Book Giveaway at SAFF

In honor of my 5th year of teaching classes at SAFF, I've decided to give away a signed copy of Fearless Fair Isle Knitting in each of my 5 classes!

All you gotta do to enter is sign up for one of my classes. If you sign up for more than one class, you'll be entered in each one.

This year I'm teaching:   


EEK! A Steek (Friday, all day, assorted colorway kits to

 choose from)


Exclusive SAFF 2013 Fair Isle  Fingerless Mitten (Saturday 

morning- assorted colorway kits to choose from)


Little Tips and Knitting Tricks (Saturday afternoon)


Writing Patterns for Publication (Sunday morning)


Design Your Own Fair Isle Fingerless Mitten (Sunday 

afternoon- design only, no knitting done in class)


Hope to see you there!

The latest obsession

I managed to go 60 years without caring about fingernail polish, and then WHAM! I was purely terrible at applying it and nearly gave up, and then I had a manicure on the cruise and decided that I had to learn how to do it on my own. It took me 4 weeks to figure it out, but I am finally able to paint my own nails- they're still not manicure-worthy, but good enough for low-light situations.

The ship manicure that started it all. I never knew that nails could look so beautiful:

Here are some of my results.

 In a long running attempt to find pumpkin orange, I found this lovely gold (it was copper in the bottle).

 This is a Del Sol color changing polish- blue inside... Note that I had not yet figured out how to eliminate the bubbles.

 Purple in the sun. Both shades too pastel for me.

This was a local pro-manicure. Again, I was looking for copper, but this gold was really pretty, and it lasted 2 full weeks without chipping.

Another try at copper- this one an OPI, but it came out red

And yet another try at copper- Essie. It's ruby red, but man, it's a gorgeous ruby red. It's a keeper.

China Glaze

A present from my friend Jane! Woot!

This is the pumpkin color I was looking for!

Woohoo!!!!! Also: Finally!

This is today's color- Orly Space Cadet

Purple/green/gold irridescent. Purple straight on...

Greeny gold from other angles.

Next week? Who knows.

Oh, the secret to no bubbles? Wait a bit between coats and top with Seche Vite Top coat. It dries fast and has an amazing gloss. Oil drying drops work, but they bubbled on me every single time.

Wordless mittens and the beginning of a top-down hat...

Is it March yet?

Malabrigo is co-sponsoring the cruise in March and they're advertising it on their blog.

How cool is that?

Here is a list of the classes we'll be teaching onboard.

The Allure of the Seas is an amazing ship- check it out.

I can't wait!

Thursday Tab- Lowe 1943- Farmer Fred and His Friends

It's so rare that little boys have their own sets. I love this one.

Wordless Wednesday, with two links...

Flickertail Fibers on Facebook, Flickertail Fibers on Etsy

Mostly Wordless Saturday

I got to play today- I taught a class yesterday afternoon, and I'll teach another tomorrow afternoon, but today I got to play.

And play, I did. I sat in the spinning circle. I bought yarn (gasp! You would have too... Mini Mochi sock yarn for $1@... no one could resist that). I bought roving, and I spun. All day. It was glorious.

Just call me Katgi

My mini computer logged a lot of miles. It traveled with me in my carry-on on every trip since the '09 Sock Summit, and it served me well. New, it was state of the art. Four years later, it's heavy and slow, and I never did love the keyboard. It's was past time for an upgrade.

I first contemplated an iPad, but after learning that it wouldn't run WORD, I scrapped that notion. I consulted my gurus and waffled between the Surface (with the detatchable keyboard) and the Acer Aspire V5-122P. I finally went with the Acer, partly because of price, but also because it had everything I wanted, and it weighed less than 3lbs (perfect for carry-ons.)

Setting up a new computer isn't like the Olden Days- now you just turn it on and it sets itself up... Except that this one demanded I give it a user name immediately. I meant to type in *Kathi* but I hit the wrong key, and then when I tried to backspace, I accidentally hit *enter*, so my official name is now *Katgi*

I texted my sons with a pic of the new computer (we're always interested in each other's new toys). I tried to explain how I ended up with the weird user-name, but Autocorrect got me.

I knew that Windows 8 was going to come with a learning curve, but I have an iPhone, and my Kindle has a touch screen, so I'm used to swiping things. Still, it took me awhile to figure out how to navigate the new OS.

The little things amuse me- like turning on the keyboard backlight.

Windows 8 is different, but it's not too difficult, and every computer in the house uses a different OS (XP on the mini, Vista on the laptop, Windows 7 on my office computer), so I'm used to switching between them. There is a finite number of programs (called Apps) that will work with the OS, but this is my travel computer, not my desktop, so all I need are the basics. I connected an external DVD drive to it (it has a couple of USB ports- must haves) and loaded Office 2010, just in case I ever decide to work while I'm traveling (fat chance). It has e-mail and Facebook and a web browser (I'm stuck with IE for now- there is presently no Chrome version for Windows 8). And there's a *desktop* icon where I can work from an interface that looks just like the old desktop. And most important: I can play Candy Crush on it (though it's much slower than on my *real* computer because trying to swipe the changes moves the entire screen. I have to use a stylus and tap each piece individually. Luckily, very few of the Candy Crush levels are timed).

I love Siri on my phone, and the Acer comes with voice recognition, so I tried a voice activated Google search (I can get to Google, but I can't use Chrome). I was looking for North Country Fiber Fair...

I guess it doesn't understand my Midwest Twang.

I'm still finding my way around the OS, but it's been a fun process, and I really really like the new keyboard. Maybe I WILL work while I travel. I'll have ample opportunity to find out- I have 5 trips (4 by plane) between now and the end of March... sigh...

Thursday Tab- Merrill Sherry and Adele

Thursdays keep just slipping right past me lately...
This Merrill glamour set is gorgeous. I can't quite make out the date, but I'm thinking it's 1952 (by the styles).