Help Out Beaumont!

What fun at guild tonight! I'll post the pictures that Joanie took later. . .but in the meantime I was reading email from Chris and she'd passed this along. It's a great no-cost way to help out some kids who need a little pick-me-up. . .feel free to copy and paste into your email and send to everyone you know!!
-t

While watching Ch4 News this morning, caught this story where Wm Beaumont Hospital is in a contest with hospitals throughout the U.S. to receive a Fun Center from the Starlight Starbright Foundation for seriously ill children. All you need to do is click on the link below and choose Beaumont. Then send on to all your friends and families to help Beaumont win. I believe they are awarding 3 all together. We will know by April if Beaumont wins!!! http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/CommunityPrograms/Starlight/HomePage/Midwest.cvsp

Progress

Several of you have mentioned how shocked you are that I had 41 unfinished projects. Some of them were actually off the needles, but needed ends sewn in, or buttons, or zippers. . .you get the idea.

I've been mocked by Camille, who after looking at my neatly typed and categorized list called me "pathetic". Apparently she couldn't wrap her head around the idea that I had time to type up a list, but not to finish any of the 41 items on the list. . .

I appreciate Sharon's comments about learning to crochet. . .believe me, I've thought about it. It has been excruciatingly hard not to cast on. I've found that my reward for finishing things has been to cast on. . .I have beautiful sock yarn I bought on Tuesday just waiting for me to work with. . .a new favorite pattern for a neck warmer that only takes a couple of hours to complete. . .patterns calling to me from my book shelf. . .It's been hard not to break down and start something new. Lent is gonna be long this year.

I keep telling myself that when I have NO projects on needles, I'll be able to fly through each project one at a time, and then I'll REALLY look like a fast knitter when my attention is so focused. . .but I gotta finish the list. Here's my list of finished items so far. . .have you taken a count of your UFOs yet? The challenge is still out there. . .I'm waiting for pictures from all of you to encourage us all to clean up our lingering projects. . .

Finished Items—

1. Felt-able Entrelac swatch
2. Striped, felted bag
3. Gloria's Brown bag
4. Entrelac purse
5. Orsetto Kids vest
6. Green Einstein
7. Multi Einstein
8. Handspun shawl
9. Modular charity scarf
10. blue and white charity scarf
11. 3 cupcakes
12. washcloth
13. Gloria's scarf
14. Black Shrug
15. Red/Pink/Grey socks
    

I originally counted the cupcakes individually. . .that means I've finished 17 things and my list has shrunk to only (ONLY!) 24 items. . .well, it IS progress. . .

--t

Pathological.

I always knew that the people who “flash their stash” online were a bit nuts. Who really wants others to see what they have purchased but haven’t used yet?

I thought Louise was crazy when she was stressing about not finishing her baby booties.

Sure, I’ve got some yarn.

Sure, I’ve got unfinished projects.

But c’mon. No new projects for 40 days? I didn’t think I’d have enough to do.



Hello, Kettle? You’re black.

Yes, this is my Easter basket. All of my unfinished projects are here. They include a bag, felted and just waiting for handles, a Baby Albert (Einstein) sweater waiting for seams and buttons, a finished sweater that needs to be made smaller, my Master Knitter projects and a whole bunch of other things I’d forgotten about. And Louise? I've got booties too. Forty-one projects in all. Yes, 41. Ouch.

Who else is in? Send me your pics and I’ll post them if you want. . .
--t

With Fat Tuesday on the horizon...

Louise here...

I was knitting with some friends last Friday and was thinking that Lent must be coming up pretty soon – I’m possibly the least religious person I know, so to be honest, what I was really thinking about were paczkis (that’s probably not the correct plural, but it’s the only polish word I know) and whether anyone would bring some to the office on Tuesday, etc…

There really is a knitting connection here, stick with me. Thoughts of Mardi Gras, Paczky Day, etc lead me to think about Lent and the Christian tradition of giving something up during the days leading up to Easter. Whether or not one practices a particular faith isn’t the point – it’s that good ol’ puritan ethic that “deprivation builds character”. So in the spirit of things I decided that I could benefit from a little deprivation. Here it is folks –

I resolve not to cast on any new projects until April 8^th. Until then I will only work on finishing my in-progress projects.

I’m hoping that in the next six weeks or so, I can finish everything. I tried to make a list from memory – 11 items in all, ranging from baby booties to a complicated cable & eyelet sweater. There may be more forgotten projects that I’ll discover once I start digging.

So is anyone else game to do this with me?

Who Knew?

Against my better judgement I bought a spinning wheel from my friend (and absentee guild member) Jane. I knew that another hobby would just suck up more time. I knew that I had piles of yarn and stacks of patterns that I was eager to work on. I knew that this would be another adventure into spending money I don't have on things I don't need to impress people I don't know. . .but none-the-less, in January I became the proud owner of a Majacraft Rose spinning wheel. I have to say, I love it.

I love the whir of the wheel as it quietly takes fluffy roving and twists it into a fine strand. I love watching how the color of the wool changes to a deeper hue as it twists into a single strand of something that looks like yarn. I get excited when I ply two strands together and it actually becomes something I can imagine knitting. . .and watching it hang in hanks as it drys when I'm setting the twist makes me smile.

My first adventures with the wheel were a disaster. I actually wished that it wouldn't click in and that I would hate spinning so that I wouldn't slide down yet another slippery slope that would take time and money I don't have. Somehow, someway, it clicked. A class at Ewe-nique Knits may have helped. . .time on the wheel may have helped. . .who knows. All I know is that I'm in. Whole hog.

Jean, Jane and Erica all convinced me that I needed to put Saturday, February 17 on my calendar and to plan on shopping at the Spinner's Flock bi-annual sale in Chelsea. Louise and I got out our checkbooks and planned to make a day of it. Colleen has been bitten by the same bug and planned to head there as well, but she had a class in the morning and couldn't make it until later. Having been there before, some friends offered advice. "I figured out that I spent at about $100 an hour, " one said. Another reported, "There are MOUNTAINS of fleece on tables all over the cafeteria!" "You can buy all sorts of things, spinning wheels, yarn, roving, anything you want they sell there. . ." Are these people really my friends? With comments like these, how could I help but take out a second mortgage and head to Chelsea.

Even with the advice of friends, Louise and I could not have been prepared for what we experienced. As we turned to enter the school's cafeteria, Louise said, "Oh my god, look over there. . ." and with a turn of my head, my mouth fell open. . .it was a cafeteria PACKED with tables piled with fiber, and people rushing to buy it. . .there's no way we could have known how awesome this trip would be!

We saw raw fleece and interesting felted creatures for sale,

We saw yarn--BEAUTIFUL hand spun yarn that I aspire to one day be able to create (sorry for the blurry picture. . .)

We saw roving. . .piles and piles of roving and people. . .rushing to get the best stuff before it was all gone.

Our friend Jean was there, selling her yarn and offering advice about what I should buy. . ."No, you shouldn't get that because. . .look over there, her roving is nice. . .great color, but. . ." I feel like I owe her a commission for the lesson in shopping for roving she gave me!

We found Suzanne and Kate too. . .they made great lunch companions when we were done shopping. . .

Honestly? by noon, the mad rush was over and things began to slow down. . .but boy! what fun!

It was amazing to me to see how the colors of roving changed into finished yarn. Amazing too how much fun a gal can have just shopping for fiber with friends. Mark your calendar for September. . .we're going again!

--t

I just had to edit this to add the text and picture from an email I got from Sally. . .you're going to be blown away. . .

Hi,
I thought you might like to see where I am with my Fair Isle sweater...some of you know I cast on the 300+ stitches a few weeks ago and I thought I'd show my progress...our final class meets on March 4th and I am determinded to be ready to cut for the sleeves by then....whew..wish me luck...only about 60 more rows to go....sally

A New Voice. . .

Louise has promised to add her voice to the blog. . .just as I've challenged myself to make a pair of socks each month this year, she has come up with a knitting connection to Lent. Go figure. Can't wait to hear about it! Maybe she'll inspire us all to become more prolific knitters.

Knit Michigan Pictures. . .Finally

Believe it, or not. Here they are. The camera seemed to take second place to all of the talking and knitting I was doing. I actually brought it to the class I taught (disappointingly poorly attended) but never bothered to take it out of my bag and take pictures with it. (I guess I thought it made a better paper weight at that time). Even more surprising to those of you who know her, is the fact that Joanie was at Knit Michigan, a camera was at Knit Michigan, and we only have a couple of pictures. Shocked? You should be. But in Joanie's defense, she was volunteering at the food area and running home to get supplies I forgot--bless her.

Judith's comment after the event was, and I paraphrase. . ."I felt so smart! I never knew I knew enough to teach someone! It was fun!"
Camille teaching a beginner. . .

Louise not only taught beginners, but later taught many guests and guild members some techniques they were interested in learning. It seems that many of the attendees KNEW how to knit. . .it was afterall, KNIT Michigan. . .and they wanted a quick mini-lesson on an interesting technique. Louise was the star of the day for that type of teaching.

I never got an actual count of how many people entered the room and took advantage of what we were teaching, but it seemed like we had a steady crowd. . .and we distributed around 200 flyers. . .we could be PACKED at our meeting on February 27!
Louise modeled our guild's charity focus by working on another scarf for SOS.
Coraleee teaches a teen how to crochet. . .
Judith works with a beginner. . .

I went to the Royal Oak Knitting Guild last night and three people mentioned that they had already read the posting I put up yesterday afternoon. Not that I'm letting this get to my head or anything, but it's sort of cool to know people actually read this! The more readers I know we have, the more I want to post. Maybe that's why at 4 am, when I should be sleeping, I'm posting to this blasted blog. . .say a novena for a snow day tomorrow, would you?

As you read, think about posting some comments. . .what kinds of things have you enjoyed? Do you want more pictures, more links, specific topics, posts from other members, lets make this OUR blog that reflects member desires. (And COMMENT! It's so cool to hear your responses!)

--t