Progress made, progress lost

Here's the latest progress shot of my blanket...before I had to rip out 40 rows because of a cable that crossed the wrong direction.  Sigh.  I was so close to adding the third ball.  Meanwhile, my brother-in-law started to ask me some general fiber questions because a friend of his is going to start up an alpaca farm in Smithfield.  I must admit, I got really excited about the prospect of having that kind of connection!  I told him to pass along that I'd help him knit some samples with his alpaca yarn, (when he's had a chance to shear his alpacas).  I just love working with local fiber artists.  So, anyway, the conversation rolled around to his recent purchase of wool socks from L.L. Bean and I told him that what he really needed was a pair of hand knit socks!  I even had Dante come up and tell him about the pairs of socks I've knit for him (he said they were awesome).  Naturally, I came home and picked up a skein of superwash sock yarn from Plays At Life Fiber Arts, and started designing a pair of socks for him.  It's a fairly simple pattern that can be easily sized down for smaller feet (my BIL wears a 13), and looks good in handpainted and solid yarns.  When I get a little bit more work done on it, I'll post a progress photo.  I think you'll like it.  I like knitting it.  Hopefully he'll like wearing it.

Happy Easter!

This Easter, I decided to keep the candy minimal and it was a good thing that I did because Alex was bouncing off the walls just from the excitement.  We got to church on time (for the third week in a row...yea new record!) and while I was there I knit two more of those little Mochimochi Land bunnies.  These things are quick and addictive.  They're great travel projects, and I've been using the yarn scraps from one bunny as stuffing for the others.  I've made six so far, but Alex has lost two and I gave one away today. 

In non-productive knitting news...I had to rip 40 rows out of my blanket for Cascade today because I made a mistake on the cable row.  Normally I could just drop those particular stitches and knit them back up in the correct order, but those wrapped stitches throw a monkey wrench into the system!  I tried to drop just what I needed, but I just couldn't do it.  It killed me!!  So I've lost two days worth of knitting and I'm back to school so I'm slower now.  Sigh.  I guess I'll go do some homework and see if I can free up a good block of knitting time to get back on track.  Normally I'd just burn the midnight oil until I'd made up my lost ground, but I'm working on the whole 'balance' thing and I'm living mostly caffeine free these days so lack of sleep is more of an issue now.  Don't worry though, I'll pull it together.  Now, off to sugar up on jelly beans and finish my reading for schoole.

Yarn Crawl Culmination! (with photos...yay photos!)

My total store from Fresh Purl's stuff-a-bag sale

All the goodies to choose from (minus what I took).

This is the front of the shop, and my buddy Heather at the register

Berroco Trunk show (the cover sweater for Norah's latest collection)

more samples from Berroco

I saw these coming up the stairs into the mill

Sereknitty Yarns booth

More from Berroco...I love the one on the right!

Beautiful hand-dyed yarns from a vendor who's card I totally forgot to grab (yikes!)

Ysolda!  She was totally sweet and agreed to pose for a blog photo, as well as autographing both copies of her Whimsical Little Knits series.

Mrs. McYarnpants!  Her trunk show was fabulous.  Heather bought her book, and I'm planning to steal it from her when she's not looking :)

The latest Berroco sample in Linsey.

Norah Gaughan's beautiful work for Berroco

A close up of Sereknity knits.  I purchased some roving in a shockingly beautiful blue/green/aqua, named after her daughter "Rebecca". 

The lovely proprietor of The Mermaid's Purl in North Kingstown, RI.  It's a beautiful little shop with equally beautiful yarns and really friendly, helpful staff.

Original designs by Lisa, made from upcycled clothing.

And here's the super talented Lisa with one of her original tops.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  It's much more fitted and pretty in person.

Reclaimed and recycled yarns by Lisa and friends

Plays at Life fibers by Chrystee.  I've got 6 skeins of her sock yarn right now and I'm test-knitting a sock pattern designed for her striping sock yarn.  I almost walked off with some of her sparkly batt.

 

Tracy, Chrystee, and Bernadette did a wonderful job pulling all of this together!  I haven't had this much fun since I went to Rhinebeck.  Correction.  I had more fun because I could go home to my own bed.  In total, Heather and I hit seven different stores, most of which we'd never been to before.  We met awesome people, and we has one group of women who we kept hitting the same shops with all day.  It was hilarious!  We'd show up first, and they'd be about 20 minutes behind us. 

Most shops had something different for everyone.  There were unusual yarns, wild novelty yarns, hardy 'outerwear' yarns, slinky cottons and silks, richly dyed yarns in all fiber types, and great deals everywhere we went.  All the shop owners were great, and they seemed to be having the time of their life.  It was really neat to see how the shops were a reflection of the women who owned them.  Cute and spunky, earthy and homey, wild and eclectic.  And get this!  At the Knitting Corner, in Middletown RI, I met the owner who recognized me from my ravelry photo (which is funny because that photo isn't of me at all...it's of Cam Saroyan from Bones).  When I explained that I moderate the Bones Fan Group, and that each moderator was assigned a Bones avatar, and that I got Cam because my name is...Cam, everyone had a good laugh.  So as I was checking out I provided my name 'Cam' and she said "is that like 'Cambria'?" and I said 'yes...'.  Then she said "like the designer?", and I said "YES!!", lol.  It's the first time anyone has ever said that, and it felt amazing!  It also felt really cool when we popped into Bella Yarns in the morning and ladies were checking out my kits, and Naomi introduced them to 'the designer', lol.  Wow. 

Well, I'm off to go tell my poor buddy Denise all about the Crawl, as she had to work the entire weekend.  See ya tomorrow with the rest of the story!

a sneak peak

Today was the kick-off of the first annual Great Rhody Yarn Crawl, and it was fantastic!  We had knitters come from all over.  Knitters are such warm and friendly people and it's always fun to meet new knitters.  The Rhodes kits and Crescent Park kits were pretty popular, and I've got to say, it's validating.  It's tough to remind myself that my current patterns aren't selling well most likely because people just don't know I'm here yet.  So having people walk in and see my patterns right there at hand, and having people buy them, really makes me feel better about what I'm trying to do.  I'm looking forward to going in tomorrow to see how many are left.  I'm also planning to go out crawling tomorrow with my buddy Heather.  I'm not planning to buy any yarn, (because I honestly don't know where I'll put any more plus I'm moving into a new apartment in a few weeks), but you never know what I might come across.

By the way, this is a sneak peak at my latest design.  I've been knitting away at it for a while now, but I hope to be finished with it really soon.

It's all coming together

Finally, the Crescent Park duo is all finished!  I've got the pattern formatted and ready to go for both the handwarmer and the beret.  Both patterns will be in the kits, which I hand bagged myself tonight.  There are 13 kits in all, (although we can always make more by substituting the Heritage Silk in place of the Heritage if there's enough demand), so get 'em while they're hot.

lots and lots of kits

I also bagged up 33 Rhodes kits so there are plenty to be had, in a wide variety of colors.  So, I hope to see you all this weekend for the yarn crawl.

Crescent Park Beret- A Kit

Crescent Park Beret was inspired by Crescent Park, a little amusement park that used to be in Riverside RI. All that’s left now is a carousel (and a darn good one if I don’t say so myself…which I do), but it used to be a happening spot.

The beret is a chevron-striped hat with garter stitch accents and eyelet details. It’s knit with three colors of Cascade Heritage yarn worked at a sport weight gauge to make it light and airy. It is available as a kit from Bella Yarns starting April 15th, that includes three coordinating colors of Heritage and the pattern (which is included for free). You can choose from various color schemes.

Kits are priced at 41.97 plus tax (and shipping if you order by phone), and will include three skeins of Heritage, and the patterns for the beret and matching hand-warmers.

 

 

Rhodes- a sock pattern

 

Rhodes is a stranded sock pattern inspired by the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl. It is available in a kit from Bella Yarns starting April 15th while supplies last. The pattern will be available separately for download in mid-May.

 The pattern is written for the two-circular method, and includes charts and written instructions. It fits an 8” foot circumference but can easily be sized up an inch at a time by adding another pattern repeat.

 The sole is knit through the back loops to provide additional cushion and durability, and the toe is worked in a slip-stitch pattern to match the heel.

To knit the pattern, you will need to be comfortable with stranding, following a chart, and basic sock construction. You will also need:

• two 50g skeins of Online Linie Supersocke Silk (included in the kit)
• two sets of US 2 (2.75mm) circular needles (for knitting with two circulars at a time; or one set of US2 (2.75mm) DPN; or one US 2 (2.75mm) circular, at least 24” long, for using magic loop
• stitch markers
• darning needle

Kits are priced at $19.98 plus tax (and shipping if you order by phone), with the pattern included at no additional cost.

Update: individual PDF downloads are now available online and are priced at $5.99.