Well dang! I read about it on the Atlanta Ravelry Group, I had looked at the Yarn Harlot's page a few times and I was convinced she would never come this far south. So for those of you who want to meet the Author she will be here! I heard a rumor it was through Knitch but I don't know anything else or anymore details.
Well this morning Jen IM'd me and let me know some of the knitting gang was heading to Knitch in Atlanta. I haven't had piano because I was sick and then this week and next my teacher is on vacation so yesterday I never left the house. It sounded like a good idea. There was a few plus's to this endeavor. First would be getting my Straucht Carder to Jen as she wanted to buy it and I wanted to sell it. I love having it, I hated seeing it go but I knew I would never use it. Anything that goes into our garage pretty much rots and is forgotten about and that was where it was headed with me having to give up my craft room. So off it went to Jen.
Jen also had knit me a freakin beutiful shawl in sea silk. It happened late one night when I sent a link to Jen and she and Melissa and La went all freak shit and wanted to knit it BAD. I said well knit me one while your at it! Sure she said, if you buy us both the yarn. Um okay sure. What?? She didn't expect me to take her up on the offer, but then I didn't expect her to either. She got some purple Seasilk out of the deal, but I think in the end I got the better end of things. I mean how freakin beutiful is it? She did such a good job, she's an amazing knitter. I love how it feels on my skin. I have wanted something from seasilk for a while now and I have always wanted a lace shawl but I know better then to try to knit one. Between the dogs and my husband lace and me, we just don't work.
So i went to knit and got to see everyone and wish Claudia a happy birthday, and she helped me scope out the pattern for knitty's Trellis which I believe will be my next knit. I stashed up for it too! After Knitch I went to IHOP with my husband and the shawl went with me. Oh and at Knitch Melissa brought some of her handspun, I should have taken a photo, it was so beutiful. I have the most talanted knitting buddies! They are just some bad ass knitters/spinners!
Here is the husbeast surfing on his cell phone, which I am pretty sure he is already over his 1mb limit already this month, so excuse me while I go give him a good pinch.
Saturday was a seriously fun time. We had a Holiday party at Jackie's house (I hope I spelled her name right). We did the whole thing that involves everyone bringing a present and then stealing from one another with a pre-set list of rules. I was second last to go and wound up with this wonderful book from one of our gals Shari.
I was very happy with this gift as I really want to design my own knits, and I don't buy myself a lot of books because I would rather buy yarn and books are nearly just as expensive. Anyway, it was a wonderful party, plenty of seating and a room FULL of knitters (and spinners) which I just love. Daye brought some ornaments she had needle felted and a bunch of us had brought some needle felting supplies and about 4 or 5 of us took a first time go at it. I have a new found respect for Daye's whose look pretty much perfect. Tammy caught on pretty well, here she is (in her first self-designed hand knit sweater).
Here are most of our spinners (claudia was taking the photo) all crowded around more then one pound of some pretty 2-ply gray wool that Shari had spun up in some sort of self-possessed all night spin-athon.
We discussed how the wool was still had some lanolin in it despite having been purchased "prepared" and we discussed if it would be okay to knit it even though it had the lanolin, or should she wash the skeins first. Our advice was do whatever she liked, when you wash it, it should soften up a bit and loose some weight.
Later I nearly turned blue when Claudia came out with a fully lit-up birthday cake, complete with "Happy Birthday Pixie" written on-top. It was soooo sweet of them, I was just totally surprised and pretty much wanted to cry! Actually Jen was sent to distract me while they brought it out and she didn't have to do much because I had just lost a sewing needle while using embroidery floss to sew buttons on the baby cardi. Turns out it was in my purse and by some miracle I reached in and found it without stabbing myself.
After the cake I opened up a pretty box to find these "Pixie Toes" that Claudia made, very fun and just my colors, and they fit perfectly as well! My favorite part is the little balls on the end, now I just need felted wings!
So here are the buttons on the baby cardi;
I brought Gafilta fish (everyone brought food) and I was surprised by how many people actually tried it and said they liked it. Of course I love it but my dad and my husband both can't stand the smell of it. I think Jen ate half of them.
Knitting Update
I had to swatch again because Sahara is knit on a smaller needle size then SKB, I think this creates a tighter fabric that I like. I always forget how big an impact needle size can have on the resulting fabric.
So here she is, about 4 inches along. It's knit in a very unique manner from the top down but it is not a raglan, so this rectangle is basically the back of the nack and shoulders, knit down until the armpits, at which point you then get to do some tricksy fun stuff to avoid any shoulder seams. It's great for this yarn because it has a nice drape to it while still remaining light.
Well saturday was fun, our SnB went to Main Street Yarn near Athens GA for our weekly gathering. I had loads of fun, have I told you how much I love my SnB? They are all just the most wonderful women (and men!) ever.
Spinning
Here is my November Spunky Eclectic all spun up and 2 ply. There is still another 2 half bobbins left to ply.
I finished plying it this morning before we went out.
Knitting Fun
Main Street has loads of couches in the back and the wonderful Ruth (owner) has coffee and treats availible to nibble on. They also have spinning and weaving stuff too!
After seaming up the sides and shoulders on the baby cardi I am working on the hood.
Stash Expansion
Some Tussah/Merino roving in a fun burgundy and gray mix, and because *everything* in the store was 20% off I got this Denise needle set, $5 goes to Breast Cancer research. It was only $40!
Then I got some of those coil-less safety pins to seam in the sleeves on the baby cardi, an adorable sheep, and one skein of Alchemy Synchronicity to take a go at Knitty's "Fetching" gloves.
Saturday I slept in until 2:30 which I think was actually a bit too long, then I took the husband to Ikea in the evening which involved like 2 hours in Atlanta traffic, bleh. Sunday I went to spinning guild. The wonderful Jen drove, and Claudia sat shotgun.
I went rummaging through my blog and found this photo (below) from nearly 1 year ago when I had only had 1 spinning less and had just gotten my lendrum. This was the first time I met all of these spinning bloggers.
The only person who wasn't there today was Melissa (we miss you girly!).
I don't have another good group photo from today, but I'll get one at distaff day for sure. I didn't want my photo being taken today. PMS and acne galore.
After guild we ran to get some eats at a cute pub, a waitress asked the ones knitting how they "liked the magic loop" which I thought was neat, but then our waiter dude laughed at me when I ordered a shirley temple. Everyone got to talking and laughing and Mouse suddenly declared Janice was "Drinkin & Tinkin" and it still hurts because that makes me laugh way too much to be healthy.
SAFF was my second fiber fest, but my first time to SAFF. It was not as huge as MDS&W but it was a bit more enjoyable because your not bumper to bumper with people, and you can enjoy shoping more. I didn't see any golding spindles at all, in fact there wasn't a lot of spindle selection compared to Maryland. I saw a lot of wheels though.
A nation of Lendrums all came together and I have no idea why.
The Peachtree Handspinners Guild was there but I was too shy to say hi to anyone but Heather and another very nice women whose name I can not remember.
The blogger meetup went great, however Jen says I scared people because I made a nasty face when i frst came to sit down because of a person trying to pass me in the stands, plus I was not so happy with my spinning class. Sorry, I didn't mean to seem grumpy. I really don't remember half the weekend.
I took a Camelid spinning class and I just don't think I care fo camelids and well how can a person be expected to spin well on Jet Lag after a Red Eye. I was toast, and not much help to anyone. Luckily I am surounded by the most wonderful women ever and despite being out of it I very much enjoyed myself.
Alpaca and Mohair seemed to be the fiber of the day. It was everywhere we looked in yarn, roving and live animal form!
We had lots of parties, a dinner the first night that Claudia Hosted, The Blogger meetup I round-up and then Saturday night Jen/La had the party at the bar. I think we drank more water then beer, arn't we such wild and crazy fiber women?
My good friend Brooke came up with her son Nicky because she doesn't live that far from Asheville.
Claudia and I got to share a room with Jen and La, which meant we slept in the same bed. I am happy to say Claudia isn't a sheet stealer!
I spun up a bit on my spindle, and I finished the heel on my socks.
I *think* I have a name for the socks now, "The Charlie Socks" after the King Charles Diamond Brocade and because I had a cat named Charlie. I just adore these socks.
I wish i could have beem more awake for everything, maybe next time huh? I'll show you my stash as soon as I photograph it. I got some Finn, an Alpaca/Mohair blend, some Superwash Merino and Mohair to blend to make socks. Oh yeah, and a carder to blend them on! :D
I am pretty sure that Claudia & JenLa will have some funny photos once they post, we all got very silly in our hotel. I got razzed a bit because I am the youngest. Ya know what I have to say to that? "MUHAHAHAHA!"
Okay I was thinking about organizing a meetup at this big fiber fest! Rumor has it that it has a better market then MDS&W muhahaha! They sound a lot like MDS&W actually, they have alpacas, sheering, sheep to shawl demonstrations, fleece etc.
If you think you would be interested in a get together please reply to this post and I'll start organizing one.
I am heading out with the NEGA SnB crew on a Friday. This is the first year they will be open friday until 4pm, and it is free for anyone to come all weekend long. I am going to do my best to spin and knit up as much as I can so I can justify buying something. I don't think at this point I need anymore yarn or fiber! Last night I did work on getting through some though.
I plan on on taking this course (with JenLa hopefully):
Spinning Cashmere and Mohair / Carol Huebscher Rhoades
(Tech editor of Spin Off!)
Duration: 3 hours, Saturday 1pm – 4pm
Class Fee: $30.00
It's going to be a crazy girls weekend and I am really looking forward to it!
How we ended our weekend in Athens...
(photo from Courtney)
(photo from Anne Marie)
(Carrie and her man)
Please go over to Anne Marie's blog to see an adorable picture of the 3 ladies lookin' like the hotness!
So after eating Sushi, Claudia and I went back to our nice hotel at the Foundry Inn and got to relax for a few hours and get ready. I knew not to take a nap, because the last time I did that before a party I never made it to the party!
Anne Marie was so sweet and invited us to come to her house to get ready and then go to the 40watt for a Wild West theme party. Did I mention the free beer? Oh she also picked us up at the hotel. Did I mention how awesome Anne Marie is? Her house is decorated so fabulous (excluding the giant stuffed spider) and Petey was so cute. Everyone was just really nice and welcomed us and we had a really fun time.
Apparently all of us girls who went that night are knitters and there was really no talk of knitting (besides Claudia's hella' cool knitted poncho) and sometimes ya know, that's a good thing!
Claudia and Courtney hit it off pretty well. After an extremely drunk girl hit me while falling down I ran into the bathroom to find them chatting it up so I stayed in there for a while and then revealed to Claudia (who claimed she could not keep up with my 27 yo ass) that I was a bit tired and kind of ready to go. Ever the great travel companion she said okay lets go! We got back to the hotel and got some yummy pizza and then she fell asleep and I think no amount of screaming on my part could have woken her.
Luckily I had scheduled a nice little message there at the spa and that made sunday MUCH better then it might have been! No hangover and no sore neck!
Thanks again to Anne Marie for inviting us, we had a blast and man those girls danced their asses off and that is what I call fun!
I have been extremely good about not buying yarn lately as I have gotten plenty on more recent SnB outings. I am really anxious to start my next tank top but I have been way to busy and have loads of things around the house that need fixing. The Dish Network broke (and I hate them now after their crappy customer service, they wanted to charge me money to come out and fix my dish outside), my iPod broke (yup indeed, the center button is pushed in and won't push out so it drains the battery over and over) and well our air broke but that is sort of fixed now.
I could list more things that broke but it's too depressing. I need to record a podcast and well I need to do about 10 other things! I have decided to skip SnB next Saturday so I can take care of stuff that needs taking care of.
So here is my part 2 of the "Plying the Arts" adventure. We met up with Mouse, Sandy and Jane (Quiddity)! It was nice to see them but of course I was stuck in class all day and didn't really get to socialize that much.
There I am with my new spindle, which was wonderful and affordable, $20 and made of polymer clay with a neat stamp in it.
It is an LHF Lady Spindle and hand made, with a nice wooden shaft. It spun really well. I walked over to another vendor to try some more espensive wooden ones and they didn’t like me. As mouse said, I have found the perfect weight for how I spin. I like from 3/4ths to 7/8th of an ounce.
We got nice little back pack type bags, with some free dale patterns and orifice hook.
So here is the stash. The big bag in the back is a pound of something I can't remember and didn't come with a tag. I have emailed the shop owner to ask. The "Ball" is pure merino in a wonderful "blue jeans" color-way (1 pound). It also has some brown in it and it's very pretty. Down front is a color-way called "Monet" and it is silk, angora and merino. To the right, the brighter green stuff is from LHF and just was some very affordable "wool" of no particular origin.
Last but not least are these wonderful little booklets and a tiny handy niddy noddy that comes apart easily to travel with.
After the whole day was over Claudia and I ran over to a Sushi place and she had a yummy Cosmopolitan while I had my favorite, a Shirley Temple.
I am exhausted! What a weekend, LOADS of fun. Claudia is the best road companion ever and the fiber fest was great. I also got to hang out with Anne Marie and Carrieoke which was a blast, but this blog entry is only part 1 of 3 so more on that later!
The reason Claudia and I traveled to Athens Georgia was for "Plying the Arts". We got there at the butt crack of dawn (I was awake at 5:30am) and had classes until 5pm.
I was in a class called "A Study of Select Historic Sheep Breeds" which was taught by Heather McCloy.
Heather was a delight! She was very knowledgeable and shared fleece with us that are a bit hard to get!
I sat next to all kinds of nice people, including these two guys, which I thought was cute because we all 3 had lendrums.
We spun all kinds of crazy stuff (if you click you can probably see the labels). A few things came raw so we could see how different it was before being carded. Later I asked Heather to show me how to card the wool and it was really easy! We had (in no particular order) Black Welsh Mountain, Finn, Icelandic, Jacob, Karakul, Manx Laghtan, Merino, Scottish Blackface & Shetland. There was often several examples of each so we could see how much the breed could vary.
That's merino in the top left corner. We only had 15 mins to spin each example so it's a bit rough but I was happy with a few of them.
My favorite was the Manx and the Shetland. I don't have the Manx spun up because I wanted to save it to spin when I could concentrate better. I liked spinning the Manx up most because it just sorta liked my fingers. The merino we spun was a bit slippery then the top I am used to spinning with. It was like butter, but I simply liked the Manx better. The Karakul looked like the hair had been cut off someone's head and was a bit freaky.
The Manx sheep live on the "Isle of Man" off the coast of Great Britain. For you fiber geeks it has a wool quality of 46 to 54 and is 7 to 10 cm staple length, with a fleece weight of 1.5 to 2 kg.
Also Heather gave those of us who completed our "sheep drawing" a cute little sheep!
I really am tempted to glue him to my lendrum. Please excuse me while I collapse on the couch with the dogs.
Plying the Arts 2006 - I found out about this from Judy over at Knitch and I plan on going!
If any of the Athens bloggers are interested in meeting up sometime between noon and 2pm please comment here and I'll put something together. The market is free and they will have Far Out Farm, Uncommon Threads, Wauka Valley Farm and many more with yarn and roving for purchase! We also will probably stop by Main Street Yarns to take a look!
I'll be taking this class;
W5-4AP - Spinning Ancient Sheep Breeds
Historic sheep breeds are not old and dusty sheep, but fibers with unique stories and textures. Come and learn about the history and evolution of eight historic breeds of sheep (all of which are still around today) and their unique fiber characteristics while spinning samples of their fiber in class. Heather McCloy.
I did pick up some roving and a new spindle last night, and it was funny when I came home I wanted to show my husband and he immediately took the spindle out of my hand, and begun trying to spin on it (first off, never touch a women’s spindle without asking) haha! I was in shock, he tried and it was of course too thick and got caught and then kept spinning backwards, but hey it didn't break! He said "Yeah, give me another hour and I could be doing it thin like you". Then he said "sorry" as he realized he had made a tangled mess. Good thing it was practice roving attached!
Saturday at SnB was extremly productive for everyone! First, Claudia finished a cute little wash cloth with fishies.
Then Steve finished a beutiful Lady Elanor for his wife.
Not soon after I finished up the back of my tank.
A bit later on Claudia finished something else.
I ended out the afternoon with a bit of spinning.
So the day started with a big summer yarn sale at Why Knot Knit. It was a bunch of fru fru yarn in my opinion. WKK was the only store that I saw normal yarn at (cottons etc). I suppose it was a good sale but it was not for me. Lots of people left with big bags full of yarn.
I am so glad WKK was open inside because DAYUM it was hot out. I was standing in line to check out and a women noticed it smelled funny. We all sniffed the air and then the smell suddenly got very strong and the person behind the counter gasped and snatched a sweater off the front table. At first I thought maybe some how a magnifying glass had caught some wool on fire (why in the heck that was my first thought I don't know) but well either way, it was a beutiful blue wool looking cabled sweater of some sort. Someone had somehow placed it in the window on top of the light. I didn't get a good look at the sweater as a whole because we all dropped our jaws and saw in horror that the light had burned a big brown spot in the wool. I really didn't have time to be horrified because as I looked at the front display and all the yarn, all I could think was what a close call it was. I hope they get rid of that light, that poor sweater. Thank goodness that women smelled it so quickly because it could have started a real fire.
I left with some raver knitting needles;
After that we headed to Knitch which I believe only opened this weekend. It was in the highland area I think. I walked in dazed. I walked out grinning. I am about to take you on a tour;
The sign above says knit and SPIN! That's Claudia opening the door while the owner calls through "Come on in!"
The very first place I went was to the roving and spinning section. I'm sorry I don't remember anyone's name but their resident spinner taught my very quickly how to spin properly on a drop spindle. I picked up a Green Sleeves "Vixen" and after a few false starts was able to spin just fine. I defnitley need a smaller spindle. Anything heavy and my yarn breaks, and breaks, and breaks.
Do you see the little slit in the side? That's for putting the yarn on the hook a particular way to have it be perfectly balanced. $32
There was really to much to take in, I was overwhelmed. No Fru Fru yarn in this place. Wools, Alpaca, Silk, I think I died and went to knitters heaven. Rowan Natural Silk Aran was in the house, I don't think anyone else in Atanta carries it so i am thrilled to have a place to buy it now. For how much it costs I have to see the colors in person. They had good prices on the more well known brands, and lots of facny home-spun, hand-dyed yarns. They even had their own blend of coffee availible for purchase! Oh did I mention the coffee? When you walk in there are cups all lined up and you can get as much coffee and water as you like.
The owner was so very nice and wrote down all the things we told her we liked (of course I mentioned Addi Naturas).
I didn't want to leave!! But we had to go, to an Atanta SnB meetup at Apre Deim or something like that.
I have yet to meet a male knitter that didn't have a beard. Whats up with that?
Oh yeah, the last of my booty;
Merino Top
I'm sure I have overloaded you, so I'll just tip toe away and let you drool at all the photos of the inside of Knitch. It's now my favorite knitting store. I could write about how wonderful they are for probably 4 more paragraphs, but you can just go and see for yourself!
Don't ever let me into Etzei's again. I spent far to much on dinner. I had never been before but the lady at my hair salon insisted it was the best "take out" in the world. Indeed it was very impressive. I got some kinda berry pastry and lots of different food and then some far to expensive chocolate that i just had to try.
Here is dorky me excited I found a knitting article in W magazine (may issue?).
(more pics in flickr if you clicky)
But before all the Salon fun I stopped by the WWKIP day in Roswell.
I go there first and ran into Tammy and her hubby. Then many of the NEGA crew trickled in, and a guy knitter! Sorry if you think its dumb but I am always facinated by guy knitters. In particular older gentlmen with beards. I left for the hair apt so I missed a whole other group of people coming, grrr!
Ducks make it all better.
Oh and watching my husband on a webcam while he works is fun to hehe! He's talking to me in the photo, he's in Orlando on business. He'll be back tonight!
Would you laugh at me if I told you I was beyonhd excited that making the band 3 is starting June 15th and I'M ABOUT TO FREAK OUT!! Aubrey!!!! if I was a lesbian i would marry her, hah!
Friday night knitting on the couch;
We went to see the Davinci Code around 10pm. I read the book and was extremly pleased with the movie. Ron Howard played it safe a few times, but it's probably smart that he did. I don't see what the negative publicity is about. Tom Hanks character isn't supposed to be some funny guy, and there is no romantic scenes with him and his co-star so why should there have to be some big chemistry between them? I thought they did very well together.
Saturday afternoon was spent with the North East Georgia SnB, I finished my Sockapaloooza sock!
I allowed myself to be a tad bad at the group and work on something other then the sock;
Karabella Breeze - Cashmere and Silk
Oh and I wore my cute new Aerosoles;
Can't talk, gotta knit another sock!
NE GA & Atl Bloggers Represent!
It is sooo fun how knitting brings all kinds of people together. It's not like we are different, it's just I doubt we would have met each other otherwise. So it's such a wonderful excuse to make new friends!
It began with lunch at the Crimson Moon
That't Tammy with me, she was so kind as to meet me about 5 minutes from my house and let me ride up with her, which made the trip lots more fun! We talked on the ride up and it was just as though we had talked a dozen times before. I am just so amazed by how cool everyone just seems to click and get along as if we have been meeting for a year or more!
Then we went to the yarn store which i didn't take any photos of. I got some Rowan Calmer and those chibi darning needles I have been needing for about a month now.
Last the 5 of us left went and sat up on a balcony of a little cafe type place and knitted for a while. All I know is when I left the house it was a bit after 10, and I got home around 5:30. The day just flew by and was loads of fun!
This is a photo of an extremly happy pixie (who btw is nearly done with her top which you can spot in the last 2 photos).
Interesting link of the week >>
Morning Commute
I love driving over the lake near our house, it's especially freaky when it's foggy out because the water is invisible.
Knitting Meetup
Look everone is smiling! It was loads of fun last night. Now I have to decide if I want to renew my meetup account. I can't remember everones name but I had a blast, and one of the ladies showed me how she seams, and confirmed that my sleeve would fit in the cardigan (thank goodness!) because I was worried it wasn't lining up right.
Greta was working on a beutiful shawl with some yarn that knit up like Kidsilk Haze or whatever its called. She is a great knitter, go Greta!
Rowan Baby Cardigan
Last sleeve, I had to rip it out and even after I started again I saw another wonky stitch by decided to let it go as it was on the edge and would probably disapear when I seam it.
Greta teaches Tammy how to cast on for the first time.
On the table you can see something I am knitting, but I won't say anythiing about cause I am hoping I actually finish it.
Yay 3 people showed up, and they where all so nice and fun! I sat alone for 45 minutes and started to think I should leave, but right then they all showed up! I think it was Karma cause I forgot I was supposed to meet with two of the women weeks ago and they showed up and I didnt. Meetup is good because it send reminders!
I'll post a picture of all of us there once I get it from one of the women via email. Dang it now I have forgotten her name. Dang it! It was soo fun though. I'm so glad they all showed up!
It's the *first* meeting ever of the Alpharetta Knitting Meetup! The group has 13 members already but I think only 3 or 4 will be coming tonight.
I finally got myself a new Vera, a pattern I had not ever even seen before:
Here is it next to my larger Vera I got on our Honeymoon:
I also got a matching checkbook cover. It was way over priced but sooo cute. Happy Birthday to me! I like how it has brown and black in it so it will match anything. I'm not a huge fan of red but my older back had that as well. it will look good with most anything.
Check out my sock progress from last night:
That is not my camera messing up, the yarn has a faded out kinda part to it where it variates. Looks kinda funny really, but it's hella soft so who cares! I tried it on again and it is a tad hard to get over the ankle but it fits very nicley on the leg. I'm just gonna go for it and if it doesn't fit I'll finish the pair and give to someone with smaller feet.
