Travel. Knit. Love.

I didn't know!  

I didn't know anything.  

We filled a ballroom, with chatter, and knitting and knitted garments.  

It was The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling! And it was all of those things...

Loopy:

This was one of many Super Shuttles from the Denver International Airport (an hourly occurance),

Heavy on yarn and needles and project bags!

The plains stretched out to the snow-capped mountains, bringing like-minded individuals together.

Accomplished Knitters

What can you knit in a week?

Here's PM's knitting: It's the bottoms of the front and back of a sweater.  When they are the same size, they are joined to knit in the round.

A knitter with socks, self-knit, of course.  Not knitted this week, but lovely!

And then there's the knitter of the socks, J, with one of her many projects.  This one she plans to keep!

And another knitter with many projects.  The beginning of one of them with the Emily Ocher circular cast-on.  To be the back of a sweater.

And our hostess with the lacy-est of all.  Limits the conversation, doesn't it?

And I with my half a sock, not even half... 

We didn't accomplish a lot of knitting, but it was wonderful having every evening devoted to talking knitting!  I recommend you get some friends together, take them away... our next get-away is in the works!

This is Knitting Country!

I heard the clickety clack of needles on the train between Snåsa and Værnes, Norway:
Next to me...

 Behind me...

And who knows?  In our two rows (8 seats) there were 5 knitters!
(Hee hee… don't you love those funny letters?  I hope blogger can interpret them for you: ÆØÅ)

Flash Knit Mob!

If you haven't seen it, you should!  Brings tears to my eyes... Here's Sock Summit 2: (With Stephanie aka Yarn Harlot in front row, yellow shirt on the right.

Peer Pressure

I asked;  they spoke!
Lunch with knitting friends, show and tell;  I showed, they told...
Knowing that their keen eyes would spot my goof, I 'fessed up as I showed my Pink Powell Pullover.  Size 2T, with a gigantic cable down the front... I must have miscounted more than once and two of the cables were wonky.  They insisted I had reversed the cable (back to front crossover) and that it was going to "eat me up" until I went back and fixed it.  "No," I said.  "I'm stronger than that... it's gone too far... it's only a little pullover on an active playing child... it's not THAT noticeable (to the general public)."  And I continued to merrily knit-along. (The two obvious mistakes are marked with needles, in case there's any doubt in anyone's mind.  I must admit this morning, they don't look 'that' bad...)

Then it was later, evening, and I sat with it in my lap, smoothing it out as I often have, examining "how bad is it, really?" going through my mind for the 1,000th time, and I snapped.  Before I knew it, it looked like this:

UHGG-ly.  There's a lot of seed stitch going on... and THAT's not coming out.  I decided to bundle my rows, so I would know where every 10th row would fall (I was previously attempting to cable every 8th row having 'misread' the pattern earlier--I'm a mess, aren't I?  No comments, please.)

And an hour later (give or take an hour), I had this:

They are all the same size, except for the bottom two, and there's a little extra yarn on the left side of the cable pattern, and so it shall be!  Blocking and a little rough handling will even it out.  Peers: Thanks for a wonderful evening.  (You know who you are!)

The rest of the story...

Knitters at night met and Mimi had a great time even though we all cheered her on to rip out that sucker!  Her pullover, knitted with ribbing, bottom up, was too short.  She has the sleeves and side seams sewn, ready for the collar to be added.  She ended up ripping out/cutting off the ribbing and expects to extend the length by 3-4 inches. The pictures from yesterday's blog HERE.
Meanwhile, across the room, Kee was having a night, too.

This was the sock that WAS... ripped out.  And Kee wept on our shoulders as she explained her predicament at home with a lacy cotton cardigan that has been soaked, boiled, patted, and tumble-dried to no avail.  It refuses to shrink, and insists on growing.  Best of luck there!
Then I turn around and what's this?

Bee is--untangling, pulling, stretching, knotting?  I was afraid to ask...
And now I'll write a happy ending:
Dr. P is celebrating her last knit nite with us and she's still going strong!  We love you... Dr. P sits quietly listening to our woes and suddenly interjects some medical wisdom that comforts us or sheds some light on the subject at hand.  We'll miss you SO much.  Maybe we should Skype?

And lastly, the deadline has been met.  A wedding on the 27th, travel to it on the 20th, framers deadline:  TOMORROW!  Lee completes the stitching on his project.  No doubt in MY mind why all the kids want to get married one of these keepsakes:

Of course, WE are all doomed because we heard "stories".  I don't dare publish the 3 letters that would get this blog on the short list for scrutiny.
See some of you in 2 weeks!

Helpful? I think NOT!

Tonight was Knit Nite....
A wonderful, laughable, relaxing time.
Here's Mimi, sitting next to me to get some "help".  Just couldn't figure out that pattern, until she sat next to me.

And that's literally all it took!  I never got to see the pattern. She was suddenly enlightened!  And that was the last nice thing that happened to Mimi.  

She presented her sweater to me to admire before starting the collar... I asked her, "Have you tried this on?"  Not since knit nite 4 weeks ago... she says.

I chastised her for not heeding my blog, and learning from my mistakes.  Earlier this week, I had the same experience.  Didn't try it on and had to rip it out.  

Q: What's worse than ripping out a portion of a garment that you thought was finished?  

A:  Pointing someone else in that direction and watching THEM rip out their own garment.  It was torture (for me), I tell you!!

Here she is with strands that wouldn't unravel, which will have to be cut off to make the body longer.

...sigh...  Somehow, I take the guilt upon myself.  I'm so sorry, Mimi!

 Here, finish this. You'll feel better.

Unfortunately the yarn is a beautiful dark burgundy (so spilled wine won't be noticed). It's a color that doesn't photograph well, so you won't be able to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation.
Meanwhile, she wasn't the only one...
More tomorrow.

Knitters at Night! (2)

No one can guess; we had to ask... Lee, our designer and cup cozy artist, is making cherries.  Next time the finished project, please!

Round and round we go.

Kee and Jee are admiring baby pullover that's almost finished.  Ooooo, so soft!

Pullover for little one

And yarn-barf no more!  Two weeks ago this was a pile.  Now it's coming along as it should!

Baby pullover

Everyone looking industrious!  A great turnout for mid-April.

Eight in attendance!

Kee modeling lovely color and BIG collar!  Hope to see more of this one, too.

Knitters at Night!

She thinks she's going to move and put it away forever!  She's gonna need another U-Haul!

Dr on the move.  One more Knit Nite with us!

 Ahh!  Sleeves... Almost FO!

Love that lace

 Shhh!  I'm counting...

Starting another slipper

 Another US #7, please!  Anyone?

Blanket in the round, growing exponentially.

 Goodies!

Plus, plus...

twtkntw

Every two weeks, several knitting people come together to...
1) Laugh
2) Eat & Drink
3) Bash all sorts of folks, and behaviors, especially their own folks and behaviors.
And oh, yes:
4) Knit.
I have evidence!!

The toast to get started!

The goodies:  Is that Turkish Delight?

The decorations:  Ring them bells!

The scarf rage:  Who started making them? And why are they made of hair?

Wristwarmers:  One in use, and the other... too small, needed a few more rows.

MB's new sweater!  Gorgeous cables

S didn't say much until she put that $&##* thing down.

D held it for show, but refused to pick up needles for fear of missing something  mis-counting.

 The many faces of Ms. B:

 I love digital.  I could have thrown away some of these!! lol

What?  Another slipper?  That makes #24...

 But look again at that beautiful pullover from "years ago".
Next, MB's blue needle phenomenon:  Her needles are turning blue, with envy? (Hard to see... should I touch up the photo to make it look more serious?)

Really, the second skein started turning the needles blue.

 I assured everyone that their secrets would go no further than this blog...

 And S wonders why her project looks just like the picture!

It was too much... I laughed and snorted, we all admitted to dressing inappropriately in public, and there was much hilarity in the difference between eyelets and dropped stitches... You had to be there!!  (Thanks, friends!)