Friends and Fiberworks Winter Retreat Day 2

I woke up this morning to find Asheville in a Winter Storm Watch... just like South Dakota... sigh...
But though it was frosty, and there was snow up in the hills, there were blue skies and white clouds here. It's still cold but not below zero, so it's all good.

 One lovely thing about teaching classes in a small, sort of empty mall, is that I got an entire storefront for my classroom. This is my home for the duration.

 Yep- they expected me.

 Lots of room. So far, class size has been small, but the people are as wonderful as ever.

Susan and I finished our entire hats in class today! Didn't she do a wonderful job?

 The vendors had lots of pretty...

...lots and lots of pretty. And the mall food court has Cakeballs. Can't ask for much more.

So far, no one has signed up for my morning class tomorrow. If that remains the case, I'll find a way to Biltmore, just for a peek before my late afternoon class (which is nearly full).

As I said, it's all good!

Friends and Fiberworks Winter Retreat- Day 1

You know how we've had a warm and dry winter? How the high temps have broken record after record? How we've had  no snow or ice? Well that ended yesterday, which means that this morning's drive to the airport was a bit hairy, what with 43 miles of glare ice and all. Luckily, South Dakota planes have not forgotten how to fly in the cold.

All of my flights were on time, and all of them were smooth until it came time to descend, at which time every airplane bounced all over the sky. None of the landings were the worst I'd ever experienced, but the three of them were the three worst in a row. Happily for me, I do not get airsick (as opposed to the lady across the aisle from me, who filled her shopping bag... several times). And I do not become irritated at growling and barking dogs on planes, though I was definitely surprised to hear Fido behind me.

I did become irritated, however, by a conversation that I could not help but overhear in the Minneapolis airport. A man thanked a soldier in fatigues, who was leaving his family to return to his unit in Kuwait. So far,so good. But the man continued to ask pointed and personal questions, about pay scales, benefits, injuries and death, which was bad enough, but it really became uncomfortable when the questions turned personal- many about the soldier's soldier wife, and the soldier's children (remember that these men were strangers). I nearly turned around and whacked the guy when he asked about how the soldier's soldier wife went about breastfeeding while on duty. Seriously. But the soldier answered, and better yet, deflected, all queries with good humor. Our service people- heroes and gentlefolk, able to deal with life and death situations AND jerks in airports.

I'm going to hunker down and read tonight (I started The Night Circus on the plane- what a fascinating and unusual book). My motel is right across from the retreat venue, and I've already been across to scope out the facilities (verdict? Yarn Heaven). Tonight I rest, tomorrow I go to work. I can't wait! Stay tuned for pictures!

O hai, Winter! We thought you forgot us

You'd think we lived in the tropics or something, given everyone's reaction when we woke up to this:

Of course, we've had the warmest January on record (it was 60 degrees yesterday. That's 60 degrees ABOVE zero), and it's been at least a couple of months since we've had even a hint of snow.

How quickly we forget.

At any rate, we're not supposed to get more snow this week, and so far, the weather looks good for all of my flights tomorrow, which is all I'm (selfishly) worried about. If nothing else, even if Winter kicks in with a vengeance, it won't last too long. I hope.

I may or may not check in before I leave in the morning (I'm taking the early flight as always, which means I'll be on the road around 4:00am). I should be in Asheville by mid-afternoon. There is still room for more students in my classes at the Winter Retreat. I hope to see some of you there on Friday!

Forest Canopy Shawl, kinda sorta wordless

I started this shawl back in October. It's knit from the handspun Romney that Voracious Reader and I dyed with Marigolds. It turned out beautifully, though it's much smaller than I expected  it to be (blocked: 56" x 25"). I've knitted this shawl before, and though I found the posts, I didn't note at the time whether I worked extra repeats. I must have, because that shawl is much larger while being knit with yarn that is far more fine.  This one is too small to be an adult shawl, at least as a full-size shawl (it would be fine as a neck decoration), so I think maybe it'll go to VR.

Okay, that's enough words- the pictures tell the story.

Leftover, and not so much

I've finished a couple more hats.

 The above hat was knitted with a single ball of leftover yarn. I love how the yarn striped all on its own, though I'm not so thrilled with the pooling up where the decreases start. The transition from the wider stripes to the narrow ones is a bit jarring. I think maybe I should have switched to plain black yarn for the decreases.  This one is going into the BT'oKT.

While this hat wasn't knit from leftover yarn, it's certainly a testament to why a Big Stash is not always a shameful thing. My grandson (the only boy in a veritable sea of girls) is a big Harry Potter fan. A Harry Potter fan whose feet seem to change size daily. I'm not knitting socks for him until his shoe size stabilizes a bit. But I still wanted to knit something for him, and so I came up with the notion of a Gryffindor hat. I had no deep red (the hat is a bit more burgundy than it looks in the scan) and not enough gold in the leftover bag for the project, so I broke my Leftover-Yarn-Only-Rule and rummaged around in the New Yarn Stash. This yarn is not *new* as in newly purchased, it's *new* as in never used. In fact, these particular yarns are easily 9 years old, from back when I bought yarn willy nilly, as protection against The Great Yarn Drought that never materialized.

So, my while my stash is still embarrassingly large, the upside is that when I needed deep red and gold sock yarn, I rummaged in the boxes and bins, and low and behold,  found deep red and gold sock yarn.

Yay me. And Yay for stashes!

And now I have deep red and gold yarn in the leftover bag.

HopHeadSaid New Year's Giveaway

Curtis Taylor, intrepid artist and author, blogger, radio personality, beer expert, and not incidentally, my oldest son, is hosting a giveaway contest on his HopHeadSaid blog for this wonderful apron:

 It's a heavy-duty canvas apron with the HopHeadSaid logo on it, from CafePress. I have another CafePress apron (with the Sex and Salmonella eBook cover on it) and can attest to its durability and functionality (in other words- it's a really good apron). And I love the way the ties are attached through casings, so it really does fit all sizes. The giveaway apron is like the one above: navy with the white logo.

Here's the logo, a little more visible. I'm wearing my HopHeadSaid sweatshirt right now (gray fabric, black image).

In order to enter, head on over to HopHeadSaid and follow the instructions (it's easy- post the contest on Facebook or some other place, and leave a comment). Easy peasy! And when you get done, head over to the CafePress shop from HopHead Said for other cool beer related items.

Good Luck!

Friends and Fiberworks Winter Retreat- Jan 13-15, Asheville, NC

There is still room in all of my classes at the Friends and Fiberworks Winter Retreat, which is being held next weekend in Asheville, NC. I'm teaching all three days of the festival, Jan 13-15, and then staying a couple of extra days to teach more classes at the shop. Registration is still open, and don't tell anyone, but except for the steeking class, the homework for the rest of the workshops can be done afterward (or during the class itself). I hope to see some of you there!

The class schedule has now been posted, and registration is open. Click on the Classes link on the main Retreat page, and then on Knitting. Scroll down to find my class listings (sorry for all the third person references). I'm excited to be teaching some old standards and a couple of new classes:

Friday January 13, 10:am-4:00pm: All Day Fair Isle- Knit a Toddler Size Hat.
Discover, or improve, your Fair Isle skills by knitting a toddler-size Nordic-Style Snowflake hat in this all-day workshop with author, knitter, and designer Kathleen Taylor. This workshop will cover chart-reading (including decreases worked from the chart) and yarn wrangling, as you work on a two-color hat (don’t let the pictures fool you- you’ll only be using one solid color yarn, and one self-striping yarn).


Friday January 13, 5:00pm-7:00pm: Writing Patterns for Publication
Learn tricks and tips for writing up your original pattern for publication, from 30-year pattern-writing veteran, blogger Kathleen Taylor, author of six mysteries, five knitting books, over 500 magazine articles, and many other original sewing and knitting patterns. Whether you plan to submit your design to a magazine, or will publish and sell it yourself, you need to know about pattern format, photography, pattern testing, copyright information, and contacting editors and publishers.

Saturday January 14, 10:00am-4:00pm: Mitered Square Cuffs
Learn to knit easy and beautiful mitered squares. In this class, students will learn the basics of mitered square knitting, and then make cuffs for mittens or socks, with self-striping, worsted weight yarns. 


Saturday January 14, 4:00pm-6:00pm- Little Tips and Knitting Tricks
Spend two hours with author and designer Kathleen Taylor, learning fun techniques that will make your knitting easier: a Substitute for the SSK that is faster and simpler, Knitting Back Backwards (for heels and bobbles), adding beads as you knit, using wire, fixing cable and Fair Isle mistakes, and other time-saving tips. 

Sunday January 15, 12:pm-6:00pm- EEK! A Steek!
Fear Not! You can cut your knitting without fear (or wine, though wine is nice). In this workshop, we will take a pre-knit tube and turn it into a doll sweater, learning techniques that can be used on any project that requires steeks. It’s fun! Really! And not scary at all! I promise.

Monday January 16, 10:00am-2:00pm: Design Your Own Fair Isle Hat
Expand on your Fair Isle skills, and design your own Toddler- Size Fair Isle hat in this half-day workshop with author, knitter, and designer Kathleen Taylor. We’ll discuss color choices, design elements, and motif repeats. We’ll do specific designing exercises, and then combine those motifs to design original Fair Isle hats. 


Monday January 16, 4:00pm-8:00pm: Design Your Own Fair Isle Christmas Stocking
Expand on your Fair Isle skills, and design your own Christmas Stocking in this half-day workshop with author, knitter, and designer Kathleen Taylor. We’ll discuss color choices, design elements, and motif repeats. We’ll do specific designing exercises, and then combine those motifs to design an original Fair Isle Christmas Stocking.

Tuesday January 17, 10:00am-4:00pm: All Day Nordic Christmas Stocking
In this all-day workshop, students will learn yarn wrangling techniques, chart reading, etc. Students will begin work on a 14” long, toe-up, stranded Christmas Stocking, with an afterthought heel.