2011 Projects

More catch up! These are all the projects I knit in 2011:

Stitchjones Top-Down Mitts

Blair Cashmerino Socks

Kidsilk Scarf

Snowbunny Set

Keyhole Scarf

Cuddly Baby Sweater

Silk Hanky Mitts

Footsy Tiptoes

Glove Repairs

Aquitaine Mitt

Alpaca Sox

Footsy Toe Socks

Perfect Buttonholes

Cloud Cap Cowl

Feb Lady Sweater

Bee Sweet Hat

Willie Sweater

Cabled Lace Sock

HR Mitts

Belmont Bag

So that is 2 pairs of mitts, 2 pairs of men's socks, 2 scarves, 2 baby hats, 2 cowls (one baby, one adult), 2 baby sweaters, 3 single mitts, 1 pair of women's socks, 2 single women's socks, 1 glove repair, 1 women's sweater, and 1 felted bag. That's a total of 22 projects for the year. I'm pretty proud, actually, because a lot of my projects are bigger than year's past, such as the men's socks and the women's sweater. I can't wait to see what I knit up in 2012!

Post Holidays

Wow the last month has been a whirlwind! Blair took off time between Christmas and New Years so we ended up having lots of family time together. It was really nice. Then after New Years we all came down with an annoying but persistent head cold, so that took out another week. We were just getting back on our feet when Blair had MLK jr day off, which was nice. He managed to go to work on Tuesday then for the rest of the week we faced snow, ice, power outages, and all together bad winter weather. Now I have another cold, only this one is in my chest. I am slowly getting things under control. Mostly working on CGFF stuff, followed by winding yarn and dyeing yarn. I'm hoping to catch up while doing all of the Workshop Wednesday posts. I also have some ideas of adding something to Fridays, but we'll see if it works out!

So, to finish off 2011 before starting the new year, I present the mitts I made for my mom for Christmas:

These are the Hood River Top Down Mitts (rav link). I knit them out of the leftover Stitchjones yarn from the Keyhole Scarf I knit her for her birthday. They were a big success! I love this pattern, and yes I am biased because it is one I wrote, but still I really love it. I used up every bit of yarn, so no little ball rolling around in my stash. They ended up being about 4 rnds longer than the short mitts pattern, but that was easy enough. I just made sure to make a note of it when I finished the first, so the second would be the same. They came out perfect and I can't wait to use this pattern again!

Workshop Wednesdays: Portuguese Knitting & More Portuguese Knitting

Portuguese Knitting was a huge success last year! Portuguese Knitting is a different way of knitting where the yarn goes around the back of the neck or through a Portuguese knitting pin to tension it instead of being tensioned by the hands. For people who suffer from carpal tunnel or arthritis this method can help, since the hands move much less than other methods.

Teri Zipf is an absolute guru on the subject. She even makes her own Portuguese knitting pins! In addition to teaching her Portuguese Knitting class she has added an advanced class for learning lace and colorwork. Between these two class you should be ready to tackle knitting anything in the Portuguese style.

The class was a huge success last year and is already half-way booked for this year! Make sure to sign up before all of the spaces are gone!

For more information on the Portuguese Knitting Class check out: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops/portugueseknitting.html

For more information on More Portuguese Knitting check out: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops/portugueseadv.html

Workshop Wednesdays: Snowdrop Scarf

Snowdrop Scarf is taught by my good friend Donna Arney. Donna shares a booth with me at all of the shows I do. She is part owner of Gardiner Yarn Works and her and her husband own Plover Designs. Donna is my hero and has saved me more times in the booth than I can count! I love how steady and practical she is. I haven't had the joy of taking a class from her, but I have heard from her students that she is really awesome in the classroom too! She teaches a class once a week at All About Yarn in Tigard, OR. Her class is a help with anything class. She has a following of students who have taken her class for years, going from project to project. Her students are so loyal they even bought yarn back in September from our booth at Oregon Flock & Fiber in anticipation of her class in April!

The class she is teaching is the Snowdrop Scarf class. Donna originally designed this scarf to teach a beginning lace class. It was then added to the Gardiner Yarn Works line and is one of their hottest selling patterns. I have knit the pattern myself as a booth sample and simply loved it. It's very easy and makes a beautiful end result. I had the pattern memorized in no time! The scarf just flew off the needles!

For more info on the class check out: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops/snowdrop.html

Workshop Wednesdays: Knit to Fit

I wanted to try something to promote classes for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. I want to devote Wednesdays to highlighting one of the workshops from the show and the reasons behind why I chose it.

First up is the one and only class Friday morning: Knit to Fit. Friday morning can be a little bit of a difficulty to fill, because most people out of the area have to plan to travel here. However, this class had no difficulty last year filling up, so I felt comfortable putting it in this time slot again. Sarah Keller is the owner of my local yarn shop, Knot Another Hat. You can find me knitting there most Sundays with a group of wonderful people, checking out the new yarn and catching up on all the latest local gossip. Sarah has created a yarn shop like no other. She brings her enthusiasm for yarn and knitting with her when she teaches.

Nichole Reese, Sarah's partner in crime for teaching Knit to Fit, is one of the most technical knitters I have ever met. She will chart out a pattern line by line for her classes if she needs to, just so students get a feel for how it works inside out and backwards. Nichole's background is in accounting, which gives her an eye for detail when teaching any pattern. She has her own pattern line, bluegirl knits. In addition to Knit to Fit she is also teaching Brioche Knitting: It's not a French Bread, which I will touch on later.

As you can imagine these two make a stellar pair in class. They go over the ins and outs of how to make a sweater fit you in all the right ways. I'm sure you will walk away from this class inspired to knit your very own sweater, whether it is your very first, or hopefully, the one that fits you best!

Make sure to check out the Knit to Fit class, Friday, April 20th, 9am - 12pm.