Greetings Knitspot aficionados, some thoughts on our sojourn to Frederick, MD.

19 Feb 2010 – Traveling for me is often irksome, particularly by car being the worst. Firstly I’m exhausted even before embarking upon such a endeavor. My sleep regiment is the reverse of most, preferring a nocturnal existence. Arriving at said destination, it all changes for the better, my disposition gradually improving. We arrived in Frederick, Maryland in good time, promptly meeting with Kristi and Paul of Eleganza along with some of their helpers at the shop. Eleganza Yarn shop is housed in an incredible antique log building, exuding history and charm, really quite lovely. Initially meet Paul and Kristi at TNNA (Long Beach, CA) in January, I chatted with Paul for some time, intrigued by the conversation. Those of you who know me, know that talking is not my best attribute, a word or two will often suffice. I got along with Paul straight away, befriending him has been rather wonderful. As it happens, Paul is quite the renaissance man, several successful entrepreneurial ventures, presently works for a Neural institute, pilot, knitter and Elvis impersonator. As many of you know the knitting community is largely composed of women, consequently I get to meet a l lot of women, some times their husbands. Sadly I have not felt a connection with many of my male counterparts, it has been a rare treat to know another man in this industry, let alone someone that I’ve become fond of, good to know you Paul. Hopefully will have an opportunity to get know Kristi better on subsequent occasions. On this trip to Maryland I meet one other person of interest, RoseAnn – a customer and sometimes helps with the shop. Had occasion to speak with her for a moment or two, hails from Ohio originally. Has only been knitting for three years, seems rather enthusiastic about it all, she attended Anne’s design class, looking forward to seeing what comes fourth from her creations. After the quick greet and meet, we are off to have dinner with our eldest nephew James and his girl friend. I love James, he has indulged us in countless hours of entertainment, such a great joy to have him in our lives.

20 Feb 2010 – A new day, we depart from the hotel for Anne’s workshop, of which is held in an older warehouse building (the Loft Antique Imports), currently used for the display of antique and new furnishing. I tag along to take photos and try to catch up on some ongoings projects. One of which is creating a personal photo book of knitspot.com for 2009, a project that has consumed some 25 hours and counting, have not yet finished collating photos, not to mention some judicious editing, then the eventual layout of images for the book and uploading of files for printing, perhaps another 25 hours. After the class, Anne and I begin to install the trunk show. How Anne manages to teach all day and then present the trunk show, I know not, a super woman if you will. During the presentation I wonder to and fro taking pictures, listening to the participates acknowledge Anne’s mastery of design and the ease of use of her patterns. I concur with all of their accolades of Anne and add that she truly a remarkable talented person. Not only am I the beneficiary of numerous knitwears, but I’m married to the incomparable, beautiful Anne Hanson, what more could one want in life. By all accounts the class and trunk show were a success. After the conclusion of the days events, six of us (Anne, Kristi, Paul, Paul’s mother, RoseAnn) take a leisurely stroll down Frederick’s picturesque main st. (Patrick St.) and indulge in a shared dinner via communal plate at a local Ethiopian restaurant, the food was good, the company was better and the Ethiopian beer was really good.

21 Feb 2010 – Another teaching day for Anne, as for myself, an opportunity to discover downtown Frederick in search of photos and coffee. Some aspects of the city do harken back to days of old, only missing element are the cobbled streets, which have been paved over. I understand that once a year, owners of these antique homes, open their doors to the public, affording views of the interiors, I should like to see this. There has been some new develop surrounding Frederick’s canal, nice integration of old and new. Admittedly this is one of my favorite activities, roaming about a city/town at a very leisurely pace, earphones in, taking in the ambiance of a community. Paul recommended Nola for for coffee, a cafe/restaurant, did not disappoint, here is a hint, like coffee made with espresso. Typical large cappuccino comes with two shots, add additional two shot for a proper undiluted cappuccino – a very good thing.

A bit later I got an impromptu invitation to visit DC with Paul. First stop the National Gallery, what can one say about art, well it does nourish the soul. Always good to see familiar favorites, Gauguin, Degas, etc. After the gallery, we seek out the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln, WWII memorials. We walked all over this city, good fun. On the way back to Frederick, Paul relates a rather harried flying story, the essence of which is to trust instinct when not fly and to do otherwise may very well result in disaster. Anne’s design workshop has ended and are off to visit our nephew James for a Korean dinner.

Paul at Lincoln Memorial

Dinner with James

22- Feb 2010 – Last day Frederick, Monday morning in search of birthday gift for a friend we will visit later today. We find many of the shops are closed on Monday, Kristi to the rescue, she suggest some options, we find a lovely hand crafted bowl at a shop across from Eleganza. Next stop a small town in NY to visit/stay overnight with Chris and Melanie, some old friends

Really enjoyed our visit to Frederick, looking forward to returning.

Stay tuned to Knitspot.com, will be added some new features to the website in the coming month.

Filed under: events, projects
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i’m so embarrassed—there i was, running on about the great progress i made on my second french quarter sock the other day, showing it off in an up-close photo and feeling good. i don’t know how many times i looked at the sock and the photo, but i missed a big boo-boo.

when i sat down to work on it later that night, i realized i had skipped six or eight rows when transitioning from the first pattern repeat to the second. it was missing a row of twining cables in between the bigger garter diamonds. sigh. ri-i-i-iiiipp.

i’ve got that straightened out though, and have moved on to knitting the lower leg portion. it looks much better now.

i even put is aside, once it was fixed, to work a couple of rows on my baby pine and ivy shawlette. in fact, i’ve done that for two nights in a row—stopped my late-night sock knitting to put a few rows on the shawlette just before i head for bed (i know, it sounds like suicide but i can’t help myself).

i just wanted to get it past that very early stage where the new cast-on so annoyingly winds itself around the needle and slows down the work a bit (i bet you never heard that one before).

i’m going to love it in this yarn, too. this is the smallest size—really, a large scarf—which i’m knitting in fibre isle magique. i’m testing one of sylvie’s new colors—this one is called magical twilight, a subtle taupey-plum color. once i get a little more fabric on the needles, the color should show up better.

i just worked on this piece a little bit over the last few days because i’m intent on preserving my late-night knitting slot for socks and my earlier evening knitting time has been devoted exclusively to the medium sized shawl that i’m knitting in my cashmere/silk handspun

the yarn has gradual color changes as i work through it and now we can see the effect of the browns that are closer to the end of the skein (i’ve been waiting for this moment, haha). i wound the yarn so that there would be more variation near the end of the ball, where the yarn is knit into the shoulders. the very long color repeats are at the hem, where the rows are much longer.

i’m not sure exactly how the color runs will play out, but so far i like what i see. i’m halfway through my first repeat of section B and the rows are definitely feeling much shorter—i should be able to make very good time on it from here. i might even get through all the rest of section B tonight.

and what’s that peeking through the background of the photo?

yep, it’s the big-daddy pine and ivy that karolyn knit with woolen rabbit tranquilo in colorway black velvet; i blocked it this morning.

just look at that depth—i love how the thin strands of each yarnover almost disappear to make that hem motif seem to float.

it’s a great red for this piece—not bright at all—it’s a stunningly sophisticated colorway that hits the perfect note.

the gorgeous, soft alpaca has such complex highlights and takes the dye with great depth.

there are the pine cone clusters i love so much, running up the back to connect the hem to the neck.

the complex structures that come together at the hem are echoed at the neck and shoulders as well, where the back panel ends

this is where i made a design change from my very first sample draft, in which i carried the body motif right to the neck

now we have garter stitch triangles in the shoulder section instead. what worked really well in the medium-sized first sample just wouldn’t work with the numbers of the mini and tall size, so a change had to be devised. i think this is a good solution that lends a “period” feel to the design. i can’t wait to see it on the dress form, once the shawl is dry.

now that you’ve seen all the details, wanna see the big picture?

although i am calling this the “tall” size in the pattern, it’s not as large as i have designed for other patterns. i think this is the limit it should be in size—i don’t like the idea of stretching the proportions any more than they are here. i doubt that the hem will hold its own if the body were to be knit any longer.

it’s a smallish shawl and i like it that way . . . i also have a sample from karolyn of the mini shawlette that i need to block, once the red one is dry. so maybe next time we’ll examine that.

it will be a little while longer before this pattern is ready for release; it’s a complicated design and i don’t want to rush any part of the production. i’m thinking that we’ll have it all pulled together before the end of the month, possibly sooner.

so, right now i have just two little shawls and a sock on the needles (and two longjohn socks waiting in the wings to be knit). i’m thinking that in a few days, i might be yearning for some variety . . . maybe some whimsical lacy mitts and a little beret? something light and pretty to wear for spring?

that’s the sort of thing that’s singing me a siren song today

(doesn’t the shadow of my back fence look like a quill edging?)

it’s really warm and beautiful here right now—55 degrees—a temperature we haven’t felt since november or october, i think.
we’ve had a huge swing in the weather since the weekend—it’s simply splendiferous.

the very first crocuses are up and the snow i showed you the other day has almost disappeared, shrinking away like a collapsed meringue.

i think i’ll need to ditch the exercise bike today and get out on the open road . . . see ya later.

Filed under: designing, lace/shawls, projects
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thanks so much for all of those comments you sent over the weekend—wow! i’m sure nicky epstein is (deservedly) thrilled with your lovely compliments and attention.

and now, the winner of nicky’s knitted flowers book is:
our good friend janna!

many thanks again to sixth&spring books for sponsoring this fun treat for the blog—we really appreciate the lift right now.

congratulations janna!

Filed under: projects
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it’s soooo good to be back to my regular sunday routine—you just can’t beat spinning with friends on sunday morning. unless of course, you now have a working camera to bother them with—that’s raises things up a notch.

barb is working on a fine singles in briar rose BFL that she plans to turn into a 3-ply yarn. linda is working through a really pretty pink tweed bat from crosspatch creations. even susan showed up today for a little while before going off to work. she and i are both working on some dark brown shetland fiber (i forgot to take a photo of mine, which came from beckie’s former flock of sheep). i’m spinning a chunky weight yarn for a house project that is filling up bobbins at a pace that i’m not familiar with, but which is very satisfying.

anne marie is still working through her batch of finn fiber to make a sweater yarn. she arrived at class wearing her sprössling cardigan

which we all admired once more—doesn’t it look great on her?

after class, i worked with linda for a while on some office stuff. linda is going to be helping me out with email and other paperwork and i’m so grateful for the extra assistance that i could cry, heh—this has been a long time coming. we are struggling with her job title; she suggested administrative assistant or some such thing, but i want to call her “communications wizard” or “calendar babe” or at the very least, “czarina of the schedule”.

after all, one of the rare lighthearted entertainments in running the business end of the business is being able to name things whatever you like, right?

anyhow, you may end up dealing with linda at one point or another through email—she is extremely nice and very competent and has the patience of a saint, so i have assured her we will behave and do everything possible to make her feel welcome and loved.

after linda went home i took a nap, haha. i wished i could have stayed awake to block the pine and ivy shawls that arrived from karolyn the other day, but i guess that will have to wait til tomorrow. let me just warn you—they are gorgeous; i can’t wait to show them to you.

in actual knitting news, i’ve made a lot of progress on my current projects, now that their number has been whittled down a bit. true to my word, i’ve been working on socks and some mates are emerging as finished now

these flaming desire socks in zen yarn garden serenity sock are just luscious—between the colors and the deliciously cozy merino/cashmere blend, they feel like heaven. since winter is almost at an end (TWO WEEKS TIL SPRING!!), i think i’ll set these on the giftable sock shelf in my closet.

they would make a show-stopping present . . . if, by next winter, i have not knit myself a replacement pair in the same yarn (of which i have a few skeins stashed), i’ll put them in my own drawer.

speaking of stash, i went through mine over the weekend and pulled a big pile of yarn out for a special project that karolyn and i are working on. i have a number of patterns for which the original samples have been gifted away, thus leaving some holes in my shawl museum collection (haha, see, another instance of naming things what i like).

when i take the trunk show on the road, i feel bad that these designs are not represented. so karolyn and i have cooked up a plan by which she will knit some new samples using the abundance of lace and fingering yarn in my stash. this will enable me to show a design in a different color than the pattern photo and to feature more yarns by the terrific dyers who are so generous about sending samples. and it will keep that yarn from languishing when i can’t knit fast enough to use it all.

plus, we will have fresh new samples to show on the blog from time to time, which could be really fun. it would be a nice chance to look back at the process of each design and discuss how each one holds up over time, or in a new yarn.

oh, speaking of working the same design in different yarns, i’m afraid i’ve gotten a bit addicted to the new pine and ivy shawl—i just can’t stop knitting it. not only did i get pretty far along on my sample in this cashmere/silk handspun

but i started another new one—this time it’s the smallest size, which i’m knitting up in fibre isle magique, a bison/cashmere blend. at TNNA in january, sylvie gave me some skeins in the new colors to be released in june and i thought this would be a great way to sample one of those. two skeins is plenty for the little shoulder shawlette.

once i was past the point of needing the larger needle in the green shawl, i used it to cast right on for the hem of the mini version. i got through the first four rows before i made myself go to bed at 4 am this morning (no wonder i needed a nap today). i’ll take a photo of that once i have a wee bit more fabric on the needles.

sigh, this design is just stealing my heart—i don’t know why, but i am deeply attached to the composition. since i have two shawls knit exactly to the pattern, i may play with one (or both) of these new pieces at removing the shoulder shaping for a simple triangle result, to be used more like a scarf.

yesterday i went to susie’s for saturday morning knitting and once i finished that flaming desire sock, i got back to work on the second french quarter sock. i made good time with this one too and got through the whole first section before heading home. the rest of the sock should be pretty relaxing—the simpler twisting garlands that go down the remainder of the leg knit up pretty quickly and mindlessly.

yesterday, for the first time in many weeks, i saw this at the edge of the yard

actual ground with some actual green in it.
don’t get me wrong—we still have a long way to go before the snow is gone from our garden area

we still have a good three feet or so out there.
but spring is coming—it always does.

Filed under: designing, lace/shawls, projects, spinning and fiber
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