I need your help!

I spent most of the weekend at Loop, and what a wonderful weekend it was!  Craig and his staff are always great fun to hang out with and they always treat me like royalty. Plus it's inspiring being surrounded by so many beautiful yarns and projects.

My Saturday class was scheduled to begin at 10, but the Schuylkill mocked me, sucking us into a huge traffic jam. A trip that normally would take 20 minutes on a Saturday morning took close to an hour and half -- feh.  My students were very understanding about me being late, though, so we pushed the class back half an hour and went 10:30 to 1:30ish.  I love teaching the Handpaints class. It's always filled with people who, like me, are fascinated with handpainted yarns and love knitting with them. By the time we're done with the class, I can actually see how a little light comes on the eyes of the students: they understand how handpainted yarns work and why they do what they do, and it gives them a whole new window on their knitting.

After class, I was able to hang out at the shop and see some of the lovely customers that came into Loop.

Aileen, "Kristin Dee" (if that is her real name) and Sallykins

I also got to see Mary Kay (who brought lots of beautiful projects she'd knit in BBF), Jenny the vet, Sam, Merrill, Martha, and many other knitting friends. I also got a chance to look around. Loop has always had a delectable assortment of yarns, but I was especially entranced by all of the Rowan (Cocoon! Wool-Cotton! Lima! Kidsilk Haze!) and the Brooklyn Tweed yarns (Shelter and new Loft).

Yes, some Shelter ended up coming home with me (although I was sorely tempted by the Loft, too, and I heartily believe there is a Cocoon something in my future).  I also had to stop next door to see what was new at Loop's sister store, Spool.  Laura had plenty of goodies for me to ogle, and I found that I simply couldn't resist Amy Butler's new Lark collection:

and the new Echo collection by Lotta Jansdottir:

I am now pondering what to do with them. The Lark fabric is so vivid, and the Echo is much lighter, with lots of creamy white, so I'll have to find just the right patterns for them.

Sunday ended up being a much smoother day. There was no traffic so I had plenty of time to get into the shop and get ready for the class.  I was really pleased to meet one of my most excellent customers, Tonia, who took my class and then hung out for a while. She had lots of lovely projects to show me and I was really happy to finally meet her in person.  I only had my cell phone with me to take photos, but this is a shot of her Girasole:

Stunning, isn't it?

After class, sweet Anmiryam dropped by, too, and it was terrific to see her, since I've been so crazed lately I haven't had much of a chance to see anyone in the last few months. Tom even brought the kids by, since they were excited that I had a "show," and it was fun to have them around, taking part in my big weekend. A huge thank-you to Craig and the staff of Loop for putting up with my wisecracks and being such fabulous hosts.

But before I sign off, I am asking you all for your help. I now have a bunch of Shelter in the Faded Quilt color:

While I was hanging at Loop, I cast on the Sullivan sweater, designed by Whitney Gegg-Harrison. I really want to finish this sweater so I can wear it, since I so rarely manage to knit sweaters for myself. So here's where your help comes in:  Remind me about my sweater. Harass me, harangue me, shame me. Do whatever it takes to help incent me to finish it. I will do an update of my progress on the first of every month 'til I am done. My goal is to finish it by my birthday, in March.  I'll take a photo of where I am tomorrow and post it so we have a reference point. What do you think?  Can I finish something for myself?  Will you mock me, cajole me, remind me until I'm done?

Black Bunny Fibers lovers: Occupy Loop!

I am very excited to announce that I will be having a trunk show at Loop in Philadelphia during the weekend of November 12 & 13. I'll be bringing pretty much everything I've got in stock, and I'll be stoking up the dyepots during the coming weeks to make sure I've got some new stuff for you. You'll be able to browse to your heart's content all day Saturday and Sunday, and for those of you who like to touch and see yarn in person, this is a great chance for you to fondle the goods!

I'll also be teaching two classes at Loop. Saturday morning I'll be teaching "Making Friends With Your Handpaints," from 10 to 1, and when the class is done, you'll understand all about why handpaints do what they do (particularly why they pool) and what you can do about it. Sunday I'll be teaching a class that uses the schematic of a pattern as a jumping-off point: what it tells you about the pattern, the important but often overlooked concept of ease, different shoulder styles and ways to tweak patterns to get a better fit.

I'll be hanging out at the shop after my classes to answer any questions about BBF yarns, to sign books, or just to say hi. (And now that Loop has Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter yarn, as well as Rowan yarns (!), you can bet I'll be leaving with a big bag of yarn that I didn't arrive with.....) Full details are here.

What a weekend! (and contest)

Whew. It's taken me a few days to decompress after the frenzied and wonderful week end we had here at Chez Go-Knit-In-Your-Hat and Loop in Philadelphia. I don't even know where to begin to summarize how much fun it is to hang out with fiber friends, to be surrounded by creativity and yarns and finished projects to ogle, and to have a chance to spend time with dear ones who live far away... so I guess I'll start with a recap of the weekend.

It all began Friday midday, when I picked Franklin up at the airport. Miraculously, his plane was not delayed


and being the savvy traveler that he is, we didn't even have to wait for baggage claim. So I hit him on the head and threw him in the trunk of my car put his bags in the back, and we were off.


After lunch at our local diner,

we headed back to my place to knit, catch up and (in my case) wind yarn. It's always such a pleasure to spend time with Franklin; he always has so many funny and interesting stories to tell, and there is nothing more wonderful than seeing a friend you haven't for a while, and finding that it's all as natural and full of laughter as it ever was.

The afternoon sped by, and soon it was time to haul boxes of yarn into the city

for display at Loop. Craig was waiting for us, and had an entire table cleared off for the Black Bunny Fibers goodies. It was nice to have a chance to take everything out of the boxes and bins, plump it up, and arrange it in baskets on the table.

We also had the chance to display some samples, including my two newest sock designs, Josephine and Lucy, as well as my brand-new scarf pattern and yarn pack (more yarn packs coming later this week on-line). Then it was off to a great dinner with Craig and Laura (of Spool).



The next day, we were ready to go. Franklin taught his Introduction to Lace class,



which by all accounts was a great success. (I heard the knitters who took the class showering Franklin with praise after the class was finished, so I know for a fact it was good.)

From two to five that afternoon is kind of a blur. We were set up with copies of Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, and the wonderful It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons and I immediately snatched up my copy of Franklin's new calendar. Then the real fun began, as we had time to meet new friends and spend time (at least a little) with old friends. We got to sign books (special thanks to all those who brought their copies of my book(s) and/or purchased ones!! I truly appreciate it)



and take lots of photos and get hugs, and it was unbelievably gratifying and fun. I think because I do spend a lot of time on my own, while the kids are at school, working in a hermit-like fashion,


it especially meant a lot for me to get to see my customers in person, and to enjoy their reaction to my yarns, and to have real-world conversations rather than on-line ones.

After the shop closed, it was time for another wonderful dinner with my special pal, Laura Grutzeck. We had great Thai food, gossiped and caught up.


After returning to my place, we retired for the evening, my head still spinning from all the excitement. When the alarm rang the next morning, I couldn't believe it -- I felt like I could have slept ten more hours, but it was time for us to get back into the city and get ready for another exciting day. I taught a class with some wonderful students


eager to master the mysteries of yarn substitution, while Franklin explained lace edging to his class. After lunch was a special treat for me: I got to take Franklin's class on Photographing your Fiber.


If you have any interest in taking photos of your own stash, knitted projects, handspun or whatever, I urge you to take this class. It's incredibly helpful, packed with information, and designed for people like me, who are self-taught with their camera. Franklin explained so much about the way cameras work, why we have different functions on our cameras, how to use light and styling tips, that I felt like so much that confused me before now made sense. Now I can't wait to get practicing with my camera...


We had another chance to see some great folks on Sunday, and then -- as if we hadn't had enough excitement -- it was off to see Liza Lucy, fabric goddess and quilter extraordinaire, for dinner.


We had an amazing time looking at all of Liza's beautiful fabrics, quilts, and other things, and we got a chance to play with her adorable doggies, and spend some time with her awesome husband, and of course we left with fabric....


All too soon, Monday morning was here, and it was time to take dear Franklin to the airport. We were very sad to say good-bye,


but we are hoping to see each other soon, and to do another whirlwind teaching weekend, perhaps in the spring.

P.S. Neither one of us really knows what Dolores was up to all weekend


but I guess what happens in Philly stays in Philly, eh?


P.P.S. Tell you what: Let's do a quickie contest. Send me an email (goknitinyourhat AT att DAHT net) identifying the movies from which these photos came, and I'll draw a winner from the ones with the most correct answers. Winner gets a free BBF sock pattern of his/her choice in PDF form. Entries due by midnight Friday, Nov. 19th EST. I'll announce the winner Friday.

Note to commenters: If you left a contest guess in the comments, I won't publish it (otherwise it'll give away the answers!). But I'll hold on to it for the contest.

Catching up

Oh, boy, I'm really behind on blogging. Well, as you probably guessed from our photos, we had a great time our first week at the beach:



and our week there flew by. We had amazing weather.



There were two days when it started out kind of gray but the clouds burned off and we ended up with good beach days anyway. We had only one rainy day, and on that day, we decided to take the kids to a small aviation museum in Cape May. We didn't expect that we'd like it so much, but it was a wonderful place, with lots of hands-on exhibits relating to the science of flying,

Elvis tries out a Coast Guard rescue basket

and all sorts of planes, jeeps and other vehicles that the kids were allowed to sit in and on:




They also had some interesting memorabilia from the war years, like posters:



and an exhibit set up to look like a typical 1940s house, complete with real live cat snoozing on a chair:



So if you are vacationing on the southern part of the Jersey shore, and end up with a lousy weather day (or want to take a break from the sun for a little while), I'd recommend the Cape May aviation museum as a great way to spend a couple of hours.




Unfortunately, our vacation clashed with the arrival of Wendy, of Wendyknits fame, who was in town to teach some toe-up sock classes at Loop and to show off the sample socks



from her wonderful book, Socks from the Toe Up.



Even though I wasn't able to make the Friday night gathering, I stopped by on Saturday in order to say hi to Wendy (and send personal regards from Charcoal to Lucy). The socks are gorgeous in real life, so if you haven't already picked up a copy of this book, I highly recommend it (my No-Bull Review is here).


(Rumor has it that Wendy is an excellent teacher and both workshops were great...)

While I was there (cough, cough), I could not help myself; I had to try out some of the new goodies from Blue Sky's new Spud and Chloe line. And of course Laura next door at Spool tempted me with some lovely fabrics. I'll do some photos next post...

Whirlwind weekend

After arriving home from Franklin's booksigning at Loop Friday night, I could barely sleep, I was so vibrating with excitement. The day had been a whirlwind of activity: the airport run (I saw a hilarious sticker on the escalator that said "God has a plan -- to kill me."), a quick stop at the house to drop off his things (Franklin's, not God's), we hit the elementary school for a sneek peak of Elvis' debut in the school musical:




we grabbed a late lunch and then it was off to Loop.

Not surprisingly, people turned out in droves to meet Franklin (or see him again, as the case may be), including the fearless Anne Marie and the lovely button creator Regina,



and then Regina (hmm, can it be that Regina is a ham? well, if my hair were that pretty, I would be too) posed with His Nibs himself:


A Franklin fangrrl came wearing this beautiful Bohus sweater (from a kit direct from Sweden):




I was thrilled to meet meet blogreaders Kim and Mary Ellen (thanks for introducing yourself! comment once in a while, willya?) and I was also very excited to meet Heather Ross, author of Weekend Knitting, who was appearing next door at Spool. While there, I got to meet the famous (and infamous) Jay McCarroll of Project Runway fame, who grew up just a few miles from where I did, and I had the great fortune of going out to dinner after the signing with Heather, and her publicist, and Craig, and pals Laura G. and Jim, and Craig's delightful partner Mark, and Spool co-owner Laura, and the charming Tom (not my Tom, though, another charming Tom).

Now, Heather is one of those people who would fill me with an inferiority complex (she's gorgeous! she's blonde! she's talented! she's funny! she is an excellent raconteur! she's taped a Martha Stewart episode!) except she's so nice and warm that she makes you feel right at home. I also became very fond of her sidekick Leslie (how'd that booty call go, Leslie?) who was also funny and smart and fun. So thanks to Craig for inviting me along and for bringing Franklin to Philadelphia.



I had barely dropped Franklin off at Loop so he could teach his lace class, when I had to rush back home to prepare to attend the last two performances of Cinderella (the Rodgers & Hammerstein production), with Elvis as the Herald. It was astonishing that a bunch of nine-, ten- and eleven-year olds could put on such a wonderful show.



(I'm very proud of those three red costumes on the right, above -- I made them!)



Elvis' brother



and sister



were very proud, too. (Would Miss Thang give up the chance to assume what she views as her rightful place, i.e., a throne?)

It was a busy and extremely fun weekend, and it was a nice break from my frantic knitting-on-a-deadline. Come back soon, Franklin! Your Philly fans miss you already!