The Dude in a Dude

From this :

The Dude

 To This:  Our Dude in The Dude Cardigan

Notice the colors!!!

OHIO STATE

Pattern "The Dude" by Andrea Rangel on Ravelry 

Body knit in the round and sleeves knit flat.   The front band and collar joined to the sweater as each row of the band was knit from right bottom, around neck with some short row shaping and down the left side.   I crocheted around the band to add button holes.  

A Little Yarn Crawl

Visited a few yarn shops in my travels last month.  

There is no reason for me to shop, my stash is way, way to large and overflowing into every spare space in my home, but I just love to visit yarn shops.

First stop on my way to San Jose...(I get a kick out of saying that) I stopped in Danville, CA  (about 1 hour from home) "A Yarn Less Raveled"  https://www.ayarnlessraveled.com
Wonderful selection of yarns and especially interesting gadgets and notions.  Many handmade, unusual yarn holders and measuring tools.   Loved the shop and the people, I stayed a bit to knit and will definitely go back.  Funny thing is a friend of mine was there the day before and we were both talking about this great shop at Knit Night, not realizing that is was the same one.

Than a week later, after a red eye flight, I was in Yarn Diva and More in Hillsdale, NJ.   My mind was  a blur but I  did manage to find a few special things, like the hand made wood buttons from New Hampshire and lovely project bags from the shop. So in addition to this shop, there were 15 other local New Jersey yarn shops all part of a Yarn Crawl that weekend.  I had no idea, but I definitely did not have the energy or time to go....but a couple of my diva friends heard about the shop so I returned with them the next day.  Did I tell you the shop owner was giving away goodie bags too!!!!!

Next stop was a totally unplanned event....Purl Soho in NYC.   Always a pleasure to visit and I did pick up some Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn to coordinate with the yarn I already have to make a brioche hat. And of course pizza down the street.

https://www.purlsoho.com

Then off to Ohio.....a place I shall visit often.   In North Olmstead, I found an adorable village with an array of Oldtime shops: Antique, Gift, Honey, Ice cream and of course yarn.   The truth is that I was hunting for the yarn and discovered this great complex of shops. Peg's Knit and Spin.   https://pegsknitnspin.com


My daughter found a shop also, and I was blown away.  
River Colors Studio, Lakewood,  Ohio
https://www.rivercolors.com

We walked in through the back entrance and the first thing I saw was LOPI.....so excited.  A variety of weights and so many colors.....I could not decide what to pick up first and then my daughter walks up to me a says " there is a lot more to the shop.."  She was not kidding, every label I love.  Jamison, Hedgehog, Malabrigo, Manos, Spincycle and Quince & Co.   Needless to say, I did get some LOPI!!!! and totally forgot to take a photo...lovely and helpful people.  They teach a mindful class also, wow,  how much better can it get?  

Do you have a favorite yarn shop?
Til next time

Knitting Recap 2018

Good thing I take photos of my work (most of the time) and good thing the photos are dated in the program.  Some of these patterns are on Ravelry, some from purchases at markets or shops and some from my collection.  

Royal Jacket (Elizabeth Knits) 

Home made Blocking board

Lola Headwrap  Oct 2018

Quilted Princess (Elizabeth Knits) Oct. 2018

crochet- cat pod

Hand warmers  misc. patterns 

All over Lace   Lanaknits

quilted princess (Jan 2018) Elizabeth Knits

Love Heart crochet (Elizabeth Knits)

Pussy Hats April 2018

Hansel  by Gudrun Johnston  June 2018

My Market Bags

Silverleaf  Isager Strik Alpaca Aug 2018

Entrelac Cowl- noro silk garden Nov 2018

Mackinac Beanie by Heather Anderson

Looped on YouTube Nov 2018

High Sierra Shawl  Room Hill (Nov 2018)

my design  

C2C  dec 2018

Crochet simple gloves by Bronislava  (Dec 2018)

Strip Quilt for Butte Dec 2018

Men and Women's Cable Gloves #617 (Dec 2018)

Slalom from Guys Knit  Nathan Taylor (Nov 2018)

Vogue Knitting San Francisco 2018 The Classes - Brioche Lace

One of my goals for 2018 was to get comfortable with Brioche Knitting.

I have taken quite a few brioche classes in the past 9 years, with a variety of different instructors: Nancy Marchant, Antie Gillingham (my favorite sock author and teacher), Lavanya Patricella, J.C. Briar ( great take on the process), Faina Goberstein and probably a few others that I can't remember.  I spent countless hours on Nancy's Craftsy classes on Brioche, rewinding again and again, til it was beginning to make sense.   Love the fact that you can rewind, pause and take notes in class on the site.
This year at Vogue, I took a class with Nancy Marchant again.   This was about brioche lace and at this point I had knit two brioche scarves.    Now mind you I'm a combination continental knitter. That means my stitches are loaded onto the needles so that when I knit a stitch I place the needle into the back of the stitch.  (it isn't twisted and I get great fabric when I knit, it's also a faster knit.)  It's sometimes referred to as Russian style.   So anyway, as I'm taking the class and knitting this way I was able to figure out that in order to make holes (lace) properly for brioche, I needed to twist the stitch and Nancy gave me the OK!!!  Great feeling.

Here's what I'm working on now.    This is definitely a focused knitting project - no music, no TV no distractions.    It been a few weeks since I picked it up and knitting a few rows each day has been my practice.

The Pattern:  Ms. B from Knitting Fresh Brioche by Nancy Marchant.

Yarn:  Rowan Silk Haze 25g each, 2 gray & 2 lavender

Light side 

Vogue San Fransisco 2018 - The Classes-Double Knitting

In Sept 2018, Vogue Knitting Live was in San Francisco for the first time.   I knew I had to be there.  I live only 55 minutes away and there is no way I'd pass this up.  A few of the local knitting girls were going to be there, either spending the weekend or coming down for the day...so much fun.  We met for lunch or dinner, went to a few mini presentations and roamed the market place.

The Last Class-Double Knitting- creating a fabric that is double sided with the knit stitch on the outside and any image, pattern design fair isle, is reversible.  

It's always so hard to choose a class out all the wonderful offering at Vogue Knitting Live.  Although this was the last class I took, this is the class I want to share first.   Usually after a full weekend of classes, shopping and knitting, that last class can be a blur.   Well not so with this class, Double knitting with Nathan Taylor or better known as the Sockamatician.  Outstanding class, a truly enlightening and entertaining class.   An entertainer, no really he's a British Actor, in the theater.   Lively, eloquent and great attention to deal in his instructions both written and spoken.   This was a great class and I can't wait to begin some of his original double-knit designs.   His first book (my hope is that there are more to come)  Guy's Knit was released at the end of 2018. I knit a hat and my son -in-law, is currently knitting a cap.  Nathan is on Youtube also.

Check out the Sockamatician on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/sockmatician/

or Nathan Taylor on Ravelry

 https://www.ravelry.com/designers/nathan-taylor

Vogue San Francisco 2018

Somehow the year goes by and all the things I wanted to post get lost in the days....so here is one of the things I wanted to share.

Vogue Knitting San Francisco-Sept. 2018 

There were so many classes to choose from and so many mini events also, 

but I thought I share a bit about the marketplace.  

The MarketPlace

The Market Place at Vogue Knitting has everything...baskets, books, bag, needles, Fashion shows, a Rowan exhibit of the last 40 years, Art work, sit and knit space, and prizes.
 (Oh and a wine bar also).  The pace is just what I like..slow and enlightening.   I was able to preview the show on Thursday night after my class with Julia Farwell-Clay, all about steeking.  The class was lovely, informative and definitely took the fear out of steeking a knit in the round fair isle sweater (cutting into your stitches - yeeek! )

To be continued:  The Classes

A look at the Market place.

Nicky Epstein Gauge swatches=Bears

Student Art Occupational Therapy Prog. 

Friend modeling her Rowan Knit at the show

Carol Macdonald Fiber Artist