Very impressed with Louisa Harding, plus a report on another class

Some may have noticed that Louisa Harding commented on my last blog post, following up on my comments about her workshop. She was interested in what fueled my dissatisfaction with it, and I wrote back to her and explained a bit more. One of my big concerns was that I thought the workshop would discuss more about combining yarns more generally, not just experimenting with some from her line. She then responded with a very nice message that discussed yarn combinations and substitutions, and also recommended The Knitters Guide to Combining Yarns by Kathleen and Nick Greco. I am very impressed by her wish to be helpful. I know my reaction to a negative comment about a class would have been very different, and much less of a credit to me! Thank you, Louisa!

This past Sunday I took a 6-hour Norwegian Mittens class with Beth Brown-Reinsel at Webs. Yes, this was the day of the Yarn Harlot's visit there, and the store was a madhouse most of the day. (Those of us in the class dashed out when they all went off to the theater and did our shopping then.) I had heard the Beth's classes are very good and well worth seeking out, and I have to concur. There were just 6 of us in class, so she was able to give us lots of individual attention when needed. I have now learned the Norwegian Purl technique, which I think will be extremely helpful to me as a Continental knitter (whenever possible I just knit back backwards and try to avoid purling altogether). My tension goes all wonky with regular purling. We also learned how to carry both strands of yarn in one hand (the left, in my case) when doing stranded work, and I have fallen in love with the simplicity of it. Once I get my technique honed, I think I'll be much faster. She also shared some other really helpful information, including dominant yarn in stranded knitting, and showed us how to recognize it knitting in a variety of different styles. My first mitten from the class is just half done and desperately needs blocking to look attractive, so I'll hold off putting up a picture.

I finished the Taconic V-Neck Pullover yesterday, with about 3 yards of yarn to spare. The sleeves are very wide, and in looking at the small picture on the pattern (yoo-hoo Webs, could you include larger pictures both on your website and on the patterns themselves?), I see this is the way it is designed. I don't think I really like this look, but the sweater is ultra-comfy and I love the way the body portion looks (I added some waist shaping to the back), so on the whole I am quite pleased.

Louisa Harding Workshop and Musings about Podcasts

Today was the second workshop I'd signed up for at Colorful Stitches in Lenox. Louisa Harding had planned a session to show us how various yarns, all from her line, work together. The pattern was a simple one for a bag with fringe. While it was fun to pick out the needed five little balls of yarn, there really wasn't much teaching going on, just an opportunity to see how your creation and those of others worked out. Louisa did spend some time telling us about how she came to be where she is today, and talked a tiny bit about women's fashions. I am afraid I was terribly disappointed, as the workshop and the materials weren't inexpensive. The bag isn't one I'd ever use (and I can't think who amongst my friends might), and I wonder if I'll even finish it. It was a pleasant enough few hours, but nothing near as charged as the session with Kristin Nicholas two weeks ago. I actually had dithered about signing up, seeing what the bag looked like, but hoped there would be lots more practical information about combining yarns. I also did want to have the chance to meet her, and that I did. I wonder how others who attended felt?

I usually listen to podcasts while knitting, and lately I've noticed that most of my favorite ones are by guys (or blokes, as David Reidy would say). I really wonder why this is? Sticks and String is one of my absolute favorites, and I am really glad that there are many for me to catch up on. I also really enjoyed the two episodes of YKnit that I've listened to in the last few days , and also like It's a Purl, Man. The others I listen to regularly at Ready, Set, Knit (can't miss those early announcements of sale yarns at Webs!), hosted by the husband and wife store owners, Cast-On and KnitPicks, the latter two hosted by women. But considering that men make up a fairly small percentage of knitters, it seems interesting they make up at least half of my favorites. I find that I like a fair amount of a podcast to focus beyond the host. Interviews are great, I enjoy book, yarn, and product reviews, and music is a nice interlude. I think most of these podcasts seem more professionally produced than others I've tried, and that makes a difference to me--as does a fairly good sense on the part of the host of what he or she will be saying before he or she says it! I expect, though, that other listeners might prefer all the things I don't like. I'll keep trying out podcasts that are new to me, and hope to find a few others that I'd like to keep listening to.


OTN: The Taconic Pullover sleeves are about 3/4 done. Sleeves are usually just so boring! And I've become really excited once again about the Tassled Fez from a pattern by Chalene Schurch. I guess it took a while for the stranding overload from the Philosopher's Wool cardigan to wear off!

Colorful Finished Objects

Today I finished up the last of the embroidery on the Sunny Flower Fez, a pattern by Kristin Nichols from Folk Style. I used the same colors as for the Fingerless Flower Gloves from Kristin Knits. I'd originally bought four colors of Valley Yarns Berkshire, but realized my gauge would be really off with this heavier-weight yarn. I like the cheerfulness of these items, though the colors might not be completely me. But then again, I tend to select safer color combinations that might not have the same pizazz or energy as these items do. By the time I was halfway done with all the lazy daisies on the hat, I was feeling pretty comfortable doing them!

Now I am back to working on the sleeves of my Taconic Pullover. I love the color of the yarn, but it seems very muted after these other projects!

I just read a fun book called One Night @ the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat, set in India. It follows the experiences of a group of young people (and one older man) who all work together in a unit at the call center. One of the women spends a fair amount of time knitting a scarf for her mother-in-law--a MIL who really doesn't deserve this kindness. The knitting is just a small element of the book, set amongst job angst and relationship troubles and boss troubles. And, oh yes, a phone call from God.

Fabulous Workshop!

Today I took a three-hour workshop with Kristin Nicholas at Colorful Stitches in Lenox, MA. We all brought along a knitted swatch, and proceeded to learn all sorts of fabulous ways to decorate it with duplicate stitch and embroidery. But first Kristin showed us lots of her projects, many of them from her most recent book, Kristin Knits, showing us how the overstitching changed the nature of the items. She also suggested some great ideas, such as decorating a plain store-bought sweater with the stitches we would be learning. Her enthusiasm and energy were catching, and throughout the afternoon I heard nothing from the participants but the most excited praise and exclamations that we could actually do these things! It was so very empowering, and ever so much fun. Afterwards, she presented a slide show on how she works with color and how she gets her inspiration. She encouraged us to open our eyes and see color combinations in everything around us. She sees them not only in such expected places as flowers against their leaves and the sunflowers in a field, but in the rusting old trucks in her neighbor's yard! The slides were great, and I highly recommend her blog if you'd like to see examples of her photography.

I'd decided to knit the fingerless flower gloves from her book, but the colors just weren't me. So I picked out four other colors of her Julia yarn, but thought perhaps I might take the opportunity to run them by her. I'd tried to balance light and dark colors, but watching her evaluate them together was really educational, and while two of my colors stayed in the mix, she suggested a few better possibilities to substitute for the remaining two. She then sketched out the mitt with colors indicated to help me remember. How very nice of her!

If you ever get the opportunity to take one of her workshops, or see her slide show, don't pass it up!

Seem to be hooked on Rowan Big Wool

I don't think I'd even heard of Rowan Big Wool four or so months ago. That was before I bought the new pattern book by Kim Hargreaves, Heartfelt: The Dark House Collection. I loved the look of Cherish, found the recommended Big Wool on sale during a trip to Webs, and that was that. Using my Denise size 17 needles was a bit clumsy, getting stitches from the thin cable to the thick needle, but I expect that would be a problem regardless of the brand of needles. I loved how quickly the project knitted up! Almost instant gratification. And I really like the finished project. Then a friend lent me her New Shapes pattern book by Rowan, and the Vanilla Scarf is really calling out to me. In the meantime, some Big Wool Fusion and the Fantine pattern from French Girl showed up in my order from Jimmy Beans. And now today, in browsing around Ravelry, I found a couple of lovely examples of Tess knit by nancykane. I think it is most interesting that when I saw this in the Heartfelt book, I had no interest whatsoever in it. Now, in comparing it to Nancy's versions, I think it must be the light color used in the pattern book that turned me off. I seem to think this needs to be a rich dark color, as hers are. This is an interesting aspect of Ravelry, being able to see multiple versions of a project, and perhaps revise one's opinions about the pattern.

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.