Category Archives: Information

Party!

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Last night was Unwind Yarn's anniversary party and what a party it was! The place was packed with Ravelers and revelers. Ravelry came, and I always enjoy talking to Casey about the site and techie stuff. Jess is pregnant and so cute! I met Mary Heather and Sarah.Ravelry @ Unwind They brought Ysolda Teague. She is very sweet. She was wearing a sweater that she designed for her new book, Little Red In The City, which will be available in March. I love her design sensibility. A couple of us were examining the side seams on her sweater. I think she's a knitting genius.
Shannon Okey was there signing her new book, The Knitgrrl Guide To Professional Knitwear Design. It looks like a great resource. She has provided tons of information and advice for a budding knitwear designer.  It was her birthday yesterday, so the shop got her a cake from Porto's.

Michelle Miller from Fickle Knitter was there displaying her designs and patterns. I talked to her for quite a while about design and publishing patterns. She was very open and willing to give advice too. She designed the shawl I just completed as a display piece for the party and to show off the Silky Alpaca Lace from Classic Elite. Here's a link to her blog post on the party. Bar-Maids was there demoing their scrub and moisturizer. I had to get some for my Very. Dry. Hands. I think it's just what I've been looking for. Smells divine too! Classic Elite had their trunk show (is that what you call it? ) with the new Spring 2011 designs and yarns. It seems like we were the first to see them. The patterns are not even published yet, but I have my eye on a cute little cardigan in Cricket. It's so new I can't even find it on their website. They are releasing the new yarns at TNNA today, so I expect it will be there soon. Of course I forgot to take a picture. :( By the way, my picture taking sux. I'm too shy about asking people to take their picture so I get very candid shots and bad angles and forget to take some important stuff. Then I get home and go, "Why didn't I get that picture?!?" Sigh. The cardi I'm talking about is the second from the right. Next to the green sweater. Sorry, I only got the back. Ugghhh. Ok, I have a confession. I think I'm addicted to yarn. It's like a drug. I mean really. When Stephanie announced that there were a few seats left in Shanon Okey's Hand Dyeing class on Sunday, I jumped right on it. I know I've seen emails about this, but being there I got all caught up in the excitement. How silly I am. Earlier in the evening I was telling Jim, the Classic Elite rep, that I was afraid to get into dyeing because I might become obsessed. Am I weird? Yah, a little yarn obsessed. I'll be back there tonight to hang with some of my new friends and get to know them better over some wine and knitting. Next time I'll show you pictures of the Not-So-Alpaca Baby Shawl. I stand corrected. I'm making it in a superwash merino. Duh! I kept insisting that it was Alpaca because that's the title of the pattern I'm making. Sheesh! I'll let you know how the dyeing class goes and whether I've got a new obsession. See you next Friday! Knitter Ditter

How To Fix A Too Short Sweater

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Here's a great article from Interweave's Knitting Daily Website. Have you ever knit a sweater and it turned out to be too short? I know I have! This seems like a good technique for fixing that problem. It comes from [amazon-product text="Knit Fix: Problem Solving for Knitters" type="text"]1596680113[/amazon-product] I wish I had known of this technique before I "fixed" my too short sweater. What I did was knit a "skirt" of about 3" onto the bottom of my sweater, but it doesn't look quite right. The problem is that the front of the sweater has some shaping on the hem. I don't have a picture of the actual sweater, but here is what it looks like on the model.
What I wish I looked like in my Tratto Sweater!

Not me, not even a reasonable facsimile...

(I don't look anything like this model, but I must have thought that if I knit that sweater I would! ;) ) I love the rest of the sweater, the little rolled neckline and sleeveless shaping. The top is great. It's just the bottom that bothers me. The other problem is that it was knit with Lana Grossa Tratto which has little flags that will make it very hard to frog. I love the yarn, just not redoing it. Uggghhh. It will stay on the pile of  "to do someday."

Knitting Workshop with EZ

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Elizabeth Zimmerman I finally broke down and bought the PBS series Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop. She had me at the first lesson, Winding Wool. I learned something incredibly useful, how to make a center pull ball without a ball winder. This is very valuable to me since I only have a ball winder and not a swift. Winding has always been a pain. I don't have a lampshade large enough to hold a skein, and a couple of chairs seems to allow the yarn to get tangled anyway. Apparently I should have gotten a swift first. EZ has one that she is winding from.

Her sense of humor had me in stitches. Pun intended! ;)   She truly was the opinionated knitter, but it's allowed. Her experience was so vast. I wish she was still on this earth.

You can hear someone, I think it is her daughter, Meg Swansen, talking in the background, prompting and helping EZ with the flow of the show. The production is not polished, but completely adequate. Of course we are used to flashy graphics and seamless editing these days, but these videos are refreshing in that they are all about the knitting.

I first saw some of the videos a couple of years ago when I was visiting Rosewood Yarns in Boerne, TX. I thought then that I must get the video, but they always seemed expensive. Now that I finally have a copy, I think they are a treasure. No matter your level of experience, I'm sure you will learn something valuable.

Happy Knitting! Cheryl

Wait, Wait, It Doesn't Itch!

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Mo Rocca Gets a New Sweater. Ravelry members presented Mo with a sweater designed by Norah Gaughan and hand knit by Ravelry members. In February he made a comment that all home made sweaters itch. Franklin Habit and various Chicago knitters proved him wrong. Unfortunately there's no embed on the NPR player, but you've got to see this! Mo Rocca vs. Knitters.  Click Here to Watch. Here's a follow up video as Mo now loves hand knitting so much he wanted to learn to knit himself.

Etsy Store Now Open

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I should have posted this as soon as I got some products listed, but anyway, here it is: knitterditter.etsy.com. I'm going to try and get a widget that shows what I'm selling right here on this site. I just need more time to work on it! And boy does this site need some work! My goal is to have book reviews, tips and tricks for knitters, maybe even some product reviews... I did the homework a few weeks back, and now I can't remember what I said. Ummm, pay no attention to the knitter behind the computer. Sorry, my mind hasn't been focused on knitting at all this week. I've been working on a devotional for my Bible Study, my first one ever! I'm stepping out. I just feel like I don't have a whole lot of time right now. Perhaps when summer starts I can focus. I won't have the study (unless I join the one I'm considering...) or choir every week. Hopefully the tweaking on my other website will be less too. R-Ranch in the Sequoias. Check it out, I think it is coming along nicely. Well, I'm off to choir practice now!

Startitis

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I'm having a case of startitis. Not only do I have a bunch of other things that get in the way of starting, I myself get in the way. When I do have time, I don't organize my thoughts and then I decide to go play. I need to start my Etsy store. I think it's on permanent vacation. I've made some things, and originally I thought I would make 10 and then open it. A couple of weeks ago I got an email with articles designed to kick me in the pants. I was kicked all right, but I allowed other things to take my time. Now I just feel guilty. I need to make this blog better and build the site. Ugghh! More guilt! I WILL DO IT! I went to a Beth Moore simulcast last Saturday called "So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us." I really needed to hear that! I've been insecure about my pictures, my work, my offerings. I don't need to be. My work is great and will only get better. I think I'd better take a look at my pictures. They are probably fine to start. I tried to get the best light I could. I have enough to offer right now, and I'd better start offering them or I will have a house full of knitted items that I have no use for! As Beth said, God loves me so I need to live like I know it! He created me with this ability to knit well and learn and I have to use it.

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I just finished Josie's baby blanket.
I bound off using a size 7 needle and the 6th bind off on this page: http://weebleknits.blogspot.com/2003/05/stretchy-bind-offs.html
I want to keep this handy because I keep referring back to it. I hope someday I'll remember how to do this automatically. The easiest thing is to just use larger needles.
My daughter didn't want traditional pink or yellow. She chose purple for her new little girl. This yarn has a pearly white strand running through it that adds a bit of "glitz." I think she'll like it.
I finally got the invitations to the shower mailed.
I had forgotten that Monday was a postman's holiday. Hopefully everyone will forgive me that I asked them to RSVP so quickly. It's ok, in all we have invited about 60 guests. If the laws of invites hold true, 75% of them will come and that leaves us with about 45. Now to figure out the food. Do I make it myself or buy pre-made? I'm being a little Martha Stewart-y about all this. I have to count tables and chairs and tea cups. I'll probably end up buying paper ones. I wish they were shaped like tea cups rather than coffee cups. Other than that I hope it doesn't rain. It would be nice to do this in the backyard. Martha would have a conniption about my back yard though. Maybe she would get up early in the morning to plant petunias!