First Annual Eastside Stitchers Knitting Retreat

Guess what we are doing at the First Annual Eastside Stitchers Knitting Retreat?

We
Are
Knitting.

 Ok, ReadnitDream is spinning.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from Camano Island.

P.S. Everyone else, Hurry up and come!

Eastside Stitchers: Busted!

Hello:
Tonight at Crossroads, the Mall Cops came by and made us move a table.  Honestly.  It happened like this:

We had a pretty good turn out for Knit Night, and needed a second table, but there were 2 people sitting at the other big round table.  Also, there was someone sitting at the nearest rectangle table.  So, we grabbed one of the tables in the middle area between the Italian Pasta restaurant, Ziti, and Bellevue Cafe, and moved it over so it was "attached" to our big round table.  About 5 minutes later, two, count them, two mall cops were standing next to us telling us that we couldn't have the table like that.

Well, we scoot tables together all the time.  However, we had put the square table on the end that stuck out into the "walkway" so I could see that we needed to move it.  I said we would be happy to move the table to the side, and as we got up, the Mall Cop said that we couldn't use that table at all and had to return it to the middle.

Wow.

I had no idea that we couldn't move one of those tables.  Also, the guy was kind of a jerk in the way he said it.  He could have apologized, and said that he was sorry but the mall policy was, ... etc.   But he just said that we couldn't use that table and to move it back.

We moved it, and by that time, the people sitting at the rectangular table had left, so we were able to scoot that table over.

So who were the scofflaws knitting at Crossroads tonight?

 JitteryKnitter brought a cowl to frog and a shawl to knit...with the same yarn.

Puzan brought 3 different projects (all cowls, though she kept claiming they were hats), and as far as I could tell, she knit on all three of them simultaneously.

WireKnitter has returned from exotic locations, and brought a beautiful shawl, and a story of much frogging.

Tara1682 finally got off work early enough to make it to knitting.  She brought a new hat pattern.  I wasn't sure for a minute as I looked at my photos just whose knitting this is, then I noticed that color and knew it had to be Tara's.

BlueBerryMary was wearing her beautiful finished Linen Stitch Scarf.  She was knitting a Vintage vest with some of the yarn she reclaimed from a sweater she bought at a thrift shop.

Chockelet brought her There and Back again Scarf, but she mostly worked on her Hitchhiker.

CathieC brought the beginning/a swatch of an Intarsia Sheep Pillow.

She is taking a class on making the pillow at Tolt, and she was knitting the beginning of the pillow as the swath.  Unfortunately, her gauge was off, so she will have to frog and try again with another size needle.

ReadnitDream was wearing her No Swatch Hat (by VanesaPolo).  She brought some newly spun yarn to Show and Tell.

Her Daughter brought some knitting.

ReadnitDream, herself, was knitting a Nymphaledia.

DomesticShorthair brought her beautiful Petal Cowl.

Finally, guess who showed up with a new baby blanket on the needles?

Colleen!  We hadn't seen her in quite a while, so it was super fun to have her join us at the round (and rectangular) table.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from behind bars (not really)

Daylight Saving Sucks

Yes,
the sun stays out later, but it is not worth the hour of lost sleep.  And, here in the Pacific Northwest, the sun would be staying out later in about one more week anyway. 

Ok, a quick peek at my Round One socks for Sock Madness.

They are a texture pattern.  I really like them.  Here are the legs spread out on blockers:

In order to move on, and be placed on a team (Round 1 is the Preliminary Round), I have to complete at least half of 2 socks or 1 complete sock by March 15.  These photos are from Sunday, and I have finished the heels and picked up the gussets.  My hope is to finish by Friday, March 13. 

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a sleep deprived headache.

Vacation is Awesome

Hello:

Lovely weather we are having.

A little over a week ago, I was on February Break.  I had the whole week off, and planned to do nothing but knit.  Before the break started, my students asked me what I was going to do for vacation.  I always answered, "Nothing but knitting."

The vacation started off really well.  JulieMustKnit and I drove down to Tacoma for the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival.

This was Julie's first time going to the festival.  Neither of us was taking any classes, but some of our knitting friends, Redbird1, JitteryKnitter, etc., were taking classes, and so we planned to hit the market, sit and knit in the Rotunda, and have lunch with Knitting Buddies.

And that is what we did.

We arrived a little after 9 am when the morning classes were in session, so there were open tables in the rotunda.  We left our knitting bags at a table and walked through the market.  Neither of us bought anything, but we were very very tempted.  There is so much really lovely yarn and fiber at this festival.

I was wearing my newest Advent Calendar Scarf, and the ladies at the various stalls that were selling lace patterns stopped me to chat about techniques.  That was really fun.  I had brought a pair of double knit socks that I was making for my Godson.

These are meant to be knit as stranded colorwork, the pattern is Sheep may Safely Graze by Caoua Coffee, but since the floats are so long, I decided to knit them in double knit, and give them to him as slippers.

Really.  Maybe it was the red and white.  Maybe it was the sheep.  People kept stopping by to comment.  We saw many many beautiful shawls, cowls and sweaters.  I saw at least 4 different Lefties.  All of them were beautiful, and made me want to knit that shawl.

We saw Lucy Neatby.

Really, it was a wonderful day.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet on vacation.

Wednesday Night with Eastside Stitchers

Hello:

The blurry photo of the woodpecker (above), I believe it's a Northern Flicker, was taken last weekend of a bird that was pecking at our neighbor's metal chimney.  Even though it was fairly early, I have to admit that I love that metal rat-a-tat-tat.  The blurry photo is to get you all in the mood for...blurry photos of what was being knitted tonight at Eastside Stitchers' regular meet up at Crossroads in Bellevue.

JulieMustKnit is knitting 50 hats.  This latest hat is number 42?  somewhere in the 40's.  She recently bought a set of 5 different mystery patterns for hats, and is busy knitting her way through the patterns.

Wajio is on the toe decreases, and is almost ready to Kitchener the toes of her faux colorwork socks.

CathieC is knitting a beautiful colorwork hat for her mom for St. Patrick's Day.

She was ready to start the crown decreases when she decided that the hat was just too tall.  Being an Redbird1, she ripped back the top portion and was getting ready to pick up the stitches, and THEN knit the crown decreases.

I know I'm going to get the name wrong, but GwenS is working on a 3 Color Cashmere Cowl by Joji Locatelli.

Chockelet, who has been on a finishing frenzy is almost finished with this beautiful hitchhiker.

DomesticShorthair is knitting a Petal Cowl, by Xandy Peters.  I thought I saw this beautiful cowl at Madrona last week, but it was actually a similar pattern by the same designer.  It is very striking.

NightOrchid's cabled hat has really progressed.  The camera is still washing out the richness of the red, but at least you can see how perfect her cables are. 

These last photos are of a new person who came tonight, but not to knit.  I didn't get her
Ravelry name, so I will just call her "B."  B brought her drop spindle.

VanesaPolo and the beautiful Emma and Addie were also at knitting, but I missed getting their photos.  Also, ReadKnitDream came just before I left.  We missed her last week, so it was especially nice to see her.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with Knitting Buddies