ESSFall2015: Saturday

Hello:

Good Morning Knitters!

We started the day quite early, some of us were up by 5:30, others took advantage of the weekend away from family to sleep in a bit, but once we were awake, we were knitting.

We knit.

Knit,                                                      Knit,                                         Knit.

After lunch, JitteryKnitter and I took a walk to find Lake Cle Elem.

The lake has receded so much because of the lack of snowfall last winter, that it was almost hard to find!

When we got back to the cabin, people were still knitting,

and knitting (sometimes spinning),

and knitting,

Did I mention that we spent the day knitting?
Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet on a knitting retreat

ESSFall2015: Friday

Hello:

This weekend was the first annual Eastside Stitchers Fall Knitting Retreat.  We headed out Friday after work east on the 90 fwy to Lake Cle Elem.

I carpooled with JitteryKnitter (who was our fearless driver), Puzan (the navigator), and truespark.  It was a bit foggy, and we had some traffic just as we were leaving the west side of the Cascade Mountains, but the drive was pretty easy and before we knew it we were getting off the freeway and driving through the picturesque towns of Roslyn and Ronald.

The house we rented was huge and just about perfect for our needs.  It had lots of beds (no bunk beds!), lots of bathrooms with showers, a big kitchen, and most important of all a big living room.

 This was the bedroom that I shared with VanesaPolo:

We planned to pot luck our dinners, and then bring our own breakfasts and lunches with food to share for snacks.

In reality, we had Group Food, pretty much for every meal.  We left all of the snacks that were for sharing on the big center work table in the kitchen.  There was way too much food!  and so yummy.  And this photo is just the stuff from the Friday people.  We had 4 more people arrive Saturday morning, with more food!

We somehow found time between eating snacks and meals to knit.  Those photos in the Saturday post.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from the knitting retreat.

Wednesday before Our Retreat

Hello!

We had toddlers at Crossroads tonight at the beginning of our regular Wednesday meet up.  Say, "Cheese for Tutu!"

So, who couldn't wait until the weekend to get together to knit?

Wajio was fluffing up her Yellowstone River scarf.

GwenS was knitting her first sweater knit for herself.

BlueBerryMary was wearing a beaded cowl and knitting a cowl from a blend of two different yarns she reclaimed from thrift shop sweaters.

Hrvdmnky is knitting socks! after a long hiatus from that type of project.

Chockelet is knitting a shawl from a pattern she got on the 2015 LYS Crawl at Serial Knitters.

JitteryKnitter is on the front sections of the vest she is knitting for the Acorn Street Yarn Shop's Fall Fashion Show.

Wireknitter brought her latest test knit.  It is a beautiful shawl knit in garter stitch and using a set of gradient yars.

Anya brought her latest spindle spun yarn.

Her mom, ReadnitDream. is knitting a hat.

Anya brought me her new knitting project and another bobbin that she has spun.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with kid spinners.

sunday

 

Hello:

This is both my favorite and my worst type of post.  Favorite because I get to show you who came to one of my stitching groups (Yarn Church this time, as we like to call our Sunday morning group).  Worst because I waited 3 days to post because I am feeling behind on all my projects, and JitteryKnitter is walking so much that I have to waste precious knitting/blogging time trying to keep up with her in our fitbit challenges, and so now this post will be rushed and I will barely remember who was working on what!

This first project is easy to place.  Isn't it spectacular?  VanesaPolo is working her Planned Pooling magic and creating Argyl.  She is using one skein of Malabrigo Yarn Silky Merino.  The colorway is 480 Bee.  Because she got the math right and is so consistent with her tension, she is able to get the colors to pool in this pattern.

JitteryKnitter is finished with the back of the vest she is knitting for Acorn Street Yarns.  Her vest, my Daybreak, a cowl knit by VanesaPolo and something... a shrug? knit by GwenS are store samples that will be featured in a fashion show the shop is putting on.

Do you recognize this cute baby hat?  The pattern is by our own MeshaMarie.  The knitting is by KelleyR.  Can you believe this is her first stranded colorwork project?  Kelley is also working on her first socks.  She is knitting them as tubes to take advantage of the dye pattern in the yarn, then will be putting in afterthought heels.

One more note about KelleyR.  She brought a baby sweater kit to share with us.  She bought the kit on a trip to Paris, but didn't realize that the instructions would be in FRENCH!  I totally understand as the kit was packaged in such a cute way, and the pattern is really darling.

Last but not least, Puzan was working on "just a hat" as she described it.

I was working on the sharf that I am designing.  This is a blend of a scarf and shawl.  It is knit in sections and I was finishing up section 2 during Yarn Church.  I love love love how it is coming out.  But the scarf is part of the reason I am so behind on all of my projects.  I realized Sunday evening when I had about 5 rows left in the section, that I had numbered my pattern rows incorrectly.  I had counted 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56...  Repeating those 4 row numbers made all of my calculations off for the short rows, and I had to rip the ENTIRE SECTION OUT.  Yes.  I. Ripped.  The. Entire. Section. Out.  This was 3 days of knitting.  I spent Sunday night carefully numbering the rows again, then redoing the math, then starting the section.  I am trying to work on this project on weekends only, reserving that time just for the scarf so I can focus.  Obviously, I need to focus a bit more.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from Yarn Church

I can't believe how many people came to Wed Knitting

Hello:  I'm so tired, and my internet is acting up but I will try to get this post up tonight.  Can you find Venus in the above photo?  I was out walking before school, and just had to take a photo.

We had a huge group at the regular Wednesday night meet up at Crossroads in Bellevue, WA. When I got home, I started to write up this post, but for some reason, it was taking forever for the photos to download to the blog, and I had to give up and go to sleep.  Let's hope tat I remember who was knitting what!

Pamela2708 brought a lace shawl in a variegated yarn.

JitteryKnitter is almost finished with the back of the vest she is knitting as a shop sample for Acorn St. Yarn shop.

Puzan is close to finishing her hitchhiker.  I'm not sure that I really captured how pretty this is.  The yarn is pooling in a water color effect.

GwenS has put the sleeves on waste yarn for the first sweater for herself that she has ever knit.

Hvrdmnky brought an old (2 years, I think) WIP.  She is starting the second sock of this pair.

The beautiful Addie ate dinner with us, and had a cheerful, "Good-bye, Tutu!" when it was time to go.

BlueBerryMary is putting the flip-top on her left mit.

Dreamweaver19 has started a new cow.  She has some very interesting yarns.  The dark and white parts are all of the same skein.

Chockelet was working on a shawl pattern that she got during the North Sound LYS Tour last Spring.

Tara1682 is knitting a lace shawl.  The pattern is asymmetrical with dropped stitches.

 Laura (what's your rav name!!) brought a beautiful hat knit with lace weight yarn.  This is her first project that uses 4 double point needles.

 WireKnitter is test knitting this beautiful gray and pink shawl.

Wajio has started, just barely, a new shawl.

nightorchid brought her endless ribbed scarf.  So fun to have her little girl join us, too.

DomesticShorthair brought a lace project.  I'm pretty sure it's the Catskills Cardi by Sheila Toy Stromberg.

I brought the costumes I am making for my Math Department to wear for Halloween.  I don't have a photo for this post, but I promise to get one up either tomorrow or Saturday.  They are coming out really fun!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with lots and lots and lots of knitting buddies.