Namesake Sunday

Hello:

Look who showed up at Sunday Morning Knitting at Panera in Redmond!  My namesake.  Ok, she's not really my namesake, but as our names are somewhat similar, I am claiming her. 

Little Caroline brought her mom to knit with our morning group.  It was great to see Hrvdmnky.  She brought a dress she has knit for one of the twins.

She was casting on the fraternal twin.

Meshamarie brought a cabled cowl, sorry I didn't get the pattern.

(And really IS it a cabled cowl?  I was um... paying more attention to little Caroline than the knitting.)

VanesaPolo was working on her latest design.  I don't have a photo as it is a secret at this stage.  I do want to announce the great news that her Chromatic Circle Cowl (which was a secret this fall) is now offered by KnitPicks and is for sale on their site.  We are so proud of our professional designer buddy!

And JitteryKnitter brought her colorwork sweater.

She is knitting this through a class at Tolt Yarn and Wool, and with a bit of advice from Vanesa who is a steeking expert.

Our weather continues to be very cold and clear.  This morning, the announcer on KUOW FM said, "Remember Rain?"  ha ha ha so true, we are forgetting what it is like to have wet weather.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a professional designer buddy.

no snow in the cascades even though the temp is well below freezing.

First Wednesday in November

 

Hello:

Fall is here.  My body is still on daylight savings time (see my rant on this subject in my Sunday, Nov. 2 post).  My cats are still on daylight savings time.  Which means that I am waking up at about 4 am every day, with my cats who WANT ME TO GET UP.  And so by 9 pm I am exhausted.  Anyway, I made it to the regular Wednesday night meet up of Eastside Stitchers at Crossroads in Bellevue, but I left a bit early because I was falling asleep.

I got to knit with a great group before I headed out into the rain towards home.

CathieC brought her Exit 0 Shawl.  She has made huge progress.  Can you see her stitch marker?

CathieC got it during the South Sound LYS Crawl last year.

BlueBerryMary brought the sweater she is making for her grandson.  He drew the teddy bear that she is knitting (with intarsia) onto the front.

Mary made the ribbing for this sweater by using a crochet technique she learned last week at the Eastside Knitters Guild Meeting where the Shibaguyz taught a class on how to crochet on your knitting.

GwenS is knitting (and is almost finished with) a Monarch Butterfly sweater by Taiga Hilliard Designs.

WireKnitter brought her beautiful Exit 0 Shawl.  She looks almost finished.

And look at JulieMustKnitt's Exit 0 Shawl!

Maybe next week we will see a finished shawl worn by one of our group.  These make me want to knit this pattern.

NightOrchid was casting on stitches for a new hat.

VanesaPolo is working on a new design, so I can only show you the yarn.

I brought the sweater that I am knitting for Moogie.

I am well down the sleeves (knitting them 2-at-a-time with magic loops).  Of course we had our best baby visitors.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yards and yards of lavender yarn.

Eastside Stitchers, Last Wednesday in October

Hello:

So I get to Crossroads at about 5 pm and no one is there.  The big round table near Half-Price Books and Starbucks is empty, and so is the 2nd big table in the corner.  I grab a seat at the table, and get to hooking.  I'm making 4 "Minion" hats for Halloween, and need to get them finished.  It hits 5:15 and still no one arrives.  5:30 and I am alone.  This is weird.  Where is GwenS and Addie?  Where is VanesaPolo and Emma?  Just when I was thinking that it was going to be a really weird night with NO Eastside Stitchers, CathieC arrived.

We had this HUGE windstorm last weekend.  On Saturday, our power went out when 2 trees took out power lines on the 24th St. NE hill.  I sat in the living room listening to fir cones hit my roof with a thud thud thud, the much louder THUDS as branches started hitting my roof.  Across the lake I saw flashes of what I thought might be lightning, but what were really the transformers blowing.  Our power cut out at about 9 pm Saturday night.  There were lights to the south, but east across the lake towards Issaquah, and north towards Sammamish and Redmond was total black.  I texted various members of Eastside Stitchers and quite a few of us lost power at the same time.  Some of the lucky ones got theirs back quickly (Skeinherder!) or really didn't lose power at all (JulieMustKnit!)  Sunday knitting at Panera had to be switched to Crossroads because Panera in Redmond had no power.  Since my house was dark and cold, I really wanted to go somewhere for breakfast, so I picked up GwenS and Addie, and we met a few friends at Crossroads where there was Light and Warmth.  My power came back on very late that night, or really very early Monday morning.  Doc and I piled extra blankets on the bed and hunkered down.  Poor CathieC didn't get her power back until mid-day on Monday.  But it seems that we all have power once more.

Anyway, I wondered if people were still digging out (or sweeping up and cutting felled trees) and so we would not really have a group tonight, but I was wrong as we ended up using both big round tables.

Wajio brought a Knitted Knocker.

She had a paperclip holding the nipple part together, we called it her "pierced nipple."  She has finished this first one and will get started on its pair soon.

GwenS is knitting another baby sweater.

The pattern is Curve by Terri Kruse and I'm pretty sure the yarn is Malabrigo.

Jessica brought her very first knitting project, a scarf.

It will be fun to watch her knitting skills and the scarf grow.

And now for the Exit 0 Shawls.  Let's hope I remember who is knitting which shawl.

This is JulieMustKnit's Exit 0.  She has finished the first 2 sections.

And, here is WireKnitter's:

They are at about the same spot, which you can easily see.  It is so interesting to see how the different colors look in this pattern.

WireKnitter also brought a finished shawl for Show and Tell.  The pattern is Ananke by Shannon Squire Designs, and the yarn is Blue Moon Fibers Socks that Rock.

And here is CathieC's Exit 0:

She was worried about a decrease that she missed, but there is no way to see it.  And we encouraged her to forget about ripping back (see the stitch marker, that's where the missed decrease is!) and knit on.  She is almost ready for the second section.

Ok, I think this next piece of knitting is VanesaPolo's.  I know she was starting a project that began with a TON of stitches.

Tara1682 finished her Iznik I Heart You Shawl.

I know this is a gift, and she was really motivated to get it off the needles.  This is absolutely beautiful.  The photo does not do it justice.

And lastly (because she arrived last) is domesticshorthair.  She brought her Concentric shawl by Melanie Dilworth.

I think she had put this away for a bit, and when she pulled it out, the yarn was in a bit of a tangle.  It is all straightened out now, and she is back to knitting.

That's all for now.  We are expecting wind again this coming weekend, so let's hope that all the weak trees have already fallen, and we will have a very uneventful storm.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yarny friends.

Eastside Stitchers Eat Tea

Hello,

Today some of the Eastside Stitchers, the um... unemployed ones, met for afternoon tea at The British Pantry in Redmond, WA.

This is a pretty authentic british pub, restaurant, and shop.

Some of our little group are truly in the know about Great Britain, and explained that not only is this restaurant run by real Brits, but the food uses ingredients FROM Great Britain, so it really tastes right.

We had a cute little room all to ourselves.

Everyone wore something special.
And ok, I'm going to confess right here before I start showing the photos of our knitwear and what we brought to knit during the tea, that all of the photos are horrible.  Apologies to everyone in the group.
And, also to you who are reading this. 

Anyway,
Vanesapolo was wearing an Owls by Kate Davies.

Redbird1 brought her Magic Three-Yarn Scarf & Wrap by Churchmouse Yarn & Teas.

And Skeinherder had on a cowl, called Pretty Thing,  from a pattern by the Yarn Harlot.

We ordered, and the very nice waitress brought us our Teapot. (Love the cozy.)

And a pot of jam.

I had "Afternoon Tea."  Which consisted of cucumber sandwiches (yes!  just like in my favorite Oscar Wilde play, The Importance of Being Earnest), fresh fruit, a scone and a tea cake.

Skeinherder, who had not had lunch, had the "Emperor Tea."  Much the same as mine, but with a ham quiche instead of the cucumber sandwiches.

While we ate our tea, we....
knitted, of course.

(And this is where the really bad photos come in.)

Vanesapolo was working on her newest design.  I am not allowed to post a photo yet, but I can give you a link to the newest one she has posted on Ravelry, a really cute Garter Stitch Keyhole Scarf.

Skeinherder was working on some Turkish Bed Socks by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas.  They are "lemon-ginger tea colored."  Honestly.

Redbird1 brought her Linen Stitch scarf also by Churchmouse Yarns. 

Anerenbe was starting on some amazing mittens.  The pattern is Phenomenon, by Carine Ancel.

After we finished eating (and drinking) our tea, we looked around the shop at all of the very British things.

We shall definitely have to do it again. As Paul McCartney sang,

Would you care to sit with me
For a cup of English tea
Very twee, very me
Any sunny morning

What a pleasure it would be
Chatting so delightfully
Nanny bakes, fairy cakes
Every Sunday morning

Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet in a very civilized manner.

Eastside Stitchers talk Turkey

Hello!

Tonight the Eastside Stitchers met at Crossroads Mall for some serious talk about Thanksgiving.  Tara1682 told us about trying to put together Thanksgiving while living in China, and having to substitute KFC for the turkey.  Redbird1, who is transplanted from the East Coast, was distraught earlier because she had left one of her Gourmet Magazines back in Massachusetts, the one with the stuffing recipe.  However, thanks to a very friendly King County Library researcher, Bellevue branch, she was able to locate the magazine, and get a copy of the recipe.  See the fun you are missing when you can't make stitch night?

At some point in the discussion, we actually started knitting.

Who was there, and what were we knitting?

Redbird1 brought her Guilder to share.  This is yet another Jared Flood design, but so complicated that Redbird1 doesn't actually work on it at stitch night, she just brings it to make us all drool.

She was starting a new Jeweled Cowl by Sachiko Uemura.  The big question was, which beads to use?

After some discussion and voting, she picked the lighter ones, bottom left in the photo above.

Anerenbe brought her almost finished 2nd Cecily Beret. She had a little more than half of her skein left after finishing the first one, so thought she would make a second.

She finished the beret before we left with just enough yarn to spare.

Tara1682 was knitting a Boho Lace Eternity Scarf designed by SweaterBabe.  The yarn is Chickadee, the sport weight yarn by Quince & Co.

Sorry, blogger flipped the photo, but I think you can still see how nice the stitch pattern is.

Vanesapolo was working on a secret, so I can't show the project, just the yarn.

She was using this yarn to design something... and will let me know when the design is ready to be released.  However, she had also brought some Christmas trees to show and tell.

She has been working on some designs, and has her first one up on Ravelry.  It is an I-cord Cowl.  Please check it out.

Vanesapolo also brought another of her designs, a scarf.  This design should be up on Ravelry, soon.

Amigirl joined us tonight, and it was wonderful to see her again.  She brought a newborn hat that she was knitting on 4 dpns.  There was some complicated story about where her size 3 circs were.  I can only say that it involved an UFO.

The hat was really pretty, I think she called the pattern the Sprout Hat by Melissa Goodale, and she is using yarn by Hazelknits.

Hvrdmnky made it before we had left.  I must say that once she showed up, we had a very interesting discussion about the Twilight books and movies in anticipation of the final movie's release this week.  I believe that Anerenbe and Hrvdmnky were the only two of our group who admitted to actually seeing the other movies.  Too funny.

Anyway, Hvrdmnky brought her beautiful Barndom by Stephen West.

You can't see the sparkle in this beautiful shawl, but the Christmas themed colors are visible.  I can't wait to see the FO.

So, a small group tonight, as we were missing some friends who were sick (skeinherder), working (GwenS, Ellyol, Allifer), on vacation (Wajai), or busy elsewhere (Chockelet).

We talked about meeting on Tuesday, November 20, next week, rather than the day right before Thanksgiving.  Please be sure to check the discussion threads for that information.  Also, if you can make it tomorrow at 2:30, we are doing High Tea in Redmond.  There is a thread with the restaurant's name and address in the Group on Ravelry.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
shaping the planet with stitching buddies.