Some Success and Fun

Last week I posted about 3 projects - a blue top, a blue market bag and a white mystery shawl from 2007 (yeah, I started it that long ago!). So, did I finish the top for Yarnover or did the other projects take over my time and the top stayed at home. The answer is....

both

I did finish the top but I have no pictures for you yet because it is not totally finished. No buttons and needs blocking. I like it but I remembered how warm the building was last year and decided to wear something lighter weight. That was the right decision. Our classroom was warm and the blue top would have been too much.

The blue market bag is done except for the handles. I'm debating what type of handles would be best. They need to be strong and not stretchy because there's nothing worse than having a bag that ends up dragging on the ground.

The white shawl IS DONE!!! I still need to block it but that won't happen until I decide if its going to be dyed or not. Until then I'm going to let it sit for a little bit because once you dye it the deed is done and the shawl can't go back to white.

Yarnover

Last weekend was yarn over. I had a friend come up from southern Minnesota to stay Friday night before the event. Friday night we met another friend for dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant and had a great time. Yarnover is a Minnesota Knitter's Guild one day event with many teachers - vendors and a chance for knitters to learn and enjoy the day. The day began with Merike Saarniit as keynote speaker and then I had a morning class with her on Creative Estonian Knitting. I don't take too many classes because, quite frankly, there's not a lot out there I haven't tried and I don't have the money to waste on classes that don't teach me new things. I hadn't done any Estonian knitting specifically and figured since she grew up in the culture it would be interested to take a class from her. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The class started out with page 1 of her handout not being copied for us (not her fault and we did get it emailed to us a couple days later) so the cast on on that page had to be done slowly and repeated multiple times because people didn't have the ability to look at the directions as they tried it. Then she talked a  lot about just do whatever you want to and how ladies just make things up. In the end we learned a cast on, a new way to do nupps and a slip stitch that goes over multiple stitches to be a V. That's it - 3 hours, 3 stitches. The handout language seems to me to be "cleaned up" a bit. She would say things like "wiggle your thumb" to explain part of the cast on. Without seeing the stitch done this instruction just wouldn't get the average person to the completed stitch.

MN Knitter's Guild Meeting

Tuesday night was the monthly meeting. Moved up earlier than usual so we could enjoy a talk by Sally Melville, who was one of the teachers at Yarnover. She spoke on why knitting is good and what it does for us. Her main point was: Knit what you like and wear what you knit.

NW Twin Cities Burbs Knit Night

This week was also my twice a month knit group. We had a good group including a few new faces. Meeting with a regular group of knitters is so important to feeding your knitting mojo. Each time we meet we talk about silly things - female things - life traumas and more. We also get a chance to see what other knitters are working on and what yarn they have found. It's also a chance to plan for things beyond the group. That happened this week. Three of us are going over to Shepherd's Harvest Festival tomorrow. A time to enjoy the company of knitting friends and fondle yarn, watch sheep get sheared, dream about the spinning wheels, and walk around in the fresh spring air (I think spring is really here). We'll end the day my stopping by Lila and Claudine's since neither of them have ever been there. It will be a good day!