Hi again all. Of course, as soon as I tell you all that I'll try to be around more I disappear for a few weeks. Rest assured that it was mostly because nothing interesting was happening in the crafting world because it turns out that adding eight stitches every row to a lace shawl eventually means it takes you half an hour to knit a row IF you don't screw it up and have to tink back. Good news is that the knitting is done and the bind off is done and I just have to muster the CAN to do the applied I-cord edging and then I will have another FO. I wouldn't count on that being this Friday, but it might be.
However! I have renewed crafting vigour (mainly for sewing, but also some new yarn colourways are floating through my head so perhaps we'll be seeing some of those soon as well) thanks to a delightful weekend in beautiful Rochester, MN with some lovely and amazing knitters.
This past weekend, Jonas and I found our way to Zombie Knitpocalypse, hosted by the lovely ladies of Stockinette Zombies. It's held only about an hour and a half south of Minneapolis, so it's hugely convenient for us. Last year was my first year attending and I met a lot of great people and learned a lot and knit a lot, so we decided to do it again, this time as a team!
Highlights include:
- Getting an in-person shawl lesson from PrairieGirlDanie (one half of the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast) -- see PrairieGirlSusie's instagram for a cute photo. Jonas agreed that my shawl never looked better on me until I got professional help!
- Dinner and other shenanigans with PrairieGirlSusie and MrsShoo.
- My first ever podcast appearance (more on that once the episode drops)!
- Not spending too much money at the market.
- A super helpful class on blocking (if I'm going to keep knitting lace I'm going to need it)
Here are my yarn purchases/acquisitions (not pictured is a sweater quantity from One Twisted Tree that I knew I had to have after I saw the mini-skeins of Hinkypunk and Knight Bus Escape next to one another.
A sweater quantity of Yarn Geek Fibers in the "Sarah Guppy" colourway (part of her Super Geek yarns, which are named for women who made ground-breaking discoveries in the sciences). It's mainly grey with some turquoise and dark blue, and when I saw it swatches up I knew it needed to be a sweater. I chose the Corriedale/nylon fingering base.
In addition, in our retreat bags (which I just realised I didn't take a photo of, but were sewn with fabric created from a photo of the mini-skeins below all knit up), we got a mini-skein set with colours from many of the dyers at the marketplace.
I also won a mini-skein set by Fishknits.
I guess it's time to figure out what one does with mini-skeins.
Al in all, a fun weekend. I walked a 5k, I made new friends, I did some crafting, and I was inspired to do a whole lot more! (and I'm using my Instagram more... at least for now. I'm still not sure I have anything relevant to contribute there on a regular basis, but we'll see.)
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