Midwest Masters Weekend

April 4 - 6, 2014

One of my most enjoyable teaching venues was the opportunity to teach at the Midwest Masters Weekend along with Nicky Epstein, Michelle Hunter, JC Briar, and Carole Rhoades.  Barb Cattani, the owner of Yarns by Design is the quintessential host to both teachers and students.  Furthermore, her shop in downtown Neenah, Wisconsin is a first class place to go for knitting, crocheting and weaving supplies.  Barb has a wonderful assortment of yarns and accessories--something for everyone's skills and tastes.  

Her associates are top notch too--willing to assist and while they wear a smile!

There is no greater reward than to see students smiling and satisfied with their projects.  

Here are a few photos.  By the way, Jean, the center in the group of three, took all four of my classes!

In the center photo below, the woman in the ivory top is a phenomenal basket weaver.  Susan put her family through college by designing patterns www.basketpatterns.com.  Jennifer in the last photo used some of the brightest, boldest, dynamically dyed, variegated yarn in her project.  Her excitement was "infectious" and her subsequent pair of socks are a show-stopper!  Fun, fun, fun!

It's continually getting closer to the unrelenting snowfall of the Rockies.  Our travels back to Fort Lauderdale are currently postponed until Thursday.  The chain laws have been in effect since Sunday night.  Fortunately the sun poked out it's head today to let us know that there really are blue skies behind the gray, ominous clouds.

Staying indoors does force one to work on tasks that typically remain unfinished.  For instance, at 6:30 a.m. I picked up my knitting needles and finished a scarf out of various stash yarns.  The main fiber is alpaca which I love for its softness and warmth.  Obviously the photos were taken during blocking.

It's amazing how differently a knitted project will look just by changing the yarn--not just colors but the structure and weight of the yarn.  

The pattern for this shawl is from Heidrun Liegmann's 

Swing-Knitting™ Workshop 3. 

 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swing-strickentm-kursbaustein-3---swing-schal

The first sample I knitted was in a Sport weight bamboo yarn on a US size 2 needle.  

http://www.sirdar.co.uk/yarns/babyYarns/dkBaby/Snuggly_Baby_Bamboo_DK_F071

It barely goes around my shoulders, is very "drapey", and adds a lovely fashion statement.

The newest one is very different.  It was made from two variegated mohair yarns and one variegated sock yarn from Lonesome Stone Natural Fiber Mill and Alpacas 

 http://www.lonesomestonefiber.com

The challenging element was knitting drop stitches with the mohair but the result is gorgeous---

a light-weight and a perfect warmth to take off a little chill either for cool evenings or South Florida air conditioning.

Tah-dah!

A new, written hat pattern has been listed on Ravelry.com just in time for the colder weather. Soon the snowboarders and skiers will be carving the slopes--hence, the hat's name is "The Carver"! It was one of the semi-finalists in Schachenmayr's recent MY MOUNTAIN competition on Facebook.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swing-knits-the-carver-hat

This is a quick knit and just in time for the holidays!

Indian Summer Has Arrived!

From the breaking of dawn

to the brilliant blue skies

the Autumn paintbrush of God is at work.