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Behold Therapi! As promised!
Jonelle finished up the Therapi swatch pictures today so I created a preliminary page with the colors we had available. Click here to check it out. This yarn is soooo gorgeous!
I Love Mondays
For those of you that don't know, I'm still attending ASU and have a full course load. Well, one of my classes is Geography of Europe (yes, this is one of those super easy classes that I'm taking to keep my sanity enrich my knowledge of other countries and cultures.) This class is an online class and every Monday I have to take a lecture quiz. I have all week to watch the 11 lectures, but of course, I wait til the last minute every week, and I totally love it. Here is why:
For the 5 hours or so that I sit at Hayden Library listening to lectures, I get to knit my little heart out. Since it's a little unusual for someone to be knitting at our library (trust me - I've been going to ASU for 4 years and I've never seen anyone else doing it.) Pretty much everyone that walks by me looks at me as though I've got a huge pair on ateliers on top of my head. No one bothers me. It's fabulous.
What you see sitting on top of my laptop is the beginnings of a very soft Therapi scarf. I'll be posting the pattern in Ravelry soonish. Jonelle finished preparing images of about the first 20 Therapi colors so I'll get a page up tomorrow with those beauts on it. I think I have a new favorite yarn....well, at least until more Saphira arrives. Wait til I show you what that's all about! :D
Addendum
I just realized that I hadn't mentioned a single thing related to knitting in my last post. This poses a problem because a blog about knitting should be about.....um.....knitting!
I actually did manage some positive knitting on this trip. Which is great because usually when I travel I end up ripping out way more than I've knit. I started a pair of mittens in Therapi (50% fine wool, 20% silk, and 30% Bowlder, a crushed jadeite-based fiber). I don't have a page posted at soysilk.com yet because we still haven't received all of the samples. However, this yarn is ridiculously soft and I'm definitely going to need to knit a lot more somethings! I'll post some pictures of the mittens when one is completed and the other is on the needles.
Also, I'm glad that I posted my previous post sans-yarn anyway because my cousin, Megan, found my blog. Then I found hers. She just graduated from UC Berkeley and has apparently become quite the knitter herself. I couldn't be more proud, though I'll definitely have to hook her up with some of SWTC's finest!
Trip to California
Jonelle and I started our "working
vacation" in California with the Shopatron Client Conference held in San Luis
Obispo, CA.
Here is a picture of the plane we took
to get to San Luis Obispo. Jonelle is not a fan of small planes (even regional
jets) and she referred to this one as our "paper airplane to
SLO."
The ride was a bit bumpy, but not bad
(even if we did have to sit next to the potty.)
The Shopatron Client Conference was
great. Jonelle and I both attended separate classes and during the 5 minutes we
had between each, we’d race to the other room to compare notes as quickly as
possible, grab some coffee, and then back to our respective rooms. We both
learned a ton and walked away with several “pages” of notes (we both have
tablet PCs that we take notes on. My laptop is probably the one thing I
couldn’t live without…next to yarn.)
Cheryl and Tina from Cherry Tree Yarns also attended the conference, so during the general sessions and breaks,
Jonelle and I had great company to knit with. We didn’t remember to have a
picture taken with all of us. You wouldn’t need to know what we actually look
like to pick us out of the crowd though. We were the ones in the back of the
room happily knitting away while listening to the various presentations.
The folks at Shopatron were great hosts
and took the entire conference to a restaurant in downtown San Luis Obpiso
called Novo. I took this picture from the patio that we
had dinner on The weather, food, and company was great. The picture
really does it no justice. It was absolutely perfect outside!
After the conference was over, Jonelle
and I headed to the airport to pick up our rental car so we could drive up to
Napa to spend the rest of the weekend at Johnnie and Jonette's house. We had
decided to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway......bad idea. Here are a few
reasons why:
- The Hearse(t) - When I made the car reservations, I was informed that we would be getting a Mazda 6 or "similar mid-size car." Well, as we were walking across the rental car lot, we passed by Mustangs, Seabrings, and other neato cars. When we got to the stall they said our car was in, our mouths dropped. We'd be cruising around California in what resembles a hearse!!! (No offense for any of you who may drive this model of car, but it was not what we were expecting.)
- The Drive - This sounded like a fabulous idea. After all, the weather was in the mid-80s and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Once we got to the point where we were driving along side the ocean, we saw a spot where we could pull off to look at the elephant seals. Here they are:
Jonelle called her girls to tell them
to look for a picture of the seals from me since I had taken some with my
phone. (Free plug here - I LOVE my iPhone. If i could take one item with me to a
desert island, it would be my iPhone. My iPhone is better than any man - it
doesn't sass and it always does what I tell it to.) All her youngest heard was
that we went to the beach without her. (Don't worry though - Jonelle brought
excellent surprises to her girls and they aren't mad anymore.)
I'm not sure if many of you are aware,
but the PCH is a long, windy, twisty road that once on you can't get off. I
managed to get car sick and lose my lunch around Big Sur. Not fun. We did
manage to get on a regular highway near Monterey.
By this time, we were several hours behind and just wanted to get to Napa. So we were on this regular highway and traffic was a little icky since it was about 5PM on a Friday afternoon. As we were approaching San Fransisco, the highway sort of splits and one part heads off toward San Fransisco and the other toward Berkeley. Jonelle is driving and announces that we need to head toward Berkeley. "OK!" I say as Jonelle's arms involuntarily jerk the car toward San Fransisco. She immediately realized her mistake and we both uttered a stream of words not fitting of any lady. We pop over the top of this hill and see:
All we could see were brake lights for
MILES from cars waiting to pay the toll and then make it across this bridge
into SF. There was no where to turn around....we were stuck.
Finally, around 9PM, we get to Johnnie
and Jonette's house. The rest of the weekend was fabulous. Napa is beautiful
and the Becks' home is fantastic. You definitely need to read Jonelle's blog
about the time she spent with her nephew. The pictures are hilarious.
P.S. If you ever get a chance to walk
around downtown San Luis Obispo, you have to stop by two places.
The Sock Drawer
- where they sell ONLY socks (I know, I know, knitting them is *way* better but
this store is pretty neat too.)
And Bubblegum Alley. Here is a really awful pic of me making my contribution to such a historical site. Call me nerdy, but it was a huge rush. I've never stuck my gum anywhere but the trash can and it felt so.....illegal.....to stick it on a wall in public!
Never a dull day at SWTC
Yesterday, Jonelle and I had intended to wrap up the last minute details for the book we've been working on. Well, that's certainly not how the day worked out. We got totally slammed with orders (not that I'm complaining!) so we spent a huge chunk of our time in the warehouse picking, packing, and shipping.
When we finally got a chance to break for lunch, I grabbed my stuff and headed for my car. But ss soon as I could open the front door, Harold whooshed by me so he could go outside. That big galoot headed for the shade and plopped down. Well, I didn't think it'd be a great idea to leave a massive dog outside by himself since he looks scary (Don't be fooled, he's a big baby.) so I tried my darnedest to get him back inside.
After about 5 minutes of trying to convince him to come back inside with me, I took a step back to analyze the situation.
110 lbs of stubborn dog vs. 130 lbs of famished girl = this dog is going nowhere
This is Harold looking at me, as if to say, "Sorry, but no. I'm not moving. Sorry."
I love my job :-D
Knit One, Purl One.....Slide One?
Yesterday I spent the whole glorious 90 degree day poolside with the Raffino family. Jonelle packed a *huge* bag of our new yarns for us to wind into balls, knit swatches, and dream up design ideas. We'll have more details and pictures of the new yarns soon, so sit tight! You won't want to miss these babies!
You can see here how hard we were working!
The kids had a blast going down the "fast slide" and all three of them double-dog-dared Jonelle and me to go down the fast slide. So we put down our knitting and showed those kids how it's done! It was really fun too til you get to the pool at the bottom. The water was freezing!
I think we were probably asked about dozen times what we were knitting. This one lady sat down with us and chatted for a few minutes about how she grew up in Canada with a ton of sheep and how she and her siblings used to spend their nights carding wool. Lucky! I think I spent most of my childhood nights either reading or playing on my original Nintendo.
Since today is Monday, we have a ton of weekend catching up to do so I'm off to take some of the pressure off my inbox. Happy knitting!
This is what happens when I leave two Raffinos in the building alone for too long.....
Click here to read how Joe and Jonelle tried to blow up the building.
I hadn't even been gone for half an hour! Sheesh!
From STITCHES West
Hey there everyone! I know I haven't blogged for a little while, but I've made a brand new commitment to be a better blogger!
Right now we're all hanging out at STITCHES West and I'm so glad it's the last day. I'm glad it's the last day because we're all so wiped out thanks to the THOUSANDS of knitters who have gathered here for classes, community, and lots of yarny goodness. The enthusiasm of all of the knitters here can't be beat.
Vickie Howell was in our booth for most of the show to meet everyone and show off her brand new book, Knit Aid. The book will be out in May, but you can preorder signed copies by clicking here (scroll down to Books.) Also be sure to help us save the Knitty Gritty show by filling out this petition. We want to make sure Knitty Gritty stays on the air (and aired at normal hours!)
Oh and this year is the Year of the Sock! Make sure you check out this page to learn all about what we're doing with socks this year, including Think Outside the Sox and Sock Wars III.
Well, I think that's all I have time to blog about for now. Check back soon because I plan to add some pictures from the show!
Here is a picture of Johnnie, Jonelle, me, Jonette, Sophia and Gianna. Joe was busy holding down the booth for us when we got our picture taken, so Jonelle will have to PhotoShop him in! (I think you have to click the picture to make it bigger.)
P.S. Make sure you add Jonelle, Jonette, Mindy and me to your Ravelry friends list. We share a username, swtcgirlz. Add Joe too! He's GuyWhoKnits.
<3 kat
Something I forgot to blog about....til now!
Last month Jonelle and I had the distinct privilege of attending the annual Hunt Country Yarns retreat in beautiful West Virginia. (Jonelle was the special guest and I went along to sort of nanny/knit/eat chocolate.) Anyway, while we were there, I met a lady named Carol Breitner who is the designer of the Los Lobe Hose™ sock pattern. Rarely do I get overly excited about a pattern. But, in this case, I was practically hopping for joy. I think I may have actually scared Carol a bit but she gave me a copy of her pattern and some needles anyway and I started knitting my tiny socks right away. I had my first pair done by the end of the night. Here is a picture of them with a penny. 
If those aren't the cutest darn socks ever, I'll eat an entire skein of TOFUtsies.
Here's the scoop on the pattern:
Name: Los Lobe Hose Tiny Sock Earrings™ designed by Carol Breitner. You cann buy the pattern and the needles on her site, just click the link.
Yarn: Tofutsies in color #789
Needles: Size 0000 1.25mm DPNS (no, I'm not kidding.)
Each sock takes me less than half an hour. They're really easy when you get the hang of working on a smaller scale. These little sock earrings will make great gifts for Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, Carol also has a sock pattern that contains instructions for how to make 3 tiny stockings! Her first book called The Sock Divide: Knitting Socks That Fit will be out next year so be sure to look for it.
That's all for now but I'll try to blog again later this week. I think we're expecting one of our new Terra patterns to arrive!
