In stitches

School has started!  I feel a collective sigh go through the neighborhood as all the area stay-at-home moms get a breather :)  So it is time to restart this blog - so much fiber to catch up on!

A couple of weeks ago we basked in Stitches Midwest.  Pat and I took a class on lining a knitted item - more on that in the next post.

Lots of color in the market.  This is the Derecho shawl, a pattern sold out everywhere we looked:

The other pattern of choice was Color Affection, an easy-looking yet breathtaking pattern that melds 3 skeins of contrasting sock yarn.  Many booths had various combinations put together for you, making the possibilities reachable.  Pat got one that was a dark red, beige, and I think gray - it's going to be stunning!  I think I want to do one too, but I'm going to cull from my stash because I really have more sock yarn than I know what to do with.

One thing I searched for was a bulky jewel-tone blue variegated yarn for a friend, for whom I offered to make the scarf of her yarn and pattern choice.  I tried to find it at a small purveyor, to no avail.  But I found it at WEBS - it's Berroco!  And yes, the color really is this electric.

I also got some black yarn to make this hat, which a friend saw on Pinterest and asked me to make.  Black, yech!  At least it's a crochet pattern.

In that same issue of Vogue Crochet, I saw this pattern for a lace pullover.    Intriguing.  I got some charcoal-y madeleinetosh yarn from WEBS to attempt it.

Craftsy.com was also advertising by giving away a free class.  Looks intriguing - take online classes in sewing, fiber arts, and cooking.  Probably exactly up my alley!

Every year at Stitches I try on this jacket and look at it longingly.  It's a kit, and every year they never have my colors (the sample is in these lovely jewel tones and the kits always seem to be pastel, like in the photo in the link), so I'm able to easily walk away.  But this year they had it in the most gorgeous deep blues and browns.  It was tough to walk away from it. Finally I decided that I would never have a chance to wear it - I'm just not a fancy kind of person, and if I'm going to get fancy, I'll wear something fancier than a jacket I knit myself.  And with my luck, I'd snag it on something anyway.

Anyways, I've got something else to obsess about and save my pocketbook for ... I want a knitting machine!  Something to help me with the miles of stockinette that these Habu patterns call for.  I was intrigued by the machine knitting booth - so easy! - and I'm going to check out a dealer (the only one within several hours of me) in a couple of weeks.  I had to make an appointment because it's an hour's drive and she works out of her home.