TKGA Conference

I feel like I have SO MUCH to blog about, and so little time to do it, but TKGA is the sort of event that it's important to blog about, so here we go.

I had a somewhat mixed experience, starting with arriving at 8:30 am on Saturday and finding out that there was no record of my existence in the TKGA files. (Even though I was holding a print-out of my email confirmation.) Apparently, I should have received a packet in the mail with tickets and badges and things. Odd, since you had to check in at the registration desk anyway! Fortunately, my classes were still available, so I paid (again, or so I thought), and went in to Nancie Wiseman's Continental Knitting class.

I looked around for Spinnity -- alas, she was up at the registration counter having the same experience. It's not a huge surprise that a craftspersons' guild like TKGA might be filled with Luddites -- and I should have been alerted by the hopelessly inept website that I won't even link to here -- but this is the 21st Century, people! Even knitters do things on-line! Especially California knitters. I doubt Spinnity and I were the only ones -- I overheard another woman talking about how they had her signed up for all the wrong classes.

So, one strike, or maybe even two, against TKGA already. However, by 9:01 am, when Nancie Wiseman opened her mouth, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. I love this woman. I would take any class from her. She is so down-to-earth, so modest, yet so knowledgeable. By the middle of the class I was knitting Continental. By the end I was purling pretty comfortably and even contemplating Fair Isle. And it felt painless! My only gripe was my crummy yarn kept splitting, but that was my own fault. I never like to practice with good yarn, so I had some crummy Lion Brand Wool-ease. Should have brought the good stuff.

So by noon we were in a grand mood and singing the praises of Nancie. I took a quick spin through the market and got some gorgeous deep red bamboo yarn from Habu (a cool fiber company in New York, very expensive but it's one of those things I needed in order to go on living), a skein of undyed alpaca which looked like my DH might actually wear it, and a ball winder, which I've been meaning to get for ages. Then I had to go to work, no afternoon classes for me.

After a late night finishing the seven (!) swatches for Joan Schrouder's Finishing class, I came in Sunday caffeinated and ready to learn. Alas, I picked the wrong class. It was advertised as "Intermediate," but this clearly means very different things to different people.

We spent the morning, all three hours of it, practicing grafting. Now, I had a brilliant grafting class with Sally Melville at Stitches, and completely understood it, but I haven't had an occasion to do it since, so I needed the practice. But Joan's teaching method pretty much consisted of saying "This is important, you need to learn it. Now do this," without demonstrating very clearly. I basically followed the instructions on her handout, which I could have done at home. Some of the students were completely clueless, and Joan spent a lot of time helping them and no time at all with those of us who were semi-competent. Or she'd just stop by, glance at my work, say "You're doing this wrong," and move on without helping me. I was not pleased.

But the two-hour lunch break was great. I spent way too much money on Rowan and Manos at Skein Lane, bought enough Koigu for a Baby Surprise jacket at Foxyknits, and visited White Lies to show off my camisole, which I was wearing. Joan had some excellent suggestions on finishing the Nicole lingerie that I will share in a future posting. The market was not very big, but there were some interesting new things.

We had a delicious lunch at the hotel's restaurant -- this, at least, seemed an improvement over Stitches, since everyone complained about the hotel food there. Spinnity had taken a Slim Stash Reduction class in the morning, and had a couple of adorable swatches to show off.

In the afternoon half of Joan's class, we started by grafting in garter stitch. Ack! More grafting! Then, believe it or not, we did mattress stitch. This, to me, is a beginner skill. I have done a LOT of mattress stitch already. But Joan, who knits her sweaters in the round then grafts the shoulders, hardly ever does it, so I guess she considers it to be a difficult skill.

At about 3:30, we actually got to some of the new stuff I was interested in learning, but we were running way behind schedule since there were so many beginners. We learned two nifty ways to join slip-stitch edges, both of which are very pretty. Then we rushed through 3-needle bind-offs, which I will have to review, but I was happy to learn them. We skimmed lightly over button bands, which I really could have used more work on, and blocking.

Joan is a brilliant knitter (her sample sweaters have graced numerous magazine and book covers), and her sweaters are always gorgeously finished. However, she is not a great teacher. I should mention that many of the beginner students around me seemed to be learning a lot, but I would say that the class was not as advertised, and therefore not right for me.

I should have gone to Nancie's Color Work with Short Rows class -- what a gorgeous swatch Spinnity had to show after that class! And what praise she heaped upon the divine Nancie!

As one student observed, the class subject matter itself is not necessarily what's important. A good teacher will always teach you something new. Nancie and Sally are at the top of the pantheon for me.

I did like one thing Joan had to say, which is particularly relevant to my White Lies designs experience: knowing how to finish something is your responsibility. A lot of pattern writers will not give you great directions, so you should figure out what works best for the garment and do that, regardless of what the instructions say.

I cast on for my second pair of fingerless gloves last night -- in Continental. They're green Karabella wool with a little zany Crystal Palace Squiggle at the cuffs, and they're pretty cute!

Busy, busy summer

As usual, my summers are filled with six- and seven-day work weeks and 10-hour days, so I've been a little lax on the blogging. Thanks to Free Shakespeare in the Park, however, there's been plenty of knitting time. And a couple of FO's to show for it!

First of all, last weekend was CNITU's second birthday, celebrated on the beach in Laguna. He had a blast! Here we are prepping the food (Chef Adam, sous-chef me. You can't tell, but I'm making PB&J sandwiches in the shape of fish.):



He liked his backpack (Stitches courtesy of taking a nose dive off his mini-Adirondack chair. Ah, the perils of suburban childhood.):



But he liked his bunny from Mom Wiz even more:



The beach is a great place to knit:



Finished the back of the dark pink camisole on the beach:



I also decided the fuzzy belt was not a belt but a scarf. I wasn't sure I liked it, but Sis admired it, so I finished it off for her with some green glass beads from a bead shop on Pacific Coast Highway:



The beads aren't terribly obvious, but they're there! I love that this scarf is made from Squiggle and Choo Choo yarns, since CNITU's favorite word is "choo choo." (He is a major Thomas the Tank Engine groupie.)

Finally, here are some photos of the White Lies Nicole lingerie. I will blog extensively about this pattern later, since it has some issues. But I wore the finished camisole to a concert yesterday and it was much admired.

Here's the back:



Here's the front:



And here's the not-quite finished panty:



Yikes! Scandalous photos on my blog! Don't worry, I'll stop short of photos of me wearing the above items, lest I be banned from the blogosphere.

You will notice the lack of photos of CNITU dressed in Blue Cardy. It's a bit small, as expected, plus it was darn hot and no way was the boy going to be put into a snuggly cardigan. It may well end up as a garment for Sibling-of-CNITU, due in January. SOCNITU's gender will be revealed in due course of time.

One-year Knitting Anniversary photos!

You'll notice that I have a tendency to lump all my photos into one posting. This is because I'm lazy, primarily, but I also like the way they all look together! I particularly like the pinks, blues, yellows, and greens in this spring-y posting.

First of all, I must dance the happy Blue Cardy dance! It's really done! I kid you not!

Here's the dark blue side, with nifty round buttons and pockets:



Here's the light blue side, with a little fish on the chest that I embroidered to match the buttons:



Here's the birthday gift together, cardy and backpack:



What have I learned from Blue Cardy?

1. Gauge is important. Without careful attention to gauge, your two contrasting sides won't fit together exactly, and there will be some puckering. This will bother you even if it doesn't bother anyone else.

2. Buy more yarn than you think you need, and don't give away the extra ball at a stash swap until you're quite sure you don't need it. (It was touch and go there at the end!)

3. If you don't feel like doing it just like the pattern, don't.

4. American children are way bigger than French children.

5. If your intended recipient outgrows the gift before you give it to him, never fear. People get pregnant all the time.

On to more fun photos! Here is a fun new project, made from Crystal Palace "Choo-choo" and "Squiggle." I got one ball of each at the Meetup Stash Swap, and decided to make a little easy belt, garter stitch on the bias, with the two yarns held together. I like it!



And here are some more photos of my Stash Swap acquisitions. This pile of yellow chenille and novelty acrylics are going to go toward a funky layette for the new CNITU sibling. (Sis is going to find out the gender in advance, so I'll combine it with blue or pink accordingly.)



I'm going to make this fluffy washcloth brown into teddy bears, and maybe a teddy bear costume for CNITU this Halloween.



Now a couple of things for me! First, the new project, the camisole from Vintage Knits (super close-up for full appreciation of Rowan cotton glace):



And here's White Lies lingerie, all ready for finishing. Scandalous!



Also, I was dissatisfied with the French knot I used as a button on PM's purse. Found the perfect button at Joann and replaced it on Saturday. She loves it! (She kissed it several times after I sewed it on. It might even get a name, we'll see.)



How satisfying to find the perfect final touch!

New camera, and major progress

Oy! Work has been occupying my time more than usual lately, no time to blog. But a few quick notes:

Camera report: Thanks to the good wishes of several kind friends and family members (and a very nice wife), the DH has a snazzy new early birthday present: Canon PowerShot SD300. Photos will reappear on my blog very soon.

These photos will be of Blue Cardy, which is now seamed and being joined together by nice crochet edgings. I probably shouldn't jinx it, but it looks pretty damn cute. All my gauge issues seem to be resolving themselves, and I like the crochet. It's hard to believe that by July 9, Blue Cardy will be out of my life. I almost miss it already.

Also of White Lies Lingerie, which is blocked and ready to be seamed. Also of my new project, the cotton camisole from Vintage Knits. I bought the yarn for it about a year ago, when I first started knitting. Do you notice a camisole trend? I figured I might as well make the summer stuff in the summer. Go figure.

A year! Spinnity pointed that out to me the other day. I have been knitting for about a year. Pretty significant.

Knitting Horoscopes!

As I was coasting the web searching for Bahama, I came across this very fun website: Knitting Horoscopes! I'm a Capricorn, which of course means that I like a challenge, something no one who knows me would dispute! My horoscope recommends Artyarns, which looks a lot like Koigu. Nobleknits does carry Bahama in a lot of nifty colors. I think our bathmat is going to be periwinkle with pink and cream stripes.

I noticed that Feza also carries yarns called Barbados and Fiesta. This is party yarn!

Weekend knitting report: Finished Feesh Backpack -- all it needs is a little tag saying it was made by me. DH took lots o'photos, but all on my old analog camera, so patience is required. I was so obsessed by it that I neglected Blue Cardy completely, and made little progress on White Lies -- although I now possess a size J crochet hook from Vanessa's.

Oh! And I almost forgot! There is a book out that every knitter must own! It's called Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. I read about it in Interweave Knits a couple of issues ago, and it's divine. Lots of very deconstructed, fascinating designs, very funky. And Teva gives Sally M. a run for her money in the Zen Knitting department. It's inspirational; I couldn't tear myself away from it Saturday afternoon. She makes me want to become a knitwear designer.

Friends' plays report: Saw B.K. in Harold Pinter's Moonlight on Saturday night. Liked her, liked some of the actors, like the play itself, but thought it was a bit overdirected. Pinter needs less direction than most directors seem to realize. (I can say this because I saw a production of The Birthday Party that the man himself directed in London, and it was more real than realism.) The DH did not care for the play, but I think he'd like it better in a different production. Last Tuesday we saw S.A. in The Black-Eyed, a new play about Palestinian women. Not bad, some bits stronger than others, but definitely had an impact. It was J.H.'s directing debut at the M.T., very nicely done!

Bahama mama

My big white envelope from Yarn-of-the-Month arrived yesterday, and I instantly fell in love with Bahama, and the enclosed pattern for a big fuzzy bathmat. It's hard to describe this yarn -- it's a washable acrylic blend, very soft, that looks like a ladder: two side bars and lots of rungs in between. When knit up, it apparently forms a sort of terry-cloth or toweling-like fabric. Suggested needle sizes are 11-15, much bigger than I normally knit with, so it would go fast! I just wrote to them to find out where I can buy more. The problem -- the yarn is shown in very bright summer-y colors like red and turquoise that normally, I would love, but our bathroom in the Bungalow is retro pink and cream. It really needs something a little more pastel.

Chalazion report: Small but still red and lurking.

Pregnant Sis report: Tuesday was a very bad day. Nauseous with a cold on top of everything, she managed to get into two small fender-benders in one day. (This is a few weeks after her DH's car was hit at a stop sign and totalled -- he's fine.) Most mournful moment -- driving CNITU around for an hour to make him go to sleep (we used to call him "Speed baby;" if you stopped the car, he'd explode), then parking at a shopping center and passing out in exhaustion herself. I can just picture them both asleep in the Laguna sun, mouths open.

Knitting report: Body of White Lies lingerie finished! One cup almost finished, only took about 1/2 hour so I'm sure the second one will be done this weekend. The panty should go just as fast. Then I will really be in finishing land. This weekend, I am committed to finishing the Feesh Backpack and making some more serious progress on finishing Blue Cardy. So hard to sit and sew when there's all that yarn to knit up!

Knitting desires: More Bahama. Size J crochet hook for finishing White Lies lingerie. Lingerie elastic for same.

Good-bye, camera!

It gave up the ghost. Did not care for its salt water bath. But before it died, my DH did manage to salvage the card with photos intact. Here is my favorite girl PM with her birthday present from me:



And here she is with her bunny from Mom Wiz, and her mommy, of course:



And here I am, casting on for Camp Knitting! That's a nice ball of Prairie Silk from Brown Sheep. The circular is 12", which is too big. The pattern calls for 8" circulars, which don't exist. So I spent a lot of time pulling the plastic center cord between stitches.



And you'll have to imagine the completed fingerless gloves, as well as the almost-completed body for the White Lies lingerie camisole, since they happened after the camera's death.

Final note of the day -- props to Christine Stork, owner of Article Pract, an LYS in Oakland. (Don't you love that store name? It's a fun juxtaposition of "Practical Art.") She was cool enough to let our new TD at SF Shakes out of his work obligations there so that he could take over the TD position at short notice. Christine is hoping to replace him, so any potential yarn store employees should contact her at 510/595-7875. Please, also, if you are ever in the East Bay, go check out her store and buy something! 5010 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. If the store's anywhere near as cool as the website, you'll be thrilled to be there.

Big news!

Okay everyone, time to tell me about all your favorite baby sweater, bootie, blanket, and hat patterns -- CNITU is going to have a sibling! S/he is due about a week after my birthday, in early January. So the little Capricorn will be spoiled rotten by Auntie Becca.

Sis is feeling crappy, fat, and sick, but that phase will be over fairly soon. Meanwhile please enjoy the photos of CNITU, future genius architect, and his cousin James from Manchester making a sand castle in Laguna Beach.

Unfortunately it's sideways, but here's the little dude all tuckered out from a day making sand castles. 

And here's the completed sand castle! (with sun-burned James) 

My cousin James visited from England last week -- here he is building a sand castle in Laguna with CNITU. 

It's Baaaaack! (Chalazion II -- the terrifying sequel)

I have just returned from a WONDERFUL five days of backpacking the Lost Coast in Humboldt County, and woke up this morning to find that my eyelid hurts again. I think the chalazion is coming back. Time for the wet washcloth and eye drops! The doctor warned that this might happen. Argh!

Camp knitting: finished the adorable pair of fingerless gloves! Bound off the last stitch just as the sun was setting last night on the car trip home. The yarn is gorgeous, they're warm and cozy, and I can't wait to make another pair.

I will take a photo just as soon as I know if our camera is okay -- it took an unfortunate dip in the ocean when my DH decided to jump into the waves fully clothed, and forgot it was in his pocket. You have to know my DH to truly appreciate this story -- he gets a little crazy in the great outdoors!

Finally, I received this lovely note from Princess M's mommy: "She was so proud of her purse that Auntie Becca made for her. She took it to school for sharing on Thursday and proudly told anyone who would listen that you had made it for her. She even showed it off to people in the church office with my mom after school that day."

I have a fan! One day when she's a famous movie star, I can be her personal knitwear designer.

Looking forward to my first meet-up in ages tomorrow night -- hooray!

Props to Mel and Camp Knitting

Please, everybody, if you haven't already, go visit Mel's blog and give her props for finishing the Monkey Bag from Knitty. It looks great, but apparently was a huge pain in the butt. Her descriptions made me NEVER want to knit with hemp.

I have definitely decided on the wrist warmers (or fingerless gloves, if you prefer) for my camp knitting project. This is a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's book "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" -- a book I like more and more every time I pick it up. Joelle goes over all the basics, including color selection, and has gorgeous, detailed photos as well as clear instructions. And as someone who likes to make people presents, I love it.

Knitting Frenzy!

Chalazion report: Smallish red blemish on lower eyelid. Not very puffy. Hopefully will continue to fade in color and not leave a permanent scar.

Head injury report: In what can only be described as a bizarre gardening accident, my former roommate M, who is not a knitter but a jewelry designer, stepped on the end of a rake just like people do in bad sitcoms. The handle bounced up and hit her, and she ended up with a sizeable bruise on her upper eyelid. Be careful out there, people. The star in charge of eye-related injuries is clearly up to something.

Knitting report: My show opened Friday, and after two weeks without a day off and four days without touching knitting needles, I spent Saturday in what can only be described as a knitting frenzy.

Blue Cardy progress: here it is! The completed dark blue half with a partially completed light blue half. Buttons aren't sewn on yet, but aren't they cute?



Princess M's bag now has a cotton lining AND a label indicating who made it for her. She will receive this tomorrow night at her 3rd birthday dinner:





CNITU's "feesh" backpack is now in a state of almost-done-ness. (Note the super-cute lining fabric.)



I cast on the White Lies Nicole lingerie! The yarn is a super-soft wool and silk blend, so nice on the fingers! I'm enjoying it thoroughly. This is how it looked Sunday evening, but it's progressed another few inches since then:



And finally, I made it over to my San Mateo LYS, Vanessa's Needlepoint and Knitting Shoppe, on Saturday afternoon. Despite the annoying extra "p" and "e," this is a nice big store with tons of yarn! I was a bit overwhelmed, but noted some favorite brands including Prism, Great Adirondack, Debbie Bliss, Muench, and Trendsetter, but sadly, no Rowan. GREAT 50% off sale baskets on the floor, and instead of just random balls of weird novelty yarns, they had multiples of the same color in interesting solid color yarns. Here's my on-sale stash from this shopping trip:



Fabulous Modigliani and Muench yarns, also note the free pen and tape measure you get for signing up for Vanessa's frequent shopping card. Vanessa herself is very sweet and was dressed in a gorgeous, drapy black-and-white poncho.

(You'll have noticed I'm posting more photos than usual, this is thanks to my new laptop and my DH's mac.com homepage. I have severed my ties with the Microsoft moster that is Hello!)

For my final photo of the day, I'd like to share MomWiz's terrific bunny for PM's birthday -- she made one for us for the wedding, and now the Princess herself will possess her very own girly version.



Outdoor Knitting report: The DH and I and some friends are off to the Lost Coast in Humboldt this weekend for a backpacking trip. A long car drive and plenty of relaxation time in the big outdoors means one thing: knitting! I will take Nicole along for the drive, but she's just too pale and delicate for camp knitting. I swatched a set of fingerless gloves last night in a nice burgundy wool for my camp knitting project. Might bring along a baby hat as well -- I have a great new pattern from the Yarn of the Month club to knit in Rowan Tweed 4-ply.

Head injuries to knitters week

It's getting better! The chalazion is now a reddish, crusty scab, still ugly but distinctly smaller than it was. I can now see over my own lower eyelid, which is nice.

So I must turn my attention to poor C, who has stitches across her eyelid. It begs the question, how did this heinous thing happen? Pray tell, Christina!

To all the other knitters out there, I offer this advice: Duck. We must put an end to this epidemic!

The sty that would not die, part two

A visit to the doctor yesterday about the world's ugliest and largest sty revealed that it is NOT a sty, but something called a "chalazion," which is apparently Klingon for "large ugly bump on the eyelid." I had never heard of such a thing, but lo and behold, you can read about them here, if you are the victim of sick curiosity.

I sometimes think my family was specially chosen by God to experience strange and unusual maladies. My father is just getting over an obscure viral attack on his thyroid, my mother's last trip to Alaska was cut short by some weird intestinal blockage, I'm the only person I know to have ever suffered from viral menengitis, my sister has a bizarre degenerative eye disease, and now this. Much less life-threatening, but much more hideous.

The chalazion, having now been subjected to antibiotics and warm compresses, is turning yellowish and flatter and achieving a whole new level of ugly. I hope this means it is going away. If not, I will have to go back to the doctor next week and have it surgically removed. Blech.

Meanwhile, at every free waking moment I have to have a warm washcloth over my eye, which means I can't see to knit. Evil chalazion! The final insult!

Uglification and disgruntlement

I have joined the ranks of the truly ugly. Cinderella's step-sister ugly. Phantom of the Opera ugly. Frightening small children ugly.

I have an enormous sty right in the center of my lower left eyelid. It's the size of a small cherry tomato, and about the same color. It is not possible to camouflage something this big and hideous with anything except dark glasses, and I am not pretentious enough to wear dark glasses indoors, so the end result is that I have spent the last several days frightening people. It's actually fairly entertaining. I'll walk into a room, remove my sunglasses, and observe the expressions of shock and/or horror. People who love me, like my DH, are quite honest about it. "Gosh, it's gotten worse!" he exclaimed last night after I'd spent several hours deluding myself into thinking it had gotten better. "It looks really awful!"

I much prefer his reaction to those of the polite folks who attempt not to comment, like the young teacher I interviewed this morning. She kept trying not to stare at it, but she couldn't help herself. She kept blinking quickly and then jerking her gaze suddenly to the right. Fascinating. I could have taken her off the hook by excusing my appearance in advance, but I was seized with a desire to discover what the truly deformed have to deal with.

I would take a picture of it to share with you all, but I'm not sure I want it documented for posterity. I will be quite relieved when it's finally gone, although it might take a while. Ugliness this profound does not go gently into the good night.

Shall I talk about knitting now? I had a few hours to kill on Saturday, so I made a naughty visit to Knitting Arts for their Mother's Day sale. Acquired a lovely array of Rowan, Muench, and Great Adirondack. The Rowan is all wool tweeds, dk and 4-ply, in greenish-blue, off-white, and rose, the Muench is Samoa cotton(the best for my little backpacks and purses), in lt. blue, lt. green, pink, and peach, and the Great Adirondack is crazy stuff, fuzzy and shiny and sparkly, in a rainbow of pastels to match the Samoa. Kind of like the Prism we used to make Shawlapalooza -- I have this idea for a little poncho and matching bag in Samoa/Adirondack for Princess M, a smaller version of the Fuzzy Sparkly poncho. The Rowan is for a hat from Interweave Knits last winter, plus some socks. When I get around to socks!

I'm halfway through the final knitting piece for CNITU's backpack; soon it will be ready to block and crochet together. Slow going -- I have NO TIME to knit at the moment, since my middle school students have their final performance on Friday and my show goes into tech on Saturday. I recall Sally Melville saying in one of her books that if she doesn't have time to knit every day, she gets grumpy. Ah, Sally, how right you are.

Another happy mom!

My DH and I presented Mom with her Bias Betty scarf yesterday, along with a book on the History of Chocolate (we are all three huge chocoholics). She was very appreciative and sent a nice thank-you email right away. I look forward to posting a picture of her in her scarf! Perhaps it will come in handy on their upcoming trip to Alaska.

I sewed the hood on Blue Cardy yesterday and finished off one of the pockets with a row of crochet. It looks great, but it's slow progress. Sleeves and the other pocket next, then I'll start finishing the light blue side. Still, it will almost definitely be done by CNITU's birthday, whether it fits him or not! The CNITU "feesh" backpack continues to progress swimmingly, pun intended.

Hooray for thank-you notes!

As always, it is pleasant to be thanked. My DH is something of a thank-you note champion, which makes me very spoiled. But he was well-trained -- my MIL sent a nice email right after receiving the pillow, which is now residing in a drawer as a sachet. (It's a bit small for a throw pillow, so the sachet use makes more sense.)

I wish there was a way to refresh the lavender without disassembling the whole thing -- maybe a spray of linen water?

Now must get around to writing those last few wedding thank-yous...

Here's the knit side of the Mother's Day pillow...