Is there a Twelve Step program for knitters who start crazy projects? If so, please don’t tell me, because I love this kind of crazy. Like all things, I know the newness will wear off and I will start to lag, however I’m enjoying the shininess of it while I can. This craziness is The Beekeepers Quilt. As of right now, I’m taking a slightly different angle on this than the normal scrappy quilt. I’m hoping to make it into a Grandmothers Garden type of quilt. This is an ambitious project. Since I rarely do crazy alone, I also roped my friend Knittymuggins into knitting one with me. Yay for enabling! My hope is that I can do this mainly with stash sock yarn. I may have to supplement a little, especially if I want to keep the background color the same tan. Since I get about 12 hexi-puffs out of one skein, it’s a great stash busting project.
Some of you have asked of I’ve gotten my shipment of yarn from Sock Summit yet. The answer is no. I did actually talk to our delivery guy when the poor guy unwittingly came to our door with another package. I’m sure he didn’t expect to be jumped on by 2 girls and their mom about whether the yarn had arrived yet. Basically the short answer is that no one seems to know where my box is. Duluth claims that it never left Washington state. However on Aug 8 I was told it was in Duluth. I’ve passed through denial in the stages of grief and I think I’m entering into anger and bargaining.
I suspect this is almost what my husband will say if I carry out my plan. The plan, is to slowly drive around my neighborhood looking for a certain delivery company. (Please note, this is not stalking. Stalking would be creepy and I am not creepy). When I find the delivery vehicle, I will watch the driver carefully for knitter like behavior. Things like evidence of fiber on their distinctively colored delivery person pants. Maybe a Purl Girl keychain, a Knitmore Girls podcast being played. Maybe there’s even knitting sticking out of a bag on the floor. I’ve seen DAAT Training, I know what to do next.
This driving around is preferable, I think, to hiding in the bushes and pouncing on the delivery driver when they come to my house. The problem is that the driver is clearly not returning to the scene of the crime. Therefore pouncing is clearly not an option.
What crime could this poor driver have committed you ask? I’m mostlysort of kind of convinced that someone took the package of yarn that I had a friend ship back to me from Sock Summit (well, that and it makes for a better story). It’s been well over a week since we got back from Sock Summit. How long does it take to get to the midwest from the Pacific coast? Seriously folks, it’s not that long of a drive. Even if my yarn stopped to sight see and spend a little time oogling the bison in Yellowstone, it could still be here by now. In addition, there are several non-stop flights going every single day.
Unless my yarn makes it here with souviners for the whole family (including yarn spun from said bison fiber), I’m sticking by my theory that the delivery driver knows good wool when he/she sees it. Dude, there’s Sanguine Gryphon and a Namaste bag in that box! That delivery driver is going to have some ‘splaining of their own to do.
Since I promised actual knitting in that last post, I’m showing my Sprout hat that I knit at Sock Summit. It was knit to donate to a Portland kids charity. Maryanne, Troy and I dropped off our donations at the Baby Shower for Eloise hoping that there would be cake at the party. We were disappointed to find there was no cake, but there were lovely handknits that other knitters had donated. The hat is a Hazel Knits kit with Artisan Sock yarn in the Lipstick colorway. I’ve got just a tiny bit left over that might make it into a littlecrazy just right project that I started. More details on that to come.
I’ve been to Portland and back to see the phenomenon that is Sock Summit. Again. This was the second Sock Summit and my second time. This year was just as wonderful as last time, but also very different. Sock Summit is the brain child of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Tina Newton; they threw in enough new things that it had a slightly different feel.
I flew into Porland on Wednesday night and had a wonderful meal at Farm. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this restaurant. The veggie burger is amazing, like baba ganousch on a bun but seared so it is crisp on the outside. Yum! I actually ate their twice during my stay. I’m still trying to figure out the sauce for the goat cheese ravioli.
Traditional Norwegian Socks
My Traditional Norwegian Socks class was my first class. We got started knitting a slipper out of worsted weight in stranded colorwork. It’s the kind of slipper you’d want to wear when the wood floors are icy in the middle of January. Because I’ve done this sort of knitting before, I was able to finish the cuff of the first sock before 3pm that day.
My Haul
I had a wonderful time with Knittymuggins and Troy. Knittymuggins was my roommate and we had a wonderful time. We stayed up past my (central time zone) bedtime and enjoyed ourselves in the Market. As for the market, I did pretty well with my resolution, although I probably brought home more than I needed. I do have projects in mind for all of it. I found that wandering around the market hungry was a really bad idea – since there is a 2 hour time difference I felt like I was always hungry. I hit the Sanguine Gryphon and Blue Moon Fiber Arts booths hard. I bought a lot of yarn for baby sweaters, as it seems like a lot of people I know are pregnant or just had a baby.
Friday brought the class on making socks for kids. The teacher, Sandi Rosner, taught us how to size down adult patterns to fit littler, rounder feet. I feel like I have a great grasp of this, and I can’t wait to try it out.
My final class was on Kilt Stockings. Mary Scott Hoff was a funny, entertaining teacher – exactly what you need at the end of a great weekend. Although I don’t have any plans to make stockings for a kilt wearer, I do want to make a kicky pair of knee socks for myself.
Knittymuggins binding off.
The three of us didn’t just knit and take classes. We also struck out to explore a little bit of the city. We took a loooong walk one night (someone might have even called it a death march), and on Saturday we took the train to visit the Saturday Market. Saturday Market is an arts and crafts fair that they have every weekend. I’m so glad we were able to go as I remember this briefly from a trip I took to Portland when I was 14.
I’ll have actual knitting in a later post. I did knit a little while we were in Portland,especially while I was at the airport. For now, I’m readjusting to the time zone change and hanging out with the kiddos.
Knitting Up North 