Stephen and Steven Tour 2014

Are you ready for picture overload?  I have lots of pictures to share with you this week.  First let me give you a small update on my Tour de Sock socks.......I have been making progress but I have not worked on them since last Friday....I am really enjoying this pattern!!!

Now for the Stephen and Steven Tour 2014....they are fabulous....if you have a chance to go see them....you should.  We had a great time!  First, when we got to our hotel, one of our rooms was not ready so the hotel bought us all dinner......Yup!  It was yummy....I even have a picture of my desert because it was so cute.

At the even there was tour exclusive yarn:

Here is what I got......I got some of the tour exclusive yarn by Three Irish Girls in colorways "Luck be a Lady" and "Sin City":

That was all I was going to get....I swear....but then Tami had to go and find the new Dream in Color yarn in a new base called Jilly......Yup, you guessed it...they had the most beautiful burnt orange colorway called "chili" and I got another colorway called "brownie" to go with it (Tami, the enabler got the same thing, two of the Chili and one of the Brownie).....

While waiting to go to this tour.....Darlene aka AwesomeGrannie saw on Instagram the new Plucky Knitter's colorway called "ph" for Stephen West there was a pink colorway above called "v" for Steven Be).....so I had to get her some......I also got her some Madeline tosh light merino in the "Knitting is dead Sexy" colorway....it was tour exclusive and I think it will make a great Welty Pattern (by Stephen West) along with the ph........here is hers:

So.....my yarn was wound (in hotel room) and we had dinner....we all knitted (there was a group of 7 knitting gals total) in the lobby for a while and then it was time for a good night's rest.......and we were off.....

IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!

What did I learn?  Most importantly, I learned that Steven B has 42 WIPS which means that since my count is not that high, that I can cast on more projects (I have officially been given permission!)....Also, Stephen West said that it is OKAY to buy yarn to match your outfit and it is also OKAY to buy an outfit to match your yarn......these are the important things!

What can I say.....I had the time of my life......I want to thank Stephen and Steven for a great time and a great big thanks to Elizabeth for getting me in the class!!!  I do want to thank Hill Country Weavers or putting it on.....but I have to say I was not impressed with the organization at all.  At the last minute (Saturday)....HCW decided to open up more seats to the even and called the ppl on the waiting list......this meant that my great friend Ruby Cruze got to come.......

Now.....I am super excited they opened up a seat for Ruby (Yes I am being selective here)....but the bottom line is they opened up too many seats...there was not enough room...we were crammed like sardines into one tiny room.....then lunch came and it was pure chaos....it seems that if you were taking the Stephen West class in the afternoon, you were supposed to have lunch with Steven Be and vice versa....but they never 'announced' that to everyone...it seems that they announced it to new comers (ppl who were not in the morning classes) but not to everyone....it was just madness....my seat was taken (even though all my friends told the lady she could not sit there because I just went to go get my plate of food and I would be right back...my purse was there, my whole knitting bag, etc).....it was just a three ring circus....being crammed in the little room means that neither of the Steph/vens were able to get to the back corner or anywhere to their left side because the tables (and sardine people) were blocking them.  Also, there was very little tour yarn.  HCW sent an email telling us we can buy tour yarn on Saturday starting at 1 and we were there at about 1:03.....there was ONE skein of that 'ph' yarn for sale and one skein they were using to show everyone (so basically I got the only two skeins) and at first they said we could order some then they said we couldn't....but they must have been holding back skeins of yarn for friends because on Sunday, my friend asked if they had anymore of that yarn and they said 'No' but after my friend paid, they pulled out 3 skeins of the "ph" yarn for the next lady in line......okay.....rant over.....besides selling way too many seats and being unorganized.....I would not have traded it for the world....I had a fabulous time.....can you tell by the pictures?

 

Above is my friend Elizabeth (who got me the seat to the show) with Stephen and her Verticies Unite!

Below is our whole group wearing one of Stephen West's shawls!

Here is a picture in front of the yarn store....if you look close, you might be able to find me

I even got their signatures on my Tour Book and they each signed their own patterns!

I could not decide with yarn to use for Stephen West's Welty pattern....but in the end I decided to use the 'Tour Yarn'.  Here is my progress:

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend!!!!!!!!!!!  

And just in case you do not go into picture overload....here is my favorite:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I caught the crazy!

Hi everyone.....how has your week been?  Mine has been good and I feel like I got a good amount of knitting done too....it is never enough, but I like to feel like I am making some progress.  I also realized that I have caught the crazy!  I have WAY too many things on the needles right now......and every once in a while I realize how crazy I am.  I have

Dr Who
Spire
Miss Winkle
Smooth Move
Stitch Surfer Socks
TSD stage 2 socks
Placemats for Paige

That is 7 things....and trust me...I have many more things OTN (blankets, leaves of grass shawl, vitamin d cardigan, etc), but these are things that I want to actively be working on right now.  Tomorrow is July 1 and the Hitofude Cardigan KAL starts, Camp Loopy Project 2 starts, and TDS sock Stage 4 starts....that is 3 things I should be casting on tomorrow.....yikes!  I have officially bitten off more than I can chew.

So...what did I knit on this past weekend?

I did a few colors of the Dr Who Scarf

I did about 12 or 13 rows on Spire...it is hard to tell, but I promise it is farther along....I guess I need to order a bigger cord.

Then I worked on Smooth Move...I got this much farther...but decided to frog some.  See, I based this whole shawl off of the varigated color.  It was one of the only DK weight yarns I had 750+ yards of.  What I did not know is that these reason these were caked for me is because they are caked double....there are two strands of yarn to be used as one strand....so I got to it and started knitting...about 8 rows in I could tell this was going to be way too dense.  So I ripped back to the end of the orange, split the yarn (pulling the two strands apart and making one cake into two cakes) and restarted the varigated part.  I am only about 8 rows in again.....and I like it, but I hope in the long run, this yarn is not too thin now.

I also made serious progress on my Tour de Sock Stage 2 socks...I finished one...and I hope to get really close to finishing the second one tonight....before stage 4 comes out tomorrow.

I think they look a little funny....I do not think I should have continued the pattern down both sides...but that is okay...they are mine and I made them flip flop socks because I like to wear flip flops a lot!

That is only 4 knitting projects worked on, but I got a good chunk in on each of them except maybe the scarf.

Jaime's best friend from childhood came into town this past weekend....they have not seen each other for 40 years.....wow!  I snapped a picture by the little league fields they used to play on as kids.

Well, that is really all I have.....tomorrow starts 3 things....Camp Loopy project 2, Tour de sock Stage 4, and the Hitofude KAL with SA SNB.....I will probably wait on the hitofude a few days....but I plan on casting on the other two tomorrow.

Next Sunday I get to meet Stephen West and Steven Be......be ready for LOT OF PICS on my next blog update!

Happy Happy Happy knitting!

Slowing Down.....

I feel like my knitting has been going in slow motion lately....of course, when I came to work this morning and showed Darlene what I had knitted on, she said I was a machine (she always makes me feel better!) but I really do not feel like I got a lot of knitting done.....so I have been slowing down, but need to light a fire under my behind and speed it up!

I did finish these Tour de Sock Stage one socks...but I really only had like 2 inches (max) at the top to do to finish them......these will to a Arlisa Harley....I mentioned how generous she was at the ROT rally with her RV, food, drinks....just super hospitable and I wanted to tell her thanks....and there is no better way than with a pair of hand knit socks!

While also at the ROT, I met this super nice guy named Lee.  He comes to the ROT Rally (from Brandon, Mississippi...540 miles) and stays in a tent every year in the same place.  This was my first year of tenting it....and we were just around the bushes from him....he was kind enough to let us all set up our chairs over by his tent off the main parade route road.  My friend, Jill, told him that I was a knitter....so I offered to knit his wife something.  He asked me if I could knit a "Nose Mitten".  I had no clue what  nose mitten was, but he explained that when she goes out to feed the horses, that he nose gets cold.  I said okay, and asked what color.  He said "Yellow".  I got his wife's name and address and here is Dee (yes, that rhymes with Lee) Durfee's Yellow Nose Mitten:

I made it with a small skein of sock yarn from a Taste of Wollmeise Package I had.....I altered the pattern a little and the ties are an icord instead of a braid.  I found the pattern here.

I worked a little on my Stage 2 socks.  I did not finish them on time and realized it so I changed the pattern on these too.  I worked 3 repeats of Chart B on the leg, did heel flap and did a bottom gusset...but I did not do any of Chart D...I went straight to chart E.....and am keeping the little twist down the side.  I am going to make these socks for me (I love the yarn) and make a flip flop toe so I can wear them with flip flops.  I only have one sock this far...the other sock only has 2 repeats of Chart B done....so I have quite a way till I get to finish those.

I am a little tired of working with sock needles.....so, I worked on my Stephen West Smooth Move...I am only about 23% done and really need to get a move on with it....I see Stephen West and Steven Be in 13 days!  I can't wait to get to 3rd color...but it will be a while :(

I think that is about all I have....see, it does not seem like I knitted that much...but I sure tried!

I hope everyone has a great week!  I leave you with some cute dogs....I have a mini dachshund at home named baby, and a yorkie named Precious....so these pics are for them...I love these:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone!