Knit-In at Barnes & Noble

My friend Karen and I went to a knit-in at the local Barnes & Nobles yesterday. It was organized by 5 of the yarn shops in the area. We had no idea what to expect. We were told to bring chairs and that their would be great door prizes. Well, the door prize gift baskets did look wonderful, but unfortunately we didn't get to have any first hand experience with them (i.e., we didn't win!). The store was mobbed with knitters, spinners, crocheters, and maybe other fiber artists, though those are the only crafts I saw. There were groups spread out throughout the store, some smallish (we were in a group of about 9 lovely women--and it turned out 4 of us were librarians, most of the others were teachers. I've noticed this at knit nights at my LYS, too--lots of women in these two professions. I wonder if I might do some sort of study of this seeming link between knitting and careers?), others much, much larger. I am glad we ended up in such a friendly group, though it could well be all the groups were friendly! I felt a bit sorry for muggles who were actually trying to buy books, as some sections were completely blocked by our groups.

My group was located near the mall entrance, with a massive window right behind us. Lots of people stopped to see what we were up to, particularly because we had a woman spinning on a wheel in our group. It was great to see all the interest. The woman who taught me to knit a couple of years ago stopped by, and I was able to show her the fair isle sweater I finished lately. I was glad to have the opportunity to thank her for changing my life, which really isn't an exaggeration at all.

I wonder if the yarn stores and B & N will do it again? I also wonder if the store got lots of complaints by the book buyers.

OTN: I finished the back of the Taconic Sweater, and have just started the front. I understand that the smaller sizes aren't able to follow the chart completely, because there aren't enough stitches. To me, that seems to be sloppy pattern writing, but perhaps it is more common than I realize? I also finally started knitting some Brooks Farm yarn--Mas Acero, in an incredibly simple shawl pattern--perfect knitting while watching the PBS Jane Austen offerings every Sunday night. I have several other skeins of Brooks Farm yarn around, but they are buried deep in my stash. The colors are lovely, I shouldn't have waited so long.

Back to normal knitting!

I finished up the fair isle cardigan early this month, and I am ever so happy to have it out of my hair! I feel like I can relax a bit now with my knitting, towards the end things were getting somewhat tense with it. There are a few areas I am not completely happy with: the button bands, despite close checking of gauge to know how many stitches to pick up, droop a bit. As does the ribbing at the top of the pockets (note to self: find black elastic thread and take care of this). Also, the neck is shaped something along the lines of a boat neck. I know I picked up stitches in the range recommended, so I don't know what the heck happened with it. But let's just call it a design element. Unfortunately, my office at work hovers around the 80 degree mark, so I've only had the chance to wear it once since I finished it. This weekend I'll be going with a friend to a knit-in at the local Barnes & Noble, so that might be a good time to feature it. Here's a picture of it when it was being blocked.

Those of us who joined the skein of the month club from Webs got our first shipment toward the end of January--lovely yarn from Sheep Shop, and a very pretty pattern, too (see Jan. 27 post). Well, it turned out my skein was the skein from hell. Terrifically tangled and matted to boot. After approximately 5 hours spent trying to untangle it (my husband even volunteered to help, when he saw me in deep frustration mode, and a friend did the last part for me, in trade for my doing tassles for a hat for her), it was done, but the yarn was a bit the worse for wear in parts. Still, I am enjoying knitting it--it is very soft. Said friend suggested contacting the yarn company, which I did. They say they've never heard of this happening before, but kindly offered to send me a replacement skein--WOUND! (I don't think they trust me to do it myself, but that's ok.) The end of February is creeping up on us, I guess we'll be getting our next skein and pattern soon.

Other recent projects include a version of the Robin's Egg Blue hat, which was a lovely, soothing knit and a pretty shrug, Cherish, from Kim Hargreave's book Heartfelt worked in Rowan Big Wool.