This has been going around

And so I thought I'd play....


Legend:
Stuff I've done/am doing
Stuff I'd like to do
Stuff that I'll probably never do

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with Bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/Doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with Alpaca
Fair Isle Knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured Knitting
Kitchener Bind Off
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and Purling Backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Baby items
Knitting with Cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with Linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/Bolero/Poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Sunday...a day in the sun

My brother Andy finally (after having his boat for 3 years)took us out for a spin. The weather was perfect and we all had a ball.

TNNA Loot

Here's the stuff I picked up at TNNA. Not including all the paper (catalogs, brochures, price lists, etc)

A couple of tote bags (LOVE the Nicky Epstein one that she signed for me!) some yarn samples, Takumi needles, some patterns, tapestry needles, wool wash, and my TNNA credentials on the left.

and here's the yarn I got at "The Merc"

Columbus-TNNA

What a weekend Kim and I had!

We have been so excited about attending our first TNNA. It was SO worth it.

The drive down was pretty uneventful except for a bit of construction and some rush hour traffic. Oh, and a few giggling fits to break things up a bit. The scenery can be a bit....um....shall we say....boring? in Ohio. We had to do something to keep ourselves awake. Even if it was to pretend I wanted some CEE-ment statuary on the way home from the place along the freeway. LOL....(Ok, so you had to be there.....)

We got to the hotel and got checked in. The hotel was really great. We stayed at The Columbus . The hotel had recently had a $15 million renovation, so everything was fresh and new. The beds were the best. We called them our "cloud" beds. They were cushy pillowtop beds, with down comforters and lots of down pillows. Our room overlooked the pool that was on the roof of the 4th floor. We were on the 11th floor. Here's a picture of our cool bathroom



And here's a picture of our cloud beds. Kim didn't want to be in this picture and I told her I wouldn't post it so I spray-painted her out (she was knitting on her bed...I don't know why I couldn't show that!)


So after checking in, we ventured out into downtown Columbus to look for somewhere to eat. My knee was bothering me, unfortunately, so we couldn't walk far (or very fast either). There was not much to choose from close to the hotel, but we did come across a place that looked like an old bar...the outside was really cool looking (WHY did I not have my camera with me?)but I wasn't sure I wanted "bar food". We decided to venture in and look at the menu, and decided to stay and eat. I'm so glad we did. It turned out to be an incredible meal, and the atmosphere was just great. Lots of dark old carved wood, stained glass, mosaic floors, etc. in this historic building. Unfortunately the photos on their website don't do it justice.

Kim and I both had this for dinner:

Almond Crusted Chicken Salad
Boneless breast of chicken rolled in almonds & Japanese breadcrumbs, lightly fried, served with mesclun salad, topped with apples, white cheddar, smoked bacon and drizzled with honey mustard vinaigrette.

The chicken was what was drizzled with the honey mustard vinaigrette, and the greens/cheese/bacon were drizzled with a maple shallot vinaigrette. The blend of the flavors was superb. I went searching for a maple shallot vinaigrette recipe last night and found this one. I will be trying it soon. YUM

We were expecting a salad with some pieces of chicken mixed in but really it was a bed of greens (with cheese and bacon) with a HUGE chicken breast on top in big slices. The apple slices were arranged off to the side. It was quite filling.

We walked back to the hotel to settle in for the evening since we had to be up pretty early Saturday morning, and neither one of us is really a morning person.

We got up just after 6am on Saturday morning, and got ready to go over to the Convention Center for TNNA! We picked up our credentials, booklets, and looked at the Great Wall Of Yarn for a while, picking up some yarn samples and taping them into our books.

We found the room where they were having the Designer/Teaching meeting at 8am. I'm glad we went to that. There was lots of talk about promoting ourselves in the industry, and I was especially interested in the talk of the more experienced members mentoring the newbies. Gwen from Knitability headed up the meeting and it was nice to be in the presence of other designers who I've only known from some of the yahoo lists. After the meeting we were both getting pretty hungry so we grabbed a bagel/cream cheese and then checked out the "new product" display out in the hallway before heading into the HUGE showroom.

The first place we headed was to the back corner were the South West Trading Company booth was. I was anxious to meet Jonelle and thank her personally for the exposure she has given my B4 Bag pattern. We had a nice chat, and took some pictures. She wanted a photo of me standing in front of the banner. I guess she is going to do a "designer showcase" of some sort. Here's a shot me standing by the banner. My bag is basically hanging over my head on the grids with some other samples that were knit up.

After hanging out there for a bit, we hit the floor. We walked and walked and walked. We made sure to make it to the booths that were giving out freebies. We got some yarn from Briggs & Little, some Clover Takumi (which means "professional" in Japanese, we were told) needles that are new to the market, and a few other little things. We enjoyed talking to the all of the people in the booths. It was informative, exciting and a bit overwhelming. Kim was focused on talking to yarn companies about possibly designing for them, while I was focused on finding new or unique items for the new yarn shop coming to Romeo this summer.

Which reminds me that I haven't written about that yet! I don't know how I didn't get around to making that huge announcement yet. On August 1st, there will be a new yarn shop, right around the corner from the one I used to work/teach at. Tina, the owner, is an incredible woman and has such a great vision for this shop. She is highly motivated and I feel this is going to be a wonderful place for us to gather and enjoy our passion for fiber. YEAH! It will be called Labor Of Love Yarn and Fiber Arts. Please visit if you live close enough or are coming through the area!

Tina was not able to attend TNNA so she sent me on a mission to be her eyes and ears while I was there. I brought back many ideas and information to share with her this week. I can't wait!

We ran into people we knew (Rob & Matt from Threadbear, LynnH, Joan from Heritage),met a few people such as Nicky Epstein when she signed our tote bags (that was cool! and I can't wait to get her new "Knitting Never Felt Better" book) and Chris de Longpre of Knitting At KNoon (another Michigan designer). We saw Lucy Neatby too. I touched base with the ladies at the Brown Sheep booth...one of which I had met during my trip to their factory in February. She remembered the blizzard and was amazed that we had really driven all the way back to Vermillion in that weather.

After hours and hours of walking, we decided at about 4 pm that we had had enough. We were so exhausted, and decided another little rest in our cloud beds would be nice before we found somewhere for dinner. So we had a nap, and then headed out. We went to Cap City Diner for dinner. Kim said it was one of her favorite places to go when she used to live in Columbus. It was a great choice. There were so many things that sounded good on the menu, but the desserts really sounded good too. So I chose the Vegetable Plate which was:

Roasted Corn Risotto
Grilled Roma Tomatoes, Asparagus and Zucchini
Portabello Spring Roll
Spinach
Goat Cheese, Pine Nuts and Basil Pesto.

OMG! Was it ever good. I did get a photo of this delightful dinner

Then came dessert. Kim got the Seriously Big Chocolate Cake, and they are not kidding. It had to be about 8 or 9 inches tall. I about died when I saw it. I had to get a photo of that too.

And here's a photo of my dessert. It was upside-down banana cream pie. It didn't have a crust, but instead was on a layer of chopped honey roasted peanuts. Yum. Neither one of us could finish our dessert. BURP!


Our original plan was to pick up some wine coolers on the way back to the hotel and to go back and watch the Pistons game. We were, however, SURPRISINGLY, too full to even think about drinking any alcohol, so we nixed that idea.

We could have used the alcohol to drown our sorrows when the Pistons ended up being eliminated from the playoffs. Phooey.

So we drifted off to la-la land in our comfy-cozy beds again, and slept in on Sunday morning. Check-out wasn't until noon, so we took advantage of that. We (reluctantly) left the hotel around 11:30. Kim dropped me off at the convention center again while she went to knit by the river for a while. I wanted to go in and thank Jonelle again before leaving for home. I was told there had been a lot of interest in my bag, and that quite a few LYS owners had taken my order forms, so I am hoping to get some new accounts from this.

I also picked up some more info for Tina from booths that I had somehow missed the day before.

I called Kim to come get me, and we headed out to Bob Evans for some chow. Then we went to the Knitter's Mercantile yarn shop. What a great place! The staff was friendly, helpful and humorous. There was a great group of ladies knitting at a table in the back. They all got excited about my B4 Bag, and threatened several times to steal it if I set it down or left it unattended. I passed out business cards and several of them have purchased the pattern online today. I got really nice notes from each of them today too. I REALLY wish I lived closer to "The Merc" as they call it. Everyone was so cheerful, and each person that came in while we were there was greeted by name and you could tell it was a wonderful place to be. If any of you are reading this, thank you for a fun time!

Kim bought lots of yarns that were new to her so she could do some swatching. I just grabbed a ball of sock yarn. I tend to buy sock yarn as souvenirs of places I want to remember, and then I also tend to knit a pair of socks to commemorate a trip or occasion. So I started a pair of socks this trip (yarn I got from the Brown Sheep factory in February)



I'll post some pix tomorrow of some of the goodies I collected over the weekend. This will have to be enough for now. I'm still quite tuckered out. I had a little snooze this afternoon, trying to catch up a bit. I think I need one more really good sleep and I'll be good to go!

I just have to say that I fell in love with the city of Columbus. The downtown area was awesome. Lots of interesting old architecture, as well as lots of new and exciting additions to the city, especially in the Arena District. I don't know why but I was especially fascinated with the old YMCA that was just a few blocks from the hotel. I wish I had gotten a photo of that building too. I need to become more diligent about carrying my camera, and USING it. I don't know how many times I have smacked myself in the head after leaving somewhere, thinking I should have gotten a photo or 2. Like at "The Merc". I should have a photo of the outside of the building, as well as the fun ladies sitting at the back knitting, Gerald who was behind the counter when we came in and quite friendly during our entire visit, etc. So many things I wish I had gotten pictures of this weekend. I hope I've learned my lesson.....

Blue Moon Tonight!

Diane told me that there will be a Blue Moon tonight. Not in all time zones, but certainly in mine, so I had no choice but to announce the new pattern today. You know, my company name being "Once In A Bloomoon Creations" and all.....

So here it is. This is the Garden Gate Scarf.
The pattern will be available next week when I get home from TNNA.

Big Weekend Ahead!

Tomorrow afternoon Kim and I will be on our way to Columbus for TNNA. I have no idea what to expect, besides sore feet. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and pressed for time, trying to get things done before leaving. I don't even have any idea what clothes I'm bringing! I've been so focussed on finishing up my new pattern. I'm just about there. I need a few more photos for the pattern, and still need to finish formatting the print version. I really want to have this done before hitting the road tomorrow so I can add it to my (very small, but growing) catalog of patterns.

Here is a sneak preview. Hopefully I can announce the launch later today!



I'm really getting excited about the prospect of having my B4 Bag on display at TNNA. Please cross your fingers (whenever you're not knitting) that it will be seen by many, will be received well, and ORDERED OFTEN!!! I am hoping my new design will be a hit also. (I am trying to pay off an Ashford Joy spinning wheel and would love to be able to do that in a few weeks!)

One of my wholesale customers emailed me yesterday with a design request, and it's a great idea. So I'll have something new to work on when I get back.

I'll bring my laptop with me and try to post over the weekend with some of our experiences.

Excited!

I've been in contact for a while with Jonelle from Southwest Trading Company. She asked me to knit her a B4 Bag in Karaoke. She wanted to use it to help advertise the Karaoke yarn.

She sent me some yarn, and I knit it up, put on the buttons, and was going to line it, but she said, nah...just send it.

Last night I got an email that included a mock-up of what will be a 4 x 5 foot banner that will be in their booth at TNNA. The banner will then make its way around the country in a Karaoke touting event. My contact information will go along with it, so LYS owners can (hopefully!) order patterns before the trunk show gets to their store.

I believe this will also be an ad that will be in a couple of yarn magazines.



Cool, huh? So if you're going to be at TNNA, take a gander at the banner in the booth, and also peek inside the booth...I may be hanging out there at times (the bag will be there in person too!) I have decided to go to Columbus next month as an affiliate/designer. Just to get my feet wet, and see what it's all about. I am excited, and nervous, and expect to be totally overwhelmed. But hopefully it will be a good learning experience, and will give me some idea of what I need to do to further my business from here. My friend Kim of Knitting Matters will also be there on the same mission.

Meanwhile I've been working on my socks (almost done....soooo close!) and a mystery project done in Dream In Color (Happy Forest is the colorway). I must say I LOVE this yarn so very much. It's got such a nice feel to it, and has a lot of SPROING. There are such great colors to choose from. I can't wait to knit something for myself using this yarn. I got it from Threadbear in Lansing, sight unseen, (feel unfelt) after hearing Rob rave about it on his blog, and am not sorry. It's just lovely!

You might recognize what this is, but don't say anything....shhhh.....just in case the unknowing recipient might be reading.....

This is so "my color" :-)

FO, OTN and a Mile of Targhee

Here's a baby blanket knit for my neighbor's daughter Christie who had a baby girl earlier this month. Christie was only 16 when we moved here, and has grown into a woman, a teacher, and now a mother of 2. Her son is 3 and is the cutest little guy. Anyway, I finished this a few days ago, gave it a wash and dry, and it's sitting here ready to get delivered.

The yarn is Sirdar Spree which is a chunky cotton/acrylic blend and is really soft to the touch. Just right for a baby blankie!

On the needles is a pair of socks I started when I was going to Ann Arbor to see Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) I got as far as the heels and then the socks sat for a bit. Yesterday I decided to turn the heels so I could just go around and around at Kaitlyn's track meet later in the afternoon (which I didn't end up going to after all). I'm glad the heels are done though, because now it's almost mindless knitting to the end, and I'm hoping to make good progress on them tomorrow night. We are gathering at the home of one of the gals from my knitting group instead of at the coffee shop we normally meet at. We can get a little crazy if we want to. I'm making my famous guacamole and we'll have other snacks and drinks. I'm sure a good time will be had by all.

Yarn is Wildfoote from Brown Sheep that I got (REALLY CHEAP!) in February when I visited the factory. I love the soft pink...



I skeined the last of the plied Targhee (from the previous post) for Diane, and it came to about 250 yards. Added to the first skein which was 625 yards, I figured out that is 1750 yards of singles, which equals a mile....
a MILE!!! of singles. Oh my. No wonder it felt like I was never going to finish spinning! So I spun a mile of singles. Then I respun that same mile of singles to put more twist in them. Then I plied it into 1/2 mile of 2 ply yarn.

Diane is looking for just the right shawl pattern to knit the half mile of Targhee. (Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!)

I'm now looking forward to spinning some Merino for my friend Linda who created the logo for my business website Once In A Bloomoon Creations as well as a Bloomin' Knitiot logo (which I have unsuccessfully tried to add to the top of my blog...not being too great with HTML....so if you can help with that I'd be grateful for that too!)

Oh Happy Day!

It seems like I've been spinning this Targhee forever! Last night I finished plying the first bobbin and today I got it skeined and washed. It's just about dry after a stint out on the covered porch this afternoon.

Particulars:

Targhee top from Susan's Spinning Bunny

I somehow was able to spin this really thin. Much thinner than I thought I could, and pretty consistently. It was actually thinner than I was trying for, but decided to just keep going since it was working out ok. More yardage is not bad, it just takes a looooooooooong time to spin each ounce!


Once I was done spinning 2 bobbins, I was worried that I didn't have enough twist in the singles since they were so thin. So, believe it or not, I sent every yard back through the wheel for more twist. Dang! Would I ever get around to plying this stuff?

Finally I started plying and wondered if I was getting the right amount of plying twist. When I skeined it, it twisted back on itself a bit, so I thought maybe I had overplied, but once I gave it a bath, it hangs straight. Yeah! It poofed up a bit in the washing, and I am so anxious to send this to Diane.


I haven't done a WPI yet...I forgot to do that earlier. Curious to see what it comes out to be. I still have some more plying to do, but the first skein turned out to be 625 yards and it is 4 oz.


Eye candy:

Panes Anniversary

It was 2 years ago today that I started selling the pattern for my first design, the Panes Bag, online and in stores. Wow, a lot has happened since then! I have another pattern in the works, and a couple more in the brain. I hope to have them available to you soon.

Thanks
to all of you who have shown your support over the past 2 years!

It

We know in our brains...we know "it" will happen. We get that burst of warm weather in early spring. We get all excited. We bring out the shorts. We put away the woolens.

We spin on the porch in the setting evening sun.

Even though we know "it" will happen. After all, this is Michigan...

In the week that followed 2 days of 81 degree record-breaking temps and in the same week it was 70 degrees ..."it" happened.

This is what is going on outside my window as I type

IT:

Happy Easter!

Oh, and look at these cute little sheepy candies I found at the drugstore!

April Fool's Day with Yarn Harlot

After weeks of anticipation, April 1 was finally here and it was time to go back to the Ann Arbor Library to see Stephanie again. I left the house at 10:40am, picked up Kim and headed out. We wanted to be sure to be there plenty early to make sure we had a seat in the main room. No "overflow" room for us!

After a bit of a detour, we arrived at the library around 12:30 and found many many knitters already in attendance. We grabbed our seats and settled in. Mike had packed me a lunch, so I had a bit to eat, and Kim had a couple of power bars to keep her going. Before too long, Tim from the library made an announcement (which I guess had already been made once before we got there) for any newcomers to let us know that Stephanie was not in Ann Arbor. Stephanie was not even in Michigan. Stephanie was in Chicago. She had been on a flight that was unable to land that morning because of fog. Stephanie was TRYING to get a flight, and they would keep us posted.

So, the couple hundred of us sat. We knit many stitches. We chatted. We knit some more. We snacked (even though Tim told us there was no eating in the library) Sorry Tim, but we were hungry, and we were there for the long haul. Kim is in this photo, on the far left, in lime green, 1/2 way back.



There was no complaining. There was no fidgeting. There was no uprising. We came, and we weren't leaving until we saw Yarn Harlot. There was no need to entertain us...we had all brought our own entertainment and it was in our hands. However, the library people thought it would be fun to give us a parade of kids in their April Foolery hats they had made elsewhere in the library. There were 2 of these parades. We clapped for the kids and they looked at us rather oddly. It helped pass the time.



We got several more (non)updates from Tim, then finally he told us she was on a flight that was supposed to land around 3:30 and that hopefully she would be there by 4:00. She didn't arrive until 4:30. She came running in to cheers from the crowd, walked to the podium, looked at us all for a moment, and said....

CRAP!

Roars of laughter.....

Poor Stephanie had started her day at 3:00 AM and was just walking in to the event 13.5 hours later. She explained some of how things had gone badly all day (I'm sure we'll read more details on her own blog when she wakes up and has a chance to write about it). Then she told us how the car that was to meet her at the airport OH SO MANY HOURS before was no longer there, and wondered how she was going to get to Ann Arbor, because..."it was too far to walk"...when some random dude named Brad said "I can drive you to Ann Arbor". She said she checked Brad's passport, but still.... Anyway, Brad was at this time pointed out at the back of the room and also got a standing ovation. But how crazy is that???? Well, at least she got there. And we were happy.

Unfortunately Steph cut her talk short because the library's closing time was 6pm. Well Tim had already told us that they would let us stay past 6pm due to the circumstances. But maybe they didn't tell Steph that. Or maybe she was just too exhausted to give us more. She was her usual hilarious self, looking lovely in her Bohus and we soaked in every funny word.

Just being surrounded by knitters for all those hours was fun. There was a round of applause for an FO (which I have since found out was completed by Tracey) , Dana was handing out nametags for bloggers and then taking pix of all the nametags. We met Kyle who works at Threadbear (and Kyle's mom) and talked with them quite a bit. Waiting in line to get our books signed we chatted with a few more folks. Fun fun fun. There were many more bloggers there whose names I recognized but I wasn't taking notes (DUH) so I can't list them all here.

Finally it was our turn. I got up to the table, and Stephanie looked up at me, read my shirt (which I had made with my blog logo and URL) and she said to me "Are you really the Bloomin' Knitiot?"....a recognition which thrilled me and made me feel like "someone". I had made Stephanie some personalized pens and a beaded orifice hook, all of which she seemed to love (and will soon be available on my website).




She signed my books, and when Kim was getting her book signed, I went around Stephanie's back with my camera and she laughed when I said I was going to macro her Bohus.



It was just a riot. She is so down to earth and approachable, and I am just thrilled for all her success and for sharing herself with us.....events such as the book tour, but also in letting us into her life by continuing to write her blog, no matter how tired she is, no matter how frazzled or busy...she knows we are there waiting to read more, and she comes through. (Sometimes the natives get restless waiting for updates...myself included....but it's always worth the wait.)

Thanks for a great time, Steph. We love you!