Fort Worden 2

Hello:
These are some photos of our knitting circle Saturday morning at the Fort Worden Knitting Retreat 2015.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from Knitting Heaven.

Fort Worden 1

 I'm here!

Last Wednesday in October

Hello:
A nice group braved our regular Autumn drizzle to knit at the faux wood tables at Crossroads tonight.  We had Emma, Addie and Rory as special guests (and VanesaPolo) as the evening began. 

This blurry photo is an action shot of GwenS frogging about 2 inches of her Harvest cardigan.  When she tried it on for us to tell her how much more she needed to knit before starting the border, we said, um you should have started the border 2 inches ago.  By the end of the evening, she had picked up and was again knitting forward.

Hrvdmnky was sewing snaps on a toddler sweater.  She is making these sweaters for the twins and older sister (and sister's doll) of a good friend.  Here is the older sister's sweater, and the matching (but sparkly) doll sweater.

Wireknitter, having frogged a few inches of this beautiful shawl, is back to knitting forward.  The pattern is Sand Layers by Lisa Hannes.

SpinningLizzy's Tropfen scarf by Jana Huck has a complicated history that involves cutting off a section.  But, I am happy to report that the knitting is going forward on this project again, too.

Pamela2708 is making really good progress on her Lineas Cowl by Elizabeth Suarez.

KelleyR has cut her socks and finished one of the afterthought heels and the sock fits beautifully.

Tara1682 is knitting away on her drop stitch wrap (sorry, Tara, I forget the pattern's name).

I brought two swatches to practice my embroidery embellishments.  We had a really nice program on Monday at the Eastside Knitters Guild on embroidering on your knits, and I thought I would give it a try.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with embroidered knits.

Heigh Ho!

Hello:

I finished the Dwarf hats and beards that I have been making for Halloween.  I'm not sure  if I wrote about it here, but my department at school decided to dress up as Snow White and the 7 Dwarves on the understanding that I would make the Dwarf hats and Beards.

I decided to crochet all of the hats because they need to be extra long and droopy.  I also crocheted the beards using the Loop stitch that I used to make the lion's mane on this afghan square:

So, here are the 7 hats:

I have already sewn the bear onto the first one, but I might not sew the beards on the others.  I'm thinking that each hat/beard combination needs to fit just right, so I really can't sew everything without the people trying them on.  I'm thinking that safety pins will work ok.

Here are the beards:

Well, the above photo shows the 5 that aren't sewn on.  I didn't want to get bored hooking them, so I made each one unique.

There are 6 because, in the Disney tradition, Dopey doesn't have a beard.  The sad thing is that I will be gone the day before Halloween, so I won't get to see everyone dressed up with the hats and beards.  The happy thing is that I will miss because I will be at the Ft. Worden Knitting Retreat!  Anyway, I will try to get someone to take a photo of the team in their costumes and post it here.

Peace,
f1becat
shaping the planet with a Heigh Ho Ho Ho!

Fiber Club

Hello:
I have started a club for knitting and crochet at the middle school where I am an instructional aide.  The club meets on Monday afternoons and we have about 8 members.  Not all the members can come every week, as Rocketry club meets every other Monday, and some are in that club, too.  Stupid rockets!  We have quite a few members who are experienced at either knitting or crochet and some who know both.  We don't have Ravelry accounts, though I hope they will be able to do this soon, as Ravelry is a MUST for serious fiber people, so I can't name my members, but I wanted to show you what people were working on this week.

This first photo is of a crocheted granny square.  This member is a knitter who is learning to crochet.  She has mastered the chain, and now the double crochet stitch.  After finishing her square, she decided to do a knit project next, so this week she cast on a hat for her baby sister.

One of the experienced crocheters decided to try working with crochet thread, and see if she can make some lace.

This is a GINORMOUS garterstitch scarf.  I have no idea if this knitter will actually make it long enough to be a real scarf or if she will get tired and start a new project.  But, Go For It!

This last project is another large garter stitch scarf, not quite as ginormous as the one above, but pretty wide.  I need to teach these kids the purl stitch so they can try ribbing.  But right now, they all seem so happy just getting together to work on their projects.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with new stitchers.

Wed Night with the Eastside Stitchers

Hello:
This has been such an amazing fiber filled week for me.  And, by week I mean from last Friday evening to tonight.  Friday after work, I met up with VanesaPolo and we carpooled to Acorn Street Yarns for their Fall Fest Fashion Show.  Saturday and Sunday were filled from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm with Fiber Fusion in Monroe, Monday afternoon was the regular meetup for my new school stitching club (more about that later), and tonight the regular Wednesday meetup for the Eastside Stitchers.  In between, I spent my time (when not at work or sleeping) knitting, hooking and spinning.  Life is good.

But, enough about me.  Who made it to Crossroads, and what were they knitting/hooking?

WireKnitter is test knitting a new shawl by Lisa Hannes named Sand Layers.

CrunchyNumbers brought two very different projects to work on.  She is knitting Nurmilintu, a shawl by Heidi Alander.

She also brought her beautiful cabled socks by VeryBusyMonkey, Cadence Socks.

SpinningLizzy brought her Rock Strata Mitts by Josh Ryks.  She knit these out of her own handspun.

GwenS is making good progress on the sweater she is knitting for her OWL. The pattern is Harvest by tincanknits.

NightOrchid is almost finished with a pair of Dulaan Easy-On Mitts.  I think she will be turning these into a pair of Dino-Mitts for the beautiful Anya.  I got to play act the Goldilocks and the three bears story with Anya tonight (I was the Papa Bear).  What a wonderful imagination she has.

BlueBerryMary brought a cool crochet shawl she is knitting on consignment.  The pattern is called Vintage Shawl.  After finishing the circle, Mary will fold it in half, and then add a border.

Mary brought a Christmas scarf that she knit for herself,

And the Santa beard she hooked using the new loop crochet stitch she learned last week.  Ho Ho Ho!

Wajio has made good progress on the hat she is knitting for the Methow Valley Fire Survivors.  Wajio is using her favorite hat pattern, Rib-A-Roni by Jane Tanner.

VanesaPolo and her beautiful daughter joined us for dinner, as did GwenS's daughter.  Hvrdmnky was there for the knitting, but I went off with Anya to play Papa Bear, and forgot to get a photo of the hats she was finishing!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet at Crossroads in Bellevue.

Fiber Fusion Northwest 3: Popular Wheel Mechanics

Hello:
The afternoon spinning class today with Judith MacKenzie was Popular Wheel Mechanics.  Basically, it was how to use and make simple adjustments to your wheel to spin a variety of weight yarns.  Most of the spinning wheels that people brought were relatively new designs.  I have a fairly old Ashford Traditional wheel.  Judith talked about using different "pulleys" (the wheel manufacturers call them whorls) to get different weight singles, but I only have one "pulley" on my wheel.  It didn't matter, though, as she focused mainly on how to use tension to make your single bigger or smaller.  She spun all but the very biggest and very smallest of the above yarns on the middle sized pulley for her wheel.

She is just so full of information. She fixed a slight problem with my wheel, and worked on a few other wheels, too.  She is so knowledgeable about spinning traditions from around the world, that it is fun to hear her stories.

Here is the circle of my attempts to spin fatter and thinner yarns:

What fun!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with fat and thin yarn.