It was a "SASSY" class

Last night I had the pleasure of taking a "sassy" class from designer Mary Scott Huff.. What a kick. When she saw that I was wearing my fairy ring sweater (one of her designs), she ran up to me and gave me a great big hug. She's a great teacher, very open and funny to boot. I think everyone there had a great time. She signed my book, too!
We were doing Norwegian knitting, a mitten that she designed called "queen of hearts", and you can see how far I got. I can hardly wait to finish. It's a great valentine's project. Love the colors. Here's the progress on the mitten and also the Haruni.











I'm loving this shawl too. Had to order more yarn because I wanted a bigger one, but it's going really fast.

The fifth clue to the mystery sock is published as well. I'm keeping up pretty well, and there's only one clue left. Now I'm looking for another mystery sock KAL. I really enjoy getting the clues and progressing with everyone. There's a couple on Ravelry that I'm looking at. Seems a great way to manage the stash.

Lots of fun coming up in the next few weeks. Next sunday is the garden show in seattle, and the following week, Madrona, the annual knitting conference in Tacoma. I love this time of year!

Gratuitious doggie pic. No cats were harmed in the taking of this picture. Although, right after I snapped it, squiggi reached over and bonked her on the head. He just loves to invite trouble.

lots of starts, not a lot of finishes

Well, I seem to be going through a "casting on" phase here.
This week, I started Miss Marple, worked on the knitter's brewing co mystery kal, and started this beautiful thing....Haruni.
I'm loving the shawl. It's going pretty fast and it's nice to see progress.












Miss Marple is awful so far, so she's taking a bit of a vacation. I don't consider myself a terribly tight knitter, but I'm on my third try to get this sock around my heel. Honestly, I have "normal" heels. It's just that the mosaic gets so tight and unflexible by the end that there's not enough stretch to go there. ARGH! I've tried 2 size larger needles and now I'm just making the larger size. Frogged twice.

The kal is on clue 3 and still working on the leg. No photos to show there yet.

This coming weekend, I'm taking a nordic knitting class with Mary Scott Huff. They've already sent out the pattern, it's cool, called "Queen of Hearts" - perfect for a valentine's day knit. Got homework to do there too. Luckily, not too much.
I'm sure I'll have something to show next week. I'm also hoping for good news on the loopy ewe sock club. I decided to try something different this year after the last 2 in the STR club. Loopy ewe is a lottery, so fingers crossed. If that doesn't work out, maybe the year in lace? I like being in some kind of club, just a little burnt out on socks and looking for something different. Suggestions? Not too expensive, though.

There will be some real fun soon. The seattle garden show is in 2 weeks. I can't begin to say how much I LOVE the garden show. It always gives me serious spring fever. Madrona is coming up too. Madrona is a big knitting conference in tacoma. No classes for me this time, just shopping. That's enough. I can do enough damage at madrona to keep me busy for the next 6 months at least. LOVE madrona too.

Thanks to all who commented on my back. I'm back to teaching classes, but my back feels "unstable". I just never know when it's going to hurt. I'll be fine, doing yard work, come in the house sit for an hour and not be able to get out of the chair.
Spent a couple of days last week just doing this:











Sucks getting old!

baby shoes and backaches

I was cruising right along this week, feeling pretty good, until friday, and BAM!
Did something to my back. We really don't appreciate the ability to put on our own socks,until we can't. It was good for knitting a whole sock on saturday, though. Now if I could only put them on. Doing a bit better now, after a great deal of ibuprophen and finding a sub for my early bodypump class tomorrow. I'm hoping this is short term. I mean, really, I teach fitness for a living. This ought to make that pilates workshop I'm going to today even more special.

The good news is, the traveling lace socks are done. Here they are with some goodies that came this week from knitpicks. I ordered these dk weight yarns for the class I'm taking at the end of the month on nordic knitting with Mary Scott Huff. Her book's there too. I'm taking it with and hoping she'll sign it for me.
I had to order more yarn than I needed because of the colors. This isn't the first time I've been disappointed with knitpicks colors when I got them. They look very different than my monitor. That doesn't happen with other yarns I buy on the net, so I'm thinking it's not my monitor. I'll probably use the black, white and berry colors for the class. The navy and maroon there is for the "miss marple" socks from knitpicks. It was love at first sight for them. I think they'll be up next.
The green is for the Harumi stole. I bought extra because I like a nice, big shawl.










One other accomplishment this week.....baby shoes. No, I'm not trying to say anything here. They're a gift for my friend's grandbaby. Aren't they cute?
I'm just hoping they fit.











Up this week, the knitter's brewing co kal is on, there should be another clue on the 19th. I think I'll start on the miss marple socks.
I'm really looking forward to shopping at Madrona in February. Saving up my pennies!

A FO, a prize and a new project

Taliesin is finished although there's a bit of a button dilema. I really love these heart buttons, but they're way too heavy. I'm afraid I'll knock myself out or something. I went and got these other pearl buttons, but they look too stark. Back to the drawing board, I guess. I just have to keep looking. Ideally, I'd like to see maybe some kind of shell button, but at the LYS yesterday, they were $4.50 each and that's kind of steep. This pic doesn't really do the colors justice. I always have to take my pics early in the morning, when it's still dark, and they just come out crappy. I'll have to work on taking them when there's daylight. (hard to do around here)

I also won a prize! I just love the folks at Knitter's Brewing Co. This yarn is squishy, fun, and it came with a little hand-written note. I won their dec. monthly drawing and got to take my pick. This one is called "sex on the beach". Sounded like fun and I love the colors.

The third item is a new project. It's the final installment of the Blue Moon STR club for 2008, in the Raven colorway. It took some time to figure out the pattern, but I think it's working OK.

Next week, new yarns for my class at the end of January (plus a few more, of course). I saw what the project is in a video on utube. I wish they would have told me when I registered. All they said was that I need 3 colors of dk weight yarn. Now I kind of wish I would have picked some different colors. I should have gotten that white while I had it in my cart. I might have to go back to knitpicks and get a couple more.
ARGH!

Socks and fishies

Well, here we are, 3 days into the new year. How are those resolutions holding up?

This week was pretty quiet around here with the holiday and all, so there was quite a bit of knitting.
Finished up the last of the christmas knitting. I know, it was late.
These are the stranded socks. I think they turned out pretty well. The pattern looks like fish scales. The yarn is STR lightweight, strange brew, and there's plenty left for a little something for me. I also knit a few fish. I'll be working on these fish for pretty much the whole year, using up my little bits of sock yarn. Maybe in about 10 years, they'll make a blanket or something. I think they're kind of cute.
















This is a cool scarf/cowl/? called Taliesin. I'm test knitting it (that makes me feel important, by the way) I'm loving the colors and the texture. It's a really simple knit, easy to memorize pattern. I'm about 3/4 done and I bought some buttons yesterday that I think are going to work well. It kind of reminds me of easter eggs. I'm thinking spring already.










Next up, some double knitting, From My Heart (rav link), with yarn from the stash and hopefully finished before valentine's day.

Happy New Year!

Ok, so, I'm not so much for resolutions. I kind of think they doom folks to fail.
I'm more for plans and goals. So, here are some I have for 2010. Hopefully putting them in writing will help to make them real!

My theme for 2010 is going to be "back to basics". All those things I know and love and have somehow lost a bit in the past year.
On the pilates front, I have some workshops planned, one in january, one in april, one in may, and a 3-day conference in april as well. I'm really looking forward to the conference, since I will be taking a class from one of the pilates "elders". She's 80 something, spunky and sharp as a tack and a pretty amazing woman. Should be enlightening. I've also set an agressive goal for my studio, so I've got to get to work on that.

In the knitting world (that is what this blog is supposed to be about), my focus is going to be improving my skills. I haven't joined any sock club so far this year, and I'm looking into some different ones. The loopy ewe club is looking interesting, just need to make the lottery. I'm also looking at some different package and kit options throughout the year, not just socks, but maybe lace? I want to try to do some test-knitting to stretch my boundaries, and take some workshops to stretch my skills. I'm already signed up for norwegian knitting in january with Mary Scott Huff. Looking forward to Madrona too.

I'd also like to rejuvenate the yard. It's been ignored the last couple of years because we were thinking about building a house. The building is on the back burner for now (or until we win the lotto), so the yard needs some help. I'll be spending some time in January going over garden catalogs and working out my thoughts.

Wow! Is that a bunch or what?
I ought to be busy, and busy is good.
Happy, busy 2010 to everyone.
We're all looking forward to it here!