck into a hank of the M.C. Merino Ribbon in Ruby River.  I see the trio eventually becoming a vest knit from side to side (something I haven't done yet).

Bottom row is scrumptious Noro Silk Garden to make the De Colores Jacket from the Fall 2002 Knitter's magazine (along with black Noro Cash Iroha I already have in my stash).  I had a rich blue/purple/green combo, but I was nervous that it was too greeny, which doesn't work for me.  Yeah, there's still green in this shade, but it's not as overpowering.  I hope to swatch with this SOON. 

Center is a little pillbox thingie which will hold some (but probably not all) of my smaller knitting notions.  It's from the land of evil (starts with a Wal, ends with a Mart), but came to me by way of ThreadBear.

I know, I know, that Entrelac bag can hold a lot more than those few skeins of yarn.  What else was in there?  How about this:

I've got them all jumbled up, but those, plus some stash, are destined for two Charlotte's Web shawls (I know, I know, I don't like lace -- I'm slumming).  Here's the beginning of the first one:

I'm already into the second color (of five total).  Here's a close-up with truer colors:

And finally, there's this:

My main splurge.  Koigu in gorgeous shades of purple and black, to make who knows what with.

I think I'm going to have to skip the Michigan Fiber Festival this weekend, because I only have two weeks to save up for the market at Stitches Midwest!

Sarah

Sunday, August 10, 2003

Um . . .  I ran away from home. 

Partners in crime:  Sheila (about to discover that she just messed up the border of her sleeve -- can you say R-I-I-I-I-P?  Hi Sheila!) and Ann (amazingly, knitting something other than a baby blanket!  Hi Ann!):

And Wendy -- not THAT Wendy -- THIS Wendy (who is proudly showing off her first dye job.  Hi Wendy!):

We hung out at the Worst Western Hotel, enjoying a perfect summer morning and being dive-bombed by cicadas:

I finished Luisa (look how happy I am!  I finished a project!):

But what was I doing at a hotel?  And where did I run to?

To Columbus, Indiana, by way of Bloomington, to see Matt and Rob!  I had heard mention of enchiladas, margaritas, and surprise visitors, so I ran down to see what all the hubbub was about.  Here we are on the front steps of 703 Hutchins Avenue in Columbus, which is just days away from being the bricks and mortar home of ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio!  This is going to be an AWESOME place.  I'll definitely be going back (let me know when the guest room is ready, guys!).

More pics tomorrow!

Sarah

Friday, August 8, 2003

You think my Entrelac knitting bag is big?  Take a look at this!

Sarah

Thursday, August 7, 2003

I taught Session 2 of my Beginning Finishing class tonight at The Yarn Garden in Charlotte.  This is the session where we sew the little cardigan pieces together.  It's probably my favorite session of all my classes, because there are so many "lightbulb" moments (for lack of a better term), when the students finish a seam and see how great it looks, and get really excited about their knitting. 

There are two mother/daughter combos and one sister/sister combo among the students in the class.  The mother of the twelve-year-old daughter started to ask me about something their Knitting Leader had said, and I burst out laughing.  I thought it was odd that anyone would ask to be called a "Knitting Leader", until she mentioned that this was for 4-H.  Then she said that of course I was her Supreme Knitting Leader, and made the "I'm not worthy" motion, which set me off again.  After I calmed down, she continued with her question -- which was about finishing off the inside of a seam so that it looked nice and neat.  I'm still not sure what she was talking about -- does anyone out there in blogland know?  It's not talked about in any of my fifty knitting reference books.  I mentioned the finishing off of cut steek stitches, but she said that this was something different.  She won that particular round of "Stump the Teacher".

I didn't make it to the underarm of Luisa during swimming, because a) it was too darn humid in the pool room today, and b) class was cut short when one darling child (not mine, thankfully) puked in the pool.  I did, however, get to the underarm while hovering over the washing machine, waiting for my Entrelac knitting bag to felt. 

Okay, okay, you've been patient long enough.  Here's the before photo:

Now keep in mind that I've said all along that I wanted this to be a large knitting bag -- not a small-sized bag like most of the felted bag patterns out there, or even a medium-sized bag.  No, I wanted this to be the kind that sits on the floor by your chair and holds a year's worth of projects. 

Well, I got my wish.  I'll back up so you can get some perspective on the size of this baby:

See, Rob, I told you it would cover my piano bench!

So I threw it in the washing machine for the exact same number of cycles as my swatches, upon which I based all my calculations.  I was shooting for 10"x20" at the base, and didn't really care about the height.  Well, after those two cycles, the garter stitch base was about 8"x18", the Entrelac sides were acting as if the base was 10"x20", and one narrow end hadn't felted as much as the other three sides. 

Have I mentioned how much I hate and distrust the felting process?

I put it back in the washing machine for another four minutes, then declared it done and pulled it out.  It took another half hour to find boxes to stuff it with while it dried, because the 10"x20" box I'd been saving was now, of course, too large.

Here's the after picture:

Yes, it needs a shave and a handle.  I hadn't thought to swatch for the i-cord handle before, so I threw a foot-long length of five-stitch i-cord in with the finished bag.  I'll work on the handle tomorrow and felt it soon after.  Then you'll get a really, truly, final glamour shot of my new, felted, Entrelac Knitting Suitcase!

Which, incidentally, would have made a phenomenal piano bench cover if I had just left it alone.

Sarah

P.S.  I'm going to come up with a slightly smaller design as well, in case the students in my Introduction to Entrelac classes don't happen to have any furniture in need of a slipcover.

P.P.S.  For those of you who care, I've updated my website with the fall class schedules for Charlotte and East Lansing.  Haslett has to wait until I get the school calendar.

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

No photos tonight, but there will be a hilarious one tomorrow -- I had my Entrelac knitting bag off of the needles briefly today, and it is ENORMOUS!!!  I'm not kidding you -- it's as big as a house.  It had better felt to the expected proportions (repeat after me:  I will TRUST my gauge swatch.  I will TRUST my gauge swatch).  I'll be finishing up the top border tomorrow, and will take a picture before I throw it into the washing machine (gulp!).  Wish me luck!

I should reach the underarm of Luisa tomorrow during my son's swimming lesson (that will tickle!) -- wouldn't it be cool if I could finish it by the weekend?

Then I'd better buckle down and weave in some ends.  Sicily has been glaring at me lately -- a few days with that sweater and I should be able to get it done and out of my life.

My husband and I just finished watching Dawn of the Dead -- the one filmed at Monroeville Mall, near where I grew up.  I remember shopping there with my family when I was little.  I don't remember seeing any zombies, however.  Not at the mall, anyway.

Sarah

Tuesday, August 5, 2003

It's the first Tuesday of the month, and that means the weekly knit-in was at my house tonight.  As usual, there was a great group of knitters here, including birthday-girl Daphne.  I hope there was enough food -- when I went into the kitchen to clean up after everyone was gone, there wasn't much left.  Just enough for lunch tomorrow, I think. 

Sharon intrigued me with a description of a scarf (or scarves) she had seen on her trip to New York City.  It involved the use of dropped stitches, just like Dana's Scarf does, but the dropped stitches were embedded within the scarf, rather than at the ends.  I formed a picture in my mind of what she was telling me (and saw a scarf cast on along the long side, like Dana's Scarf is), but quickly realized she was actually describing something else (a scarf cast on along the narrow side).  Interesting possibilities.  I think I'd better get Dana's Scarf posted as a free pattern soon (tomorrow?), as I've had a lot of requests for it. 

In "why don't you just shoot me now" news:  I waited and waited and waited, but hadn't received the new issue of Interweave Knits yet (I'm a subscriber).  Others were blogging about it, my local knitting friends all had theirs, and I figured something had happened to my copy, so I finally bought one at Woven Art last night.  I'll give you one guess what came in the mail this morning.

I was in the mood for a little button sewing today, so I finally got this finished:

Yes, it's a lousy picture, but the pillow form is a little too big.  The other pillow form I had was too small.  I'll have to look around until I find one that's "just right" (not-so-subtle reference to Goldilocks and the Three Bears).

And here's what I got done during today's swimming lesson (not mine) and tonight's knit-in:

Mica appears to be impressed.  This side must be the "bont" (as opposed to the "frack" -- see yesterday's post).  I think I'm halfway to the underarm already.  My goal is to have this sweater done in time to wear to Stitches Midwest in three weekends.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can (even less subtle reference to The Little Engine That Could)!

I've been wanting to point out that I recently added the feature to my comments that mentions the name of the last person to add a comment.  I had originally deleted this feature, but found myself constantly clicking on my comments to see if there was anything new (I get overly excited by actual feedback).  By adding the name of the last "commenter" back in, I was able to stop all that extra clicking.  However, since I usually try to answer everyone's comments, it has started to look like I'm the only one commenting to myself.  I already talk to myself a lot, but talking back to my own blog?  That's a little strange. 

I'm getting s-l-e-e-p-y . . . nighty-night!

Sarah

Monday, August 4, 2003

First of all, I have to mention that there were some other knitters at the PicKnit yesterday.  I had forgotten that Jessica stopped by with her husband Derek and son Cameron, and Terri made an appearance, too.  Sheila came to the post PicKnit dinner at Taste of Thai with her husband Pat, and so did Wendy (no, not THAT Wendy).  Whew!  I think that was everybody.

B)  For those of you who expressed an interest in that off-white, lacy cardigan I had on in some of the pictures of Knitting Camp (see the July 15 and 16 entries), the yarn was Primula, by Marks & Kattens.  It's 51% Viscose, 49% Bomull (Cotton), and was WONDERFUL to work with.  I just did a Google search on it, and it appears to have been discontinued.  That's a shame.   

3)  Here's what I worked on at the PicKnit.  I was able to finish it up during Son Number Two's swimming lesson this morning and Son Number One's drum lesson this afternoon:

Well, by "finish it up", I meant "finish the front".  Or "finish the back".  They're interchangeable, or they would be if there were two of them.  Right now there's just the one piece.  I'll call it the "frack".

It's time for me to get the "frack" out of here.

Sarah (cringing)

Sunday, August 3, 2003

Wow, where do I start?

First, a boring progress photo:

That's the soon-to-be felted Entrelac knitting bag, but first I need to work the top triangles and border (in black) and figure out what to do for handles. 

Okay, enough about that. 

The First Annual(ish) PicKnit was a great success!  Thanks for hosting it, Sweatergirl!  The gray, drizzly day turned into perfect PicKnit weather.  My kids played on the playground while my husband manned the s'mores assembly line -- we almost sacrificed some straight needles for toasting marshmallows, but my husband and Son Number Two found two nice twigs and, with the help of my trusty Swiss Army knife, transformed them magically into the perfect marshmallow-toasting sticks.

The rest of us picnicked, and knitted, and knitpicked.  I present to you:

From left to right in the foreground, LynnH (Colorjoy), Tracy_a (Sweatergirl), and Debbi (TrixieChick).  In the background is Tony (a blogless knitter -- we didn't discriminate), who I hadn't seen in quite a while.  Tony and I, along with two other knitters, went on a fun, quickie roadtrip to Philosopher's Wool in Ontario a couple of years ago (but that's another story).

Here's another knitting blogger:

It's Daphne (Serial Knitter)!  See Daphne's smile?  She had a fun date last night.  See that red cup?  It had a margarita in it.

I didn't get photos of Rachel, Ann, or Jessie (bad, Sarah, bad!), all blogless but accomplished knitters.

But wait, who are these fine, furry, creatures?   

Do they look familiar?  It's Connor and Tate, the dogs-in-residence at ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio, currently from Bloomington, Indiana, soon to be from Columbus, Indiana.  What were they doing at the PicKnit in East Lansing, Michigan, you ask? 

Why, they brought Rob (Black Dog) and Matt (Crowing Ram) along with them.  Can you believe it?  What a cool surprise!  That explains why Rob was calling everyone he knew around Lansing to see if they were going to the PicKnit.  When he called me at 11:00 a.m., I asked if they were in the car on the way up.  "Yeah, right," Rob snorted, which I took to mean "What, are you nuts?"  Both of which, incidentally, turned out to be true.  That's Judith (another non-blogging knitter) in the middle.

And lookie here:

This is Marcia (Purls Before Swine), who drove in from Grand Rapids for the PicKnit.  (Hooray, I get to add a new button to my "Links to people I actually know"!)  She's happily fondling a skein of Cascade Indulgence she received from Rob and Matt -- did I mention they brought gift bags for each of us? 

Don't you wish you had joined us?

Sarah

Friday, August 1, 2003

I usually go to bed between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m., but I also usually wake up around 7:00 a.m. due to noisy kids and busy schedules.  There were three mornings this week when I thought I would be able to sleep in, and gave everyone strict orders not to wake me.  The first morning (Wednesday), Son Number Two came in to ask me something IMPORTANT (I can't remember what it was, but it wasn't IMPORTANT).  The second morning (Thursday), my husband woke me to explain something about how I needed to replace a button on his shorts, after he had pawed noisily through my button tin for about fifteen minutes.  The third morning (today), I had grudgingly agreed to be up and ready by 9:00 so someone could pick something up and drop something off . . . but they ended up being an hour late.  It's a conspiracy, meant to keep me sleep-deprived and loopy so I can't make any rational decisions.

I got the periwinkle row of rectangles done on my Entrelac knitting bag, but spent most of the day on paper control, and made some progress, thankfully.

There was an AWESOME but abbreviated thunderstorm this afternoon, complete with hailstones.  Very cool to watch, except that I was frying some eggs at the time, and had to keep turning away from the window.  Everyone but the dog was enthralled.  Poor Keiko was shaking like a leaf, and finally went to hide in the basement (where she's usually not allowed, since she insists on sampling from the litter box there).

Tomorrow I have to take Son Number Two to his golf lesson at 10:00, which is a reasonable hour, at least.  Think everyone will let me sleep in until then?  Doubtful.

Sarah

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