Some Things I learned

Once again, I found meeting a Knitting author to be enlightening. Like me, Annie Modesitt is a self-taught knitter. She's been told, "you're doing it wrong," more than once, and has even had people take over her knitting to show her the right way. Ha! Annie has also worked for Vogue Knitting making samples and as technical writer. She eventually got over what others thought about her "wrong way" of knitting, discovering later that it is actually "combination knitting". Again, there are many ways to get to the end result. Knitting has kept Annie sane through some tough times and there are many, many readers out there who can relate to that. You know I can.

Know what else I learned? Annie grew up in Toledo. OK, I knew that from her book, Confessions of a Knitting Heretic. BUT, she went to school in the district where I work. Annie went to junior high here, in my building where I work every day!!! Annie walked these halls, and sat in these classrooms where my knitting and I spend our days. How cool is that? We had the chance to chat about it for a couple of minutes. She admired my simple garter stitch scarf and signed my book, "To Karen - I love your scarf!" The scarf is made from Cascade Malizia in a rose, green and tan colorway and looks like it has butterflies or flowers in it because of the way the yarn is made. Here is Annie's account of the evening... you can even see Sarah in the bottom right of the photo!

Vintage Yarns owner, Shirleen, was sweet enough to give everyone in attendance a 15% off coupon for her shop. After Annie finished speaking, Sarah and I headed into the store to get goodies! We both bought Cotton Fleece to make the Rusted Root sweater. Sarah chose two different colors, Candy Apple and Periodot. I chose a very light blue called Nymph.

Pictures of the evening...

Lovely Sarah modeling one of Annie's hats.

Annie Modesitt with her amazing hats and knitting.

Me, Annie, and Sarah. "Say 'Sheyboygan'"

Other news? I finally managed to score some of Yarn Pirate's lovely "Malamute"!! How? I commented recently on Sheri's blog (you know, Sheri from The Loopy Ewe) about missing a recent update but being told there wasn't any Malamute that time around anyway. Georgia, the Yarn Pirate herself, emailed me info about where and approximately when to find some Malamute. Today, One Planet Yarn and Fiber had an update and I grabbed my Malamute and ran! Yay me!

Knitting onward... and butterflies

From the comments in my last post, I have a great deal of company in the frog pond. How about we inflate the rafts and beach balls, knitter friends? I'll whip up a couple of pitchers of drinks and we'll have a pool party while we fix these projects! Thanks, Liz, Tiennie, and Kate for sharing some sympathy.

I'm making progress on Section 2 of Clapotis and am loving the colors! I think it will be gorgeous when I start dropping stitches (yes, I said dropping stitches). Try wrapping your head around a pattern where you knit like crazy for miles and then drop stitches for rows and rows and rows... It's already soft and drapey, my Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. A luxury item.

Tomorrow evening Sarah and I are going to hear Annie Modesitt speak! The Knitting Heretic herself. Only 40 people were able to get seats, and she'll sign books afterward. I'm looking forward to this, not just to hear Annie speaking on "if you end up with a fabric you like, you did it right" but also for an evening out! (Mom, did you hear that? Another person touting more than one right way to knit! Imagine that.) I believe Dana is coming in for this one as well and it will be fun to see her again.

Lastly, here's what the kiddos and I did yesterday. The Butterfly House is a large greenhouse full of plants and waterfalls. Butterflies flit freely through the space landing wherever they please, including on the people!

Hold very, very still...

Delighted Absent-Minded Professor

This butterfly would make a great yarn color combo...

"Mom, check out this GIANT moth over my shoulder! Good thing you left your knitting in the car!"

New Gadget and a To-Do List

Do you have gadgets that help you with your knitting and yarn management?

I have a ball winder. I even have a swift to hold those big hanks of yarn while winding them into balls. What I didn't have was a way to accurately measure when dividing those hanks into two (or more) equal balls of yarn. I've tried eye-balling. Being new to sock knitting, I just didn't want to take a chance on not having equal amounts of yarn for each sock. Know what I did? I treated myself to a new gadget over the weekend. It's a Salter food scale that weighs in grams and ounces, and is perfect for weighing yarn! Look at that. Half a Banana Cabana.

And All My Gadgets. No, it's not a soap opera. That would be funny though. Will the ball winder run away with the scale? Is the swift cheating on the ball winder? Tune in next time to find out who says, "I can't believe you let Red Rover get all wound up!"

Buddy B wanted to know what I was dealing besides sock yarn. Shhhhh! B. You're a bad influence.

This week I have a long list of things I want to accomplish:

1. Mail a yarny gift to my friend Hilde in Norway. I bought some Cider Moon for her!


2. Finish putting together the package for my Knitters Treat Exchange Pal.


3. Mail a baby gift to a friend that I've had finished for a while.


4. Send off my hat to The Loopy Ewe for the Quarterly Challenge.


5. Reserve and pay for seats at LYS Vintage Yarns to hear Annie Modesitt speak on May 1.(DONE!)

Looking at the list, I realize that the USPS is going to love me here shortly. Gotta run. I'm heading to a SnB at Yarn Haven, which is still website-less. Checking out a new store and meeting up with girls!