cosmicpluto knits!

Frolic ’10

It was a dreary, blustery, rainy day – so what better than surrounding oneself with wool?

I love the Knitter’s Frolic. It’s gotten bigger and bigger every year, and even aside from the awesome yarn and yarny stuff I love the opportunity to see the people! I know lots of knitters (as you might expect) and I just love that at the Frolic I tend to see people I know where ever I turn. I headed up with Jane and Cheryl for a few hours (thanks for the ride Cheryl!) and had lots of fun.

And! There were Milkweed Shawls a-plenty! I saw a few in booths, and some being worn, like these beautiful ones:

(Neither are sneaky photos, just so y’know!)

And of course, the yaaaarn.

Zen Yarn Garden:

Dyed in the Wool Handmade:

Tanis’ beautiful Mulberry Silk:

I bought a bunch of books – although I’m regretting not buying more Japanese books! – and one sweater’s worth of yarn, a semi-solid Koigu in a shade of deep red that seems to be impossible to photograph.

I love yarn events! I already can’t wait till next year.

one week left

So, let’s see the state of things -

Lego man has a head and torso!

The torso wasn’t actually done in this photo (see how the bottom edge is curling up) but it is now, sockets and all. And I’ve knitted up the first piece of the legs.

Elf shoes are done and felted, but too big. Blame my lack of firsthand knowledge of baby sizes. I miiiiight make another pair, smaller, but we’ll see.

One gentleman’s sock is done, but I’m not sure when the second one will be. It’s not super pressing.

And then there’s the French Press slippers. Sigh. I decided to axe one pair from my list, so there was just these 2 pairs. Done the knitting and all that. Then came the felting…and felting…and felting.

Four cycles later (top loading machine, no agitator, with towels) the red pair is felted enough, but too small. The blue pair is felted enough (although the seam areas have kind of a crease) and might fit another person, but not the recipient. They’re both too shallow on the sides and don’t look like the other finished photos at all!

I’m disappointed and discouraged with felting (I haven’t had much luck with it in general). And now I have to figure out other presents. Maybe there’s still time to do some clogs instead, those have turned out well in the past!

P.S. Pavlov’s Dogs (my handbell group) is playing the Rivoli Christmas Show tonight and tomorrow! More info here if you’re in Toronto. I know Rotate This still has tickets!

a special gig

Thanks for all the great comments on the stripey knee socks! I’ll be working on writing them up for various foot/calf size combinations in the next little while.

Last Wednesday I had a special gig – a talk at the Downtown Knit Collective, one of Toronto’s knitting guilds (the biggest?). The always fabulous Patrick asked me if I’d be interested in doing a talk/presentation at the guild way back before I left for my trip, and it really came up fast.

It was a little daunting arriving early and seeing the podium and microphone…

Along with the soon-to-be-not-so-empty seats!

Of course, after I took these I suffered from a bout of camnesia. Oh well. The talk went well, I think! I spent the weekend previous writing up a whole speech, but didn’t really read from it – as it should be. The writing really helped me order my thoughts, considering I’d never done anything like this before, and now I have something to fall back on should I need to!

I spoke a bit about how I learned to knit and got involved in design and such, a bit about my design process (with accompanying slideshow!) and a bit about the experience of writing Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting. The time (which was quite short, thank goodness!) really flew by.

Everyone was very nice, welcoming, friendly, and there were lots of great questions too.

Susanne even showed off her Simple Yet Effective Shawl during the show & tell at the beginning of the meeting. Gorgeous!

I had lots of fun, gave away a couple of books in the raffle, and brought all the socks from the book as well as some of my sweater designs for everyone to look at in person. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but I think we all had a good time.

Thanks to everyone who came out!