Monday In Cleveland

Yesterday I was in Cleveland, OH, where I taped a guest segment for Interweave's Knitting Daily TV show.  Series 300 will begin airing on PBS in July, and my episode is called "Fun With Color".   More details as I have them.  The taping went fine, but I learned that Liz Gipson's theory is totally true:  TV cameras remove all of your personality and replace it with pounds of ugly fat.  Aside from that, I managed not to crash into anything on the set (at least while the cameras were running) and may have formed a coherent sentence or two, though the jury's still out on that one.

The best part of my trip was making new friends:

Here are two of  the Knitting Daily TV hosts, Shay Pendray and Eunny Jang, with me in the middle.  These ladies have The Chops, my friends:  Eunny taped six segments back to back, solo, all before lunch.  Shay conducted different guest spots throughout the day, gently steering her awkward and nervous subjects through the process so that it was over before they knew what hit them.  Just the way we like it.

I also befriended:
 

Spinderella Herself:  The lovely and (preternaturally) talented Abbey Franquemont, whose fourth grade hat I was gushing on about only last November.  Abby's new book is due for release at the same time as mine, so we had many notes to compare.  Getting to spend the day with this lady was absolutely the crowning blow to my resolve not to become a spinner:  It's so over now:  I'm gonna spin.  We also hatched a Cunning Plan, which will ultimately result in BIG FUN for knitters in the fall...Watch This Space!

In all, the experience was humbling, enlightening, inspiring, and exhausting.  By way of recovery I am taking the day off to hang with Phillip and the smallies, mount an assault on Mount Washmore, and other normal stuff.  Who knows:  might even knit...

Frogged!

Handpainted Vest
I've loved you so
And look how you repay me

Ripped back from shoulders
Down to waist
The frustration will slay me!

I'm meant to wear you
5 days hence
But not the way it's going

The plan that seemed
So Cunning
Now is well and truly

Blowing.

Knit Much?

I know what you're thinking:  Isn't that the same sweater vest she posted day before yesterday, but WAY BIGGER NOW?  Yeah.  I've been on a bit of a knitting jag.  I surprised even myself with how fast this is going.  I put 7 inches on it in two days.  When the first 3.5 inches (hem facing no longer visible) took me three days.  Both areas contain 320 stitches in a row.  Both areas are in stockinette.  The only difference is that the first three days were worked flat, and the second two days, which included all the colorwork, were in the round.  Now let anybody try to tell you that circular knitting isn't that much faster! 

So:  How much am I in love with these colors?  That would be Madeline Tosh Grasshopper in the border background, and all the rest are Prism, notably Alpine for the main body.  While I am starry-eyed over the Tosh color, it's the Prism yarn that is knocking my (handknit) socks off here - it is some seriously squooshy, sproingy, killer yarn.  It's superwash, which causes it to be way slippery as wool goes, but also gives it a gorgeous, pearly sheen.  So. Dang. Pretty.  Here's a money shot (yarn porn, baby...oooh yeah...):

And it's not even blocked yet.  Wait till you see the buttons! 

This project is the perfect diversion at the perfect time - think of all the housework I'm avoiding!  The laundry pile groans (can't even close the laundry room door to avoid it anymore).  The kitchen floor has actual topsoil (Spring is coming: Ask me how I know).  No one has bought dog food in a while and she's beginning to eyeball the children (actually a potential win/win, if you think about it).  Don't care at all.  Nobody bug me.  I'm knitting.