What Kind of Knitter Are You?

I found a quiz on another blog and thought you'd like to take it! Follow this Link.



I'm a "Knitting Adventurer" leave a comment about what you found out that YOU are!

Meanwhile, check out the details for the Michigan State Fair. If you're planning to submit an item, it costs $12 and you can submit up to 10 items. Look through your stash, what do you have completed? What's close to completion? What are you proud of and want to show off? There are small cash prizes and shiny ribbons to be won. . .what do you have to lose?

You need to download, complete and mail in your application by August 1, so get going and get it done! How cool would it be to have lots and lots of things from BSKG at the Fair? All items need to be delivered Aug 11, 12 or 13 (I'll need a volunteer to drop some things off for me, I'll be out of town still) and can be picked up just after Labor Day. I'll try to find out more info about the "Nimble Fingers Knitting Exhibition" Chris won a rosette last year for her speedy knitting! A member of the Royal Oak Knitters is organizing this competition, and she's also willing to help out with any knitting problems you may have with a project you're working on.

Regardless of whether or not you enter items (but you all should. . .) it's a fun place to go and see what other's around the state are making! With the skill of everyone in our guild, we should be able to win ribbons in every category. . .not that I'm competitive or anything!
--t

Lace Happens

I thought that I'd never really be that interested in lace knitting. . .I mean really. Small stitches. Fine Yarn. Slow progress. I'm interested in speed, cranking things out, seeing actual progress.

Imagine my surprise when I found that all I want to knit these days are lace projects and socks! I finished Clue 3 on Friday before we left for the UP. . .here's a pic And Joanie couldn't resist taking a picture of me knitting on vacation. Here I am on the boat cruise to see the Pictured Rocks in Munising. If you haven't been, you really must go, it's worth the trip. As soon as I finished these socks, Joanie had them on her feet.

My Gramma, who has Alzheimer's, kept complimenting me on the nice knitting I was doing and told me these socks should be for a girl. Imagine her surprise when I told her that it was HER that had taught me to knit when I was little. She was proud and bragged of it to a woman sitting near her.
Missed vacation photo opportunities include a trip to an Alpaca Farm (disappointing) and a chance to use a drum carder at a teeny little fiber shop. . .I got to card my own wool into a batt that I'll spin sometime this Summer or Fall.

According to the Elizabeth's Year KAL, I should have been knitting a Pi shawl this month. I really didn't want a circular shawl and thought I'd substitute the Pacific Northwest Shawl instead. After looking at the progress everyone has made on their Pis. . .I want one bad! I made myself promise I'd bind off the first shawl before casting on a new one. . .and promised I'd wait to begin Clue 4 on MS3 until I was halfway into the body of the Pi. . .oh the deals I make with myself!

As I write, the Pacific Northwest shawl is soaking in wool wash, and will be pinned to my futon this afternoon. In the meantime, here's a picture of it unblocked. (Do you like the glamorous on location shot? I thought you might be board of the ironing board and my wood floors!)

I've heard that Judith did some damage at the Heritage sale this weekend. . .can't wait to see her spoils!

An email confirmed that Sally's skirt washed beautifully and has already been worn--what and her birthday still a month away!

Kim is making good headway on her (much finer and lacier) MS3. . .and hoping to be "caught up" in 2 weeks when clue 5 hits the Internet. So stop calling and tempting her to go out and shop will you? She needs knitting time! She's fallen so hard for lace knitting that she's planning to purchase ALL of Melanie's patterns and knit ALL of the shawls and stoles! Not only that, but I've been told that countless hours have been spent looking at pictures of MS3 online. . .Kim, do we need to plan an intervention??

The BSKG board has been considering moving the day of our meeting from the 3rd Tuesday to the 4th. . .any issues with this? We'd also like to move our meetings to the Community Center. . .Kim and I are coordinating a visit later this month.

Having fallen victim to not only lace knitting, I've discovered podcasts this month. . .check out the Cast-on podcast if you haven't yet. . .I give it a thumbs up, and I think you'll like it too.

And lest you think I forgot, Joanie actually picked the winner of the caption contest. Since everyone who posted a caption in local, I'll bring your prize on Tuesday to the Coffee Beanery! See you there!

MS3--Waiting

Clue 2 is done. . .now I wait until Friday for Clue #3.

Any guesses about the theme yet?

"Speed Knitting"

Ever seen anyone knit so fast they needed a helmet to protect themselves?

Or maybe, the helmet is to protect themselves from the head bashing you do when you've made a REALLY big mistake and need to frog. . .

A skein of sock yarn is waiting for the person with the most witty (in my opinion) caption for this pix. Make a comment and I'll choose the winner next Thursday when I come home from the UP.

Thanks to Coralee for the picture! (oh how I wonder what sort of crazy pictures of me she may have stored on her camera. . .)

MS3

So, here it is. . .a picture of the Week 1 directions completed.My photography skills are sorely lacking. . .and if you can believe it, this is the BEST picture of THREE that I took while it was pinned on the ironing board! I did steam it while it was there and it seems to be holding that blocking reasonably well. . .if you see it in person you can judge for yourself.

Apparently, July is the month of lace for me. As Kim suggested, I'm easily swayed. . .and I've been listening to the Knitpicks podcast lately. On the podcast, Kelly suggested a year long knitalong following Elizabeth Zimmermann's Almanac. (Yes, I've signed up for that too. . .) In July, the project is a shawl based on the number Pi. It makes a lovely, and simple round shawl--that could be modified in a million ways. While that does appeal to me, I'm not sure I want a round shawl.

So, on July 1, I cast on a Fiber Trends shawl and am busy working on the lace edging. Hopefully I'll have it finished and blocked soon. (I suppose that means I need to chill out on MS3, though, doesn't it?)

Meanwhile, Sally brought her lace linen skirt to The Coffee Beanery last week, and I have a variation of that on needles too...

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm a teacher and have the summer off!

Who's In?

I've had this fantastic idea for a post floating around in my head for awhile, but life has just been busy. I was actually shocked when I saw that it had been since May (MAY!) since there was any new info posted here. Sorry.

I thought I'd write long prose about how fantastic this Spring was for our Guild. I was going to write lovely things about my trip to Toronto. . .

How Fantastic our Retreat was. . .

(Honestly, it was TONS of fun. . .don't let this picture throw you off! Start saving your pennies for next year!)

Go on and on about how I loved the Stash Swap and Sale at our last meeting. . .(Sorry, I forgot my camera for this one, but trust me, we all enhanced our stashes while getting rid of some major amounts of yarn we didn't want.)

Talk about my knitting a top especially for Prom. . .(you'll have to imagine us not on our sides. . .and BOTH of these are hand knit tops, Gloria's was her first sweater!)

Share all of the wonderful things about the Shop Hop we went on in Lansing. . .

Have a finished "do-over" top to show you (now I'm just ripping it out all together, it's a long story. . .)

Brag a bit about all of the socks I've knit. . .I think I'm on 17 or 18 since January. . .

Tell you some things about my weekend at Insel Haus with Christa. . .

But honestly? All I want to do is work on this.

Kim sucked me in without even trying. . .Who else is in?