Thoughts about VKLive Classes!!

So I’m sure after my last post, you are wondering why I didn’t have as much time to shop and buy all the things (other than my stated plan). With the package we purchased included 3 classes and Mom and I wanted to take full advantage of the awesome ladies who were teaching all weekend.

First up when we got there on Friday, we took a Hand-Dyeing Class taught my Rhonda Fargnoli. She seemed very knowledgeable and very into the yarn business. She gave some great tips for where to buy her natural dyes, but I wish we were given more direct instructions on how to prepare and set up our own dyeing at home. Ce la vie.

We did have a good time dyeing our mini-skeins with a few different dyes. There were 5 different colors and one was indigo and one was cochineal. We spent the afternoon dipping and painting and pouring dye all over our mini skeins. Here is Mom at work.

The room we were in at the Palmer House Hilton had some really, really yellow lighting.

We took them up to the room on styrofoam plates and laid them out to dry.

When we got home, I rinsed them with some white vinegar and hung them up to dry over the sink.

Now, what to make??? I need a scale so I can know how much of each color I have…maybe I can make a magic ball with these for a big fun project?

The next class I took was Getting Your Lace On taught by the lovely Laura Nelkin. Let me start by saying that I have never knit one of Laura’s patterns. Each time that one of her designs have caught my eye, I go and look it up and notice how complicated it is. This is not a bad thing, but up until about 6 months ago, I stuck to simple knits. Nothing too complicated, nothing I have to count…then I did the Follow Your Arrow KAL (on my own time because KAL time restrictions seem to be terrible for me) and the whole “simple only knitting” flew right out the window.

Laura started off the class by sharing many of her samples with us. She passed around so many lovely things, talked about what Lace knitting actually is and isn’t, and had us cast on 10 stitches.

And knit a few rows. We played around with some increases and had a very good discussion on what a “yarnover” actually is and should look like (I guess I had not been paying much attention to my knitting in the past). Fun fact: A yarn0ver should in fact be a piece of yarn over the needle, but the leg riding in front of the needle still needs to be the right leg! Amazing. Next time you do a yarnover, check it out.

We then played around with some decreases. Her instructions were great. She talked about when designers would use each one and which ones were appropriate for double sided lace (eeeeek!). She was incredibly patient and kept us all interested.

We touched on how to read charts for one-sided lace, lace in the round, and two-sided lace. We even hit (quickly) on blocking. The whole 3 hours was jam-packed full of great information. It really made me think about my knitting and gave me the confidence to tackle a few of Laura’s (complicated) designs. She was gracious enough to even do a quick selfie with me after class!!

Sorry that my quality isn’t great 😦 That’s what I get for using the iPhone I guess. I am definitely a Laura fan after such a great experience. I highly recommend you check out her blog and her new book, Knockout Knits, (which is full of info about the techniques used as well as the patterns).

Mom took a class from Amy Detjen about Two-Color Knitting during this time. I will have to get with her about what she thought. I took a class from Amy last year about Cables…also awesome 🙂

PS: I am wearing my Whispers top!

Our next class was in the afternoon. It was Entrelac with Rosemary Drysdale. She is the author the books Entrelac and Entrelac 2. Another note about my experience with Entrelac, I had never done this either! Rosemary is a hoot and reminds me of my parents’ German neighbor who is very matter-of-fact. She had us jump right in to try our hand at Entrelac. Throughout the class, she offered great tips on how to pick up stitches and she showed off several of her beautiful designs. I was so busy knitting, I did not have time to take pictures of my progress. Here is my swatch.

Overall, the classes were definitely worth the time and money we spent at Vogue Knitting Live. Both this year and last, have left me with a great experience. I will say that one thing I will do before taking classes at a big event like this is to do some research about the teacher before hand. Look them up on Ravelry and see what some of their work is like, maybe see if they have been talked about by other knitters who have taken classes from them.

Anyway, definitely something I would do again 🙂 I need to get my needles going so I can cast on something new from Knockout Knits!!!

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

 

 

Sweater-phobia?

It’s Free-For-All Friday and I’m tackling a thought I’ve been having for a while. Sweaters. Why haven’t I started one? Personally, I find the thought of 10 balls of yarn and a large thing that is supposed to fit me to be quite intimidating. The sheer amount of one type of yarn a sweater would require is so much more than what I would even think about buying! Usually, I buy 2 or 3 skeins of something for a reasonable sized project, hence my stash of random 1-3 skeins as seen here. The one exception to the large-quantity-of-yarn-purchase rule that I seem to operate under is baby blankets. My most recent baby blanket yarn purchase was 11 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic to make Pickles Midsummer Baby Blanket. Onto that topic another day.

Back to the sweater question. I have bought enough yarn for a raglan pullover in Berroco’s Linsey called Turia. When I worked at McNeedles for a summer, that shop sample stared at me for 3 months. I vowed I’d make the thing, but couldn’t quite bite the bullet to spend the $100 on the yarn. I kept saying in my brain, “I could buy a sweater, already made, for that! I could buy 2 sweaters for that! Why would I MAKE this??” I did buy the pattern booklet before I left that job.  Then McNeedles ran a sale back in January when I was visiting my parents and Linsey just so happened to be in the bins. I did buy enough to make the sweater. Now i just need to work up the courage to cast on…I think a good starting place would be to wind alllllll the yarn. That is always something I enjoy and find very calming.

This is what I’m thinking…*So much yarn. could be so nice to knit. and so much yarn.*

Last November, I dragged my husband on a FUN. trip to Chicago for a Vogue Knitting Live show. What an adventure! It was a whirlwind; 1 day, 12+hours on the Megabus round trip, 2 hours strolling through the Market, 2 hours in a cables class with Amy Detjen…I wish I could have spent more time there, but that would have required much more money to spend on all the beautiful yarn. Believe me, I did do some damage.

One of the booths, the Neighborhood Fiber Company had all the ladies wearing Monomania sweaters. So darling on everyone, just visit the rav link and see for yourself!! Even the designer, Ann Weaver of Weaverknits was there and wearing hers! AND they had yarn ALREADY kitted up for a reasonable price. Plus each of the ladies I spoke to about it said the pattern was not hard. Even if it was going to be my first sweater. I don’t know if lack of sleep, the overwhelming amount of yarn surrounding me, or just sheer insanity hit, but I bought a kit. In the most fun reds and oranges. I thought the yarn could speak to me and make me cast the thing on. I downloaded the pattern and was immediately intimidated. So I’m stuck there too.

Once again, in my brain…*But its sooooo pretty. and its fingering. and its pretty. and soft.*

I think I will vow to cast one of these on…as soon as I finish: Jabes’ Flurfy Scarf, Leigh’s GREEN scarf, and Michelle’s Summer Cowl. Maybe I can work the baby blanket and the sweater at the same time?

Here is the question I pose to you, which should I start with? Turia or Monomania??

v’s & bumps

Jenna

PS. Another question, what was your first sweater project? Was it successful? Frustrating? Amazing?