Knit East Atlantic Fibre Fest and more

Hi, Knitters,
I am super excited to announce a teaching engagement that has just come up. I am heading to Canada for the first time to teach at the Knit East Atlantic Fibre Fest. Knit East is happening September 27th, 28th, and 29th of 2013.

Click here to find out more about the Knit East Atlantic Fibre Fest!

Be sure to check out the fabulous venue, the historic Algonquin, St. Andrews By-the-Sea, in New Brunswick, Canada.

The event is put on by Cricket Cove.

I am teaching three new workshops. The first workshop is for the String-a-long frogs (and monkeys and bunnies). This is the same one I am teaching at the Vogue Knitting Live in Chicago this October. The VK Live class is currently sold out.

The frogs are knit in one piece, no seaming whatsoever, and they are a fun and fast knit. The frogs or monkeys or bunnies could be worked in any colors or stripes. They can be knit as stand-alone toys or made with a loop on one limb that hooks onto the next friend in line! They are super cute and fun.

This set is made in four shades of Quince & Co. Lark, which is a worsted weight yarn. I know I'll be asked so yes, the pattern will be released in the near future with access for everyone.

I am teaching two more workshops. One is a new concept that I know will be great, it is called, Build a Toy Workshop. I am offering lots of body, head, ear, tail and legs/arm choices for the class to choose from to create their own toy! I can't wait to pull this together and mostly, to see what people come up with.

The last class I am teaching is going to be full of surprises. I am teaching a two-part workshop for the Opal Sock Bunny. The students can grab a ball of sock yarn and their needles and head to class. We are going to cover all sorts of techniques and toy tips while creating this seamless, top-down bunny. This is a class that is jam-packed with technique. The fun thing is that many of the techniques used in making this toy translate into other projects of all sorts like socks, sweaters, and even shawls.

The good people at Unicorn Books are providing the professionally made printed patterns, that are sold in yarn shops, for the students AND there will be some fun giveaways as well. The students also will receive the pattern for the matching Sock Bunny Hat.

The other teachers include Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Ann Budd, Bristol Ivy, Mary Jane Mucklestone, and Deb Barnhill. There is going to be yoga for knitters and rug hooking workshops and spinning workshops. It all sounds fantastic to me!

I hope to see lots of you at Knit East 2013! Let me know if you are coming. I have already heard from lots of Itty-Bitty Knitters on my Ravelry group who will be there so I am sure it is going to be fun.

There is a Knit East Ravelry group, which I have joined, and I have already signed up for the swap for the event. I am so excited about the whole thing. Come join me over there.

Now onto some miscellaneous things....

 (photo provided by Vicki Maynes)

Vicki Maynes sent me the sweetest email this morning that included this photo of her adorable 8-year-old granddaughter. She knit this penguin out of Itty-Bitty Toys all by herself. Vicki helped show her how to seam and she took off and finished it by herself, too. She is giving it to her newborn sister, born yesterday, as a welcome to the world gift. What a great email to wake up to this morning.

Here is the email from Vicki (all being shared with permission, of course):

Hi Susan,
Here is my 8 year old granddaughter with the penguin she knit for her new sister, who was born yesterday. She did a really good job with it and was so proud of herself!
I have another picture of her handing the penguin to her sister and the look on her face is priceless!
Just look at the enjoyment and encouragement to continue knitting your pattern brought to her! Thank you so much for your wonderful patterns!
Vicki

I want to quickly share my next spinning project. Moonshine Fiber Company is a new shop on Etsy and they are out of Chicago. I have heard about them on several podcasts and happened upon an update so I grabbed this amazing pairing of roving. I love a brown paper bag for packaging, too. I don't know what it is but I adore getting something wrapped in brown paper like this. Quince and Co. does this, too. I think it is so home-y and simple and warm.

I'll tell you more about it later once I get going more but it is 5oz. You spin the colorful roving as singles and then the black roving as singles. Then you ply it together for a unique yarn, to say the least. It is a mixture of fiber. I have started a tiny bit of the colorful roving and it is pretty fun.

More to come on this project.

TC and I took a hike yesterday before dinner. It was beautiful.

I'll leave you today with one of my favorite trees. It is a gigantic oak tree. It must be so old.

best, susie