I'm such a fangirl

Hey Robin,
I promised a blow-by-blow on my studio visit with one of my FAVORITE Yarnies: Wendee Shulsen! So here 'tis:

First of all how sweet is Wendee to let some Crazy-Lady invite herself over to her studio?? SO SWEET! I tell ya. It was a long-time in the making, but she was true to her word and let me come snoop the premises. My ultimate reason for going was this:

Sorry the picture is kind of dark, I am still learning to use a camera as you can see. That's my VERY OWN colorway! Well sorta my very-own... OK we'll call it my very-own skein of Alki Reflections... but I helped! I sorta inspired the colorway and Wendee did the ever-so-splendid job of putting it together. I can't WAIT to knit something with it. I'm so excited. I'm almost TOO excited. I'm thinking maybe I should buy another skein of it so that I can have this one bronzed ;)

KIDDING! I'm knitting something with this puppy!

Anyway, my visit wasn't entirely motivated by greed. Wendee is very sweet and personable, we had met a couple of times at my LYS where she was working and chatted a couple of times through Ravelry. I insinuated myself into her studio and YAY!

Poor girlie was super-busy preparing for her trunk show in Laguna Beach tomorrow. (I wish I could go because it sounds like a lot of fun!) I wanted to help her out rather than just sucking up her free-time like the knitting-leech that I am, and she took me up on my offer. I got to help with some prep and last-minute things while we chatted up a storm about yarn and trunk shows and LYSs and all sorts of things. I got to see pretty much every colorway she makes (which is pretty amazing, dudes, I'm talking like 30 colorways and they all ROCK). I want to buy them all!

She's a smart, talented lady who really cares about her customers and wants to put her best foot forward. I am here to tell you guys that she works HARD for the product she makes and it shows. If anyone chances to see this and lives anywhere near Laguna Beach GO BUY SOME HAZELKNITS! You won't be sorry.

And she even made me lunch! Seriously the best tuna melt I have ever had. That's not saying much because I don't eat a lot of tuna melts, but I really wish I was paying more attention while she was making it so that I could reproduce the recipe!

She also taught me something new about knitting with variegateds. There was a lot of math involved, but it boils down to this: when you have a variegated with lots of color changes (like my precious Alki Reflections) cast on starting at the beginning of a color. Me... I don't usually pay attention, and heck I don't like pooling in my socks but I don't go mental about it either. Turns out this simple fix makes for a VERY different look in a knitted project! I am so glad she told me this, I will start my second Greenlake sock using her tip and compare the two for you. Hopefully soon but since I have a case of startitis it may be a while...

(re: the right picture, wtf is going on with the low-tech-lightbox? Same camera, same box, light is unmoved in relation to the picture on the left... seriously wtf??)

To compound her sweetness, she sent me off with a couple of unsellable-skeins-of-happiness (something weird happened with the yarn and they don't look like her usual great stuff) which I had already oohed and aaahed over thinking: "Heck I would buy these! They look neato!"

I had a grand time Wendee and I hope I can come help you out again! Anytime! Seriously! Call me! lol...

Later!

A smattering of this and that...

Hey Robin,
I have, once again, been so focused on the fun-in-my-Ravelry-notebook that I have neglected these hallowed pages. So I will try to make up for lost time. First! I must link to big news. I am so proud to have been a part of creating a new sock yarn colorway! I found out a week ago (or so) but didn't have a link to a picture until now. So please to be going to the Hazelknits shop in Etsy and check out Alki Reflections! I even have a mention in the description! Yay! I have to point out that the product you see is nowhere NEAR what I had in mind when I suggested an Alki Beach colorway, but I can see what she did there and I love it. Beautiful bright colors that I just want to knit in a sockinette so i don't have any silly stitches in the way of my enjoyment. I can't wait...

OK I know... I'm not allowed so much text without pictures so here are some FO's. Truly, i finished so many since my last post that it was silly to come here and add them to the "on the kneedles" sidebar because i would just have to change it again in a day! And me, i'm just too lazy for that fiddly-stuff.

Fibonacci Kitty Pi:

A 'thank you' to Miss Libby for helping me model the bed for scale purposes. You may remember last year I made a kitty pi for my Dad's Blossom. But in a huge miscalculation of scale (Thank you Douglas Adams) it was entirely the wrong size. However it might have made a nice hat... this time I used the right weight of yarn and voila!

For fun I used the Fibonacci sequence in the striping. I thought it was fun and ironic (the sequence being somewhat related to pi... don't ask me how... I'm not sure i entirely understand it myself). The Yarn is Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky, the fuzzy stuff was a clearance yarn at Jo Ann... I think it was called "mink" and it has created a rather delightful ruffle on the edges. I hope Blossom likes it. When I get a picture of her languishing inside I will post one :)

Easter Basket:
In other felting news. I decided to use the last of my Bijou Blue malabrigo to make a basket for Little Guy. I just sort of winged-it for pattern: cast on 30 or so sts, garter st until i had a squarish shape, picked up sts around the edge and started the basketweave pattern that I found in my stitch a day calendar (given my by my great-good friend Robin) and went on and on until I was afraid I wouldn't have enough for a handle.

I had some leftover malabrigo-like yarn and did an applied i-cord edge to give it a little bit of structure then made a garter stitch handle. In retrospect I should have made a smaller basket and doubled-up the yarn to make a thicker fabric. Live and Learn. Oh and also I would have forgotten the basket weave stitch. It's lovely pre-felting but you can't see it at ALL afterwards. Oh yeah and i would have made a thicker handle, wider at the bases etc... for structure. It's a pretty color though!



Next up: BABY SOCKS!
I tell you, if you ever want almost-instant gratification in a knitting project, these will do it for you. Seriously. I was done in a day and a half and I am slow...

Its just a simple rib and a heel-flap style sock. So simple, yet with a sock yarn like Lorna's Laces, it becomes this heirloom-like item that you just want to keep forever. These are another pair for Hub's boss who just had twins (well they are for the twins... I don't think they would fit the boss-man).

For the same little tykes I have started another set of footwear that just have me in a dither. They are so WONDERFUL and so easy. So easy... that it makes NO SENSE that they come out looking so great.

This is the Baby moc-a-soc from Bekah Knits. She has created a whole set of patterns for baby feet that are so cute you want them all (I bought the patterns for two different 'shoes' and i think i will be making a pair for every new baby that enters my life from here on out). I was desperate to get started on a pair, so i ended up spending way too much on a hank of alpaca for the tan color on these but oh my. Blue Sky Alpaca Sport. 100% Baby alpaca. This yarn is so. yummy.

Yum.

The green turtleneck on the top is... you guessed it! Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. Again. This makes three projects I have dome from two hanks of this glorious socky goodness. As soon as this yarn famine is over I might get more... a note about the 'turtleneck' comment. I am calling it that because as I was knitting this portion of the pattern (k1,p1 repeat) i was reminded of the instructions from EZ on how to make a turtleneck. I will paraphrase here: "Pick up enough stitches around the neck and knit a rib until you are sick of it". For me, 20 rows of that madness was enough. The pattern calls for 24. Sue me.

I am also still plugging-away on the rogue hoodie. The pattern is still kicking my butt but I am enjoying it, and the Swish Superwash from Knit Picks really is a joy to knit with. Really really. Sorry I don't have a picture to show you, there's just not much to look at right now (and be able to comprehend the image). Hopefully I will have something soon though!

Later!
Kate