twenty-two

Two months, two yarn festivals.

Yeah, I didn't mind that at all.

Yesterday was the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival! I went last year, and had a wonderful time. I bought seven hanks of yarn and vowed to use them all before the 2013 festival. I used four of them to make this Noro Scarf. The remaining three lovelies were used for this hat and this hat.

I only took a small bag, since Stitches West was just a month ago. I did some damage there, and I only posted a small portion of the haul from that trip here on the blog. Seriously, you have no idea. I was really excited about seeing all the indie dyers and especially excited for a few vendors in particular, more on that in a moment...

This year, I ended up with six hanks of beautiful yarn. Since I always immediately reach for the blues, I didn't let myself get any blue yarn yesterday. I need to start to knitting outside my color comfort zone a bit more... I've stashed them on Ravelry, and here's a quick shot below. I picked up three hanks of Zoe Sock from Shalimar Yarns, a hank of Superwash Merino Worsted from Unplanned Peacock Studios (the variegated yarn - top right), my very first hank of Fibernymph Dye Works Bona Fide DK in Golden Brown, and a hank of Ball and Skein Providence in Goldenrod.

And speaking of Fibernymph Dye Works, I got to meet Lisa, the owner (and host of the 90% Knitting video podcast)! She was fabulous and just so sweet. Her colors are so beautiful! Lisa lives right here in Pittsburgh, and it was so nice to finally have the opportunity to squish and squeeze her yarns. As if that wasn't exciting enough, when I got to her booth, I ran into Emily, host of the Whatcha Swatchin' video podcast, and we got to chat for a minute or two. Although, I can't imagine how weird it was for her. She was just standing there shopping politely, and I was like, "OH WOW! I feel like I know you, even though we've never met!" Emily was super fun, just like she is on her podcast, and we talked about her upcoming wedding and our dogs, of course. Here's a picture of Lisa and I (and my first hank of FDW) at the festival yesterday.

I finished my hat last night after I got back from the festival, and decided to take 18 hours without having anything on the needles. I really like the hat, and I'm happy it only took one ball of yarn. Now I still have one left for another hat. Here's a quick shot of the new hat, taken by James, photographer extraordinaire. And here's the project page with all the knitty gritty details.

I also stopped at Natural Stitches, since I hadn't been there in months! I know I've mentioned them before, but it really is the best LYS around. Seriously. What a fun place. Seriously. I would live there. Seriously.

Seriously.

So, after yesterday's yarn crawl and finishing the Bartek hat, I needed to cast on a new project. Seriously, I needed to. I've started a new shawl by Veera Välimäki called Stripe Study. It's an asymmetrical triangular shawl in garter stitch. I'm using two different colorways of madelinetosh tosh merino light (because it's fabulous!), French grey and stove pipe. This one may take a little time, but I'm determined to have only one project on the needles at a time... Probably. I mean, I'll try. Here's the project page, and a quick shot below.

That's all for now.

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Seriously.

fourteen

What are you knitting?

While I was at knitting group tonight, I started thinking about knitting in public.

I'm no stranger to knitting in public. In fact, there's not many places that I haven't (or wouldn't) knit. I don't knit at the office, I don't knit at the movies (yet), and I don't knit in traffic (I don't think it will ever come to this). I do knit in airports and on airplanes, at coffee shops, by the pool, and certainly when I'm in any sort of waiting room. I have been approached many times about my knitting, and it's always been a pleasant experience. Those who know me personally will already know that I have no problem (at all) talking about myself... Hence this blog. So it's no surprise that, when asked about my knitting, I open up as easily as a pleated plastic bag.

When I knit on airplanes, I'm almost always in the company of another knitter (or crocheter, or hooker, ahem) whether they're seated near me or not. I've even had certain projects identified by the pattern and designer. As in, "Are you knitting the Noro scarf?" or "Is that a hitchhiker?" On one notably pleasant flight, one of the flight attendants was a fellow knitter and she stopped by several times over the course of a flight from Florida to Pennsylvania, just to check up on my progress. I admittedly love to knit, but on these occasions it's felt especially good to be a knitter.

I have found the knitting community to be warm, welcoming, and instantly comfortable; much like your favorite winter scarf, or a handmade afghan that's been handed down from generation to generation. Any time I stop into a local yarn shop**, the employees and patrons alike are always happy to talk to another yarn enthusiast.

That's all for today, really. After reading this, I guess I was feeling a bit smooshy today. Eh, it was probably the weather...

Oh wait, maybe that's not really all. Here's a quick WIP update... My 22.5 Degrees shawl (designed by Martina Behm) is coming along nicely. James and I have 10 hours of car time coming up this weekend, so hopefully I'll get that finished. Well, maybe. I've also just reached the halfway point on the Windward scarf (designed by Heidi Kirrmaier) and I'm really loving this pattern, as well as the colors. Can I be honest? I was originally going to use Bordeaux for the color block, but instead used Coast Grey. Because my husband said so. It was his idea, y'all... And I like it better... He knows me so well.



**Speaking of local yarn shops, here in Pittsburgh my very favorite shop is Natural Stitches. And... they have a blog, too!