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Tagsfriday night with the spiders
More mojo-flowing encounters . . .
As you all know, I was a pathetic contest runner, in that I had no prizes at the time of the contest. So I arranged to meet Beth at The Point; she could pick her prize, and I’d get the same for the other contest winners. And we’d get to knit together, so it was the best of all worlds. I decided sock yarn was appropriate, what with me being such a sock knitter.
Funnily, she chose the very yarn that I was using on the sock that killed my mojo! (I don’t blame the yarn, of course.)
Claudia Handpainted! She and Elinor each get 2 skeins of “Blue Sky,” a gentle combo of blues and creams, and Liz, the 2000th-comment winner, will get 2 skeins in “Donna’s Favorite,” which is olive greens, creams, and browns.
Aside from shopping for yarn, I also sat at the large table to knit with the rest of the Spiders. I was sitting next to a woman, Nancy (not a blogger), who was working on socks–I didn’t pay much attention. At a lull in the conversation, when I was readying to say, “So, what are you knitting?,” I looked at the project on her needles. And my brain did a doubletake. I recognized the pattern. I think I reached into her lap (how forward of me!) and grabbed one of the socks and cried, “These . . . these are my socks!” She stared at me with confusion–and perhaps horror–and then she realized what I’d meant, and I explained further. Oh, wow, it was such a thrill to see her Anastasias.
(That’s Brooklyn Handspun in the background and Katy of TeamKaty between her and Nancy.) This was my first in-person sighting of someone working on socks I’d designed, so needless to say I was rather giddy. The project I’d brought along to work on was a garter stitch scarf. Now, I’m not a scarf knitter. I don’t much care for knitted scarves, especially if they have a right side and a wrong side. But Annie has this garter stitch scarf whose width hit the color repeat in just the perfect way, and whenever I see it I find myself inexplicably drawn to it. I wanted a scarf just like it. The best yarn I had on hand to make it out of was the Hill Country Yarns in those autumnal colors–the ones I started the leafy socks out of. I never finished them, because I didn’t have quite enough yarn to finish either sock the way I’d designed them (damn top-down socks!), and anyway the variegation’s pooling on the socks wasn’t making me happy. But it’s working pretty well in the narrow scarf. Not as perfectly as in Annie’s, but it’s nice.
It’s boring knitting, but you can see steady progress, and that’s quite satisfying. I’ll knit on it from time to time; I don’t see it being finished for a while.
But that’s OK, because I just ordered yarn. I’m going to make THIS! That’s the “Shocking!” Skirt from the Winter 2004 Interweave Knits. Blogsearching reveals that this came out too soon to have ever been blogged–really, as far as I can tell, it was never knit at all. (Because if it hasn’t been blogged, does it exist? I’m not convinced.) I ordered Wool of the Andes despite it not being superwash wool, because I preferred the color choices (ok, and because I’m cheap), though I went with the same gray and black; my accent color is “iron ore,” a sort of salmon red. I’m really excited about knitting this skirt–I know people are always saying they would never be caught dead in a knitted skirt, but I’ve seen successful examples, and I’m sure it will be great. I cannot wait to cast on for it! I foresee myself embarking on more large projects–I need a break from socks.
29 Responses to friday night with the spiders
It was great to finally meet you! And I can’t believe your next project is not socks :) Did you notice that the Soft Kid in the background of your self portrait and the garter scarf that you’re knitting match?
Yay! Fun with the Spiders! I noticed the same thing Veronique did–that you totally match the yarn in the background. How funny. And what a thrill to meet someone knitting “your” socks!
I immediately googled my new Claudia’s Handpainted and I am so excited for some new sock yarn goodness! Thanks for the contest!
My weekend sick in bed was very good for my own Anastasia’s. I should be finishing sock #2 tonight if I can stay awake long enough.
I cannot imagine how exciting it would be to see someone you don’t know, in person, knitting socks you designed. Yay for you! :)
I think that skirt looks great! And I too have seen successful knitted skirts.
The skirt is very cute – I think it will be a success!
And yes, if it hasn’t been blogged, I think it’s akin to a tree falling in the woods. But now, it will exist, thanks to you!
Getting excited over spotting your socks “in the wild” is totally okay!
Sweet! Free sock yarn! You totally rock, Erin!!! I can’t wait. It’s perfect – just in time for my new yarn diet!
That’s so exciting that someone was knitting YOUR socks right there!!! I bet you did a double take. I love that Carol called it seeing the “in the wild”. Heh.
I’m sure the skirt would be a fun project but I would like, never ever wash it. Not because I’d be afraid to but because I’m really lazy. That would be a lot of wet wool. No different than a sweater, I imagine, but I go a loooooooooooooooong time without washing those!!!!
Love the scarf colors, even if the knitting is so easy I could do it. And the skirt will totally suit you. Supercool about your sock pattern, too!
Ok, that’s frickin’ cool to sit down with some knitters and see your pattern being knit by someone. I need to finish up my socks for the sock exchange, but you can bet that the next pair I make are a set of mommy and me Anastasia socks!
The scarf is looking lovely! The yarn I used for mine was from Morehouse Merino. They have some interesting variegated yarns…
That’s so cool that you found someone knitting your pattern “in the wild”! :) And I think the skirt is pretty cool. Someone during the Central Park part of Thursday was wearing a fair isle striped skirt and it was very cool looking.
Sorry I wasn’t there to meet you on Friday!! I’ll be making a pair of the Anastacia soon – I’ll send you an FO shot when they’re done!
It was great to meet you Friday, and to see the gorillapod in action :)
I don’t think I said at the time, but I really love the colors of your scarf – verrry pretty.
Oh how cool to spot your socks being knit!!! And the skirt is really pretty – I can’t wait for you to get started on it so we can see. :)
neat pattern – funny how some just never seem to get knit……it must have been a thrill to see your pattern out in the wild!
I like the skirt..
It must be just amazing to see someone knitting up one of your patterns- just amazing!
It’s been fun seeing someone work on your design. I never know what to say. However, since my face is part of the pattern picture they already know that I designed it.
I’ve always wanted to knit a skirt (despite warnings) and have seen successful examples also. I just haven’t found the right pattern yet, so I keep looking….
Nice meeting you Friday, and thanks for designing the Anastasia’s – they are fun to knit! But, oh my, that’s like the third photo I’ve seen of myself lately where my bra strap was showing! I guess I should pay more attention when I’m getting dressed. tee hee.
Hi,
I knit the Anastasia socks for a friend and they came out quite nice!
I love that Shocking skirt and have often thought about knitting it myself, so I’ll be verye excited to see you knit it here. Perhaps it will inspire me to knit it.
I am loving the garter stitch scarf. I love how the colors make it look like there are short rows in there. Lovely. Also do you now about the sock design contest sponsored by Hill Country Yarns? You should enter!
I love that you saw someone knitting “your” socks! Fun story! I think the shocking skirt will look great, and yay for KP WoA!
very cool – seeing your pattern being knit in the wild!
Thank you again for my prize – I love the yarn soooo much, it’s definitely distracting me from my festival of finishing!!
glad you got to come by and meet the spiders! i was, of course, in the hospital or else i would have been there :)
I can’t wait to see that skirt knit up!
How funny about your pattern!!! That is too cool!
it was nice to (briefly) meet you on friday.
i love your theory that if it hasn’t been blogged about, it hasn’t been knit. imagine being a designer back then (in, like, 2003) and never seeing someone finish your pattern. woulda been kinda sad.
What a superstar you are- I keep seeing your patterns all over lately. :)
How fun you got to meet the Spiders!
that is SO cool that you randomly found someone knitting your socks! I just love knitters :-)
your scarf looks lovely – I love the colors! one of my favorite scarves in the world is just this boring garter stitch scarf that was literally the first thing i ever knit (read: not nearly as nice as yours). besides, garter stitch is a nice break for the brain ;-)
good luck with the skirt – it looks so pretty in the picture! I’m still scared of knit skirts, but if you pull it off you might convert me (I’ve seen a lot of successful examples too, but someone am convinced that if I tried it, things would go drastically wrong)!
That is so cool! I want to catch someone knitting one of my knitting patterns! (Note to self: design and publish some knitting patterns.)
I’m very glad to hear that you continue to work your knitting mojo. I think a garter stitch scarf and a shocking knit skirt will be perfect foils for each other.
Congrats on finding someone knitting your pattern. That must be so gratifying :-)