Back in Schaumburg

Hey everyone! I am currently in my hotel room having a little bit of down time before I head over to the Renaissance Convention Center for the opening market day at Stitches Midwest 2016.

I drove up and set up the booth on Tuesday and Wednesday.

StitchesMW2016 (9)

StitchesMW2016 (1)

StitchesMW2016 (3)

StitchesMW2016 (8)

I ended up needing to go shoe shopping on Wednesday afternoon after I finished getting the booth ready because the strap on my sandals broke while I was working and it was the only pair of shoes I brought. They were the Crocs I had bought when I was here a couple years ago. I loved those shoes so I went back to the Croc store in Woodfield Mall and got something similar.

08-04-16 (7)08-04-16 (8)

I also went out this morning after breakfast to my favorite place to visit when I am here, the Half-Price Books store, which is just up the way from my hotel. I found a few things that I couldn’t resist. Smile

08-04-16 (1)

I have been knitting a little and have started the second sock and another newborn wool diaper cover.

08-04-16 (4)

08-04-16 (5)

I will be started a new lace project or two soon; more on that later. Bye for now!

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Mostly Knitting

All the work we did earlier this month in preparation for hitting the road again on Tuesday is paying off now with a bit of time for other things. I have gotten some knitting done this week. I finished the first sock as you can see.

20160729_163333

Rather than casting on for the second right away, I started a little wool diaper cover for the new grand baby coming. Meredith plans to use cloth diapers and requested some of these to use. We seem to have lost the ones I may for Elijah six years ago. I loaned them to a couple of my other daughters and now they are missing in action. They are pretty quick to make though so it’s easily remedied.

20160729_163341

My favorite yarn for these is Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool. Here’s a couple of Elijah wearing one.

IMG_6355_1323

06 16 11_Elijah in woolie_1350

Hard to believe he is six now.

20160726_115751

While we are sort of on the subject of grand babies, I got to see my littlest one the other day and can’t resist showing her off. Pandora is three months old already. Sigh. Smile

Pandora-7-27-16 (1)

In other news, we have a better late than never arrival for the booth next week. This Mayapple Shawl in Classic Merino Bamboo yarn was begun about two years ago I think. Three of my daughters have labored on it and it is finally complete! It turned out magnificent and I am predicting it will be a hit in the booth.

MayappleShawl (1)

The pictures don’t quite capture it as well as it looks in person, so hopefully you can see it in our booth at one of the many festivals where I will be vending this summer and fall.

MayappleShawl (5)

MayappleShawl (3)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Sock Knitting and New Yarn

All the yarn is labeled and loaded in the trailer for the fall show season. I spent a couple days getting the new yarn colors, Paprika and Peacock, on the website and also marking down to 50% off, the discontinued colors, Azure and Pumpkin Spice.  You can find these within the product pages for each yarn base. Sale prices are good while supply lasts!

2016-new-yarn-color-web

Also I am still knitting on my sock. I am quite enjoying it since it has been I have no idea how long since I made a pair of socks.

20160723_114026

I will probably start a new shawl next in one of the new colors. Dee O’Keefe has two new designs I am itching to make, Mayuri and Talise. I also have another grandbaby on the way in the fall who will need some warm knitted things, so that will be in the works soon too.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Sonnenblume

Sonnenblume-complete (7)

I just love how this shawl drapes on the shoulders. It stays in place even without a shawl pin. I am glad I made the petite version which for me is the perfect length for wearing this time of year when a light weight shoulder covering is all that is needed. It took every bit of 100g (2 skeins) of Classic Merino Lace. The larger version calls for a third skein.

Sonnenblume-complete (1)

The shaping is unusual and flattering. I doesn’t draw unwanted attention to places where you would rather not draw attention, if you know what I mean. Winking smile

Sonnenblume-complete (2)

This shawl was a fun knit once I got past the annoying provisional cast on parts, but that is just me. I dislike doing provisional cast-ons in general as I mentioned when I was starting this shawl. The 713 stitch bind off was a bit of a haul but worth every stitch.

Sonnenblume-complete (3)

It was a challenge to block the unusual shape but Anne gave helpful tips in the ebook  that was included in the FIFC (2012) club version. If you don’t have that fuller version, suffice it to say many pins will be used, with the judicious use of blocking wires for the sections between the “corners”. I pinned the top neck edge first, then temporary pins to stretch out the six corner points starting with the two down the back then the two at the top and last the sides. After that I re-adjusted these until maximum extension was reached and then I used wires to pull out the leaf points on the straight sections between corners. Finally I pinned out the rest of the top edging points. More adjusting of pins until I was sick of messing with it and called it good. Smile

HoneyCowl (1)

Oh, and here’s my Honey Cowl. I think this will be my “go to” cowl this winter.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Last Dye Day 

Here is the last of the dyeing from Wednesday. We are on to labeling this weekend. I hope to finish it up today.

We got a lot done towards that goal yesterday but still have more than half to go. 

I got my Sonnenblume blocked and also finished my Honey Cowl but will save that for my next post since I haven’t had a chance to edit the pictures yet. 

I had nothing on the needles and didn’t have a plan, which is rare, so I rummaged through the stash last night and pulled out a skein of sock yarn. I can’t remember the last time I knit any socks. I started a plain pair for myself. :-) 

Posted on by — 2 Comments

I made it!

Well, I made it! I bound off Sonnenblume last night. It will be at least tomorrow before I get a chance to block it out but here is how it looks now. 

My yarn did last but let me tell you it was a squeaker all right. I have less than a gram of yarn left. Yikes!

Here’s a few shots of yesterday’s dyeing. I just have a few batches to do today. I should be finished by lunch  time for a change. :-)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Day Three

I am this close to finishing Sonnenblume. I worked the last two rows last night and got maybe half or a bit more of the bond off done before I had to call it a night. I am pretty sure the yarn will make it.

This is the dyeing we did yesterday. Today we are working on the warm greens, yellows, oranges, pinks and redo purples. Only one more dye day after that. Gotta get to work!

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Working Hard

First up in this brief update is my Sonnenblume progress. I am thrilled to report that I am two rows and a bind off away from completion. I am a tad worried at the size of my yarn ball, but the worst that could happen is that I have to dye more. Not a big deal but hope it doesn’t come to that since it would mean a delay.

On Friday the yarn finally arrived so we got started on that work right away. I started off with the two new colors. Here’s a preview of Peacock and Paprika.

There are two other colors in this bottom picture, Peaches and Cream and Atlantic.

Well I am posting from my phone while I am out at the dye pots so I will end here. More yarn pictures and Sonnenblume soon.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Sonnenblume is coming along nicely

sonnenblume-D

I have been sick with a fever that just won’t go away since late Friday. It’s an upper respiratory infection mostly. So, I have had quite a few days trying to take it easy. I had to do some housecleaning, grocery shopping and cooking but tried not to over do it. I feel this afternoon for the first time that I may be past the worst of it. It feels like the fever may have finally broken.The yarn I ordered to dye hasn’t arrived, but I expect it anytime now. It’s good that it is late since I would have been tempted to drag myself out there and work when I needed to rest.

If you look on the bight side of the coin, I have had more knitting time than I would have otherwise had. I completed the first three charts of my Sonnenblume and started the last one. Things are getting pretty serious now though. Take a look at the spread there. I had to actually print them out which I rarely do. I normally just open the file on my laptop or tablet and glance at it when necessary. That doesn’t work with this section however.

sonnenblumeD (1)

 

My stitch count when I started section D was 374 which is a pretty large number. I wish I hadn’t looked ahead at how many will be on the needles by the time I finish chart D and bind off. Are you ready for this? There will be 713 stitches. Gulp. It may take a week just to bind off.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

New Projects

20160621_113802

Well I survived not only one but two provisional cast on incidents in the process of starting the knitting of Sonnenblume. It nearly killed me a few times and more than a few un-lady-like words were uttered but it is smooth sailing now.

20160621_113616

I have also been making preparations for dyeing a bunch of yarn to restock for the late summer and fall festivals. I mentioned I am going to add a couple new colors and here are the sample skeins as a sneak preview. I am calling them Paprika and Peacock. Both are a bit more muted in person than what I see on my screen. They will be replacing Azure and Pumpkin Spice which are colors I have had in my line from the beginning, so ten years. I will have all the yarn in my inventory in those colors on clearance price very soon. More on that later.

Okay I am going to get some knitting done. See you soon!

Posted on by — Leave a comment