KDO

Last weekend, all of the Knit Chicks (well, nearly all) caravaned out to Harrisburg for Knitter's Day Out. This is the one trip that almost everyone makes - a few go to Stitches, and Jenn and I went to TKGA in Fort Washington, but everyone goes to KDO. We had a great time! We took over the hotel lobby, and knitted with some of the other guests. That is always fun because there are actually guests at the hotel that are not attending KDO, and are not even knitters! *gasp* They find it very amusing that the lobby is full of ladies knitting.

I took the Knitted Lace class with Jan Rienhardt. It was terrific - she had some lovely examples, and everyone was trying different stitch combinations, helping each other out, and having fun. Jan is terrific teacher, and has a great straightforward manner. For my first real lace project, I wanted to make the Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I was getting frustrated with it. The pattern is not difficult, but reading my work was tricky, and when I made a mistake, it was really hard to find and correct. When I showed it to Jan, she just said "Well, I think you are starting in Graduate School, when you might want to try Freshman Year." And guess what? She was right! I put it away, and pulled out a ball of KP Shine Sport, and had no problems at all! Her advice was to work my way up to laceweight yarn, using lighter yarn with each project. And I had a revelation - one of the reasons I was having problems was that I am really not in love with STS - don't get me wrong - it is a gorgeous shawl. But when I really thought about why I was knitting it, the answer was to prove that I can, not that I really wanted one. So why am I making myself nuts over it?? I will probably never use a gossamer lace shawl, but I would love to have one in heavier yarn - THAT I would use! I might even make a STS with fingering weight instead of laceweight.

My afternoon class was very challenging - it was called Sit n' Knit. I sat outside with Elaine and Carrie and knitted! Elaine is working diligently on a beautiful baby blanket, and Carrie is working (not so diligently) on her baby blanket. Carrie decided to go for instant gratification, and bought a Schoeller & Stahl "Big Ball" of yarn in pastel varigated and a hugeungous pair of knitting needles and started a new baby blanket. Lots of babies coming along in their family!

I bought a fabulous pattern for my knitted purse swap - I think it is just right for my swap partner. But don't look for progress pics - I want it to be a surprise!! I also found the perfect **** for it (can't tell what the **** means - might be handles, might be yarn, might be zipper ... hee hee). After she receives it, I will post a FO pic. I also got the perfect yarn for a Christmas present I am making, and a cashmere/merino blend for another Christmas present. I did my part to support the KDO Market.

After breakfast on Sunday, I zipped home to TRHM. He was at work, so I took advantage of the time to myself and took a little nap - we were up so late on Friday and Saturday night that I was really wiped by Sunday afternoon. When I woke up from my nap, he was home. I showed him all my loot, and he thoroughly approved of my purchases. He agrees that the yarn I got was perfect, and the cashmere/merino blend was very soft.