Author: Sally

Hard to believe that it will be Sunday tomorrow.

I have messed around all week with my knitting. After finishing Alice’s felted hat I started a scarf for my Mum. I am using some more of the 13 mile yarn but in a gorgeous green blue colour. Did complete Dad’s scarf this week but I do need to wash and block it if I have time this coming week.

The heirloom shawl I am knitting as a 40th birthday present is coming along slowly. I do need quiet when I knit that and at the moment I am spending so much time working on NewsBlaze that I can’t find enough time in one day to complete the first 8 pattern repeats. Once that is done the main part of the shawl has just one pattern for about 50 inches.

Last week a friend sent me 250 yds of pure wool which was hand dyed hot pink. It is a worcested weight yarn and I think I may use it for a felted bag or felted hat. If I put some Noro silk garden yarn with it the hot pink will be toned down a little.

Our knitting group on Thursday met at Toni’s house again and there was only four of us that morning. This coming Thursday April 2nd we are heading to Sonora for the day. Toni and I are taking an entrelac class with Pat Clark. I am so excited at seeing her again, and having a class with her is a real joy.

Met up with Alice, Kathie, Teresa, Vinny and Diane today at Borders for the usual coffee, knitting and chatting. I missed lunch because of a phone call but still had time to make it to the book shop anyway.

I am knitting the second scarf from the 13 mile yarn company yarn in Montana.  Completed the first one on Friday evening so that was good. I used a free sampler pattern from Lion Brand and it was a very easy pattern. The yarn is not particularly soft but once washed and blocked I know it will be great for a man.

The second one is from a pattern out of the magazine Creative Knitting from sometime in 2007. Very heavily cabled but also quite easy to knit once the first complete pattern has been done. Doing this on size US#8 needles and the yarn I think because it has been dyed is slightly softer than the natural colour.

Yesterday the correct graph arrived from Rowan in England for the Wetherby Sweater out of A Yorkshire Fable book. I was thrilled they have  sent me an original correction because Westminster Fibers on the east coast had only sent me a very poor photo copy. Was amazed at just how much was wrong with the graph in the book. I did one complete set of rows for the pattern which is about 28 rows and it looks very nice. Thank goodness I had saved the grey Magpie yarn to knit the sweater as it cables beautifully. Have almost reached the end of my Magpie yarn secret stash now.

Bye for now

Sally

Not bad eh!  I completed the knitting in just a few hours.

Now it is up to Alice to felt and fit it to her head.

Alan took the photo of me wearing the unfelted hat. And for some strange reason I even smiled when the photo was taken.

I have had a wonderful afternoon making such good progress on the felted hat for Alice.

We decided that she needed the medium size but of course once the hat is felted it can easily be shaped and sized on her head.

Alice chose a gorgeous dark and light grey cascade 220 yarn which is very nice to knit with and really felts well. The pattern is very easy well written for both the knitting and felting directions.

By the time I left the bookshop I was well on the way to having the brim completed.

These hats are quite additive so as you can see I have now done half of the knitting for the crown. And I have to stop and start preparing dinner!!

It is a gloomy looking Sunday here today in Folsom. Just the sort of weather which makes you want to be inside knitting.

Alice has asked me to knit her a felted hat, just like the one I have done twice for myself. The pattern I used was Fiber Trends ac 2 and it uses a single strand of a worsted weight yarn.

We are meeting today so that I can measure her head and then make a start on the hat this afternoon. It might be a nice idea to grab lunch while we are out.

What a lovely way to spend Thursday mornings, snuggled up under Toni’s roof with Sharon, Sharon, Sherron, Nancy, Jane and Mary. Not only is the company delightful so is the coffee and morning tea.

Toni had talked about teaching us the Moebius cast on which she had learned at Stitches by taking a class with Cat Bordhi. So this is what she focused on today. One Sharon had to leave early for an appointment but Toni had everyone else, except me, practice the cast on at least once.

I decided that I would have a little practice during the week on my own. When I got home I found a” You tube”  video of Cat showing the Moebius cast on in quite good detail. I have saved that as a favourite and will go back to it when I have an opportunity later in the week. I shall also check my stash to find something I can knit with and must also check for a long circular needle too.

After much discussion about a field trip to Sonora we have decided on April 2nd for a class with Pat Clark. At the moment Toni and I plan to get Pat to teach us both entrelac which is something we are very keen to learn. I mentioned to everyone else the type of classes Pat can teach and I think the beaded hat is the class they are all interested in. I have looked at the website again for the shop class list and will print that out to show them the other choices they have.

I have got so many things on needles at the moment and also in the state of not sewn up that I am feeling a little guilty about that at the moment. I also noticed a large sweater bag FULL of scarves and shawels that need to be blocked so that is another little job that has to be taken care off.

We began daylight saving on Sunday here in California. I know we only lost one hour of sleep, but as the week has gone by so fast it feels as though I lost a couple of days!

Belisa Cashmere had a booth at Stitches this year. It was the first time I had seen their yarn although I had heard of them from friends who attended Stitches in 2008.

Alan and I stopped to chat with Stan Cooper one of the owners. It was wonderful to meet him firstly, because we love to see Australian products promoted overseas, and secondly because we were familiar with the town of Bundanoon in New South Wales. Alan used to play the bagpies regularly and several years ago we had the opportunity to go to Bundanoon for a weekend for the Celtic festival called Brigadoon.

Stan and his wife Bev have the most gorgeous fine cashmere products available for purchase. Being a knitter I was very interested in the selection of yarn that they had on display in natural and dyed colours. They also had a fine selection of ready to wear garments for sale and some lovely kits were also available.

Their website www.belisacashmere.com is full of great information. It tells the interested craftsperson all about the goats, the fibre and the processes they use to end up with the gorgeous product that we can use. I could easily be tempted to order some of the fine cashmere now to make a heirloom shawl…..

By a very strange coincidence I was invited to join a group of knitters on Ravelry last night. Called The Southern Highlands of NSW it is based in Bundanoon. They are a recently formed group so there is only about twelve members at the moment. One of the members is from California now living in the Bundanoon area and actually here in the US for Stitches West 2009 so it is quite peculiar to have had the invitation from them.

I feel guilty when I am not able to write something on here every day. Yet when I read other blogs they are not updated every day either..

Stitches is always fun, but a feeling of overload often occurs by the end of the day.

One of the vendors that was new to me was Wagtail Yarns from Queensland in Australia. Kevin Scarlett a partner in the business was a really nice man, and of course I just loved talking “Australian” with him. The booth was full of the most delicious yarns and the colours were so bright and cheerful. I read that they dye all the yarn on site which produces the vibrant lustrous shades.

They have approximately 1400 Angora goats which produce a very luxurious Mohair. On sale in the natural mohair was two weights a fingering weight and also a fine sport weight. Then they also blend the mohair with merino wool or other natural fibers and you can choose from a yarn slightly heavier than a fingering weight, a dk weight and also an aran weight.

I decided to purchase two shawl patterns from Kevin. One called the Twilight shawl was on display in both lace weight and fingering weight yarn. And the second is called Sea Shell Shawl which is particularly versatile as the cover shows it worn as both a shawl and almost a jacket.

Their website address is www.wagtailyarns.com.au
and email address is wagtailyarns@bigpond.com
And the on line store looks great

Happy Knitting
Sally

After what seems like for ever Stitches West 2009 finally arrived in Santa Clara California.

It was a candy store of delight for fiber lovers. Managed to chat to many vendors and was very surprised to find many of my friends in the large crowds.

My plan was to purchase knitting patterns to match some yarn I have at home. With so much yarn in my stash I need to get busy using that before I can justify buying more. It would also be nice to get the stash down so I can sit on the window seat in the study again. I have yarn piled high both on the windows seats and also in the storage area beneath the sitting area.