cosmicpluto knits!

a week past

I’m sure you’ve seen Ysolda’s awesome TNNA booth around the internets, but I’ve some photos to share too! Who cares that they’re a little late?

Looking into the booth from the aisle. Featuring Olgajazzzy in the middle!

Gudrun’s beautiful corner.

My own corner!

I LOVE these posters for Ysolda’s upcoming book, Little Red in the City – those buttons and skeins of yarn were surprisingly difficult to pin up there though!

Small Bob hangin’ with the toys and trains.

Fantastic photos hanging outside the photobooth. So fun.

And for a bit of knitting content, the shrug I was working on before TNNA, and before I was sidelined by my elbow pain:

It’s in Sweetgeorgia Merino Silk DK, and though I didn’t get to wear it in Columbus, I’m back working on it now! Mmmm, silky.

post-TNNA recap

There are a couple of main reasons why I attend the National Needlework Association trade show in Columbus (this was my second year). A big one is, of course, to see the show floor – new products, be they yarn, notions, bags, patterns, random other stuff for fall. Touching the new yarns, trying on sample sweaters, talking to yarn industry people! I helped out in Ysolda’s supercute booth this year, putting together Ikea furniture, helping people take photos in the photobooth, serving tea and cake at the afternoon tea parties.

Then there are the other reasons I go – the people. Hanging out with my yarny internet friends that I might talk to all the time but see in person only a couple times a year. The parties are great (the Ravelry Ice Cream Social was super fun!) but even more fun to me are the quieter gatherings that happen organically all over the place during TNNA – at North Market, at the bar, on the street. So many awesome people, old friends and new ones.

And then there’s the Jeni’s! I’m not sure if it’s the best ice cream in the world, but that’s just because I haven’t tasted all the ice cream in the world! It’s damn good, and I made a point of trying as many flavours as I possibly could in my 5 days in Columbus – I did pretty well at that, and had half scoops of TWELVE flavours! And yep, they were all delicious.

I just got home this evening, and already I can’t wait for next year.

P.S. If you’re curious about all the great new stuff coming out this year, check out Hello TNNA!. The roving Ravelry reporters did an awesome job walking the floor, talking to people and blogging it all for you!

upcoming classes and appearances

I’ve just updated my Classes and Appearances page to reflect all my upcoming events for this spring and summer! Along with classes at lettuce knit, I also have the opportunity to teach at Knit Camp 2010 in Stirling, Scotland this August!

My classes:

SPINNING WITH A WHEEL
This class is for people who have spun a little and want to expand their horizons. Some experience with a wheel or spindle is necessary – you should have some idea of how to spin a single. Learn some new tricks and techniques, including different drafting and plying techniques, mixing different fibres and different colours, and how to spin with control. You will have a variety of different fibres to play with, including some that you may have used before (e.g. merino) and some more unusual fibres (e.g. Bamboo). Laura will talk to you about how to incorporate your newly-spun yarn into different designs.

When: Tuesday, 9.30 – 5.00
Level: Advanced beginner plus
Class Skills: Need some basic spinning experience
Cost: £78 (includes fibre)
Class Length: 6 hours
Bring with you:
Your wheel, if you have one. Wheels can be hired at the cost of £10 for the day.
Notepad and pen

DESIGN YOUR OWN KNEE SOCKS
Venture into the world of design by working up your own custom knee sock pattern from the toe up. We’ll swatch, measure and calculate and you’ll come away with your very own custom pattern. Different toe and heel constructions, as well as incorporating interesting stitch patterns, will also be discussed.

When: Wednesday, 9.30 – 12.30
Level: Intermediate
Class Skills: Experience of knitting socks, comfortable with all knit stitches and a desire to start designing
Cost: £40
Class Length: 3 hours
Bring with you:
fingering weight yarn, appropriate sock-sized needles (2mm – 3mm, US 0-2), notepad, pen, calculator

TWO HANDED COLOURWORK
Stranded colourwork is lots of fun, but easier to manage if you learn to knit with both hands! A simple colourwork hat pattern will be provided to learn this simple technique.

When: Thursday, 9.30 – 12.30
Level: Advanced beginner plus
Class Skills: Comfortable with basic knit stitches
Cost: £39
Class Length: 3 hours
Bring with you:
3.75mm (US 5) double pointed needles, notepad and pen

INTRO TO DROP SPINDLING
For people who have never spun before but are keen to learn! Spinning your own yarns is loads of fun and the ultimate in sheep-to-sweater production. Learn how to spin singles, ply, and finish your yarns, as well as some fibre production methods.
When: Thursday, 2.00 – 5.00
Level: Beginner plus
Class Skills: None required
Cost: £39 (materials provided in class cost)
Class Length: 3 hours
Homework: None

You can sign up on the Knit Camp website. Hope to see you there!

a slow re-entry

I spent all of last week in Boston, exploring, meeting up with friends, and eating. The weather was good for the most part – a little dreary during the week, but totally beautiful on the weekend. I spent a couple hours at the Museum of Fine Arts on a drizzly day:

I carried my camera around a lot, but I didn’t really take any other photos – like of biking around, exploring Porter Square, Jamaica Plain and the South End, and meeting up with people for drinks and Alice in Wonderland. I did, however, manage to take a few photos of food I made while there! Mmmm, food. (I didn’t make the Boston Cream Pie, that was from Flour Bakery!)

Back soon with Actual Knitting Content.

hi!

Hey there.

The good news is that apart from that last incident (which I’ve mostly gotten over but still feel extremely stupid about sometimes), my trip to Boston and Rhinebeck was awesome.

The bad news is that I didn’t take any photos. Seriously, at all – I took like 2 photos of Boston, and 2 photos of the kitchen at the Rhinebeck house. Hmmm. Makes writing an interesting blog post kind of difficult!

Boston – lots of fun in the city with Vig, a longtime friend. He’s at MIT for a master’s program and hasn’t done that much of the historical/touristy stuff, so we did a bunch of that. Checked out Harvard Square (awesome bookstore!), ate panini subs and too many cannoli in the North End, and even managed to stumble upon the beginning of the Columbus Day parade while wandering around looking for a place to eat! We also walked most of the Freedom Trail, sat in the park, and walked back to the T through Beacon Hill, which was gorgeous.

Monday the 12th was Boston’s “Opening our doors” day, so we went to see the Mapparium and Isabella Gardner museum for free – both highly recommended! We walked all around that day and I took the photo above walking across the Mass Ave bridge. Pretty view!

Tuesday Ysolda arrived in town, so we went for pizza at Regina’s in the North End and more cannoli from Modern Pastry. They fill the cannoli to order, yummmmm. The rest of the week was sort of a blur of shopping for Bob parts, eating, more shopping, and just hanging out. Wanna see a behind-the-scenes of the now famous Bobsolda?

Skeeery.

Rhinebeck recap in the next post! That gives me time to try and take photos of the yarn I bought, hmmmm.

backlog

Hi!

I’m back from Ottawa to a very busy week, so I don’t have a lot of time to blog right now. But I’ll be back soon with photos, stories, and lots of new patterns too!

I had fabulous time going to 3 different markets in 3 days! And I came home with a flat of strawberries and a huge basket (over 5 pounds) of Quebec wild blueberries. Mmmm.