Stitches 2011!!!!

So I finally got to go to California! Katy Perry's explanation of what California is like in the song "California Girls" is not accurate. Instead of sluty girls and melting popsicles in a world made of Candy, we got lots of rain and a nice breeze. During this time of the year it is very common for it to rain and be a little chilly. We were inside for most of the day, but since we are "stuck" here in California we will be getting some quality outside time.

Me with Flair!

I am so excited! It took a lot of work to get here (with the missing school and the affects that brought on me...) but I am so glad I am here!!!!

My weekend started with meeting team Ravelry!

We didn't spend a lot of time at the party because I just rolled into the airport moments before. Tanya and Zoe went with Tracey and I came by myself on Thursday afternoon. After a long night of delays and fog and screwed up Flight Attendants that were rude (at least on the first flight) I was ready to go to my hotel. Little did I know, our hotel, was, the evil, sadistic, Hilton.

Why didn't I like the Hilton? Well, I didn't MIND the Hilton but let me tell you about how to do quality service. First of all, if you have four people to a room and notice that they all shower, you leave enough towels and wash clothes for the people to shower. You don't leave just 2 of each when there are 4 people. Especially if you leave about 16 pillows in the room for these four people who apparently value the amount of pillows they use while sleeping over the importance and consideration of personal hygene. Secondly, when there is a line of 1,000 people at Star Bucks you have more than 1 person behind the counter. It's just common sense. Also, you don't serve people raw pancakes. It's bad for their digestive system, plus it break a lot of health codes. I know that all of these and beyond were bothering my friends; me well, I lived in a hostile for a week and peed in a bucket I had to drag up hill after paying a quarter, so honestly, I was glad I didn't have THAT problem again. HOWEVER, I'm glad we moved. Now I get Free WiFi we don't have to steal, a massage chair and 2 pillows and enough towels to bathe us.

Over the course of the weekend, I went from the quiet little working bee and became the demo-beaded-scarf girl. That's right, I taught people how to string their beads onto their Tiny Toes and New York 200. Sounds like a boring job, but it was a blast!! Zoe and Tanya were talking about how I have this energy that brings people to the booth or something. Honestly, I think they all like the yarn, not the sales rep trying to get them to spend money;) There were crowds and crowds of people watching me string beads to the yarn. WHOA!!!!

Interlacements Booth

It was cool to see people go from not interested in our booth to buying 2, 3 scarf kits. During the day, I used my teacher insight and realized that nobody was fully understanding the process. I was doing the best I could to explain the process, but nothing beats the opportunity to see something fully done. Since I couldn't do that because of lack of space/time, Tanya and I created a YouTube Tutorial on how to bead up the project. If you would like to see it please click here. We made it at about 1:30AM in the hotel lobby so please forgive me for all of my...well...Em'ness that comes with my personality.

Stitches was the first time I was able to feature my cropped sweater. It was made with the Interlacements' Toasty Toes Yarn. I kept on screwing it up at the PJ party because I was well...having a lot of fun there, and it is hard to focus when there are so many things going on.

Here is a pic of me in my sweater. It's a little hard to see. I'll post better pictures when I get home!

Us at the Party!

We had a PJ contest and a slipper contest. I didn't partake in any of them (my PJs were secretly the best and I didn't want to hoard ALL the yarn) but Zoe and Tanya did. Tanya got runner up on the slippers and Zoe didn't place when she should have.

And then the best news...I had the privilege to meet Mrs. Cascade aka Shannon at the PJ party. I explained to Shannon about the 60 Quick Knits Blog.


She fell in love with the blog and asked us to post it on the Cascade website!!! I sent a personal email to her to pass on to other cool companies such as Vogue Knitting:) Success! Yesterday our blog had over 180 hits!!! Brittany and I are estastic!

As I sit in the lounge at the Avatar hotel, I am ready to get my legs a moving and go on a nice quiet walk (or loud one if a friend joins me-either way no worries) Things are going well here! I'm sad to leave on Wednesday, thank goodness we had a few extra days here to enjoy the CA Sunshine!

Until next time!
E

The Art Of...

WOW! Has it BEEN A WEEK or what?

Last weekend was quite an adventure. Our annual SNC Parish Dinner Dance was last weekend. My friend Brigid and I went hoping to have a blast like last year! It was a lot of fun, although not as many people as last year. Last year was the 40th year the Parish was open, so everybody went all out. There were priests dancing to the disco and the eldery doing the Cha Cha Slide.

Brigid and I at the dance

Francis and I at the dance. Don't I look like a million bucks??

In other news, nothing too much going on, except for that trip that I am taking!!! I am so excited! My friends, Zoe, Tanya and Tracy are boarding the airplane in only a few hours! (While I am stuck here trying to find references and finish up homework.) I packed my bags last night. Last night it seemed that my friends were having issues packing all of their things, but not me. I actually had room in my stuff last night to pack more...but I won't. And I am going to take out some more clothes. I don't need ALL that stuff, after all, I am going to be gone for only a few days.

Since I am working with Interlacements, I figured it would be best to knit with some Interlacement Yarn. I packed ALL my Interlacement Yarn (which isn't much right now) in my brown back pack. I still have some room, which is great because I want to have room for making purchases! I want to buy some yarn I used for my Mod-Cable Mittens (so I can make a mod cabled hat and scarf...although I probably won't get that done for a while because of my 60 Quick Knits Resolution)

I am currently working on a bulky shrug to wear at Stitches. I am almost done with it, except I need to get some 10 or 10.5DPNS to knit with for the sleeves and finish the top with some 2x2 ribbing.


As you can see it is a pretty quick knit. This is the Knitting Pure and Simple Bulky Shrug Pattern. I knitted this shrug with Interlacements (no surprise there) Toasty Toes Turkish Color. I love the feeling of Toasty Toes in my hands. It is very smooth but it is a great "meat and potatoes" type of yarn. All 475 yards of the stuff.




I actually knitted this project in about a week, but because of school and my New Years Resolution, I slowed down the speed I have been working on this project. It didn't hurt that I am too broke to buy my own DPNS. I doubled the Toasty Toe's yarn to make the colors in the pattern look retro. I love the colors although the shrug looks a little TOO purple for my taste (I like warm colors over cool colors.)

That's all for now!

My Ambtion to Knit A Lot of New Stuff

This week, the only thing I have been doing is starting new projects!! Every day for the past few days, I have been starting new projects. All the projects are from the 60 Quick Knits Book. This is because I am trying to beat Brittany on how many of them I make (actually, that is not true, we are trying to knit the entire book together.) I am probably starting a bunch of knitting projects because I am so excited about how we are knitting the entire book.

Also, in a week, I will be going to California to Stitches West, where there will be tons of knitting opportunities to be seen soon! I'll be working at the Interlacements knitting booth with Zoe, Tanya and Tracy. Tracy and I meet in 2008 at Loops and Links. She was doing a sock demonstration for Shana. I loved the socks. Zoe and Tracy kept in contact over the years. In 2010, Zoe, Tanya and I went to Stitches Midwest. We meet up with Tracy and she invited us to help her with the booth at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California! We have been working hard on prepping for the show! I have done some organizing, modeling and making a sample for the show.

Interlacement Yarns...LOVE ALL OF IT!

Modeling for Tracy! Awesome huh?

I'm loving all of the projects that I have started over the week! Here are pictures of the projects that I have started this week:

#26 Basketweave Scarf

I'm making the Basketweave scarf out of Nashua Creative Focus Worsted Olive Green Yarn. I love the feeling of the yarn between my fingers. I don't like the basketweave stitch because it hurts my hands. I will be blocking this project after I'm done because it is too difficult to keep the stitches in a nice straight line.

#52 Cabled Hat

I'm making this out of Berant Alpaca Yarn. This hat is a work in progress, but it knitted up quickly! Cathie, my co-worker at SNC Parish, asked me to make her something to keep her face warm as well as her head. I love the graph and it is easy to follow! This was the project I was working on during the Superbowl (GO PACKERS!) I'm having such a hard time making the bobbles. I had my friend Zoe teach me how to make them. Thankfully, she's near by so she can help me out whenever I need it!

#59 XOXO Mittens (I'm restarting these!)

I started these in the summer, but quite frankly, I didn't make them correctly so I had to rip them out. Now I am working on the other mitten. I'm using Encore Chunky. Since the are XOXO mittens, they are being made in red, in honor of Valenine's Day.

#45 Bunny Mittens

I'm working on these because I have the urge to make mittens again. I'm using recycled yarn (Nashua Paradise Alpaca) from SPIN to make these puppies...I mean bunnies...


That is all for now!

Don't forget to go look at my other blog that I am making with Brittany. Our blog, Knitting 60 Projects from 60 Quick Knits is all about our adventures in making all 60 patterns from the book! Brittany and I are determined to make the dream come true, so feel free to take a look at it while we are on that journey!

E

Beaded Scarves

I am currently on a quest to A/make more knitted objects from 60 Quick Knits than Brittany and B/to knit this beaded scarf.





I never knitted a beaded scarf...or a beaded anything before. Tracy of Interlacements asked me to make a sample of it for her. I'm crossing my fingers I can either wear it or have it displayed at Stitches West in February! If I can stop having way too much homework to finish it. I took my knitting to New Orleans hoping to get a little bit of it finished, instead, I built a library and taught kindergarten. (Not that I'm complaining...NOLA was AMAZING!)

This is a picture of the group outside of the school we taught at: Morris Jeff Community School in New Orleans, LA. After we took this picture, I learned the Super Dome is right down the street. My peers weren't surprised, they just smiled and acknowledged that it is true: I really don't always play with a full deck. Nevertheless, they accept me for the Church/Knitting/Missing Crayons in the Box type of person I am:) Plus they think I'm funny!!!

From Left to Right: Tim, Carrie, Andrea, eM, Rachel, Katie B, Brittany, Katie H, Dr. Meidl, Lauren and Noelle. We were outside of the main office at Morris Jeff School on our last day there:( We miss it!

Since we were pretty much full time teachers...the whole "knitting durning down time" turned into eating Binnets at the French Quarter and sleeping in a hostile with 45 other people. Sleep was a luxury and didn't happen for more than 5 hours at a time. Which explains why I didn't knit anything during that trip.

Like I said, great time, just not a lot of knitting time. Hence, I'm behind.

Currently, I'm about a 1/3 way done with it. My goal is to finish before Stitches 2011!!

Before you can start knitting, you have to get the beads onto the yarn. you tape down the beads and then string them on. You normally do this on a hard surface away from dogs. Unless your name is Zoe, then you try to do that on a soft couch. ;)

It takes a long time to work on because there are so many beads to move. As you can see from the picture above, you have your yarn on a big cardboard spool. You unravel the yarn, push the beads back and then wind it back up and knit again. You think you pushed it far enough back...and guess what... you did NOT! Good news though, the more you knit with it, the quicker the bead moving becomes. It becomes habit and you can estimate how many rows you are going to be going through before you need to wind up again. It just takes time to figure out. You become a pro at moving beads and since you use beads in every row, you have less beads to work with as you knit more of the scarf.

Knitting with beads is hard, at least at first. I felt very clumsy while trying to perfect the knitted ridges of the scarf. Now that I have past the decreases, it is a lot more flowing than before. We shall see when I cast on for the other side if I am as clumsy.

I will at least be able to be helpful by knowing how the kit works. I am pretty sure the kit is a popular item from Interlacements. And no offense to California people, but what do you wear in terms of knitting out there? You can't wear wool scarves, so pretty beaded scarves are a pretty safe bet.

Supposedly, solid colors are in fashion this year. At first I was a little discouraged about the colors. Black Tiny Toes Yarn and Black Metallic beads...it's like I'm knitting for my mom again:/ But, I was wrong and love the make up of the scarf. I think it looks classy and artistic at the same time. It's like my mom and my fashion sense combined into one!


This scarf is really pretty and feels great to knit up. You can check out kits to make this scarf at the Interlacements Yarn Website.

Em's Going to New Orleans!

In about 3 days I will be packing my bags and heading down to New Orleans with 9 other Education Students and 1 Professor. We are pretty excited to go down there! During my stay, naturally, we will be focusing our time and energy on teaching at a Post-Katrina School. Tim, our trusted communications member will be our blogger during our time on the trip. Please feel free to read about our adventures for the week in our updated blog found at this link:

http://educnolatrip.blogspot.com/

Please read and enjoy!! We are so excited for our trip and are thankful to SNC Education/TRIPS for providing this rare and wonderful opportunity!! We hope to make an impact on the lives we meet, as we hope they make an impact on us!

E

Now That I Have a Break...

Me and my family enjoying our Christmas!!


Now that I have time to actually enjoy my Christmas break (i.e. no needing to rush into any church or go to any school...) I have time to enjoy my knitting and blog about it once again. Yippie!

My most recent knitting adventure consists of the Mod Cable Mittens from Jeanne (Sourire11 on Ravelry).



The yarn I am using is from Stitches 2010. It is called Zitron Opus 1, 100% Merino and organic. I bought the yarn after falling in love with it and the knitting pattern at Stitches 2010. It was the first purchase I made on the Saturday and I did not regret purchasing it! I made the first mitten during the Jeopardy Freshman Day at SNC but because of my schedule and everybody's love for Waffle Mittens, I did not have time to make mitten 2. Now, that I am done with living in either the Mulva or Resurrection Catholic Parish/Old Saint Joes' Parish. I want to make something for myself for a change.

Other knitting adventures include the famous Sharon Socks.


A few years ago my mom was trying to find somebody who could restore a Christmas tape that she made the year her father died, back in 1974. She wanted it perserved on a CD. Sharon's son, Matt does that kind of work and was telling me she wished she knew somebody who could repair her socks she got from her grandmother. It was her last pair of socks and she was sad because they kept her so warm. I launched a plan, I would call Shana from Loops and Links (does anybody remember when we used to go there...ALL THE TIME because it was so COOL???) and took her sock making class. Three class times later, I walked out of Loops with a Sock Pattern, free Marble Worsted and sized 6 DPNS. Ever since that Christmas, I have knitted socks for Sharon. This year, Sharon got Interlacement Toasty Toe Socks, which was the first project I worked on with Interlacements. It was the first pair that got finished with more than 6 hours before I gave them to her.


Finally, I took one more break from 60 Quicks Knits and knitted Spruce Tree Mittens for a girlfriend in class. (I won't specifiy her name because I am not sure if she gave them to her sister yet.)



I loved the yarn. I have no idea what kind of yarn I used. She gave me a skein of yarn that wasn't marked. It was a beautiful Alpaca Pink yarn. I have not found this yarn anywhere, but perhaps I will one day. It beats the cotton yarn I am using to make the Very Cabled Mittens for Tammy. (I heart Tammy but I can't stand cotton!!!) I have to say, I was not happy with this pattern. The knitting pattern was difficult to follow and the thumb was the strangest design ever. I didn't get the right mitten correct and had to end up adding more stitches to make the cabled designed not looking like it got yanked over a few rows.

Finally Tim's siblings gave me plenty of yarn... Red Heart Green and Red, Vanna's Choice and JoAnn's Sensations: Kashmira Pattern.





I will be making an Xmas Stocking out of the Red Heart Yarn, but not for a while. I have idea what I will do with Vanna's Choice. I think I will be making interchangeable mittens with the Kashmira Pattern Yarn.



Other than that, I have been scrapbooking and cleaning the craft room!!! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


E