TNK and the Winner Is....

I had an appointment in Richmond yesterday and was able to stay over and attend TNK at Barnes &  Noble last night.  As usual, it was so good to see everyone.  We had a small crowd.  But, that was OK - small crowd - BIG fun! 

After last night, it may be quite a while until I'm able to get to Richmond for their TNK meetings.  My file, which has been responsible for my appointments in Richmond, is being transferred to a co-worker there because of my distance (it's about a 4 hour round trip for me).  So, I decided to take holiday surprises last night.  To the left, you'll see little pins I made - I called them "Ktog" because we are all knit together.  I stained round toothpicks and glued a wooden bead on one end of each.  Then, I knit small swatches (seed stitch, garter, cables, etc.) out of my leftover yarns on small DPN and transferred them to the toothpick needles.  Last, I glued pin-backs on each one.  On the right, you'll see t he yarn emergency balls I made.  I bought clear glass ornament balls at a local craft store and filled them with bright novelty yarns.  They really turned out pretty!  I'm thinking about going back and getting more of the glass balls and some silver yarn to make some for my snowman tree.  I told the gals last night that I should have put a tag on each ball that read: "In Yarn Emergency - Break Glass"!  If anyone ever discovers she is out of yarn, she can break the glass ball, remove the yarn inside, and start knitting!!  Check out Mary on the left - showing off her goodies. 

Here are three of the gals knitting away!!  Wish I could manage to get a picture of everyone and what they are working on.  I am missing pics of Sheddy, Issie, Sherry, Jo, Deb, and probably a couple others.  I just love that turquoise color Mary is wearing!  Looked great on her.  That's Renny in the middle.  She brought her finished short sleeve sweater.  This sweater was wonderful -- full of different stitch patterns.  I hear that this was a labor of love for Renny - she worked on it until she got it just right (I think that even involved a bit of froggin').  I can't believe I didn't snap a picture of Renny's sweater.  Christina is on the far end and you'll see a close-up of her below. 

Brandy was a new knitter last night.  She is shown working on the beautiful Icarus from Interweave Knits.  The yarn was so soft and light.  I love that rich red color!

To the right is Cathy hiding behind her gorgeous Pi shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book.  It was knit in a much bigger yarn than I would have imagined.  The pattern was quite pretty.

And next, we have Patsy working on a child's sweater.  Forgive me, Patsy - I have forgotten who you said the lucky recipient is going to be.  I loved the colorful stripes on this sweater.

Christina is doing a great job on her sweater.  And, you all know me and orange --- I LOVE this color!!  This is a Classic Elite sleeveless shell pattern in a 2x2 rib with a garter ridge lace yoke.  She has already finished one piece of the shell and this is the second/final piece.  You go, Christina!

Here's Melanie!  She is working on her 11th linen dish towel (resting in her lap while she holds up her scarf) - WHEW!  She has gotten a jumpstart on her holiday gifts.  With her dish towels, she will be gifting bars of my soap!  I know everyone will love the towels - hope they like the soap, as well.  To the left, Melanie is showing a handspun and handknit scarf that she is also working on.  She spun  angora, mohair, and wool to make this yarn.  It was so soft and made a great diagonal stripe pattern.  Melanie also brought her bag full of spindles and I brought a couple of mine.  She showed me how to spin off the tip of one of my support spindles.

Last but not least, is Tami (below and on the right) showing off her finished dishcloths.  I want to point out, she had not just one finished dishcloth but THREE finished cloths!!!

What a great time!  Patsy is having an open house this Saturday.  She and Nancy have been busy spinning and knitting and will have their things for sale on Saturday.  I hope I can go.  Sounds like fun and I'll get to see everyone again!!!

A blog I have found that you should check out is rita's g-string at celticharpanddrum.  This blog is great!!  I just want to eat up all those gorgeous wool batts she dyes, cards, and spins.  If you read /scroll through her blog backwards, syou will find some dandy tutorials on dyeing 3 different colors in the same jar. 

OK - let's get to the contest for reaching and surpassing 5,000 hits.  The contest was that I would pick a winner from the people who commented on the day the blog reached it's 5,000th hit.  For The Love Of Fiber has had 5,061 hits as of this afternoon.  Yesterday, I had 8 comments.  Emmy, you posted twice (sneaky) but I only counted your name once.  So, I had 8 comments by 7 people.  I chose a winner the official Price-Waterhouse way --- wrote each name on a scrap of paper, balled it up, mixed them around, closed my eyes, and picked one!  And, the winner is ............. EMMY!!!!  Cheers, applause, whistles!!  What does Emmy win??  She wins a copy of the Magic Loop book (of which I found myself with 3 copies) and 2 skeins of Regia sock yarn (that I won in a blog contest - paying it forward!).  I'll also include a bar of homemade soap as I'm trying to make the world a cleaner place - one knitter at a time!!!!  Thanks to Ren, Jen, Issy, Sheddy, Jane, and Krista for reading and commenting!!  Please continue to do so - contest or not!

Comments

[caro]

I LOVE the emergency yarn ornaments! I think that's the best use of novelty yarn that I've ever seen. Brilliant!

[Krista]

Congrats to Emmy!

[Mary]

Congratulations, Emmy! And I'm glad you got pictures of Melanie's scarf -- I didn't get over to where she was sitting to see that. I'm also glad you got pictures of the other pins - I just love all the variety. Thanks for the goodies! (However, NO THANKS to having TWO pictures of me on the blog - yuck!)

[Cat]

What wonderful little gifts. You are so clever.

[emmy]

YAY!! Thanks Robin !!I have emailed you as well. I am glad that you didn't count me twice- that double post was quite accidental. I promise. I am very excited and most of all for a bar of your soap!! But you know what? I don't know how to do the Magic Loop! and sock yarn is always more than welcome in my stash. And YES! I will keep on reading and posting prize or not. :) Oh!and I am so going to steal your emergency yarn ball idea. Wouldn't that make the cutest tree?

[Ren]

your "ktog" and "yarn emergency" things are so neat! very creative! : )