The New Fall Season

I think I need to admit that my knitting is tied into what's on TV! Not until the new fall season started a few weeks ago, did I seriously take up my knitting after several months of barely knitting at all. I did, however, have other distractions on my mind....

On top of the usual chaos of summer, Randy and I were convinced to take charge of his 5 year-old cousin for a few months. Being totally unprepared for parenthood, we embraced the project with abandon! However, now that the little tyke has been returned to his rightful home, we find ourselves deliciously free and relaxed. Three months has never been so exhausting for me, and I've learned a great deal about myself - not all of it good. I won't go into boring details here, but I can summarize by admitting that I now have undying admiration for people with small children who manage to juggle all that parenthood entails.

Now, back to my knitting!

The Sow's Ear in Verona is my local shop and where I teach a few days a week. Darling Heather, one of the managers, challenged me to finish a sweater by the evening of their 7th Anniversary Party. She offered a free pound of Blackbeard's Blend coffee to me if I could finish Sally Melville's Topher's Pullover. I had about 9 days to do it, and still needed one sleeve, and just a few ends woven in. Here it is:


Believe me, I've never worked harder for a pound of coffee in my life! I have yet to count the squares (wait, I just did, there are about 602)... that's over 1200 ends to weave in.

The funny thing is, I loved knitting this so much I'm ready to start another! The intarsia and weaving in ends didn't dissuade me! Here's a picture of the pile of wool from weaving in ends, including a chunk that I removed from the too-long sleeves:

Again with the Weekend Retreats!

In mid-September, Meg Swansen and Schoolhouse Press held another mini-workshop weekend retreat. We hosted 20 knitters from 9 states and one Canadian province. We had the best time, just knitting and visiting and eating. We started these workshops to try to reduce the number of Waiting Listers for Meg's Knitting Camp, but registration is open to anybody who wants to come. It is a completely different experience than Knitting Camp, because the group is so small. It's a more intimate gathering, which allows Meg & me to get to know the participants better. We are hosting 2 groups in May of 2008, and I look forward to these retreats as if they were a reward for some meritorious conduct.

Schoolhouse Press is already taking signups for the Spring Retreat Weekends.

Even though I was one of the first "knitting information purveyors" (being moderator of The Knitlist for over 4 years)... I am late to get in to Ravelry. As of today, there are sill over 2,000 people in front of me, but they seem to be inviting almost 600 per day, so I may only have another few days to wait. Just because I can be a patient person doesn't mean I want to be a patient person.

P.S. I dedicate this post to my dear friend Nancy, who pushed me to start talking again... thanks Nanc!