Home Again

 

Hi, Knitters,

Well, it's been a slow week. I returned Monday from Vogue Knitting Live in New York City, got my boys off and back to college, and my girls have had finals this week for high school. They have half-days of school all week. Anyway, it's been quite hectic around here with not much time for thought. And honestly, I am a little tired this week. I hate to admit it but there just wasn't any down time at the New York event. My boys were with me and we had so much fun together in my off-time and they had fun together while I was teaching. My boys covered an incredible amount of ground, ate amazing food, and saw so much. I have some photos from them that I will post later.

I want to briefly thank my students at VK Live. My classes were full and fun, energetic, and hard working. They were good learners. They were often funny, too, which always makes my day. We worked so hard together on toy-knitting and two-handed colorwork knitting. It was great. Thank you for coming to class and spending time with me. I am teaching and giving a lecture at the next Vogue Knitting Live in Seattle in March. Click here to find out more about Seattle! I hope to see you there.

I will do some fun things with my new pattern, Mary, Millie, & Morgan, starting next week here on the blog. Thanks for all of the wonderful comments and support for the new doll sets. I hear Quince & Co. has sold a lot of Chickadee and a lot of eBooks so far. That's just wonderful. Thank you!

I won't be tired for long. I am teaching two workshops tomorrow at the Sun Valley January Thaw Retreat, which is not too far from my house so I am excited for that. I am teaching the Fair Isle Hat and the Top-Down Baby Cardigan Workshops and I am selling and signing my books at the lunch hour. I hope to see some of you there! I love a local event.

I randomly selected the two winners for the Infinite Twist handspun yarn. By purchasing the Prairie Ridge Shawl pattern you were automatically entered to win this beautiful yarn. The winners are..... seashorehsharon and kally (both rav ids)! Congratulations ladies! I have messaged you both on Ravelry with instructions on how to receive your newly won yarn. I won't get to the post office until next week to mail out your prizes just so you know.

That's enough of that business-type stuff, let me share what I've been doing around my home the last couple of days while I get my energy back.

Above is a tiny skein of Navajo-plied yarn from the end of a bobbin. I finished spinning the Friends in Fiber Falkland in color #1. I have the other bigger 2-ply skein all finished now. It is gorgeous! I'll take photos and share with you later. Great Etsy shop, Friends in Fiber, I can't say enough good things about it. Go check it out!

While traveling and while in New York, I finished the sock above, and am now on the gusset of the second sock. I happened upon this yarn while looking around on Ebay. I purchased it for a mere $3.00 per 50 gram ball. $6.00 total.  That's a steal and I love it. The yarn is Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima Colori, Socka Color, #9072. It's the standard superwash wool and nylon.

You know, I have such a thing for this commercial-type patterned sock yarn. I simply love it. It's fun to knit and the socks wear like iron. Those are Signature Needle double-pointed needles, US size 1s, six-inch in length.

Yesterday, I finished up my Gourmet Stash Fibery Tribbles singles. These were 2 oz. total. I am going to ply this bobbin with the white merino that I have in the bowl.

I can't seem to capture all of the colors in this fiber in a photo. There is gray, black, green, a couple of blues, and purple. It's just beautiful. I had fun spinning this because of the combination of fibers and the pops of color. I think it will be fantastic with the creamy white as the other ply. That way I will save the yardage, too.

Here is the creamy white ready to go!

On my Artisan Wheel I am spinning up this Friends in Fiber BFL/silk Rainbow Gradient next. The colors are pretty and I plan on keeping it as a gradient. I will probably just spin up the whole thing in one shot and then Navajo-ply. I'll keep you posted. It should be fun.

You don't have to pre-draft the Friends in Fiber but I did just to make it a little quicker to spin. I made this gigantic ball of fluff yesterday from the Rainbow Gradient braid. We hung out on the couch together and chatted for awhile. The socks are in the discontinued Vincent Van Gogh line of Opal sock yarn, in case anyone is wondering.

I'll be back in full action next week. The Bunny Love pattern is going to be released in a few days, too. It was previously only available in kit form so that will be fun. I think I will be adding a bit to that pattern so stay tuned....

I hope you are well. Winter continues on in full-force around here, the low today is -13 degrees. That's Wisconsin for you. All the better for me to stay inside, drink hot chocolate and spin and knit.
best, susie