Archives for January 2015

The first clue of this year's TTL Mystery Sock 15 goes out tomorrow, January 15th! If you haven't joined the KAL yet there's still time. Head over to Ravelry to purchase the pattern, and then join us in the Fans of Through the Loops group to chat, ask questions, and share your work. You can join anytime during the KAL. The pattern price is $4.50 now, but will go up to $6.00 at the end of the day on January 15th.

I'm also excited for tomorrow because it's the beginning of an exciting weekend of knitting fun. Tomorrow evening (Thursday, January 15th) I'm heading over to lf8elevate  (80 E 7th Street, NYC) to visit the  Starcroft Fibers Pop-Up shop. I helped set up so I know how much gorgeous yarn is there from Nash Island in Maine. Jani the extraordinary talent behind Starcroft, kettle dyes all of her yarn in small batches in drool worthy colors.

I'll be at the Starcroft Pop-up shop Knit and Chat from 6-9 tomorrow, with Jani from Starcroft, Kay Gardiner, knitting photographer extraordinaire Gale Zucker, and many others. If you're in NYC I'd love to see you there. 

If you can't make it on Thursday night, the Starcroft pop-up shop is open every day this week from noon to 6pm (9pm on Thursday for the Chat & Knit). And there's another gathering on Saturday from 3-6.

As if all that weren't enough, Friday is the start of VK Live. I'm excited to be taking two classes, and when not in class will definitely be cruising around the Marketplace. Not to mention a few additional trips to the Starcroft pop-up shop!

So much knitting excitement. I can barely contain myself.

I feel badly for people who don't create. They miss out on the joy of middle of the night inspiration. You know what I mean. Those times you wake up in the wee hours with an idea that just cannot wait. Maybe you force yourself to stay in bed until morning, or perhaps you convince yourself that 4 am is a perfectly reasonable time to get up and start right in. About a month or so ago the idea for my Scrappy Duane Park Triangle was born in this way. For the record, I did force myself to stay in bed that night. But when morning arrived I hopped right out of bed and immediately began searching my fingering weight scraps.

Once I had a good sized pile of yarn, I arranged the colors in order — roughly approximating where they would fall on the color wheel — and cast on. I could hardly put this one down. Duane Park Triangle is a quick knit, so from start to finish this shawl took only a few days. I am delighted to report that the finished piece lives up to that late night dream of a lovely colorful shawl. A absolutely love it!

At midnight, we hit a milestone. My nutty, sweet, funny, smart, beautiful, loving, delightful, kind, sassy, nerdy, talented, creative daughters turned twenty-one. I could not be more proud to be their mom. 

Long time readers have watched them grow up — they were 12 when Through the Loops began. They have been an indispensable part of this blog ever since, modeling, and allowing me to share their lives for the past 9 years.

They've modeled finished objects in the cold, heat, and rain.

Only grumbled slightly when I posted a photo of an eye roll or pout.

Twisted themselves into crazy knots to get just the right photo of a trio of socks.

Allowed me to show off their own creative efforts.

 

They've danced when I've said "dance".

And  jumped when I've said "jump".

Happy birthday to the two most amazing young women I know. 

Yesterday was one of those frigid winter days where the only thing to do is stay in and craft, so I set about embellishing a few hats in need of a pom. 

The truth is, I am a fool for a pompom. My girls have threatened to hide my jumbo pompom maker. They justifiably complain that the jumbos weigh down their hats making them fall off too easily. Luckily they don't object to a smaller, more polite pompom once in awhile. 

 

Which side of the pompom fence do you fall on, yea or nay?