DFW Fiber Fest

DFW Fiber Fest is this weekend - I am so excited! I will be updating this post with yarn pictures shortly once I get my camera back - I left it at the in-laws at Easter & they are mailing it to me - so sad that postage is cheaper than gas to East Plano. ANYWAY! I went to buy all the yarn I needed for this thing on Monday and I love it all. Here is the line up I'm taking:
Seamless Raglan Sweater - Fri morning
Intro to lace knitting - Fri afternoon
Dyeing with Food Grade Dyes - Sat morning
Don't Despair - Repair! - Sat afternoon
Intarsia from Beginning to End - Sun morning
Adjusting for Gauge, Changing sizes - Sun afternoon

So exciting, isn't it? I originally scheduled for a Crochet for Knitters class & it got cancelled because apparently not many people were interested. I must admit at first I was really disappointed because part of the reason I was attending was for the crochet class. My second choice was the dyeing class which I had NO interest in, but now I simply can't wait. I've been researching online & it's just...well, cool! I bought tons of Kool Aid & clearance easter egg dye. I'm only bringing a little egg dye because man, it's seasonal! And I'm too nice - I'll hand it all out to everyone in class. I can't wait to see how it comes out - I've even planned a project with the yarn I bought to dye. See the Knitty Clapotis in my Projects of Interest area.

Also, bear with me, I'm playing with my title. None of my ideas are original but I'm feeling them out!

BOOOOO!!!! HISS!!!!

Can I tell you that I HATE this Boye Needlemaster with my whole heart and soul? There is only one thing I hate more than being wrong & that is admitting that I was wrong. My baby blanket project was coming along swimmingly. I went to my knitting group Saturday night very smugly carrying my shiny new Needlemaster interchangeable needle set. I mean really, some people didn't even know that they made interchangeables so there was a good deal of interest in them. What a great idea! Well, about 10 minutes into knitting they came unscrewed. I was up to about 300 stitches on the blanket & dropped probably 75 of them. Ugh. So i recovered from that and I learned a really good lesson - how in the world do you reattach these things when you have a project on them? You can't screw them together. GGGGRRRRRR. So I finally manage to reattach them. Not 10 minutes later they fall apart AGAIN. That's it - thankfully Tatiana had pretty long 10.5 circulars so I snatched them & moved my blanket onto those.

Monday I found my receipt & hauled them back to Michaels. No go - they won't take them back because I used them. He asked me why I wanted to return them - I told him they wouldn't stay together & I hated them - too bad. Anyone who knows me well knows my "I'll just sell them on ebay" attitude. Well, they go for NOTHING - which makes me believe everyone hates them & also makes me feel like an idiot for not buying them on ebay to begin with for half the price!

Bottom line is this: I need several lengths of circulars for the DFW Fiber Fest this weekend. I'm going to give them one more shot. I will be writing an unhappy email to Boye. Then they very possibly will be sold on ebay - something is better than nothing - and I'll start saving for my Addi Turbo collection.

Drama, Drama, Drama...

Can't I do one F**King project without having issues??? Ok, now that I got that out...I started the pinwheel baby blanket & the yarn that I bought called for size 8 needles. Why I even listen to the label is way beyond me because I know that I knit really tight & the label size never works for me. I started it at out knitting group & Lynn was kind & patient enough to start it for me like 3 times since I kept screwing up - but she drew the line at the last start. I got it home & knit for a few nights & it was really just whipping my butt - I should have listened when Lynn told me that she thought I should knit it on bigger needles....Having said that, I had just bought the bamboo double points that I needed specifically for this project (and as I said before, I hate those bamboo things!) ANYWAY - so I frogged the blanket again & did a few swatches until I found a size that didn't make me want to rip my hair out yet would actually warm a little baby - an 11! So off to search out size 11 double points...have you looked for larger sizes of double points lately? My LYS is a good 35 minutes from me so I searched all the typical Michaels, Hobby Lobby...to no avail. I found 10 1/2s at Joann - you know what? Close enough! So I started it over all on my own & have been going to town on it as shown in the picture above.

All this lead to the next obvious question - new circulars. Patrick happened to be with me on part of this quest & when I saw that the circs I wanted were $9 I starting telling him about the interchangeable circular option (like he cares, really). When he figured out that we were talking about $50 he was so confused as to why I was even considering doing anything else so I took that opportunity to find out more & immediately purchase them! I researched online & found that most everyone loves their Denise needles & Monday I drove to LYS to get them. The girl in the store talked me out of them! When I asked her if they were better than the Boye she said honestly no but that the Boye were $95 & that she used Addi Turbos so easy for her to tell me that the $20 a pop ones were the BEST option (that comment came from her, not me). I do appreciate the honesty & the whole plastic issue was throwing me - I hate to knit on plastic needles, I love my cheapy metal ones! We asked the ladies at LYS if they had used them - one lady loved them (did I mention she was also knitting with Addi Turbos though) & one lady hated them & said she wouldn't knit with them if you gave them to her for free! I decided to go with my gut. Michaels had the Boye Needlemaster set for $70 & I found a 40% coupon so I went & got them for $45 with tax. I even used a gift card that I had from Christmas so really they were free... how is that for rationale!

So that is my baby blanket drama. I signed up for the DFW Fiber Fest April 28-30 so I just realized that cuts my knitting days down considerably. I suppose I'll have to start knitting during the day between working - now THAT is the upside of working from home!

Update

I really have been knitting, I just haven't been blogging! I've finished up a bunch of projects - Finally got Kenny's scarf done, it's pictured above. I gave it to him on March 25 - pretty close to Christmas right? I got the 25th right anyway! I bought the same yarn from that first panta & made another one - these don't look totally dynamite on me either but they look ok when I have my hair in a ponytail. I changed the pattern & made them 3 ribs instead of 5 - they are so much fun! I'd make a ton of them if I had a need for them.

Now I am working on a baby blanket (pictued above as of 4/7). It's the pinwheel blanket from craftster - so adorable! I hope it comes out well - I got the invitation & the shower is May 6th so I had better get a move on it! I am using Bernat Baby Boucle in Spring Breeze & am knitting on new bamboo double points. I have to say it, I HATE these bamboo needles. Give me cheapo aluminums anyday! When I get a few rounds out I will switch to circulars so it should be ok. Lesson learned.

I was just letting you guys know what I've been up to - I'll update on this blanket as it progresses but I'm seriously hoping there is no drama attached to it!