Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Summer plans
Hopefully this will be a summer chock full of knitting. I am participating in Stash Dash and Nerd Wars as well as attending the second SSK retreat. Here is a little glimps at a project that I am working on.
Friday, September 14, 2012
How about those apples?
I'll let you in on a little secret: when I travel, I don't want to take the interstate. I prefer to take the back roads...to meander...to wander...to enjoy the journey. Fortunately for me, my parents suggested a route to Independence, MO that had minimal interstate travel and maximum 2 lane highway fun. Rural Missouri, at least the part we drove through, is all farm land and orchards. It is pecan country. In fact, we drove past a giant pecan that proclaimed to be the world's largest pecan. This, of course, made me think of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which I highly recommend. If you haven't read it, you should move it to the top of your reading pile. (Everyone has a pile of books they are waiting to read, right?) I regret that I didn't pull over and take a picture of the world's largest pecan but I wasn't sure how my parents would feel about it, so I skipped it. Next time, I'm just going to do it.
We did stop at a roadside orchard on the way home from Independence. We got some lovely apples (Cameos for me & Jonathons and Cameos for my parents) and I snapped a photo or two.
Roadside apples for the win! So, the next time you are traveling, try taking the back roads to your destination.
We did stop at a roadside orchard on the way home from Independence. We got some lovely apples (Cameos for me & Jonathons and Cameos for my parents) and I snapped a photo or two.
Roadside apples for the win! So, the next time you are traveling, try taking the back roads to your destination.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Today there was knitting and family time
This blog is a bit of a test. I am trying to blog from my phone while sitting in a hotel room. I am traveling with my parents to see family but I opted to stay in a hotel instead of staying with my family. I managed to get some knitting done while at the hotel.
I spent the afternoon and evening with my aunt, uncle, mother and father. We watched a home movie, which normally would be a little boring. However, this movie is from the trip he took in 1959 and 1960. He hitchhiked to New York, stayed there for a week until he could find a job on ship. He worked his way across the Atlantic until they arrived in Sweden. Once there, he hitchhiked across Europe and then made it to the Holy Land. He then hitched to Italy and found work on another ship & worked on the ship for several month before returning to the US. He was gone for 9 months. It was quite the home movie. I can safely say that my uncle amazing!!!
I spent the afternoon and evening with my aunt, uncle, mother and father. We watched a home movie, which normally would be a little boring. However, this movie is from the trip he took in 1959 and 1960. He hitchhiked to New York, stayed there for a week until he could find a job on ship. He worked his way across the Atlantic until they arrived in Sweden. Once there, he hitchhiked across Europe and then made it to the Holy Land. He then hitched to Italy and found work on another ship & worked on the ship for several month before returning to the US. He was gone for 9 months. It was quite the home movie. I can safely say that my uncle amazing!!!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Taking the plunge...again
Despite how disappointed I felt with my first long-term yarn club, I am taking the plunge again. I eased into the yarn club world when I was lucky enough to get a spot in the first round of the 2 Crafty Girls Yarn Club. The theme was John Hughes Movie Night and the club was two months long. The talented dyers behind the club are Dana from Unwind Yarn Company and Sarah from Another Crafty Girl. It was the perfect palette cleanser to get me over the disappointment of knitspot's Fall in Full Color yarn club.
The first month of the 2 Crafty Girls Yarn Club was dyed by Dana who was inspired by Duckie from Pretty in Pink.
The second month was dyed by Sarah who was inspired by the special effects in Weird Science.
Needless to say, when they opened sign-ups for the next round, I put my name in the proverbial hat. There are only 50 spots available so I'm just waiting to see if my name gets picked as one of the lucky club members. In case your curious, this round is Kevin Bacon movies. I KNOW!!!!
If I don't get selected, don't feel too bad for me because I have already been accepted in another yarn club. It's a fabulous yarn club. How do I know? SSK! The ladies at SSK that were in this yarn club only had wonderful things to say about it. Prepare to be jealous: I got into Tempted's Pin-up Beauties Yarn Club!!!! My pin-up name is Harvest Hellion.
On top of that, I am participating in the personal sock yarn club that Hannah from the Traveling Sock Knitter podcast is organizing. Basically, you look through your stash and find 12 skeins of sock yarn that you want to knit and you put them in bags. Then every month, you select a bag and make something with the yarn. It should be a great way to use up stash and I think having a place to chat about it, cheer each other on, and hold each other accountable will make me much more likely to stick with it for the entire year.
So, how about you? Are you in any yarn or fiber clubs? Are you not a club person? What's your deal, Lucille?
The first month of the 2 Crafty Girls Yarn Club was dyed by Dana who was inspired by Duckie from Pretty in Pink.
The second month was dyed by Sarah who was inspired by the special effects in Weird Science.
Needless to say, when they opened sign-ups for the next round, I put my name in the proverbial hat. There are only 50 spots available so I'm just waiting to see if my name gets picked as one of the lucky club members. In case your curious, this round is Kevin Bacon movies. I KNOW!!!!
If I don't get selected, don't feel too bad for me because I have already been accepted in another yarn club. It's a fabulous yarn club. How do I know? SSK! The ladies at SSK that were in this yarn club only had wonderful things to say about it. Prepare to be jealous: I got into Tempted's Pin-up Beauties Yarn Club!!!! My pin-up name is Harvest Hellion.
On top of that, I am participating in the personal sock yarn club that Hannah from the Traveling Sock Knitter podcast is organizing. Basically, you look through your stash and find 12 skeins of sock yarn that you want to knit and you put them in bags. Then every month, you select a bag and make something with the yarn. It should be a great way to use up stash and I think having a place to chat about it, cheer each other on, and hold each other accountable will make me much more likely to stick with it for the entire year.
So, how about you? Are you in any yarn or fiber clubs? Are you not a club person? What's your deal, Lucille?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
SSK Meet-up
On Monday, I was lucky enough to be able to share a visit with my SSK roommate, Hannah. You may know her from her podcast, Traveling Sock Knitter. I actually had Monday and Tuesday off of work for a trip to Indianapolis that fell through so when Hannah let me know that she was going to be in town, I was very happy that I didn't cancel my vacation days!!
We had lunch at Farrens Pub and we were able to hang out and knit there for four and a half hours! It was a little like being back at SSK. It is so strange that we lived in the same town for years and never met and now she lives half way across the country! We definitely lamented all of the time that we could have been hanging out and knitting! We talked about the exciting announcement that there will be another SSK. We are both putting our names in and we are planning on rooming together again if we both get in. We also talked about maybe having a VKN (virtual knit-night) some time in the future with Denise, another fabulous woman from SSK. So Denise, if your ears were burning on Monday afternoon, it was because we were talking about you!
As I said, we knit for quite a while but I knew from experience that if I wanted any actual knitting to get done, I would have to cast on a new project. My current project, the Bay of Fundy Scarf in Sweet Georgia's Tough Sock is just not suitable because of the of the cabling in it. I picked up the Sweet Georgia yarn at SSK from Rebecca Danger's booth but she does have an online shop or you can pick some up at The Loopy Ewe.
So I cast on for a Sockhead hat using a Zauberball while I was in the parking garage waiting to go into the pub. The Zauberball has been in my stash for a while and I think the hat is going to be kind of fun since it will be striped in some lovely neutral colors.
Our lunch flew by far too quickly and I realized that I need to make an effort to get out to local knit nights so I can have some knitting friends that don't live far away. I'm so thankful that I got a chance to see Hannah and I look forward to the next time I am able to hang out with an awesome knitter/friend.
We had lunch at Farrens Pub and we were able to hang out and knit there for four and a half hours! It was a little like being back at SSK. It is so strange that we lived in the same town for years and never met and now she lives half way across the country! We definitely lamented all of the time that we could have been hanging out and knitting! We talked about the exciting announcement that there will be another SSK. We are both putting our names in and we are planning on rooming together again if we both get in. We also talked about maybe having a VKN (virtual knit-night) some time in the future with Denise, another fabulous woman from SSK. So Denise, if your ears were burning on Monday afternoon, it was because we were talking about you!
As I said, we knit for quite a while but I knew from experience that if I wanted any actual knitting to get done, I would have to cast on a new project. My current project, the Bay of Fundy Scarf in Sweet Georgia's Tough Sock is just not suitable because of the of the cabling in it. I picked up the Sweet Georgia yarn at SSK from Rebecca Danger's booth but she does have an online shop or you can pick some up at The Loopy Ewe.
So I cast on for a Sockhead hat using a Zauberball while I was in the parking garage waiting to go into the pub. The Zauberball has been in my stash for a while and I think the hat is going to be kind of fun since it will be striped in some lovely neutral colors.
Our lunch flew by far too quickly and I realized that I need to make an effort to get out to local knit nights so I can have some knitting friends that don't live far away. I'm so thankful that I got a chance to see Hannah and I look forward to the next time I am able to hang out with an awesome knitter/friend.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Missing SSK
At the end of June, I was lucky enough to attend SSK (Super Summer Knitogether). This was my first time attending a knitting retreat & I was a bit nervous about going since it involved 150 strangers and staying in a dorm room. Remember dorm rooms?
However, I pulled on my big girls pants and didn't let my apprehension hold me back, and you know what? It was AWESOME!!!!!
I took a colorwork class from Kirsten Kapur that nearly melted by brain. In a three hours class, I learned to: knit continential, do two-handed colorwork, follow a colorwork chart, make a latvian braid and how to catch long floats on the back of the work so they are less apt to snag during use. By the end of the class, I really could have used a massage as my shoulders felt like they were permanently stuck up by my ears. Thankfully, Kirsten Kapur is a very patient teacher. If you get a chance to take a class from her in the future, I would highly recommend it.
I took one hours classes from each of the three wonderful women who organized SSK. Carin taught a class on what it means to pick up stitches versus pick up and knit stitches. It was interesting to hear when I should use one versus the other. Now, I feel ready to conquer one of the Log Cabin blankets that I have been drooling over. Laura taught a class on different cast-ons and bind-offs. I learned quite a bit, including that when doing a long-tail cast-on, it counts as you first row of knitting. No wonder some of my projects have had a weird edge at the bottom, I have basically been adding in an extra knit row. Oops. Leslie taught a class on backwards knitting. It was pretty easy to pick up the skill but I don't see myself using it a whole lot. A few people in the class really noticed a difference in their knitting because the tension between their knit stitches and their purl stitches is really uneven and knitting backwards remedies that. However, I don't seem to have tension issues so this will just be a specialized skill that gets deployed every once in a while. Jessica, a woman in the class who was sitting at my table, mentioned that it would be really useful when a pattern calls for nupps so you don't have to turn your work when you purl back a couple of stitches.
As much as I enjoyed the classes, the best part of SSK was just hanging out with a bunch of people who share a common interest. It was so nice to be knitting in a room full of people who would ask questions about your project or yarn and they were genuinely interested. There were no sideways stares from people who were trying to figure out what you were doing, no whispered conversations about how you could just buy whatever you were making at a store. It was bliss. Thanks to the get to know your fellow SSKers bingo game that was handed out at the opening ceremony, I got to enjoy a little fame as someone who has never knit a pair of socks. Evidently, non-sock knitters were in short supply at SSK so my fail at sock knitting made me popular. In a nice coincidence, a lovely woman that I met has also never knit a pair of socks. Our conversation started at that jumping off point and by the end of the conference, I am happy to report that I have made a new friend. Denise is funny & fun & awesome and I never would have met her if it weren't for SSK!
I also lucked out in the roommate department. My roomie was awesome and a very talented knitter. She let me scope out the beautiful shawls that she brought. If you want to see her in action, she has a video podcast called Traveling Sock Knitter. I think it is Hannah's mission to convert Denise and I into sock knitters. I enjoyed the irony of Hannah and I living in the same town for years & never bumping into each other. Then, after she has moved halfway across the country to take a teaching position, we meet at SSK. When I was sharing my SSK stories with my mom, it turns out that she rode to the Spring Fling with Hannah when Hannah still lived in Illinois. The knitting world is big & small at the same time.
There was a lot of amazing food at SSK but two places really stood out for me. If I got back to Nashville, I will definitely be hitting these places up again.
The first place is Rotier's which is a small neighborhood type bar that served possibly the best cheeseburger I have ever eaten. It as served on french bread and I will be forever grateful to the waitress for recommending it. The waitress also happened to be a member of the family that owns the business. It was started by her grandfather and it is still in the family. So, if you are in Nashville, please make this place a priority stop. Not only is the food amazing but you will be supporting a local, family-owned business.
The second place with the amazing food was Noshville. It is a New York style deli that serves amazing food. I had a really good reuben which is impossible to find in my home town. The service was friendly, the portions were large, and I think about that sandwich in my sleep.
Lastly, on Saturday there was a vendor market. Was there yarn to be had at the vendor market? Did I come home with seven skeins of yarn from Another Crafty Girl? Maybe. I'll never tell.
I could go on and on and on about SSK. There are more amazing women that I got to meet, more fun stories to tell, and I can't wait to do something like this again. However, this blog post if officially a novella so I am out!
However, I pulled on my big girls pants and didn't let my apprehension hold me back, and you know what? It was AWESOME!!!!!
I took a colorwork class from Kirsten Kapur that nearly melted by brain. In a three hours class, I learned to: knit continential, do two-handed colorwork, follow a colorwork chart, make a latvian braid and how to catch long floats on the back of the work so they are less apt to snag during use. By the end of the class, I really could have used a massage as my shoulders felt like they were permanently stuck up by my ears. Thankfully, Kirsten Kapur is a very patient teacher. If you get a chance to take a class from her in the future, I would highly recommend it.
I took one hours classes from each of the three wonderful women who organized SSK. Carin taught a class on what it means to pick up stitches versus pick up and knit stitches. It was interesting to hear when I should use one versus the other. Now, I feel ready to conquer one of the Log Cabin blankets that I have been drooling over. Laura taught a class on different cast-ons and bind-offs. I learned quite a bit, including that when doing a long-tail cast-on, it counts as you first row of knitting. No wonder some of my projects have had a weird edge at the bottom, I have basically been adding in an extra knit row. Oops. Leslie taught a class on backwards knitting. It was pretty easy to pick up the skill but I don't see myself using it a whole lot. A few people in the class really noticed a difference in their knitting because the tension between their knit stitches and their purl stitches is really uneven and knitting backwards remedies that. However, I don't seem to have tension issues so this will just be a specialized skill that gets deployed every once in a while. Jessica, a woman in the class who was sitting at my table, mentioned that it would be really useful when a pattern calls for nupps so you don't have to turn your work when you purl back a couple of stitches.
As much as I enjoyed the classes, the best part of SSK was just hanging out with a bunch of people who share a common interest. It was so nice to be knitting in a room full of people who would ask questions about your project or yarn and they were genuinely interested. There were no sideways stares from people who were trying to figure out what you were doing, no whispered conversations about how you could just buy whatever you were making at a store. It was bliss. Thanks to the get to know your fellow SSKers bingo game that was handed out at the opening ceremony, I got to enjoy a little fame as someone who has never knit a pair of socks. Evidently, non-sock knitters were in short supply at SSK so my fail at sock knitting made me popular. In a nice coincidence, a lovely woman that I met has also never knit a pair of socks. Our conversation started at that jumping off point and by the end of the conference, I am happy to report that I have made a new friend. Denise is funny & fun & awesome and I never would have met her if it weren't for SSK!
I also lucked out in the roommate department. My roomie was awesome and a very talented knitter. She let me scope out the beautiful shawls that she brought. If you want to see her in action, she has a video podcast called Traveling Sock Knitter. I think it is Hannah's mission to convert Denise and I into sock knitters. I enjoyed the irony of Hannah and I living in the same town for years & never bumping into each other. Then, after she has moved halfway across the country to take a teaching position, we meet at SSK. When I was sharing my SSK stories with my mom, it turns out that she rode to the Spring Fling with Hannah when Hannah still lived in Illinois. The knitting world is big & small at the same time.
There was a lot of amazing food at SSK but two places really stood out for me. If I got back to Nashville, I will definitely be hitting these places up again.
The first place is Rotier's which is a small neighborhood type bar that served possibly the best cheeseburger I have ever eaten. It as served on french bread and I will be forever grateful to the waitress for recommending it. The waitress also happened to be a member of the family that owns the business. It was started by her grandfather and it is still in the family. So, if you are in Nashville, please make this place a priority stop. Not only is the food amazing but you will be supporting a local, family-owned business.
The second place with the amazing food was Noshville. It is a New York style deli that serves amazing food. I had a really good reuben which is impossible to find in my home town. The service was friendly, the portions were large, and I think about that sandwich in my sleep.
Lastly, on Saturday there was a vendor market. Was there yarn to be had at the vendor market? Did I come home with seven skeins of yarn from Another Crafty Girl? Maybe. I'll never tell.
I could go on and on and on about SSK. There are more amazing women that I got to meet, more fun stories to tell, and I can't wait to do something like this again. However, this blog post if officially a novella so I am out!
Monday, June 18, 2012
What's the haps?
It has been a busy couple of weeks and things won't be slowing down anytime soon. I usually try not to schedule stuff two weekends in a row because I like to reserve every other weekend to catch up on podcasts, reading, television shows & knitting. However I managed to book my weekends solid from June 2nd to July 8th.
The weekend of June 2nd was the wedding in Nashville and the next weekend was Relay for Life. It was the first time that I participated in Relay for Life and despite some flaws, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I was on the Connie's Crusaders team that was formed in support of a friend who is currently undergoing treatment. Our team raised just under $1,800.00 for the American Cancer Society which I think was pretty respectable since it was our first time participating. There were a lot of people on the team but thanks to my finely honed night shift skills, I was the only member of the team who stayed all night. Thankfully some of my friends stayed late, until about 1:30am and 3:00am, which really helped me stick it out. A special shout-out to K & T who found the indoor restrooms so I didn't have to use a port-a-potty! You know what the other secret to staying out all night & walking laps is?
Junk food! Don't judge. Junk food makes 4:00am feel a lot better. And yes, the junk food is hanging out on my yoga mat. I did do a little bit of yoga in the wee hours of the morning and when I wasn't yoga-ing, the mat was nice and comfy to sit on. I did take photos of people but again, I didn't think to ask if they minded being on the blog so no awesome, sweaty, hopeful Relay for Life people pictures. I think that my favorite non-people photo of the night was the picture I snapped of sunrise.
The crowds had dispersed quite a bit by sunrise but the people that were left really seemed to get a second wind once the sun started to rise. My only complaints about the event dealt with some organizational glitches that will hopefully be fixed next year. The relay had twice as many teams this year than they had last year so I am just chalking it up to growing pains. So, if you are on the fence about attending an event life this, then I would say give it a shot and if you can, stay all night!
This weekend, I hung out at my mom's & dad's house to celebrate Father's Day. My dad seemed to enjoy showing off his new lawn mower and he even offered to let me drive but I totally chickened out. It steers with levers instead of a steering wheel and goes pretty fast and I was afraid that I would run over some of the landscaping that he has been spending his weekends doing! The yards looks really fabulous with lots of flowers and a new water fountain. It was really great to spend time with them.
There hasn't been a lot of time for knitting and right now I am spending my free crafting time poking around Ravelry trying to find a pattern that sparks my knitting mojo. I just need to stop waffling and pick a pattern and start knitting! I did so a little stash enhancement but I will save that for my next blog entry. Until then, keep it nerdy!
The weekend of June 2nd was the wedding in Nashville and the next weekend was Relay for Life. It was the first time that I participated in Relay for Life and despite some flaws, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I was on the Connie's Crusaders team that was formed in support of a friend who is currently undergoing treatment. Our team raised just under $1,800.00 for the American Cancer Society which I think was pretty respectable since it was our first time participating. There were a lot of people on the team but thanks to my finely honed night shift skills, I was the only member of the team who stayed all night. Thankfully some of my friends stayed late, until about 1:30am and 3:00am, which really helped me stick it out. A special shout-out to K & T who found the indoor restrooms so I didn't have to use a port-a-potty! You know what the other secret to staying out all night & walking laps is?
Junk food! Don't judge. Junk food makes 4:00am feel a lot better. And yes, the junk food is hanging out on my yoga mat. I did do a little bit of yoga in the wee hours of the morning and when I wasn't yoga-ing, the mat was nice and comfy to sit on. I did take photos of people but again, I didn't think to ask if they minded being on the blog so no awesome, sweaty, hopeful Relay for Life people pictures. I think that my favorite non-people photo of the night was the picture I snapped of sunrise.
The crowds had dispersed quite a bit by sunrise but the people that were left really seemed to get a second wind once the sun started to rise. My only complaints about the event dealt with some organizational glitches that will hopefully be fixed next year. The relay had twice as many teams this year than they had last year so I am just chalking it up to growing pains. So, if you are on the fence about attending an event life this, then I would say give it a shot and if you can, stay all night!
This weekend, I hung out at my mom's & dad's house to celebrate Father's Day. My dad seemed to enjoy showing off his new lawn mower and he even offered to let me drive but I totally chickened out. It steers with levers instead of a steering wheel and goes pretty fast and I was afraid that I would run over some of the landscaping that he has been spending his weekends doing! The yards looks really fabulous with lots of flowers and a new water fountain. It was really great to spend time with them.
There hasn't been a lot of time for knitting and right now I am spending my free crafting time poking around Ravelry trying to find a pattern that sparks my knitting mojo. I just need to stop waffling and pick a pattern and start knitting! I did so a little stash enhancement but I will save that for my next blog entry. Until then, keep it nerdy!
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