How Bout Dat!

It seemed like it would never end. Rowena and I were the finalists in the Knitting League of Shuntbumps and neither of us was making progress on our final project. After trudging through the last few rows, the unending I-cord strap, the seaming together and last but not least finding buttons that worked...  I finally finished it!

Hope Mom likes it because it is going to be her Christmas gift.

Make It Work!

Uncle Vincenzio has been involved in a swap of his own that her just received his package for. It was the Sock Kit Swap on Ravelry, where they had to make a pair of socks for their partner as well as put together a sock kit. This package came in last week. Lots of red wrapping paper in that box!

The kit included 3 hanks of Koigu sock yarn! And a "Men Who Knit" coffee mug! Along with the sock pattern was Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks" which I had just borrowed from the Knitting Guild's library and was thinking of getting for myself.

The highlight of the kit was the black canvas bag from Mood Designer Fabric! I literally squealed when I saw it! It is a huge bag and it will make a great project bag!

What A Week!

Last weekend I was in Chicago and South West Michigan for the Men's Mid-West Knitting Retreat. There were 14 of us all together and it was a great time!

I think we are quite the handsome group of gentlemen knitters! :-)  I will be posting more pictures from the retreat. I just downloaded them from my camera but have not had a chance to go through them.

While at the retreat we went to several fiber related places; Lorna's Laces, Marr Haven Fibers, Briar Rose Fibers and the Circle R Alpaca Ranch. Got to see a lot and bought some fibery goodness. I even picked up a couple things to send to my spoilee, Stuart Cauldwell. But I'm not going to say what. :-)

Today I taught another Sock Yarn Dyeing Class fro the Knitting Guild of Greater Buffalo. It was a smaller group this time but everyone was really into it. We saw some great colors created today. A fun time was had by all.

MMWKR

Well I am almost packed for the Men's Mid-West Knitting Retreat. My flight is Thursday morning at 7:41. So I need to finish packing and get to bed because I'll be up early. My flight arrives at 8:35, so it should be 9:30 or 10:00 am by the time I get to the bed and breakfast that I'll be staying at on Thursday. We have some things planned in Chicago for the day, then we leave Friday morning for the Circle Pines where we will be staying until Sunday.

I've packed a few projects to work on while I'm there: my top-down henley that I'm making for myself, pair of socks for myself, pair of socks for dad, Queen Anne's Lace shawl, my Shuntbumps finals project and I dug out some wool for a hat. LOL! Wonder if that will be enough...

Speaking of the Shuntbumps Finals... Oiy! What a project for the final round! It is a great pattern and an awesome cabled bag, but it is slow going. It used worsted weight wool on US2 needles! So it is a tight gauge, to give a firm fabric. It does not knit up quickly. Both Rowena and I are going slow on it. I also want to get it right, without any mistakes. This is going to be Mom's Christmas present.

Well, gotta finish packing my suitcase, get the laptop packed up, and print out anything I need to bring with me tomorrow. Don't want to have to do that stuff while rushing in the morning. We will have internet access at the Center, so I'll try to post when I can over the weekend.

Where's Winnie...?

No idea what-so-ever... seriously.

On other news... Uncle Vincenzio and I are going on another Wizards Knitting Retreat. This time it will be in the Mid-West of the States. We'll be heading off next week to Chicago to meet up with a group of 14 other wizards for a 3 day retreat. We arrive in Chicago on Thursday and will be meeting everyone at one of the Local Wool Shops called Loopy Yarns. Later that day we are scheduled for a tour of Lorna's Laces.

Friday morning we will be traveling by muggle automobiles to the Circle Pines Center, where we will be staying until Sunday. Saturday we have a field trip scheduled to Briar Rose Fibers, where we will get to tour their actual studio space. We're also be going to the Circle R Alpaca Ranch. That night we are having a Harry Potter movie night and PJ Party.

Sunday, after lunch, we head back to Chicago, where Uncle Vincenzio and I will be staying overnight and heading back home Monday afternoon.

This, That, and the Other Thing...

Believe it or not, I don't purposely wait until the end of the week to do my weekly blog posting, it just always seems to work out that way. My goal for next week is to blog before Saturday evening.

Where in the world is Winnie... I seriously have no idea! My brain does not know how to wrap itself around these cryptic clues that she posts. Somehow my mates are coming up with the answers, but I have no idea how they are getting there. So based on popular belief, Winnie was at Queerditch Marsh and Appleby Village.

As for other things going on... Uncle Vincnezio has been involved in a swap of his own. He is just finishing up the Sock Kit Swap 2 and will be sending off an owl on Monday. His swap partner is in New York City and works in a theater as a dresser. UncleVincenzio knit up a pair of Gridiron Socks that were designed by Anne Hanson. They came out smashingly well and he will most likely be making another pair for himself. He's also put together a sock kit with patterns, hand-dyed sock yarn, needles and lots of assorted goodies. Now that Uncle V has finished his swap we can concentrate on my swap package for Stuart.

Some more exciting news is that Uncle Vincenzio and I will be traveling to the American Mid-West
 for the Men's Mid-West Knitting Retreat. We'll be traveling to Chicago and staying there for a night. The next day the group will be traveling to a camp retreat in Delton, MI where we will be staying for 3 days. Then we will spend another night in Chicago before returning home. It should be a very fun and exciting time.

Where's Winnie...

Wonder if I'm going to earn a special commendation for doing these assignments at the last minute each week?

I'm going with the general consensus of Dunedin, New Zealand and Stanstead, Quebec Canada. Makes as much sense as anything else.

I think next week I'll do this earlier... or maybe not...