Meet Me at Madrona? - 83,850 stitches.

Isn't that cool!  (My friend Myra was having a little too much fun with her new Ipad - stay tuned, we are just getting started!)

I had such a great time at the Madrona Winter Retreat! If you have never gone, I would encourage you to find a way to get there. You will meet some of the most amazing fiber artists, be inspired by great teachers, and make a difference in the community. 

This year, we raised over $14,000 for the various charities supported by the Teacher Talent Show for Charity. I wish I could tell you more about it, but if you want to experience it, you have to be there.

I spent the first three days of the retreat doing demos in the Rotunda. 
The rotunda is the gathering space, where people tend to hang out and knit, spin, weave, crochet, eat lunch, re-connect with friends, and get new ideas.

As you can see, I did make some progress on the socks, but I spent a lot of time answering questions and demoing on the great wheel.

 You may notice that in this photo I'm wearing the Tuesday socks from the Week's Worth of Socks project. I also happen to have made the shirt I'm wearing in this photo.
 






Remember my friend Myra from the Vashon Pharmacy?
You should have seen her standing on the chair for this photo:

 I think some people were afraid she was going to fall off, but she was quite agile.
Apparently she doesn't get off the island that often and when she does, she really lets her hair down.

She was having a good time, and I was happy to be her muse, but then things got a little wacky....

 

So I wanted you all to see the great wheel as well.  My friend (okay maybe I'm name dropping here, but I consider her a friend) Stephanie Pearl-McPhee took some photos of me working at the great wheel. She also tried it, but we didn't get any photos of that.

 

This is my wheel, it is a reproduction wheel made in 1986 by Brother Albert Rudloph.

It's based on a Pennsylvania Dutch wheel from 1861. As you can see, it's a spindle wheel, if you are famliar with the Sleeping Beauty story...this is what she pricked her finger on.

When you spin on a wheel like this, one hand operates the wheel (instead of a foot pedal) and the other hand controls the fiber. When the wheel spins, the fiber bounces off the end of the spindle which puts the twist in, and makes the yarn. As the yarn is made, you draw the fiber out by walking backward, and once you have created a length of yarn, you wind it back on the the spindle walking back to the front of the wheel. That's why they call it a walking wheel!

I was spinning Alpaca on it, and I will be using it to make a shawl pattern I'm working on.

I thought I'd also show you what I was busy working on at the sewing studio this week.

I had 2 wonderful women that commissioned me to make gowns for them to wear at the Miss Washington Plus Pageant.

 

The lovely lady in blue was a contestant, she was first runner up, Miss Congeniality, and the winner of the Director's award! The stunning lady in the black gown is the reigning Miss Plus America, and I am so pleased to have the opportunity to work with her.

I'm sure you wonder how I'm able to do that and still find time to work on the socks.

Well...take a look below and you'll see that sometimes I get a couple extra hands.

 

Hope you all have a great week!  See you soon.

 

Hey Rocky! Watch me Pull a Knitter Out of My Hat! - 74,880 sts.

Howdy folks. 

This has been a busy week for me, and I imagine that it has been a busy one for several of you. 

That's just the way things go.

Never the less, I have been diligent and kept up with my socks!  

You can't tell from this photo, but it was actually taken at the sewing studio. Yes....I said sewing studio.

I've been busy making some gowns for a couple of clients who are going to be involved with the 2013 Northwest Plus America Pageant. 



I can't show you the gowns this week, it just wouldn't be fair, but I'll try to do that next week. 

I'm now up to row 28 on the foot of the socks.  I'm excited because they are looking so happy on the needle. 

Speaking of needles, my NEW needle just arrived from skacel collection, Inc!
They have generously contributed a brand new custom needle for this project, and as soon as I'm done typing this up, I'm going to move the socks over to their new home.
Addi has developed a new needle just for sock knitters called "Sock Rockets" these are turbo needles with a pointier tip. Be sure to ask for them at your local yarn shop!

Okay so back to the socks, it's been a pretty good week, and I was really hoping to be close to the heel turn this weekend, but I don't think that's going to happen.
I am going to be at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat this weekend. You'll find me in the Rotunda on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday doing demonstrations on the socks and I will also be spinning on my great wheel.  (If you don't know what a great wheel is...I'll show you next week.)

I'm going to change subjects again and brag on someone very special to me.
I got a package in the mail this week from my mom. She told me she was sending my Valentine's Day package early. I think she wanted me to have it before Madrona.

Would you believe she made me a pair of socks!  Now these aren't just any socks, these are RED socks! And they came with a book. You see.....she was channeling her inner Yarn Harlot and kept a photo journal of her sock knitting journey. BUT....this wasn't just any journey...these socks have been to Hawaii and Australia. They went there for the eclipse that happened in November. Stephanie....beware, you'll be seeing this book this weekend!  

Here's a photo of Brian with the socks, mind you....this is Brian the park ranger in Australia...

Did you notice that mom knits ONE SOCK AT A TIME on DOUBLE POINTS!!!

What can I say....we may be birds of a feather, but maybe I flew the coop too soon.

This was such a wonderful gift, and I will be wearing them proudly on Valentine's Day.

Oh....and look at the special chair she had built for knitting. (How she gets it into her carry on bag, I'll never figure out.)

What's your favorite place to knit? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy Knitting everyone! Hope to see some of you at Madrona!

50,688 Stitches = A LOT of Knitting!

That's right folks (upper right corner even). Thanks to the suggestion of my friend Marcy, I've decided to actually keep count of the number of stitches worked. You'll see the running total on the page, just in case you were curious.  I'm thinking I'm going to knit a row (or several stitches), and then un-knit to get an approximate measurement of how much yarn it takes to make one stitch. Then I'll be able to tell you how many yards of yarn I've used so far!  My high school math teacher, Miss Congioloso would be so proud. See Miss Cong, I did learn more from you than sauerkraut makes and AWESOME chocolate cake!

So...this is what the great Kohlsini has been up to!

 

OOOOOOHHHHHH!

I've worked on a whopping 11 rows so far.
To answer a few questions that popped up in the comments:
1. The needle is a 120" circular Lace Point a ddi needle, from skacel, inc.
2. It takes an hour and half to two hours to knit a complete round.

3. Yes, I knew this going in.
4. No, this is not more practical.
5. Yeah....I do things that are out of the box, ask anyone who knows me.
6. Working on anything else?

I'm so glad you asked!

Yep! I am.
As much as I love knitting, when I want to really take a mental vacation, I spin. (Sorry jocks, not that kind of spinning.)

In the photo you can see me plying some lovely green stuff. My mom won't believe I'm actually working with green, in fact, the color is called (ugh - avocado).  Don't get me wrong, I think that there is a place in every kitchen for avocado...in my kitchen, it would be the garbage disposal. 

So...that's the state of the socks for now.

I'll be teaching again at Makers' Mercantile on Saturday - this is part three of my entrelac class. 

If you've done entrelac before and you just need a refresher, you might want to take the class.

You'll get a lovely patten for a scarf!

By the way...they have a great selection of sock yarns....just sayin.

I hope to see some of you at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival - I'll be teaching there, and I believe there are still a few openings in my class if you are interested. 

I do look forward to reading your comments.  Tell me...what do you do for your mental vacation?