Tuesday, September 22, 2015

it was fun at the farm...

 Thanks to Jason and Carole! They are so hospitable, it makes you feel just like being at home! They feed you - Carole's tomato chili soup was great! and the desserts, OMG! The last time I was there, it was their #5 annual show and this year was number 24 - wow, they put so much into it, you have to plan on going next year - it will be their Silver Anniversary and Tom, the machine knitting guy has promised to be there!
I think everyone was impressed with the 2 TLR stole/shawls that I made for my niece's wedding this coming weekend - hope to get a 'live' photo of her which I will post later. I have promised to write up the pattern for this soon, hopefully before Christmas and will post here when it's ready.
It was great to see Jane Niemi's (blue-ribbon-winner at the state fair) version of 'Primitive' from Knitwords #19, Winter, 2001 - she modelled it in  the style show at Rocking Horse Farm - goes to show how enduring our fashions are! In fact, she inspired me to dig out mine - I may wear it to the Maritime seminar in Charlottetown next weekend - here's an excerpt from my #19 editorial:
During workshops, many times someone will say to me, 'This is probably a stupid question, but...' and I always say there is no stupid question, except a knitter who knows who I am, and asks me if I knit what I am wearing. Duh!!! How could I possibly show up and act like an expert if I don't have the confidence to make my own wardrobe? On this trip [the Maritime Machine Knitters Seminar in Wolfville, Nova Scotia], I was wearing our cover garment, 'Primitive' and got many rave reviews.  One of the knitters threw in this question as a joke and  I answered facetiously, 'No, I got it at the Wal-Mart. They have it in other colourways too. There is a red, white and blue version.' One of the husbands in the group quickly threw in, 'yes, but can you get the stripes vertical instead of horizontal?'

I did a bunch of knitting between the weddings and workshops...Rhiana's turquoise dress with ruffles; 2 WCD dresses for sister Janet (even I loved the 'watercolours'  one); LSA in royal WCD for niece/goddaughter Lauren (she wore it for her post-wedding brunch - sorry for the poor photo - new camera and I haven't had enough experience yet;-)); and 2 TLR stoles for niece/next bride, Karen...

Saturday, September 5, 2015

substitute teacher...

Guess where I'm going? St Cloud, Minnesota!
I got a phone call the other night from Jason at Rockinghorse Farm in St Cloud. He told me my buddy Tom, the machine knitting guy, who was supposed to be the headliner at their September seminar had to cancel out due to a work conflict and would I be available to fill in? would I? gosh, besides having two out-of-town family weddings in September there was only one weekend I would be able to go and yes! it's September 18! I'll be there! Just when I thought I about had a grip on everything I wanted to do in prep for the weddings  and to be ready for the Maritime seminar the first weekend in October...
I promised Jason that I would have completely different classes from what I taught at the Founders Fest in July because there will be some of the same knitters there. I noticed that Tom had a class called Tuck Lace Rib - well, I can do that and fortunately I have some new samples! I am just finishing up a TLR stole for my niece, Karen, for her bridal outfit.
Check out this link for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1459456417678260/
It's stuck in my head, that old Trisha Yearwood song, 'On a bus to St Cloud Minnesota, I thought I saw you there...' but I'll be driving and there should be no snow on the ground, so I hope to see you there!