Yarnover 2013

I was very negligent about taking any pictures at Yarnover this year. The class I took was excellent. It was a half day class on knitting with vintage patterns taught by Franklin Habit. Usually I sit through about an hour of a class, then leave, but this one kept me there even when the class went overtime. The subject was interesting and he is such a good teacher with lots of illustrations. Sorry, I even ripped out the mystery project we knit from an old pattern before I took any pictures.

 

I didn't come home empty handed, but I think I was pretty good about buying. Just 2 skeins of yarn!

Part of the reason I didn't buy much yarn is because I splurged with the Grinning Gargoyle Mink yarn. Yes, it is as soft as a mink coat. The other skein is from All For the Love of Yarn and the color is named after a friend of mine-just had to have it!

 

The kit for this necklace caught my attention, so it came home with me and I finished it in just a few hours-crochet.

In Remembrance

Last week my daughter, Gloria, and I attended a Knit In at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah in memory of Ann Swanson, one of the partners in the pattern company, Two Old Bags, formerly Wool You Order. I had sort of known Ann for many years and knit several of her patterns, the one most often A Dozen Christmas Stockings. She was on the same trip I took to Norway with Arnhild Hillesland and Carol Anderson on which I formed one of my favorite memories of her. Ann was afraid of heights, but when we stopped at this wonderful overlook of the fjords and mountains, Ann stood up on the restraining wall and raised her arms in praise.

 

The project for the Knit In was a pillow, which was never a published pattern, but just a chart and a few notes Ann had made. We didn't know what we would be knitting until we got there. These are not mine! I actually haven't started mine as it took more concentration than I had while there.

The day went so fast! We barely got there and it was time for the stash sale. Ann's husband had donated her stash for sale. When I walked into the room, Carol Anderson handed me this yarn, "you are the only one I know who would knit with this." Of course, it came home with me and has already started being Romi's new shawl club pattern, Firebird.

This also joined my stash. The money taken in from the sale went to Vesterheim Education Fund in memory of Ann.

We were given a tour of the textile storage area of the museum which was very interesting. Lunch was on our own, so of course I had to take Gloria there as she had heard so much about the meatballs and rumagrot (I have no idea how it is spelled)which is a Norwegian dessert which resembles creme brule.

North Country Fiber Fest

This last weekend I taught at the North Country Fiber Fest in Watertown, SD. What a wonderful event! The energy and enthusiasm of the whole weekend was something that is rarely experienced. I taught lace/Haruni shawl, Steek your Coffee Cozy and a Sea Foam Scarf, so I didn't get to take any classes but did walk around and observe some of them.

 

The variety of classes was exceptional. Everything from raising silkworms to basket weaving. Some things I had never heard of or seen before such as tapestry crochet, cardboard loom weaving, kanzashi blooms, Japanese Braiding. Lots of spinning and dying classes.

 

The center of this large building had a "Fiber Circle" where people were always spinning, mostly, but knitting, needlepointing, whatever. This is only about half of the group. the variety of spinning wheels was interesting, too.

This is a kick spindle, sort of a cross between a drop spindle and a wheel. She actually kicks the spindle to turn it.

Of course there is always show and tell and this beauty caught the attention of everyone. It was made by the woman on the left and took her 10 months. It was hard to get a picture that really shows off the beauty.

 I had heard of "fiber sandwich" but had no idea what it was. Well, here it is. People bring in a certain amount of fiber-any kind, any color. It then gets layered together.

 And distributed among the spinners. Sorry these are pictured in plastic bags, but they are the left overs which were auctioned off at the end.

 The spinners then spin the fiber into yarn.

The finished skeins are auctioned off at the end of the festival.

There were also vendors. What did I come home with? Only one quilted knitting bag.

The festival was very much spinning oriented. What did I order after I came home? One weaving loom. More about that when it comes.

Friends, Food and Fiber

After we decided we'd rather drive back roads than freeways we've driven the same route to the Chicago area at least 4 times. By now our route is determined  by special places we like to return to each visit.

Our first stop is for lunch in Decorah, Iowa. On a visit to the Vesterheim Museum ( a must see ) we discovered this restaurant and this menu. So we stop there every time and I get the same thing. 

Decorah is a Norwegian oriented town, so of course, they have Norwegian meatballs and real mashed potatoes. These are the best!

This is a Norwegian dessert which my family never served but I tasted for the first time on my trip to Norway. This is roomugrut (or some similar spelling) made from heavy cream and is like a custard or flan. The black on the top is cinnamon, not something burned.

In Decorah we met a nursing classmate of mine and had lunch together.

Our trip from Decorah to Schaumberg was plagued with road construction and in one place the traffic was completely stopped and there was no oncoming traffic. We waited for awhile and my husband got out the map and figured out a way we could get around the blockage. Good idea? No! Illinois is terrible about numbering their roads. The map had numbers, but the roads just had one name no matter which way we turned. We finally found a decent looking road which should have gotten us around the blockage and back on the road we wanted. 70 miles later we arrived back at Galena, the town BEFORE the blockage, so we back tracked and went another way. It was a long day,

My husband grew up in Chicago so we visit with some of his high school friends. This is the restaurant we went to with one friend. It is called Mill Rose a vision of William R. Rose, owner of Rose Packing Company, a meat processing firm located in Chicago Barrington, Illinois.

Six 125 year old large barns have been moved to create the restaurant, banquet rooms and Millrose Country Store.

The brick in the patio is from the original meat processing plant.

The Midwest is having a severe drought and heat. We expected to see damaged fields but surprisingly we saw only a few cornfields with wilted, stunted corn. We could see some of the trees were showing damage.

The next day while my husband visited another friend I went to XRX, publisher of Knitters' magazine Midwest conference market. It is huge, filled with anything you might want in the knitting world. It is overwhelming! This is showing the number of isles, plus two behind me.

This is a picture of the length of each isle, but it really doesn't show clearly.

And this is what I bought. From top to bottom: 1) 75% tencel/25% linen 2) Rayon. Both of these are from a company called Newton's Yarn Company in Anaheim, CA. I had lunch with a woman from the company who was wearing a shawl out of the rayon which was beautiful and she said after the first blocking didn't need to be blocked again. 3) Miss Babs fingering yarn, 70% merino, 30% silk.

4) Serenity Silk +, 75% merino/ 15% cashmere/ 10% silk. 5) Serenity Lace, 90% merino/ 10% cashmere. Both numbers 4 and 5 are Zen Garden and because I bought 2 skeins, I got the pattern in the background as a gift. 6) The light blue is sweet georgia, 45% cashmere, 55% silk, lace weight. 6 & 8) are both Madelinetosh fingering weight. The gold is a limited edition colorway, Stephen Loves Tosh and it just fell off the shelf as I was waiting in line to pay for the needles I started out to buy. The needles are Knitters Pride Cubix which I have tried and liked. I also got a fixed circular Knitters Pride-not cubix- because the circular needle I was knitting socks on had a barb at the join and was splitting the yarn as I had to force it over the join. A good shopping trip. I actually left before the time my husband was picking me up because I knew I'd just buy more and I didn't need this, let alone more.

On the way home we get orders from our children to stop at the Brewery in New Glarus, WI to get them beer. We like their beer and you cannot buy it outside the state of Wisconsin. I was introduced to it by a friend from Texas who came to knitting camp in Door County every year and brought the beer back to her family.

This is what we went home with. A case for each child and the 6 pack is mine.

Also in New Glarus is the Swiss hotel which has a good restaurant featuring Swiss food we usually eat at, but neither one of us was hungry so we just took a picture.

Across the street from the hotel is this gift shop where I drop a lot of money every time I go inside.

Because this is part if the Polish pottery I just love. Every time I go I buy a few pieces.

This is my purchase this time.

We're nearing home, and this is another routine stop. Again, the Norwegian influence. There is not anything on the menu we get every time, but we plan our meal to leave room for their wonderful pies. We like their cookies and usually bring some home. This year we did, but not for us. We gave them to the staff at the MN Oncology Office where my husband receives his chemo.

Have to close with this sign which we say MANY times. I didn't get the one that says, "Detour". One of those gave us another extra 20 miles on the way home.

Yarnover 2012

This is the 26th year the Minnesota Knitters' Guild has put on their big knitting event, Yarnover. It has grown from a small local event to a huge international event, from local teachers to famous designers and teachers, from a few local vendors to international vendors. As usual, it was great. It was so exciting I didn't even take any pictures while there. I think the highlight for me is seeing so many friends, some I haven't seen for some time.

For people who register for classes (The market is free and open to the public)they receive a gift bag. I must say, this years was a little disappointing. The tote bag is nice-long handles so it can be carried over the shoulder, pockets, and vented side panels. But, come on, Velcro closure? I've snagged yarn on it every time I put a skein in or out of the bag.

These were the gifts. I won't comment-much. The yarn is Jamieson's Shetland Double Knitting. Hasn't that been discontinued for many years?

I ended up taking only 1 class which was excellent. It was Tips and Tricks for making socks with elasticity and durability by Clara Parkes. I had registered to take a class on photographing yarn by Susan McMahon from Three Irish Girls, but she had to cancel as she was sick. That worked out fine for me because I was able to go to the jewelry party my grand daughter had.

I did make some purchases. Surprised? The first is this 50/50 baby camel/silk from All for Love of Yarn. I'm sure it will find it's way into a soft shawl some day.

This is from an independent spinner/dyer who I know. She calls her yarn, "Knitting My Way Home" and the color is called concord grape which doesn't show up well in the picture.

This one just jumped off the shelf into my hands. Once I felt it, it couldn't go back. It is 100% #1 Suri Ultimate from Little Gidding Farm in Lester Prairie, MN. Yummy.

A fun day!

Shop Hop

This weekend the Twin Cities had their annual Shop Hop. I usually don't do much, but this year I did get to 6 of the shops. I took a few pictures, but not all. I bought only at 2 shops. Here is the results:

This was the display at Crafty Planet. Dawn, the owner/dyer for Propaganda is a friend of mine and we went here together. The pictures don't show the true beauty of the yarn.

Each shop had a different country for a theme. Crafty Planet was Russia and 3 Kittens was Sweden. I loved these colors and the pattern which was designed by another friend of mine.

Arnhild's Knitting Retreat

Every February, Arnhild Hillesland has a knitting retreat in Ames, Iowa. It is such a wonderful time as I attend with my 2 daughters, daughter in law, sister, and niece. We enjoyed the weekend so much, I hardly took any pictures.

The 240 mile trip took us from 9AM to 4:30 to get there. Our first stop was at Unwind Yarn in Burnsville, MN and made a purchase.

From there, we went to Northfield, MN where I drove around the campus of St Olaf College to show my Alma mater. Northfield Yarn in historic downtown Northfield was our destination where I bought this yarn. For some reason, the copper colors are grabbing me. Lunch was in an Indian restaurant in the historic St. James Hotel.

One of the classes taught was double knitting by Christa Newhouse. This is a coat she has made showing the Chicago skyline. The coat has been appraised at $15,000! 

I only attended one class on reversible cables. Most of the time the family gathered in the lobby or our room, knit, drank some wine, and had lots of talk and giggling. This is what I produced over the weekend. It is supposed to be a leaf shaped dishcloth. Something went wrong!

Bea asked me to knit her a pair of socks. I don't think I really committed to her that I would do it but I was thinking that would solve her birthday present problem. She bought this yarn for me to use.



NW Burbs Weekend Retreat

Last weekend I had a "BIG" birthday and celebrated it with 10 knitters in a retreat home across the river from Red Wing, MN. What could be better!

We had lots of food! This is just the appetizers on the first evening.

We visited the Riverside Suri Alpaca farm in Lake City. I had been there with the MN Knitters' Days and arranged for us to visit. I wasn't going to take many pictures, but the alpacas are so cute! Sara was the friendliest.

 Eleanor was very entertaining-and Sara very patient.

Alpacas teeth grow and have to be trimmed usually once a year, but this one grows faster.

Dana, the owner, was very gracious-even decorated for my birthday. (Wonder who told her?)

I didn't take any pictures of us knitting-I was too busy knitting. Nor did I take any pictures of any more meals-I was too busy eating. We did have some excitement as about midnight the ceiling fan sent out sparks and smelled hot, so had a visit from 3 fire trucks and the county sheriff. I was in bed, not sleeping, so could hear all the giggling and talking. Obviously nothing was harmed except the fan.

Birthday celebration with my daughter, Gloria.