Saturday Sky 07-30-11

Just when I think I'm going to quit posting Saturday Sky pictures, someone tells me how much they like them, so here is today's picture. Temperature at 12:30 is 83 with high humidity again.

Saturday Sky 07-23-11

When it rains, it pours! The weather this summer-when it finally arrived has been extreme. Extreme heat, humitidy, and storms. This Saturday morning storm dumped over an inch of rain and raised the humidity. Temperature was just in the high 80's.

Knit & Crochet Show

Yesterday (July 29), I attended the Knit & Crochet Show at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis. The show is sponsored by The Knitting Guild Association (www.TKGA.com)  and Crochet Guild of America (www.Crochet.org)

This picture is the "free goodies" I received. Because I was one of the first 500 people to register, I got the Lion Brand bag with the silver yarn and fun fur. The blue yarn is Butterfly Mercerized Cotton which was part of the centerpiece at the banquet. Each person at the table could pick a color of yarn. The Clover interchangeable needle set I won at the door prize drawing at the banquet.

Of course, there was a market! My purchases seem to favor Three Irish Girls! The skein on the bottom is called Peacock and was specially dyed for Stephen Be of Yarn Garage. The light blue is a new yarn for TIG a Bamboo Cotton Fingering, color Not a Cloud in the Sky. The bundle was from Amazing Threads and was put together to make a pound of yarn. A good deal and good coordinating colors. The reddish yarn is Habu bamboo probably for a shawl, they had a beautiful one made up. The shawl pattern was also displayed and was so much prettier than this picture shows.

It was sad as attendance was very poor. I got there at 3 PM and still was able to get a parking discount given to the first 100 attendees. The market floor was almost deserted which made it easy to shop, but was bad for the vendors. The banquet had less than 100 people there. The show continues until Sunday, July 31 with the shopping floor open 10-3. Try to make it.

Lisianthus

Since I forgot to put the pin on the finished shawl, here is the club shipment when it arrived in April. This is Rosemary Hill's Pin and Shawl Club www.designsbyRomi.com. (Sign ups are full right now.) When you sign up you have the option to get the pin, pattern and yarn, or just the pin and pattern. I always can use more yarn for shawls so I got that option. (If you believe that, I have some property in the swamp I can sell you.)

This is the beginning of the shawl. It started our in the round, then began back and forth. I used Emily Ocker's circular cast on. The "outie" center blocked out.I have been knitting almost exclusively on this shawl for the last couple weeks and finally finished. At the end, there were nearly 1000 stitches on the needle.

She surely doesn't look very elegant when finished knitting and not blocked. It took over 2 hours to block-pinning and re pinning. I started by marking my blocking board with the finished measurements just as a guide. I then pinned the center stem into place, put pins in the top most nupp and centered and pinned the edge. From there I pinned the rest of the shawl. I had bought 2 more boxes of T pins to add to all the blocking pins I had, but still ran out so had to use sewing pins.

The wine glass says, "Knit 1, Sip 1." I needed the whole glass when I finished blocking.

Probably the biggest feeling of accomplishment is seeing the lace blossom after blocking!

Saturday Sky 07-09-11

It was a hot, humid day again. High in the low 90's. We met our son and family for dinner and ate outside which was fairly comfortable. This picture was taken from the car crossing the Mississippi River. Notice how high the water is for July.

More Yarns

This yarn arrived today from Three Irish Girls. The sock pattern always comes later via PDF; this time a second pattern is a bonus. The yarn is Velvet Sock, 100% superwash merino, colorway Sprouting.

Socks are for Suckers Club for July. Love the yarn, beads and Sivia Harding pattern. The little crochet hook is an extra. The yarn is Pico Accuardi Dyewords in Oregon handpainted, 60% Angora, 40% Columbia Wool. Pattern is Midsummer.

Yarnista Sock Club May shipment. The colorway is Berry Blast in Adorn Sock Yarn. The little blue is an extra. I bought 2 skeins of this a while ago and took it out when yarn diving for yarn to make Romi's Oak Leaves shawl. The pattern is in the Fall KnitScene magazine, due out July 12. I'll wind it today and be ready to start.




This is an exclusive colorway of Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock called Lovestruck, dyed for Amazing Threads.






Today I got the pink skein from my friend who just opened her own business, Propaganda Yarn. The pink is called Cut my teeth on Tourmaline and the green is Cut my teeth on Diamonds. I think I'll use them for Romi's first Muse shawl.







This is Hazel Knits yarn. I have no idea when or where I got it but found it in my closet. New that I haven't put away? Something I took out of the stash for a project? Or is my yarn just reproducing? And why did Blogger download all my pictures upside down?

Spanish Moss Shawl

Pattern: Spanish Moss by Rosemary (Romi) Hill. This yarn and pattern is from the January 2011 Pin and Shawl Club.

Yarn: Royale Hare Merino Lace.

Needle: US # 4

There are beads in the 2 end sections but they don't show in the picture.

I think it is a beautiful shawl and was fun to knit (as are all of Romi's)

Saturday Sky July 2, 2011

This is the view as I sat on our deck knitting. The weather has turned from HOT and HUMID ot beautiful. Today the humidity is down and temps should be in the 80's.