In the mail bag

After a long Monday at work (my day job), it's nice to come home to some nice email in my loomy inbox. Today I had two nice emails that have made my day! The first is an FO from Tamara over at Loomy Mama. She writes:

"I finally posted a picture of my finished waves of lace shawl. I love it! I really loved the stitches, it was by far the most fun looming project I've done so far."

Thanks, Tamara! It's great getting to see finished projects. She has a great new blog and amazing looming creations.

Also in my inbox was a wonderful thank you for my mitten pattern. This is my favorite freebie so it's good to get email from appreciative loomers. Even though the weather is turning warmer, you can still find the "Great Fit Knifty Knit Mitts" mitten pattern on my website.

What I did over vacation

Along with visiting my parents and seeing Maine again for the first time in almost a year, I also did a whole lot of knitting while I was gone. As my boyfriend says "It was an awful long way to go to knit" - but really it doesn't matter where I go, knitting is never far from my finger tips!

So to update my knitting WIPS and FO's - I thought I should make one big post. Hopefully you'll enjoy :)

So, I left for Maine on the 7th of October. I had two flights and a longish layover in Newark. I had brought with me two balls of Moda Dea Sassy Stripes sock yarn in color "crush" for some sock knitting. Socks are a great way to pass the time on airplanes and they are very portable! Something I look for in a plane knitting companion...

The first sock I had 1/2 done by the end of the first flight (about 4 hours) and 3/4 done by the end of the second flight (1 hour) and by the time I went to bed that night that first sock was off the needles! The second sock I finished by Tuesday (3 days later). I think these are going into my Christmas knitting box that is still far too empty for this time of year. :( I gotta get my needles fired up a bit, I think!

Here's a little closeup of the stripey pattern of the yarn. When I first started knitting with it I didn't really like the color. But it started to grow on me the more I worked with it and now I really like them.

As you can see from the Joanne.com reviews in the link I posted above, the color of that yarn is a little deceiving. I had no idea it was so red when I bought it. I was expecting for pinks and purples. But I think they came out OK. Someone in my family will like them anyway. I even have enough left over to make myself a pair of footie socks!

I also visited a little yarn shop in Cornish Maine - Rosemary's Yarn Shop. It's a shop I go to every year while I'm home. She has the best prices I've seen so of course I purchased some more sock yarn for my flights home. I got another whole sock done and the beginning of the cuff of another. These are done in Sockotta self striping sock yarn. I've used this yarn before and I love it. Great quality and a nice feel to work with. This yarn is much thinner then the Moda Dea, so they take longer to knit up. But, I don't knit for speed :)

I also finished another Waves of Lace shawl for my boss at work. It's been in a holding pattern since I returned, though. She couldn't decide if she wanted me to fringe it or not. She made a decision yesterday, though, so I'll be blocking it and fringing it for it's final presentation to her. I love the color and it came out great. I hope she likes the final shawl as much as I like mine! Here's a pic of the finished shawl - pre blocking and finished. It's still on the loom right now, but soon the be bound off!


That's all my work since my last post. Man! When did I get anything else done...?

One final bit of news - I had a great class in Longmont last night. I had a whopping 7 students for my Beginning Knifty Knitter class! That's the most students I ever had in one class. It was a fast paced two hours and I think they learned a lot. I think they'll all be coming back for my Beyond the Basics classes next month. We'll have a new group of loomers soon!

Sorry this post is so long! I'll have time to post more regularly now.

Been a while...

Oye! Sorry, it's been a while since I've posted. Been busy with Michael's teaching and demoing and starting Christmas knitting. This time of year is when it starts to get busy, busy.

Anyway - I have been working on stuff. I'm working on another Waves of Lace shawl for someone. This one is out of 100% cotton Sonata from Elann.com. I love the color she picked out: Periwinkle (6319). It's a color I would wear myself, so it'll be fun to knit up. I'm going on vacation back to visit my family in Maine in a week and this will be the project I'm taking with me. Hopefully I wont have a problem taking the loom through security. I can't find anything that says I can't take it - so we'll see. Anyone have experience taking a loom onto an airplane?? I hate checking baggage, so I'd prefer to take it in a carry on...

I'm also looming a Zig Zag scarf for display in the Longmont Michael's store. I taught a Beyond the Basics Knifty Knitter class and the Zig Zag scarf was my pattern selection for the month. My students loved it. It was a great choice because it built on skills they have learned so far from me. It really drills in the garter stitch pattern (e-wrap and purl) - great for novice loomers!

This Zig Zag is done in Color Waves by Lion Brand in color 'Sunset Red'. The color is great for fall and I love the way it's coming out. The color waves moves into subtle stripes of bright colors and works well with the geometric zig zags. I got this yarn at Michael's.

In other news, I updated the design of loomknittingdesigns.com a bit. I added a header to the pages with links to contact me, a link to this blog, and a link to my Looming store at Amazon. Check it out if you get a chance. I think it brightens up the page a bit and helps with site usability as well.

Finished project and other news

Well, I finally finished the cherry color Waves shawl that I was making for a friend. As it usually happens, this one came out better then the one I made for myself. I was more comfortable with the pattern and into the swing of it more - I think. So even though it was on the same loom, the shawl I made for someone else came out a bit wider and lacier then mine. I can't wear red very well, but I think it came out nice. Click on the pic to see larger!

So now I'm wrapping it up to give to her and including a card with care instructions. A simple thing, but care instructions are usually the first question people have. This is a good thing to remember if giving handmade items as gifts or selling...

In other news - Greg and I went to the Wings Over the Rockies museum this weekend and along with the impressive planes and history, I spied something even more impressive.


In a model of a 1950's commercial airliner, in among all the little model passengers, was...that's right...a little model knitter! Of course she was a lot on the granny looking side (thick glasses and a bun) but hey - there she was! I was so impressed that: a) that they had a little model knitter and b) that I had spotted her among all the little figures. Take a look at the shots my friend took after my digi cam had already died for the day. Can you spot the knitter?






Still can't spot her? Here you go:

Even more impressive picture taking - if you ask me. We were stuck behind some velvet ropes that kept us about 8 feet away from the model. A good camera and a long arm did the trick. Thanks Will!

Finished Waves Shawl

Finally some picts of the finished Waves of Lace Shawl. I took these picts myself so they aren't the best - but I think you can see it OK :).

Scroll and check them out!