Lia

So I had this idea for a sweater one day last spring. It was still cold so I was thinking about warm things. It was probably the first time I've ever had the complete design in my head from the beginning rather than it evolving from something else.

It sat in the back of my head for a few months and before I knew it the Deep Fall Knitty deadline was looming a few weeks away. I ordered some Chunky Malabrigo in a gorgeous warm handpainted grey. We went on that vacation to Chattanooga and I took the knitting with me, but it's not good camping knitting so I didn't even start a sleeve until the car ride back. But I had almost a full sleeve done by the time we got home. Instant gratification is wonderful.

The hardest part of knitting it was having thick wool on my lap in July. I tried it on a few times as I went and I could not throw it off fast enough. It is WARM.

I finished the pattern and the sweater, and Ashley stepped in as a last minute model for me as my original model had a hair perm incident which apparently made her unfit for photographs.

Ashley was a great sport and managed to not look like she was wearing a superthick wool sweater when it was 95 degrees.

I got it done just in time to send it in and go to Knitting Camp. While I was there I talked to Amy (Detjen) a lot about fitting a range of sizes. I believe Amy told me there was a 1 inch difference in the shoulder to shoulder width between her and Joyce (go look at the picture of the 2 of them). Standard sizing tells designers that there is a much bigger difference in shoulder width.

Armed with this new information, I made some changes to the fit of the pattern for my friend Nancy who test knit it for me, and when Amy (Singer - Knitty's editor) emailed that I was accepted into Knitty we made those changes which I think made it even better.

The pattern can be found on Knitty now here. There are some other great patterns in this issue, I feel honored to be among such great company.

Ashley is a bit smaller than I am by the way, she cold probably have worn a smaller size. Here's what it looks like on me:

And it has been cool enough lately to actually wear it and not melt.

OK I admit it

I suck at blogging.

I used to blog more, but then Ravelry happened, and I am just not as good at it. I don't want my blog to become a business newsletter, so I avoid blogging "look at this new thing I have for sale", and then I put off the hobby blogging because I haven't got pictures yet.

Last time I blogged I was going to talk about Knitting Camp next, and I think I just do not have the words to describe the experience (and also, I totally forgot to take pictures most of the time I was there). This is the camp in Wisconsin started by Elizabeth Zimmerman and now led by her daughter Meg Swansen. I took one of Meg's classes at Sock Summit and immediately knew I needed more of her in my life.

Amy Detjen is hilarious and brilliant and I had a great time hanging out with and getting to know her. She swiped my Summit shawl and walked around with it, which made my day



Also, she is more obsessed with purple than I am, which I didn't know was possible.

I don't know how long they've been doing it this way, but they have this fantastic video setup so you can see everything Meg (or Amy) knits from the knitter's perspective.



(Meg knits almost exactly the way I do, and I feel only a teeny tiny bit smug about that.)

We talked about all kinds of knitting minutia for 3 days, and it was fantastic. I'd love to just live there all the time.

I made the trip with my good friend Janet, shown here looking totally punch drunk by all the knitting, and wearing the spiral yoke sweater (and possibly actually drunk from the box of margaritas, I'm not really sure when this was taken).

See all that stuff behind her? That's about 1/4 of all the knits that were there. Original, Elizabeth and Meg knits. We tried lots of them on, found shopping lists in the pockets. Tried not to drool. I got a little weepy looking at the February baby sweater and longies (and damn if I didn't FORGET TO TAKE A PICTURE of those, too).

I fell in love with this sweater


and bought the yarn and cast on for it before we left. Mine is purple, of course. That is intarsia in the round there, by the way. Fantastic.

I feel certain that some of what I learned that weekend has already fallen out of my head, and the only solution is to go back again several more times. We barely slept, the food was mediocre, but there was more than enough beer, margaritas, and knitting to make up for it.

Some other random things:

Across the street we found this place:

Which surprisingly had pretty good beer.

And down the street we found Janet's own yarn and craft store:

Which amused me greatly.


Amy Meg and Joyce were just a joy to be around, and I want to soak up all that collective knowledge and experience some more.

Finally...

School started today!



Sean was very excited (check out the flame Chucks). Molly was too but she did NOT want to take a picture. And Caitie is too cool to have her mom wait at the bus stop with her.

What this hopefully means is that I'll have more time to blog. I have so many pictures.

One thing I've been doing a ton of this summer is spinning.


Spunky Eclectic Wool Blend in Rosy Fingered Dawn. 2 ply, about fingering weight. No idea what to make from it yet. Goes to proving my theory that everything from Amy is wonderful.


Tiger Club shipment from last month. I've been in this club for a few months now and I've not regretted it a bit. Everything is pretty, and it's expanding my horizons. This is Wensleydale (LONG staple length) and it was lovely to spin.




Remember this from the vacation pictures? Well it turned out like this:



I love everything about it. It's merino fiber, it came in a bag of strips, which I split in half and spun sequentially. I am amazed at how well they matched when I plied it (I actually wanted a little more overlap than I ended up with.

Here's what's on my wheel right now, waiting for me to have time to finish the second half:

Most recent Tiger Club shipment. 100% bamboo rayon fiber. I never would have bought this, and I was a little afraid to spin it but it is absolutely wonderful to spin. It's slippery, so I have to go a little slow, but I kind of like that about it. And also, it's GORGEOUS. And such a great tactile experience. I really wish I had time to finish it.

I haven't had time because I've been dyeing this:


That's yarn club for August. I'm happy to get it out early this cycle. With only 2 or 3 exceptions, it all left my house on Monday, thank god. That was a shitload of grey yarn, I tell you. You can't tell because the pink is all on top, but it was mostly grey that people picked. 58 skeins of grey. Really sick of grey.

Today I got lots of dyeing done for Stitches Midwest (which is very very soon and stressing me out!) This:

is the most recent colorway called Gallifrey. Part of a new Doctor series I'm working on.

This one is called Time Vortex and I think I might be keeping it all for me. (no not really).
There's a couple more I haven't got pictures of yet. In case you can't tell, the kids and I spent the summer watching all the Doctor Who episodes of the new series. They are a bit obsessed with the Doctor. Molly walks around with her hand out and says EXTERMINATE! EXTERRRRRMIIIIINNNAAAAATE! It's pretty hilarious.

Next up- Knitting Camp!

Finale

This is the last vacation post, in case some of you were getting worried about that. It's mostly pictures, because I love pictures and some of these really amuse me.

Rock City is cool. If you ever get a chance to visit I highly recommend it:








Right about where Caitie is standing up in the distance of that picture above is where she dropped her phone.





Right after here is about where we found it. Turned out that people below us yelled up after a few minutes and said her phone fell all the way through, but it was (mostly) unharmed. Rock City is a maze that criss crosses over itself at different levels (mostly naturally occurring). So it's a good long walk from 1 level to another but we got it back.



My favorite quote of the day from Caitie "Hall of the Mountain King. That sounds like something from the Hobbit!"

It's not a place for people who have a fear of heights.


This is my favorite part of camping. In the morning the kids snuggle one by one into our sleeping bag.



Sean got Last Airbender tattoos from McDonald's and was positive that Daddy needed one since he doesn't have hair.



I agreed with Sean. All day long at the pool kids kept asking him to bend air.







There was plying.


I finished this batch in the car on the way home, so yes, it's yarn yet. I'll post pictures later, I love it!



Caitie and I went riding. Sean wanted to go but I asked him if he wanted to ride a horse or have ice cream and he chose ice cream.



It was pretty cool and a great way to spend our last day.

Next up: Actual Knitting Content.

Part Deux

I kinda think showing people my vacation pictures is boring, but they've actually been *requested*, so I feel like I can do it with a clear conscience.

We practically lived at the pool.




(Rob is a terribly good sport and a great knitter's husband)





(Thank God for Gortex! - Sean's cast was waterproof)

Also, the family complained that I didn't post pictures of myself on the jumping pillow, so here:



And this one is too good not to share too, even if it is blurry:


Heading in to town one morning. Molly wasn't tired, as you can see:

We took a ride on the Southern Belle riverboat (which I totally forgot to take a picture of when we weren't on it).




There was spinning...


Later we met up with Dana from Unwind Yarn

We had a great time hanging out, she laughed at my kids being silly and kineared a woman who was playing in the fountain wearing white linen pants and red underwear. ahem.

Later we went out to dinner at a brewpub (I don't remember the name, but it was yummy). I was having such a good time I was a really bad mom and totally forgot how late it was.



oops

Here's a rare moment of all 3 kids playing nicely together.



We spent a day at Chickamauga battlefield. Rob and Sean loved it, Caitie and Molly tolerated it nicely even though they thought it was insanely dull.

Caitie found a weird bug, anyone know what it is?

Here's another example of my son's inability to eat properly. Clearly I've fallen down on my duties.

That was a jawbreaker.

Chattanooga

A couple weeks ago we went camping near Chattanooga, TN. We were actually camping just over the state line in Georgia.

I think the best part of the camp grounds was the jumping pillow.





It's serious fun. Like a trampoline but on the ground and surrounded by sand.


We had a great site and stayed 8 nights.



They had lots of junk food




Apparently I haven't taught my son how to eat. This was a recurring theme.





The incline railway was fun. It's a mile long and I forget how steep, but STEEP. At the top we visited a civil war memorial/park. I don't have very many pictures because the kids took turns being little shits that afternoon, but there's a few winners:




I'm so proud.



Caitie having a tantrum at the top of lookout mountain

More tomorrow!