Sunday, I left Chapel Hill, NC and headed to Mary's other knitting shop, Great Yarns in Raleigh. What a great way to begin the day! We had coffee, goodies, and a meditative presentation entitled Knitting As A Metaphor For Life.
Sally included a few great quotes in her talk. Two of which were --- "Creativity is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" by Winston Churchill and "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intellectually" by Henry Ford.
Pictured here are Mary (on the left) and Sally. Sally is wearing a sweater from her Mother-Daughter book that's coming out in March 2009. She should be back in Canada by now - hope she had safe travels.
Our class for Sunday afternoon was held in a classroom next to the knitting store in Whole Foods. This made getting lunch awfully easy! The subject of the class was First Choices / Basic Shapes. It was VERY interesting - thought provoking. With Sally's help, we examined what shapes go together to make flattering presentations. We discussed fit - figuring out how and why a knitted sweater looks best at this length, this width, this shape, etc. Sally instructed us on designing our own drop shoulder, modified drop shoulder, and drop shoulder saddle sweaters. It was great -- she illustrated each point in her lesson with a finished sweater!
Friday, I finished my Multi-directional Diagonal Scarf. This one is for ME! I love these colors. This was knit from Noro Silk Garden - my absolute favorite yarn for this scarf.
While in class on Sunday, I cast on and began knitting on another pair of just plain socks. This pair will be a Christmas present and is the first pair I've knit for someone else. Gosh, I hope they fit!! The yarn is Reynold's Swizzle Sock Yarn - 75% Merino Superwash, 25% Nylon. This is the first time I've knit with this yarn.
The biggest surprise of the weekend --- When I arrived home Sunday afternoon, I had a BIG box waiting for me in the hallway. My handcrafted Butterfly Electric Spinner had arrived!!!!!! Jerry does such a nice job - his workmanship is wonderful. The base of my Butterfly is walnut and is so pretty!! It also has a Woolee Winder. I've
never had a Woolee Winder on any of my wheels. This will be a treat!
Andy did the minimal set-up, I plugged it in, and I was off and spinning away! First, I spun up a little hand-dyed cotton. It was a little tedious due to the short fibers but it did okay. Then, I worked with some merino top in from Stony Mountain Fibers in Sage. This performed much better and is turning out very nicely. The Butterfly so quiet! And, OH this Woolee Winder!!!!!! It's wonderful not to have to stop and move the yarn from hook to hook. Now, I need to get busy spinning up all this fiber!!!!
Oh a Butterfly spinner, the perfect ending to a wonderful birthday weekend! I've heard such good things about Woolee Winders too. One of these days, I'll get one.
Posted by: Sydney | December 08, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Oh, lucky you! I was so interested in the Butterfly spinner when I saw it at SAFF. I know I'd spin a whole lot more if I had one of those. Enjoy your new toy.
Posted by: Jane | December 08, 2008 at 09:53 AM
Another Butterfly! Look at you spin... I'm still waiting for the day when it feels safe to try to spin in front of Gretchen. I'm so glad your birthday weekend ended on a high note.
Posted by: Chan | December 08, 2008 at 08:51 AM
As always you had another enjoyable weekend. I can't think of any other yarn to use for the multi-directional scarf. I am gifting mine. So I know next year I will make one for myself.
Interesting yarn for the sock. certainly works for the male gender.
OK, did you sleep? Have you spun up enough yarn to make a blanket LOL.
Posted by: KSee | December 08, 2008 at 05:42 AM