Ravelry ROCKS!

Either I am completely blind, or Casey continues to add fantastic new features to Ravelry. I am hoping for the latter. Anyway, I just found the “Friend’s Blogs” feature on Ravelry, and I am totally blown away. Please tell me that this feature has only been available for a short time.

I had been going crazy trying to keep up with all my friends, and going to each profile and then linking to their blog to check for updates. Let me tell you, that is very time consuming. Little did I know I could just check the “Friend’s Blogs” tab in the “Friends section of Ravelry and could be linked directly to all updates. How convenient.

Now I am sure to stay abreast of what everyone is up too.

RAVELRY ROCKS!

The Yarn Harlot

Yesterday, I went with a bunch of my knitting friends to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see the Yarn Harlot. Now let me tell you, if you haven’t heard her speak or read her blog or books, I highly recommend it. She is hilarious; her knitting humor is fantastic. As of yet, I haven’t read any of her books (I purchased 2 yesterday and plan to read them soon), but I have been reading her blog which she writes on a regular basis. On her blog, she shares her adventures with knitting and her life in general. The great part about her blog is she not only shares her life and knitting experiences, but she entertains you at the same time. Check it out at www.yarnharlot.com.

Thank goodness I was traveling with seasoned “Yarn Harlot Groupies” yesterday, because they knew the only way to get good seats and not be banished to the overflow room was to get there EARLY. And when I say early, I mean early. The Yarn Harlot was scheduled to speak at 2:00 pm. So I was thinking if we go there by 1:00 we would be in good shape. Not necessarily so, the library opened at noon and they insisted that we get there so we could be there the moment the doors opened, and rightfully so.

We arrived at the library at about quarter to twelve; mere minutes before the doors opened and there was already a crowd forming outside the library. We had left the Troy area around 9:30, which apparently was a little early for a few people in the group. Not me though, since I am usually up at 4:00 am to work out on most mornings, 9:30 was nothing for me. In fact, I slept in until 6:30. We arrived in enough time to have a nice big breakfast at Afternoon Delight. Which was a really good thing because little did we know it would be nearly 12 hours before our next meal.

Once the library doors opened we all made a mad dash to the meeting room so we would sure to get a good seat. At around 12:30 they announced that the Yarn Harlot’s plane was not able to land due to the morning fog, so we were in limbo until they were able to see if she could catch another flight into Detroit. We were all totally bummed, but hoped they would still be able to pull something off, even if it would be a few hours later than originally planned. A short while later they announced that she was able to catch another flight and was expected to land in Detroit within a few hours and they hoped she would be able to speak around 4:00 pm. Only two hours later than expect, not bad, unless you had gotten there two hours early, now instead of having two hours to burn we had four. But it gave us plenty of time to knit, mingle with the other knitters, and meet the knit bloggers who we have been reading online. We even had time to take a run over to the LYS for some distraction and YARN! Yarn is always a good thing.

Finally, the Yarn Harlot arrived around 4:30, thanks to a Good Samaritan, Brad, who drove her from the airport. She spoke for nearly 45 minutes and then began the book signing. You would have thought by being in the first three rows we would have also gotten a good spot in line, but I guess we just weren’t quick enough, at least some of us got stuck close to the back of the line.

Even though we got up early, in some cases, and waited a very long time it was well worth the wait. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a very nice down to earth knitter with an incredible sense of humor.

Go see her if you ever get the opportunity!

Here are some pictures from the day for your enjoyment!

Miranda and Kim

Mary

Kristy

Amby

Dana

Amanda

Weekend of Knitting

Lots of knitting going on here this weekend, Friday night I visited with my friend Valerie. We were supposed to be stamping together, but my knitting was calling my name so I only stamped for a short while and then picked up my needles. I accomplished quite a bit while we chatted for most of the evening.

Saturday, I ventured across the border to Canada. I don’t know why, but going across the border is always nerve racking, I never know what is going to happen. Once I was stopped and they searched my car. I guess I looked suspicious. But I have to admit I had a car load full of crafting supplies. My mom and I were headed to Toronto for the week and we had plans on working on some craft projects while I was there for some training.

Anyway, this time went nice and smooth. I learned my lesson and now I pack everything in the truck so they can’t see how much stuff I am taking with me.

While visiting with Janis, I meet two new knitters, Diane and Olivia. Diane is very new to knitting; she has only been knitting a month or so. She was working on a very cute scarf for her son, but when we determined she had been doing a reverse stockinette stitch instead of a garter she decided to frog it and start over. It was a real bummer because the scarf was adorable.

Diane and Olivia

Olivia has known how to knit for awhile, but it hasn’t really been a passion of hers. She had some soft and cuddly black yarn and was just knitting for practice. That is until we talked her into actually starting a project. When the camera came out she decided it was far time to tote her camera in something other than a sock and she started a little camera cozy for her camera.

Janis was diligently working on her sock project for her sock class. She was working on the gusset and was really concentrating on her pattern. She too is fairly new to knitting, she has been knitting for about a year. So I was the veteran in this group although I can’t say that I was the expert, because each of these ladies knew a thing or two about knitting.

And then there was Penelope, Janis’ little dog. She refused to learn to knit so, I knitted this little coat for her and she looks so cute. She was such a ham. Once we got started taking pictures of her she didn’t want us to stop. She was sitting so cute and pretty, and providing lots of different poses. What a nutty little girl!

I also took some pictures of my work in progress too, but I will save those for my next post.

Knit On!