Knitting: The great Knit Camp 2009 Adventure, part 1

Since I teased everyone on Sunday, I'll start with a pic:

From Knit Camp

And I actually started writing this Sunday... bullet points mostly. I wanted to jot down notes so as not to leave anything out. I mean everyone knows I talk a lot, how can writing be any different. Plus I want to be able to relive it all over again. So this will be a heavy picture post and probably quite wordy. You've been warned.

I picked up Audra Thursday afternoon and we jumped onto the Hwy and headed out of town. I expected to be stuck in traffic, but was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty easy drive until we crossed over from Wheeling into PA. Around that change over it was A. Dark, B. Curvy and windey and windy and C. HILLS! Oh yeah and there was a bit of precipitation. Mostly light snow. It was all good, I maintained fairly well but then... we took the correct exit and all... but I was in unfamiliar territory. Anyone that knows me, knows that the Pittsburgh Ikea is like my homing beacon. My trips to PA typically always start there. I know HOW to get there. And I also know how to get around FROM there. Well, we weren't stopping at Ikea first, this time. So the directions had me going direct to Sarah's place in McDonald. Let me talk about that place for a second... it's mall, quaint and off the beaten track. Like most of the outer-lying burbs of Pittsburgh, its hilly and curvey and in the dark, this can be treacherous. So we drive along in the dark, hoping to come out somewhere. I did make one wrong turn but that was quickly corrected and eventually ended up in the right spot, well mostly right spot. All good.

We were quite pooped, but stayed up knitting and talking anyway. This is where my first knitting error of the weekend occurred. I was working on my lovely green shibuiknits sock yarn in the Cablicious pattern. I had already re-cast on for this project once, and messed up again, so I cast on a 2nd time. I don't recall exactly what happened but after the 2nd fail, I decided green shibui was not meant to be cablicious. I pulled out Lorna's Laces and c/o with that. So far, so GOOD. It's looking lovely although I haven't gotten too far, quite yet.

Friday morning, up fairly early. We went to breakfast at an Eat 'N Park (my new fave restaurant). Nothing special about it, it's just fun. We went to the one in Bridgeport because of course there was a yarn shop there.

Carol's Needleworks

From Knit Camp

While there, we chatted with Carol. She was quite nice and helpful and had lots to say! I bought 3 skeins of sock yarn and 1 sock blank.

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

Next we loaded up and headed out to Squirrel Hill to a fave place, Knit One. We were hoping the owner would be there, because she's a real fun sort, another chatty lady, but alas, one of her workers was there instead. They were having a sale on one of my FAVE yarns, Mirasol Hacho... and can you believe I didn't buy any?! Totally true. I was so overwhelmed while there, I get that way. They had several Namaste bags, needlecase and Jordana Paige, too! SO I bought a bag. (which for some reason I haven't photo'd). It cost way too much, but I don't care cause I love it. It's this gorgeous shade of purple and was REALLY hard to pick. They had the bag that both Molly's have, but it was in RED. I walked around the store for like 20 minutes with that one slung on my shoulder. But... the purple one kept calling out to me. I asked Sarah for help and she voted on the purple one, it has way more pockets and compartments, etc, so purple it is! I bought the bag and walked out... fast! With no yarn. :)

Then we made it over to Natural Stitches, which I was excited to get back to. Hadn't made it there on the last trip to town. They were having the biggest effing sale, it was RIDICULOUS! And can I mention, they have one of the BEST selection of yarns EVER! Anyway... heaven. I bought Cascade Sierra, blue and red it's a cotton blend and 2 skeins of malabrigo sock yarn. It was all so scrumptious!

From Yarn Stash

From Yarn Stash

Finally we were finished with yarn stores, then we headed over to Trader Joe's cause it's in the same plaza, got some goodies and off to camp we went. We arrived at the lodge, the whole area there is beautiful. I should have gotten better pictures, but the camera was packed away and inconvenient. Anyway, we unloaded, grabbed some yarn and stuff and headed up to the dining hall. We met new people, sat and knit, went to dinner and after dinner attended a class based on Norah Gaughan's knitting nature hexagon pattern. It was interesting. After that, we headed back to the lodge and hung out with more knitting, where I failed to pay attention and messed up my Opulent Raglan! :(

This is the dining hall

From Knit Camp

This was our dinner treat:

From Yarn Stash

Woke up entirely too early on Saturday, did some knitting and back to dining hall for breakfast. Where we were surprised with yet another treat:

From Yarn Stash

After breakfast, we headed back down to the basement at the dining hall. Hung out for a bit and then the folks from Raspberry Hill Farms brought out Pretty Boy Floyd the Alpaca. He was quite a sweetheart!! They also brought BUNCHES of yarn and roving, so of course I bought some of that. I bought the already spun yarn although I really wanted to buy some roving, but since I'm not a spinner yet, I figured I would wait. I also bought a skein for Sarah for her birthday, since I'm a nice sister.

Isn't he the cutest?!

From Knit Camp

Can't remember the name of this Alpaca

From Yarn Stash

This one is from Travista

From Yarn Stash

I had planned on buying Floyd's yarn, but it was a darker shade of brown and I really liked this lighter one.

After all that excitement we did some more knitting. There was a gal that was there to teach Crochet and show how to make a granny square, but she left at breakfast because she was sick. So I overheard someone talking about it and volunteered to help out... where I ended up being the instructor. It went ok... I lost a person by the way side. I offered to go back but she just sat and listened instead. Anyway, most everyone "got it" and it was good. Funny thing, I haven't made a granny square in YEARS... but once I started, it all came back to me! And then, by golly it was lunch already!

Of course we got another treat. The first photo has the TOTE bag we received. There was also a skein of yarn tucked inside. I'll probably use this yarn for baby booties or a hat or something. Only have 1 skein, heaven only knows where I'd find another.

From Yarn Stash

And with that, I'll end part 1. I was REALLY going to make ONE big post, but I've already been working on this forever and well, I want to get a LITTLE knitting done today and get to bed. There's always tomorrow, stay tuned!

Knitting: At knit camp.... HA!

So let's start by talking about what I didn't do at knit camp this weekend. KNIT.

Seriously... it felt like everything I touched turned bad. I worked a little on xxx and messed something up... switched projects and well something went awry there too, so all in all sort of a frustrating knitting sort of weekend.

However..... there were SOOOO many wonderful and amazing things to talk about here. Unfortunately, I'm totally teasing you and not posting it all right now.

Ok... a little more of a teaser for the week to come... plus my thoughts so I don't forget everything! :)

There was some shopping (ok, LOTS of shopping), Pretty Boy Floyd the Alpaca (real sweeatheart!), new friends, an auction, projects, camp goodies, IKEA... and oh the stories. I met some of the most wonderful knitters this weekend. It was a great trip and I even did an impromptu class on how to make crochet granny squares?!

Anyway... I should get to bed... so pictures and stories of Knit Camp to come.

Knitting: The finish line is looming

So, I'm 60% done on my BIG Cables sweater! I'm very excited. I wanted to be done and blocked by today, but things happen. I thought I would get more knitting done on Saturday, however life being what it is, things change... and not for the bad.

Cath and I met up at the Merc yesterday, they were having a superbowl Sock yarn sale, so 25% off.... I bought some Ella Rae, Lace Merino. I've been looking at this particular color skein for a couple months now, but it's a little pricey, so I'm super glad I resisted the previous urge to buy. So, huge, savings on that. What a steal.

Then we decided to stop off at Wonderknits. I've been wanting to try some of the frog tree brand alpaca. Lindsey bought some while back and I've been curious ever since. So, I bought red, grey and black for possibly another buckeye hat in either stripes or color stranding/fair isle. We also stopped off at this little consignment store, and I bought a cute little cardigan for Addison and a super cute Baby Gap outfit (complete w/little shoes) for Ashley's baby girl, McKenna. She's not here yet, but they have a name picked out already. The outfit is 3-6 month, so since it's a pants outfit, it should be perfect for fall.

Then we finally made it to Zen Cha. I was a little bummed because they were only serving a brunch menu (completely unsafe for diabetics). Everything was sweet and I really wanted dumplings. But, I ended up with the Arabian Spice waffles which were amazing. The waffles had walnuts mixed in the batter and were topped with Orange slices and this Cardamom Orange spicey syrup... oh my heaven! YUM! I have a pic, but haven't downloaded (call me lazy). Cath got these fruity pancakes that looked amazing and I had a little taste and they were!

We knit for awhile and had great tea as well. Then went on to World Market. I suggested because I thought they might have something Cath was looking for. One of those little burners for your tea pot to keep it warm. Sadly, no. But we did buy more tea and I bought a cute teapot/mug set. Oh and some candles. So very fun impromptu shopping spree. Then we went to Cup O'Joes for more chatting and knitting. Audra was finally able to join us from work and we hung for awhile.

Cath eventually got back to Dumplings so we decided on chinese for dinner and headed back up North to Hunan House. Food was amazing! I got the Hunan Combination, my favorite oh and of course Fried Dumplings. It was so tasty. Then back to home. I did some more knitting, played with the pups oh and made some of my new tea.

I forgot to mention, Zen Cha had my fave loose tea in stock, the Lavender tea. So that is what I made last night. It was yum. This morning, I tried the World Market Pomegranite White tea I bought. It was very nice and refreshing and I bet would make a great iced tea.

I did more knitting this morning, too. I have 60 rows finished, so 60% of the front piece done, just 40 more rows to go. I think I will be able to finish this today... think, think, think. :)

Oh and I also bought the new issues of Vogue Knitting and Knitscene yesterday. Wasn't crazy about the knitscene, but I'm liking a few items from Vogue.

SO here's a pic of the progress. I guess I better get to it and get it done!



More pics to come.

Knitting: 365

So I'm wondering if I can knit every day in 2009? Maybe I should do 2 project 365s. One for every day I knit and one for just random photos. HA! Pace yourself, Kristie.

Anyway, took a trip to Heavenly Creations yesterday. Met Lindsey there. She didn't buy anything, but I sure did. It's an obsession. Seriously though, that is IT. I'm cutting myself off. Cold Turkey!!! REALLY I can stop anytime!

I specifically went in for these elcheapo little short 5 inch bamboo sock needles. Needed to replace my zeros and ones. But they didn't have anymore. While there I saw the 9" circs by Chia Goo or whatever the name is. My sister and I saw them at Yarn Cravin in Perrysburg a few months ago. Of course a week or so later, she asked me to get her some if I saw them. So I called and she said she still wanted them, so I got those for her. Although I am very tempted to open the pack and try them out on the socks I'm currently working on!

I also picked up the super cute Fiber Trends pattern called Felt Flock. It's cute little sheep. I'm kind of wanting the alpacas, too. But let's face it, what the H am I going to do with them. Ah well, they are all super cute anyway. I also got another pattern for felt fishies. Again, not sure what I'm going to do with them. But maybe if I ever have a kid, these things will come in handy. I could see doing a fish tank type baby room. That'd be up my alley. Oh and of course I bought some yarn too.

Malabrigo lace... YOMYOMYOM! OMG, this stuff is so amazing. And at 8.95 for 470 yards, that is the cheapest I've seen it. So I bought this variagated blues color. It's for the waves and dolphin lace motifs I put together for a scarf. I drew up the pattern several months ago before becoming frustrated with lace. Well, now that I have soft gorgeous malabrigo, maybe I'll try lace again this year. BUT, I WILL NOT CAST ON UNTIL I FINISH AT LEAST TWO PROJECTS! I promise. I think lace is really one of those things you just have to keep going on. It's easy to lose your spot and with all the Y/O's things can get tense. So, as I said... finishing some stuff first, for sure!

Speaking of fnishing. Lindsey and I worked on our socks yesterday. She worked on the 2nd sock from the November Mystery Sock-Butterfingers. I worked on my Sophie Socks that I started the other night. It's a 6 stitch pattern from the More Sensational Socks book called Crosshatch Lace. It's coming along well, but SOOOOOO slow! OMG! I've only finished like 4 repeats so far. Then I was having a bit of trouble seeing and stuff cause my eyes were hurting. I thought it might be the color of the yarn contributing, so I picked up my Butterfingers sock and worked a couple of rows before realizing my eyes were just plain exhausted. I could barely keep them open. So I came to bed (6:30) and ZONKED OUT! I first woke up around 9, then crashed back out. Woke up around 10, got up, put eye drops in, took some more pills and back to bed I went. So of course at 4AM, WIDE AWAKE! But that's ok. Brian will be gone all day which means I can get a bit of cleaning done and then nap.

Oh and I'll be doing some knitting as well.

So my plans for the week are to work more on the sleeves of the green sweater and the socks. Lindsey and I discussed yesterday how many people are going to try and do a pair of socks each month and she thought if she did nothing else she could do socks, but then she wouldn't be able to work on anything else. And I was thinking depending on yarn weight it would obviously be faster do to worsted weight socks... but who wants that, right?! SO of course we like the delicate fine yarns for socks which in turn take for freaking ever. But I did more thinking on it in the wee hours of the morn today and I thought having a goal of getting at least ONE sock of a pair done would be doable. Especially for me considering I work on a multitude of things at the same time. SO, if I did at least ONE sock per month for the rest of the year, I should end up with 6 finished pair. That's a good goal I think.

And since I don't have an updated picture of my current sock WIPS, I leave you with a shot of the ever adorable Sophia!

Shopping spree

Good lord, what is wrong with me. Didn't I say something about NOT buying any more yarn?

Yeah, well in theory, I have no willpower. I am SO good if I just DON'T go to the stores... but if I go...sunk! That being said, I am making amends that after my knitpicks order this week (9/5), I REALLY am not going to the LYS's or doing any shopping. I have far too many projects and a ridiculous stash to knit from. SO, yes, that is the PLAN!

The Imagination sock yarn that I want is back in stock on 9/5 which is the reason for the order. Oh and speaking of socks, I signed up for the Mystery Sock night at Temptations in Dublin. It's a free get-together and obviously the sock is a MYSTERY, more to come on that as it happens. While at Temptations and the reason for going is because they finally got in my Malabrigo that I had ordered forever ago. Took several months, 6 maybe to come in. So while there I picked up 2 more skeins of trekking bare sock yarn for dying. LOVE that stuff. I also picked up the fall issue of Knitscene. AND a fabulous book on Bags (can't recall the title at the moment).

Next I headed over to the Merc. I wanted to check and see if they had a Green color I'd like in the Rustic Tweed. I bought Blue the other day, but decided I might like green better. AND, the did have 2 greens, but I wasn't ga-ga for either, so I'll stick with the blue. While there I lucked out and Barb was in, so we chatted for a few. She told me about a new book out by Jane Ellison for the Queensland Collection. It's all Men's sweaters and accessories and is FABULOUS! I love almost all the patterns in it. SO I grabbed that. Will be knitting a sweater for dad (hopefully for christmas) as well as one for Brian and maybe John. Of course John's might wait until a b-day present which gives me until April.

So then I came home and just finished watching the bucks WIN a shutout 43-0!

NO MORE SHOPPING! I'm done! Seriously, I swear!