Knitting Camp

Just home from Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp.  I attended Retreat 3 (Camp 3) as a First Timer.  Biggest compliment of the retreat--I got called an "off timer" by one of my camp-mates!

There were sweaters.  I call it a "sea of sweaters" as you could safely dive in to the tables and tables of wooly goodness.  And, always the next one more beautiful!

I learned kitchener stitch from Carol Anderson (yes, THE Carol Anderson) in a private lesson after Meg demonstrated kitchenering in purl, ribbing, garter st, etc.  Before, while kitchenering, I read the direction, did it.  Then read the next part of the direction, did that.  Now, after working with Carol, I know HOW to do it.

Meg put her nose in lots of books with us daily.  She showed the Muhu book (LOVE!).

In the Sea of Sweaters, I unearthed this lovely Fair Isle yoke "henley" of Jamieson Shetland Spindrift.  It took all of Saturday to look at the Jamieson colors that Schoolhouse Press stocks.  ALL of the skeins were displayed on several adjoining tables, attached in rings of like colorways, so you could look at dark-light and solid-heathers together and easily move them around without having chaos.  I had to sleep on this project before I could land on a colorway.  I did NOT beat Eleanor to the Brown Book on Sunday morning!

There were sampler pieces.  Brilliant.  This one is showing a myriad of decreases.

There was so very much Knitting Camp fun, it is hard to put it in a blog post!  Mostly, my thanks to all of the long-time lovely campers that made my Camp experience a lifetime memory.

I do feel like an off-timer already!

Knitting Machine

Oy.

Yarnover 2012

Visit to Yarnover 2012 (Minnesota Knitter's Guild event) meant spending a little time at The Yarnery booth in the market.  The Yarnery's self-published book Wearwithall is fabulous.  The little taupe and coral mitten in the center was my test-knit project for the book.  Super cute.

Then off to class with Susanna Hansson.  She taught "Great Beginnings", so lots of little samples of lots of cast-ons.  Like this one, where we learned about "jiggling":

 

 And this one where we learned about "tweeked" and, of course, not tweeked.

There was yarnly goodness in the market:

After lunch, class with Annie Modesitt.  She taught "Mad for Plaid" with lots of intarsia and slip stitching.

Super tired after Yarnover.  Nice to sit in the chair and think of all the nice things learned in the day!

Blue Light is Done!

Post of Bohus, gone, again! Blogger must not work on an iPad.

 Flowers that match Blue Light . . .

 Raveled about here:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/sokkgirl/bohus-turquoise-light

Purple Acuisition

Birthday Buttons

On a Birthday day . . .
a Birthday gift.








Lots and lots of hand-made Birthday buttons.




















If you love them and need some Birthday Buttons of your Very Own, visit My Daughter at http://pomme-amore.blogspot.com/ and
message her on Facebook . . .
or comment me!

Bunad fra Sogn (Lyster)

http://www.digitaltmuseum.no/things/69-brud-fra-lyster-i-sogn/NF/NF.09398-024?query=Lyster&search_context=1&count=137&pos=14

brud fra Lyster i Sogn

Not sure how to better link this . . . Being lost in digitalmuseum.no is a nice place for being lost!

Beginning of a Garden

Good gardeners probably keep a record of what seeds they planted and on what day.
I am not a good gardener.

But, look at what is growing!














Sun Gold tomatoes are in the un-stick'ed pots.
Sweet Cherry 100's are in the pot with the "100" stick.
Basils are in the pot with the "B" stick.

Wool Stitching

It was a Maggie Bonanomi Day!
I have had this book for a couple of years. "Comfort Zone" by Maggie Bonanomi.

I think I bought it here at Ewe and Eye in Osage, IA. If I did not buy it at Ewe and Eye, I learned of Maggie at Ewe and Eye.




There were gonna-be pillows.







Looking at Maggie's letter forms, I then drew my own on to freezer paper, ironing them on to wool. The wool letter, I then "stuck" on the pillow wool with basting spray (for outside spraying only, used in a well-ventilated area).














From Letter Pillows, I moved on to Maggie's decorated (slippers) toe warmers. Maggie writes like a wool guide, so as a complete novice to stitching and applique, I needed some peeps. It was a play day with trusted (unpictured) stitching friends. They made the scariness of the amazing book disappear.

Now, I am ready for a Maggie-Inspired wool blanket!

Indigo

This was a nice way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon in March! I have had these "Indigo Dye Kit" packs since 2010 with a small pile of needful dyeing. Asking my husband for a pickle bucket was a challenge and he finally bent. I think he thought I should be outside instead of sitting in the house on such a beautiful, sunny dyeing day.














I dyed 3 skeins of Finland wool.
And, a cotton sweater.
A cotton dress and a nail pouch.


The dye pot is about 1/2-way gone, maybe less.

Wooly Goodness

My Husband and his mother-in-law went on a driving trip to Osage, IA. They visited Ewe and Eye (here) for some wool goods. He brought a nice bag with this:











On the underside of the roving was bits of surprise wools.











And, on the inside of the pinkeep was a surprise spot for buttons and other goodies, like more pins!

Oleana is Timeless (and Wear-Worthy)

On our trip to Bergen, Norway last Summer, a visit to Oleana left me once again awestruck. I had visited Oleana before (in 2003) and had been a Groupie here in the USA, attending Oleana events as available as well as participating in Oleana retail opportunities. A 2003 Oleana sweater purchase has been my not-cool-enough-for-a-shirt sweater and my too-warm-for-a-coat sweater for YEARS (well, 2003). I also don my Oleana Parent/Teacher Conferences Sweater (aka: The Oleana Christmas Dinner Sweater and The Oleana Thanksgiving Sweater) when seasonally appropriate. This year, one of my Oleana's made it to School Spirit Day! It was Pajama Day and an Oleana looked spirited with my red dogs-in-sweaters flannel pajama pants.

The Oleana not-cool/warm-enough sweater looks like the day it came out of the suitcase returning from Norway. In 2003. It has no pilling. No holes. The buttons are intact. It fits.

When we were working in the Bergen Husfliden course space, I found this hanging on a coatrack:


Just HANGING THERE!

I was thinking of this sweater today as I am wearing my Oleana not-cool/warm-enough sweater and know that the owner of this sweater loves theirs as much as I love mine! I would NEVER leave it on a coatrack in a workspace. Someone like me might love it more than taking pictures! If it comes up missing, NO. I did not.

Over-the-Knee Socks

Given the number of sock patterns on Ravelry, there seems to be few (no) plain over-the-knee socks. There are toe-up, not cuff-down patterns. Lots of cables and lace, etc. I am seeking plain.

So, I am starting my own!

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock

Needle size: 2.25 mm dpns (2.5 mm for cast-on sts)

CO 104 sts on size 2.5 mm, join, being careful not to twist sts, switch to size 2.25 mm needles

ktbl 1, p (repeat around)

This is where I am right now . . . Will report back later. Maybe with more stitches!

The above quote via Pinterest and links to here. There are nice things to look at at this link.

Nice Yarn

This (malabrigo colorway 852 persia) needs to become some over-the-knee socks:

Muhu Island

The other day, our Mail Lady left this:

The package weighed a LOT. I was barely able to lift and drag it into the house from the front stoop. I am grateful that she left it, as it would have required an additional trip for her to-ing and from-ing the truck on another day.

And, inside the box was this:
Wrapping with unusual photographs from WWII.

And, inside the wrapping was this:

This book is huge. It is HUGE. It weighs almost as much as a large dog. Or, a kitchen chair. Well, maybe not quite that much. But it weights a LOT.

I became smitten with the book after Kate Davies described it here:
http://textisles.com/2012/01/12/from-muhu-island/
It was also described here:
http://www.loopknitlounge.com/2011/12/muhu-island-book-just-in/

But, we bought it here:
http://www.woolywest.com/Pages-Products/p_booksother.html
which is where it all started in the first place! The love of Estonia! The knitting, the gracious teaching of the history and techniques of Estonian knitting with Nancy Bush.
If you were to ask me, of all of my favorite books, knitting or other, often this comes to mind:
http://www.amazon.com/Folk-Knitting-Estonia/dp/1883010438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329066729&sr=8-1
Again, the rich history, techniques and the gracious teaching of Nancy Bush makes it almost always my favorite.

Did I mention the book is in English, as well?

Heart Day

Did steal this idea, I think from an Etsy seller.
Such a lovely stash of red buttons that were screaming to get heart-ed.

Buttons

Button extravaganza!

More Distraction

Cute fingerless mitts from Yll o Tyll in Uppsala, SE! I do LOVE looking at their patterns and designs!

Or here:

http://www.yllotyll.com/index.php?page=picture.gallery&lcomp=user.login&no=gpage_no&galleryid=637&alt=4&pictid=36731&gpage=1W

Retreat 2012

I have attended a Women's Retreat for (more than we could count) years. It is a weekend of knitting and observing, chatting and kindness. And, lots of knitting. Sometimes there is yoga, or a long walk. Or, a short walk. Lots of soul and hysterics. In the wee hours of the waking morning, a pajama-clad photo of the morning sun, before coffee and tooth brushing.

Women bring their projects--sewing (machine and hand), beadwork, spinning, weaving, felting, etc.

An extraordinary group of women, of which I am always honored to be a part of.

And, there is knitting!

Distracted, again

This is cute, too!

http://yllotyllgarnblogg.blogspot.com/2011/05/snabbstickad-sommar-troja.html

Currently, I am slowly knitting on Flatribb from Yll o Tyll. Simple pattern for simple knitting.