Etherknitter

TKGA 2008

Life tried very hard to get in the way.  Luck and pluck allowed me to finally drive away to Manchester, New Hampshire for the TKGA conference. 

I signed up for two of Nancie Wiseman's classes.  I told Mr. E that I was taking a Fine Finishing class with the woman who wrote the book.  Her small text on finishing techniques is one of the most used items in my knitting library.  I also signed up for Continental Knitting with her.  Last year gave me the knit stitch.  Russian poorl was too gymnastic for this knitter, so I thought to try one more time.

Since I currently hate my cameras, camnesia is a convenient excuse for lack of photographic evidence.  The usual suspects were present.
Cheryl, Knitigator and sadly blogless Manise lined up in back with me.  There is no photographic evidence of sadly blogless Connie, who sat to my left. 

We learned seaming row to row, stitch to stitch, row to stitch, tubular cast-on, and short rows.  Some of it was review, and some of it created fireworks in my brain.  Ms. Wiseman had a dry sense of humor that punctuated her knitting points.  Her teaching was clear and well-paced.  She walked around, checking with everyone to make sure we understood what was happening with the knitting.

Ms. Wiseman shows Manise some finer point of finishing, with Kelly Rota in the background.

We allowed our brains to roam more freely, stretching them out after the hard exercise of class, by going to the Marketplace.  The retail opportunities were much more subdued this year.  Many vendors were absent.  The floor space was approximately 60% of last year's Market.  No worries.  Tess' Yarns was there, Habu was there.  I discovered Dreamweaver Yarns, and The Yarn and Fiber Company.  The yarn diet ended, as intended, for this event.

Mostly, I bought stuff I had seen on the Web, and had coveted.  In New Hampshire, all purchases are tax-free.  Dreamweaver Yarns had Tilli Thomas Voile de la Mer (silk 70%/seasilk 30%).  I purchased two skeins in 'Atmosphere'.  The shawl pattern 'Mystique' was included with the purchase.  The link shows the yarn colorway as well as the pattern.

Habu is a dangerous place to visit.  Takako sits knitting quietly.  She is making tiny needles and impossibly gossamer yarn look like an easy, mindless knit.  (Don't be fooled.)  Most of us bought some kit or another.  I had seen Kit #89 blogged recently.  She had a sample there for trying on.  The store will wind the linen paper yarn on cones and send the kit to me.  I also came home with two skeins of Habu tassar silk.

There are recent FOs to show.  The weather is cooler,  and now lends itself to posing.  Soon.

M is for Mask

Still playing catch up.  Cannot seem to get ahead.  Metaphor for life.

I loved the wall's color and texture as backdrop to this playful, happy mask.  She got more and more appealing as my raspberry mojito disappeared.  The restaurant is in Aspen, a lucky, serendipitous , inexpensive find by Mr. E, who has a nose for these sorts of places.

This year, I discovered that their margaritas are even better than the mojitos. 

Summertiiiiiime, and the living is eeeeeeeasy

I think I can hold a thought in my head long enough in this heat to get a post done. 

Maybe.

I continue to understand why I am not a summer person.  One cannot put on any type or number of knitted garments in order to get cooler.  My oven-braised brain sees that as some kind of illogical inconsistency when comparing this season to winter.  But again, I never did get this whole hot weather thing in the first place. 

The deck plantings are all about profusion.  I see Ipomoea batatas, and two different salvias in this shot.  The blue one on the left is Salvia guarantica, Black and Blue.  It is a hummingbird magnet.  If you plant this, you will never be lonely.  The birds fight over the blossoms.  I'm not sure what body parts are making furious contact when we hear soft *thwacks* as they attack.  Beaks?  Bodies?  We have not seen bird bodies collapsed on the deck, KO'd, with the referee counting them out.   They dart away, apparently, unharmed, and sneak back for more calories to fuel the next championship round.

The brain cells have gone past medium-rare, now heading for well-done.  Last weekend was a Cape visit to see Mr. E's cousins.   We walked this beach, found seaglass, ate harpooned swordfish, knit continuously.  I love the sail that looks transparent. 

L is for Lapidary lust

So you think you have stash problems?

You should see my MIL.

My sock yarn expenditures are laughable when compared to a REAL stash.  She stashes gemstones.  Gold.  Platinum.  Silver.  Palladium.   I was combing through her gemstone beads, looking for turquoise or iolite beads for Crest of the Wave scarf.

Then I slapped myself and moved on.

These are all sapphires.  I drooled for three days over this tray (my MIL's version of a WIP) until it was done.  It then vanished, sent to the in-house stringing person and her spidery silk threads.

K is for Komatsu

The temperature that January day in Vermont matched the temperature today.  You can see the steamy mists eddying around the Beast.   The color scheme demanded a picture.   I see semi-red, definitely white, and somewhat blue.  Okay.  Periwinkle.  Close enough.

The company shipped in these colors several years ago.  It was not popular, and has been replaced with more manly hues.

With a sense of future destiny, I taught my niece to knit today.  She is 5 years old.