Stranded With Mary: Episode 3

My stunningly talented students at Yorkshire Yarns are closing in on the completion of the knitting of their stranded colorwork cardigans.

Last weekend we met to tackle my favorite part of the workshop:  The steeks.  We practiced three different techniques for steeking, and then each student picked the best way for her particular project and DID THE DEED! 

If I live to be a hundred, I will never fail to be delighted by watching a knitter slice open her knitting with scissors.  Sweater-cutting is thrill-seeking behavior, to be sure:

Sarah separated her gorgeous fair-isle patterned sleeves.

Tami opened the front of her tile-motif cardigan up, and made two sleeves from one tube.

Janell fearlessly sliced open her Scandinavian-style body tube.

Jeanne blew her Philosopher's Wool body tube wide open, with gusto.

The crew are working their way toward the final steps of finishing: sleeve-setting, neckline-cutting, and edge-binding.  Our final class will highlight all those parts, and more.

I am so proud of their work I could actually bust.  And in addition to some truly stunning knitting, they are also making discoveries about how knitting is shaped. And how it could be shaped, in their very own hands, in future projects.

Absolutely. Fabulous.
 

Thrilled to my Toes. And Heels.

If I were to describe my Sock Summit 2011 experience in culinary terms, I'd call it a Smorgasbord of delights.  Everywhere I turned, a brand-new treat was waiting.
 

I finally met my idol, Teri Shea.  And she showed me her work in progress, which this photo does not do justice. (Sidebar: Is convention center carpet even made in this universe? I cannot imagine a profit-seeking enterprize coming up with this as a viable carpet design).

The marketplace was a triumph of retail therapy.  Just walking through it was an affirmation that if you play with string, not only is it okay, it's downright cool.  And you could never, if you lived to be a thousand, have too much of it.

Here are two teachers I love:  Franklin Habit and Carson Demers.  They are giving the best of themselves to knitting and knitters, and we are so fortunate to receive it.

Clara Parkes (speaking of giving to knitters!) and I signed books at the Unicorn booth, where a wee one with her mommy stopped by to chat.  Getta load of the mini circle jacket!

Star-struck much?  I know.  I never get over seeing my name on the door of a classroom.  I may have asked a knitter to pinch me.

And best of all:  My Knitters.  Here are some who learned to do stranded colorwork for socks.

Nearly 2000 knitters took classes at Sock Summit 2011.  80 of them spent time with me.  That means that each one of them gave me three hours of their precious knitting time, for a total of 240 hours.  I am humbled and honored by such a gift.
 

We really had fun together.  And they all made knitting, which means that their hard work was rewarded.

Being at Sock Summit was like being called home by the Mother Ship.  Nowhere else can knitters be so immersed in and surrounded by their Own Kind.  Finding the long lost members of your tribe is a visceral and emotional experience.  One that takes a long time to assimilate.

Here's to digesting the Smorgasbord.

At Last, It Happens

It's finally Christmas!  Or Mardi Gras!  Or the Mother Ship has called us home.  Any way you say it, the biggest thing in knitting is happening again.  And it's today.  Somebody pinch me.

Last night was the teacher's dinner, where everybody got to meet and greet, and generally amp up for the next four days.  And let me tell you: We are Amped.  The caliber of the knitters assembled in that room was something to behold.  Sobering, (Almost) to think of that mucuh talent, assembled in one place, to celebrate the art and science of playing with string.  Oh man, what a lucky bunch of knitters we are:  Today we meet the students!

We who are about to sock salute you.