November Lady

November Lady
Originally uploaded by pittepat

What a wonderful fall day it is! The past week has been grey, damp and dreary. I've been hoarding dry firewood on the porch so that I could have a fire in the stove during the evenings. It wasn't that it was very cold, mind you, but the fire made the house so cozy. When I woke this morning, the wind was raging outside, making a terrible racket. Assuming that I needed it, I layered on three shirts and grabbed the wool coat to do the dogwalk. Whew! When I opened the door, the wool coat was exchanged for a cotton jacket and by the time I'd gone two blocks, I realized I couldn't make the whole circuit dressed as I was. The trees have lost almost all their leaves so it looks like winter, but it feels like spring.

Accordingly, I decided to spend some time knitting on the porch. Right now, I'm working on a very popular cardigan pattern called, September Lady. (Ravelry lists almost 2000 projects for this design.) I had this on my queue but hadn't planned on starting it right now--of course, that's how the best things sometimes happen. I'm using a delightful yarn, Dream in Color, that I'd heard of but never seen. I discovered it at my favorite LYS, Frivolous Fibers. Marnie, one of the owners, showed me a sample of the February Lady that she'd made from one of the Blue Heron yarns. I wasn't in the mood to knit with any more cotton, so she pulled out the DIC. The colorways were wonderful--tonal blends that were still lively and distinct. Ordinarily, I would have gone right for the blue or lavender mixes, but there wasn't enough yardage in either, so I chose Happy Forest, a mix of emerald greens, greenish blues, and greenish yellows. So far, it's been sheer pleasure to work with both this pattern and the yarn. And, having a warm day to spend knitting on the porch--does it get any better than this?

Still More STITCHES

One of my favorite surprises of the day was meeting Kim Dolce from Dolce Hand Knits. I'd seen some of her sweaters on Jimmy Beans' website but seeing them in person took it to a whole new level. I love how she takes classic lines and makes them very contemporary with subtle design elements. Julie fell in love with a little capelet called, Linville (Why didn't we buy that?) and I'd already purchased the Montauk cardigan (which will be made using the Malabrigo worsted.) She was so charming and interesting to talk to, I could have hung around the booth all day.

One of the potentially most dangerous things we did at Stitches was to actually knit with Signature Needles. Julie had been complaining that her bamboo sock needles were bending and was on a mission to find an alternative. She purchased some metal needles but I worried that they were going to be too slippery for her taste--even as a beginner she preferred wooden needles. As we approached the Signature Needle Arts table, we spied some double points and the lady at the table invited us to try them out. Now I wish we hadn't. They were simply dreamy. All of the needles are made of hand polished aluminum with shiny, stiletto points--there just wasn't going to be any yarn splitting with these little guys. Of course, the price gave me pause--45$ While I believe that good tools are an investment, I also know how many dp's I've lost in my knitting life. I think I'm going to resist.

As the afternoon wore on, we both realized that we were feeling the effects of sensory overload--so many yummy yarns to touch, so many wonderful colorsways to see, and far too many ideas to process. We were exhausted and ready to head home.

Later, I thought about the day. All in all, it was a perfect day and I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend such an event. (Next year, it will be in Hartford, Conn. and I doubt I'll make the trip.) More than that, I felt blessed that I have a daughter that I could share it with. It wouldn't have been half so much fun without her. Man, I sure am glad I taught that kid to knit!

Totally in Stitches

What a lovely day we had at Stitches East! Scheduling conflicts prevented us from going on Friday, as I had originally planned but it worked out great. I'd been fearful that Sunday, which was the last day, would be, well, less fruitful, but I was wrong. Instead, we had light traffic coming into the city, we quickly found a good place to park, and there were no lines anywhere--even in the ladies' room! The vendors did seem to be a little tired, but everyone we met was friendly and eager to talk to us. Best of all, there still seemed to be an abundance of fibers and fiber-related goodies for us to admire and buy.

I went with a small list of things I wanted to scope out: Malabrigo worsted, Lanaloft, and Knitter's Blocks. Julie wanted to get metal size #1 needles and to experience lots of yarn. With the exception of Lanaloft, we got everything on the lists and then some.


One of the first thrills came when we realized we were in Lisa Souza's booth. I'd never seen her wool in person but the girls from the Stash and Burn podcast talk about it fairly often and now I know why. The colorways were dazzling. Lisa was very sweet and we got her hubby to take our picture. I felt like we'd just met a knitting star!

We went to WEBS, one of my favorite online sources. If their store is anything like their booth, I should never go there! They had soooo much wool and it was great to be able to see and touch some of the wools I've studied on their site. Also, the booth was well manned with several young folks who were not only very knowledgeable, but friendly and eager to help. Julie bought some Classic Elite Cotton Bamboo and I got my Malabrigo worsted. Probably because it was the last day of the show, there were only a few skeins of each color--not enough for an entire cardigan BUT there was an entire bag of the Bobby Blue, one of my favorites from the website. That's a sign, right? I had to get it. Kathy and Steve, the owners of WEBS, were working hard at the cash registers but they took a moment to pose for a photo. Thanks, guys!

From there, we went on to check out the Qiviut (Musk Oxen yarn,) the Mannings' amazing book selection, and a new product, Jelly Yarn--which we decided was best left untested. We also ran into Sanguine Gryphon, a fellow Eastern Shore resident and fabulous fiber artist, and waited breathlessly for the announcements of the door prizes. Did we win? Find out with tomorrow's post!