I've been having grand times with The Knitters.

There was one good bye party.

Kate is moving to Philly, via Boston and Copenhagen, to earn herself a masters in knitting. i think she will be quite successful! And you can get yourself a part of the history by purchasing her yarn.








Then we had a very happy (almost zealous) gathering. Us with 50 bazillion other knitters at the Estes Park Wool Market. I got this: 50% merino and 50% alpaca-- and i have A LOT of yardage here! Any suggestions on what to make?
I also got this:Bee-u-tea-ful Organic Cotton! and for a great price too! I think i am going to make this into a small to medium size blanket!


Then there was lunch at Cilantro Mary in Lyons-- (The Knitters and i are enjoying lots of meals together these days) after the wool-spree at Estes. And for the record, i am stating the Market was much more crowded this year then years past. I'm not sure if it's the craze of knit-blogs and word spreading via the web, the continual increase of new knitters into the craft, or the increase in yarn stores around the metro area. Needless, to say it was PACKED! Packed in the sense of waiting on line to get into the small vendor areas and have a decent look-see before getting crowded out by the next eager yarn-addict with her bag full of booty.

All that said, i was one of the big-bag ladies myself. And i am quite pleased with my take-home. (although i think i want more Organic cotton. who'd of thunk it?) But more than all the yarn, and the event, I had a really grand road trip with some increasingly special pals.

i am participating in the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange (but you knew that already). I'm not quite sure why, but i feel compelled to share this:
HI SECRET PAL OH MY!!!! i love the yarn u sent me.thank u :) just so u know,i havent had the time to keep up with my blog. so im saying thank u here. its wonderful!!!!!!!!!!

see all those exclaimation marks? that makes me very happy. I had quite the dickens of a time selecting a good yarn for my pal and now i don't feel so bad after seeing the exclaimation. i feel a wave of enthusiasm for selecting the next skein i send her.

coming up soon: why do i keep buying and knitting yarn in the color green? seriously, i have several projects in my basket and they all are the same hue.

I'm not sure what name to give these socks. I'd call them 'My Kate Socks' for the reason that Kate dyed the yarn... for her yarn business. I'd call them 'My Emily Socks' for the reason that the colorway is named after me! I'd call them 'My Rib and Cable Socks', because that's the pattern name. Or, i'd call them my 'Gentlemen's Bicycle Stockings Socks' because : 1) I started them while SAGging the BVBF for Tom, and 2) Ms. Nancy Bush derived this pattern from those of the same title from Weldon's Practical Needlework Vol. 2.

Regardless of their name, I love them. I love the pattern, the colorway of the yarn, the softness of the merino, the great fit, the repitition of the pattern and last but not least, the new toe decrease i learned-- that involved no grafting!
So, I was working away on my socks, in the Emily colorway when i realized the similarity they had to this bag. That's right, I have a Degas's Ballet Dancers tote bag. I'm in love with it too. I simply love that Kate named a colorway after me, but she could have named if Degas, or the Ballet Dancers, or something art-history like, i would still be in love with it!

Dear One Skein Secret Pal,
A big warm, western Thank You for my beautiful skein of yarn. I love it! How did you know that i have never layed eyes, or finger tips for that matter, on camel! Especially those baby camels (fitting for me, a infant care-taker). Do the baby camels spit like their elders? And the color, creme, so beautiful. Did you know i have a collection of creme hued "rare" fibers? Oh, yes, llama, lamb and alpaca. Everyone, please welcome the baby camel. I'm not sure what to make with it yet... i'm thinking lace.
Additionally, thank you for the lip-balm with loss-prevention. I won't make any rash statements about it's security, but perhaps there is hope. And if i manage to keep the clip and the black topper, i can use it for other lip balms as well. See, here it is on my bag, the one i take with me everywhere. It's all ready to go.
And in other blogging worthy news:
The Kitchen is an excellent place to enjoy local farm fresh eggs and ham benedict on brioche toast with the best darn potatoes i've ever put in my mouth, and knit socks (scroll way down!)-- with The Knitters. We had an improptu brunch and knit session. Seriously, an event that is worthy of repition (true, it is not a cheap meal, but i can taste every pennies worth. (I am not kidding, when can we meet again?)

i have had a dream. not a good dream. but not a frightening one either. simply a bizarre one (do "simply" and "bizarre" belong in the same sentence?)

~ So i was driving along in "my" truck with a very remote yarn store as the destination. it was cold, gray and visability was not so good. (i should note here, that the covers were probably falling off the bed and the air contidioning was blasting.) Once i found a place to park, in a parking lot with jalopy trucks, men with farm hats and strange looks, my cell phone rang. It was my husband. He needed something, but i told him i had already made the long drive, was about to go see the store and, "no, i would not be coming right home. I will when i am done at the yarn store." When i arrived at The Remote Yarn Store it was located at the back of the mercantile store that looked like something out of an old west movie. I wandered around, like i normally browse yarn stores; lap after lap touching each yarn. When I was done, i went back out to my truck and sat on the bench seat (and this is where i began to feel stressed) and tried to figure out the kitchener stitch by memory on thick, brown wool. I had the yarn needle threaded in one hand and the project in the other. Yet, for the life of me, struggled with that damn technique. i kept running the needle through the live stitches, pulling on the yarn and creating a tangle. I tried to remember it verbally: through like a knit stitch in the front, like a purl in the back, purl through the front stitch... on and on it went stuggling madly with the work, the stress to not loose the live stitches, the remote strange area and why oh why would there be a yarn store in a mercantile out here? where am i? is this wyoming? why can't i remeber this technique i've done it a million times?

** and then the alarm rang. and it was all gone. but my goodness, that was not a happy knitting dream!

growing up, i wasn't a fan of math. but in knitting i now love using it.
For example: One Skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton,

Minus one Baby Bolero,

Equals one little ball of said yarn!

The results of the one skein book are rather exciting. at the last little bit of the pattern i doubted there would be enough yarn ("what if my tension is different from Leigh Radford's? Maybe the little changes i made would dash the end results?" But wait a minute. The changes i made actually saved on yarn yardage. ) So i just waited, and continued to knit to see the result. Turns out, the baby bolero really only takes one skein (hehehe).
US size 8 and 9 needles. Changes: 3 needle bind off at shoulders (and save live stitches at back next edge for border), picked up and knit the sleeves down instead of knitting them flat and having (icky ol') seams at the arms.

In other (social) news:

I knit with the knitters at Alex's house. I can't decide if we are watching the best television program or using the world's largest computer monitor? Thanks Eunny.

and for a little more social recap, Jenifer has posted about the yarn swap party from some weeks ago (scroll down a wee bit). there is a very charming picture of moi. and now i will be done talking about it. done.

oh. and just so you and me know: i have started way too many projects with not enough time to finish them (i.e. gifts with "deadlines").