Decompression

I'm so glad I scheduled a Pilates class the day after Madrona. I really needed the unkink.

I  think I knit about 12 or 15 hours a day - while eating, while chatting, while sitting in classes, and while sitting on the floor in the bar.

I learned a lot, especially a lot of the little details that make for good knitting - both in process and product. Much of it I actually learned in classes but I seemed to be learning all the time. No wonder I came home so exhausted - that and averaging less than four hours of sleep a night four nights running.

I met/spent time with other knitbloggers like Erika (no photo, sorry), Weebug (left), and Ryan (right). Ryan and I communicate regularly via comments but at many Guild meetings and other knitting events just managed to wave as we rushed past each other. We finally got to spend some real time chatting.

I found a group of knitters meet regularly about six blocks from where I live. And I got on the e-mail list for the meets.

Besides close encounters with great instructors in the hallways and Marketplace as well as in the fairly small classes, we got to both see and touch examples of their work on the opening night.

Lucy Neatby's table:

Ruth Sorensen's:

Myra Wood's:

At the Marketplace I almost got run down by Stephanie on a mission to get the black and gray Kauni yarn for the ribbed and lace skirt shown on Ruth's table above. Luckily, I'd just decided I wouldn't get it right then and asked the owner for a card for her shop. (Note re Stephanie and skirts - she wore one on Sunday, perhaps only to prove that she does wear them so knitting one is not futile, but then, she did pack one.)

Really part of the reason for the delayed decision, aside from all the yarn I'd already bought or special ordered, was difficulty choosing between color combinations.

The colors on the pairs of balls are the same. The difference comes from the direction the color repeat got wound. I was warned that if you just used two of the contrasting balls from the start for a stranded Kauni sweater that you'd likely come to a spot where the colors of the two balls were too close in tone. Instead you're supposed to get two of the same wind and start one a bit further along.

Note that Stephanie got a pair of differently wrapped balls. Since she's knit a Kauni cardigan, I expect she didn't have this problem. But, wait, on the skirt you alternate rows of the same color from two balls to get wider stripes with graded color changes. Hmm.

I feel in danger of drifting off into babbling. I'd better go catch up on more sleep. Maybe I'll have another night of Madrona-based dreams.

Comments

[RobinH]

Sounds like a fantastic time!

RE: Stephanie's skirt...when I pack something I normally don't wear for a trip, it often has some practical reason like, it wasn't in the laundry. Though in Stephanie's case it's just as likely that she was looking forward to wearing something she wouldn't wear in Toronto this time of year due to the probability of frostbite! (I almost never wear skirts in the winter for this very reason- and when I must, say for work, I often wear legwarmers for the trip *to* the office- but they do look kind of dorky.)

[margene]

Look at all that inspiration!