Prep for STITCHES Midwest

In preparation for STITCHES MIDWEST from August 26-28, I've been knitting swatches. As a 30th birthday present to myself, I'm taking the following classes:

Custom Fitting Existing Patterns with Lily Chin - Friday
Design Your Dream Sweater with Leslye Solomon - Saturday
Crochet for Knitters Eckman with - Saturday
Round Up! 4 Ways to Knit in the Round with Beth Whiteside - Sunday

Two of the classes I'm taking require a total six swatches in terms of homework. The class with Lily Chin requires the most swatches and they reflect a variety of needles, yarn weights and stitch patterns. It seems it's to illustrate how using various needle sizes can augment the drape and texture of the fabric. As well as how stitch patterns can augment a fabric knit with the same yarn and needle. It should be an interesting class. I'm grateful that I completed Level 1 of the Knitting Guild Association's Master Knitting Program because I feel prepped for this.

STITCHES Midwest Registration

STITCHES Midwest Registrations opened today. For the first time since I've been going to STITCHES, I'll be attending classes. I booked 15 class hours! I'll be learning lots of things: how to augment existing patterns for a custom fit; to design a sweater from scratch; introductory crochet (for knitters); and various techniques for knitting in the round. While I knit with dpns and circulars, I'm particularly interested in learning how to knit with 2 circulars and the magic loop. I bought Two-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes a few months ago and I'm hoping this will give me the courage to give it a go. I've knit quite a few socks and each time I come down with second sock syndrome. That second sock just seems to take me twice as long to finish. What's equally awesome about this weekend is I'll be turning 30. The big 3-0. This is in part how I decided to accommodate the cost to go to classes. It's a present to myself. And, since I purchased classes at STITCHES, I decided I'd also partake in the WEBS (http://www.yarn.com/) anniversary sale that is going on this month and next month. I purchased:

• 2 skeins of Cascade Jewel Paints (Cherry Berry and David's Eyes)


• 4 skeins of Knit One Crochet Too Camelino (Honey)


• 2 skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool (Dark Ash)


• 3 skeins of Cascade 220 (Straw, Brown, and Charcoal Gray)


• 16 balls of Berroco Pure Merino (Storm)

I picture making owls (sweater by Kate Davies), some Amigurumi knitted toys (release the kraken!), and French Press Felted Slippers. For the slippers, I have some awesome glass buttons (picture to come), featuring red octopuses on a blue background, that I think would go really well with the Cascade 220 in the straw colorway.

Curlicue Baby Blanket

Shortly after learning a close friend was expecting her first child (started on September 3), I decided I needed to knit a gift. With this in mind, I purchased 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a Khaki-ish color at Stitches Midwest. On size 4 (thought they were size 6 - oops!) needles, I cast on for the Curlicue Blanket by Skruddevutt (found on Ravelry. The yarn isn't exactly a mom's best friend but it's so unbelievably soft with it's fiber content: 55% Merino wool, 33% Microfibre, and 12% Cashmere. It's machine washable but is unfortunately dry flat and cool iron. But it can be dry cleaned.

The top and bottom border is 13 rows of garter stitch (approximately 1") and left and right border is 16 stitches of garter stitch. It's a lovely stitch pattern. Because I'm using a Sport-weight yarn, this is going to be a large project to tackle. I decided that I wanted the blanket to be at least 30" wide and 30" tall and cast on 209 stitches. This blanket, that is if I count my swatch gauge correctly, will have approximately 60,000 stitches. Crazy.

As of November 6, the blanket is 18 inches tall (over halfway there) and 30 inches wide - and it's only at 5 balls. This is by far the most intense project I've ever undertaken. It has to be comparable to knitting a sweater, right? Since it's just a square, it's not as though it looks like it's ever growing.

November 21, the blanket is 22" inches tall - 6 balls.

CO on 12/18/10 and blocked the next day. The final measurements are 36" wide and 31" tall or if one wants to place the blanket the other way 31" wide and 36" tall.

Stiches Midwest 2009

It's amazing how many yarn stores you can fit under one roof!

I had the opportunity to visit several this weekend at Stitches Midwest. I attended the marketplace and walked out with an awesome braided leather handle for the Formal Boot Bag in Bag Style I plan to knit and 10 skeins of Noro Korchoran. I didn't really plan on either but the Noro is not something I really thought out. It was just too good a deal to pass up and thankfully, I do have a pattern that I can use. My in-laws bought me "Knitting Noro: The Magic of Hand-dyed Yarns" for my birthday, which is awfully handy right now.

I didn't have an opportunty to touch the Noro Korchoran until I was home and it's the softest Noro I've ever felt. Wool, angora and silk are an awesome combination. The colors are rust, red, tan, purple, and gray.