Three on Thursday-Empty Calendar

Call me crazy but to have a work AND personal calendar this is totally blank from Friday to Monday is so awesome.  The last few months at work have been very busy and with writing/organizing 3 annual reports 2 which were full of fact checking, and 1 that needed serious grammar correcting and heavy edits.  I managed to whittle down this particular report which has traditionally been about a 158 page report to 62 pages.  It might grow a bit before it's submission, but not by much!

My three on Thursday are:

1.  Organize my space-while you'd think I could stay organized since I only have 1,500 sq ft to manage, but it is actually harder cause nothing can be in one spot and it's shared space!  I hope to drag out all sweater and scarf/shawl quantities of yarn out of my stash and do some serious planning.  This will mean matching yarn with a pattern and putting them into bags so that when I'm ready to start the yarn and tools are ready to go.  Dare I attempt to do any swatching-maybe shouldn't jinx myself.  There will be other non-knitting organizing going on as well.

2.  Finalize the last few details for out Guild's Work Wide Knit in Public Day which is a couple weeks away.

3.  Visit the Dunwoody Farmer's Market.  This is close enough to walk to, and since I have the vendor list I'm going to come up with a plan of attack.  There will be a seafood vendor there, so I'm hoping to find something interesting for Saturday's dinner.

Of course, I'm hoping there will be a bit of relaxing since all the celebrations and events for the months are over.  Hoping that you all have a lovely Memorial Day Weekend that is full of everything you want.

Sometimes Monday-Lunch and Knitting

Means getting to step away from your desk and enjoy your lunch AND knitting.  I haven't eaten away from my desk in several months, and I'm glad I'm finally at a point in the "work"year where this will be a regular occurrence.  I have bound off the body of Balise, and I hope to start a sleeve tonight.  Happy Monday.

The Rest of the Retreat

So to wrap up the Knit for Fun Retreat- my class schedule included a session with Ann Budd and she helped me with a couple projects I wasn't sure I should frog or I would be able to make some adjustments and save myself some re-knitting.  She complimented me on my finishing, and gave some pointers for making my seaming a bit tidier.  Ann is a great retreat hostess!  The photo I have of the two of us was a great one of her great, but me- not so much!

 One of the other classes I took was Meghan Fernandes' Warm Weather Knits.  Meghan co-runs Pom-Pom Magazine.  I can't wait to get this year's summer issue-we got a sneak peak during class.  Meghan asked everyone in the class to introduce themselves and say why they were taking the class. Attendees either lived in a warm climate and they wanted to be able to wear hand knits year round, or ladies that  lived in cold climates there were some with their own "internal heating" system, and wanted suggestions on yarn and garments that didn't use wool, so they could have year around knits as well.   Some of the things I learned in class was the importance of choosing the right fiber or fiber combination.  Plant fibers wick heat moisture away from the body, but you have to be careful about heavy/saggy fabrics.  She recommended blends of wool and cotton, silk, linen etc as this offsets the in-elasticity of the plant fibers. Also, as with the Boxy sweater drape is such a big factor in WWKs. Close fitting garments do not allow air to circulate between the body and the garment which is what causes us to overheat.  Also, the best summer patterns are those that do not require an under-layer cause you're hot already why add to it!  I really want to knit warm weather garments that are not sleeveless, or all over lace so I can wear them to work. 

We did a bit of yarn tasting and this was one of the best parts of the class.  Some of the yarns Meghan brought were one's I've used in the past like Shibui linen and rain, but there were some other new to me yarns like Berroco Corsica, Wool and the Gang Shiny Happy Cotton [whoa-this is a good one!] it's a cotton yarn that is bulky so it'd be great for a pullover or cardigan but at the same time soooo soft and light weight.  I fell in love with Quince and Company's Willet that I want to give it a try-so drapey.  She also emphasized the importance of using the right needles with the right yarn to alleviate the  frustration of having stitches slip off the needles or trying to deal with splitty yarn.  Unlike substituting wool yarns there is a bit more work involved if a pattern calls for wool and you want to substitute for a warm weather type yarn.  This is another time when a large gauge swatch is warranted, and maybe even a little math is what will make or break a project

The other class i took, sorry no photos, was Sivia Harding's on decorative mending.  We used duplicate stitching to cover up mistakes, blanket stitch and creating an armature to fill a hole.  We also learned how to make a knitted patch.  She provided an overview of textiles over the centuries and how people extended the life of clothing and other items.   There is a lot more that this class could cover, and she plans to do a second part but I'm not sure how that's going to be facilitated.  The bottom line of this class was that if it's an item you really love you can sorta mend it however you want.   Of course, you have to put some thought into making sure the repair you decide will be appropriate, but at the end of the day it's totally up to you.  While I won't be able to attend the Spring KFF Retreat next year since it will be in Maine, I hope to be able to do something like this again.  Our knitting guild is hosting Nicky Epstein in October, and Stitches South is supposed to be coming to Atlanta again in 2019, so  maybe  . .  .

Learning from Joji

I'm finally sitting down and gathering my thoughts abiut what I learned last weekend.  The Knit for Fun Retreat was a great experience and I'm very glad I went.  I have to say that Joji is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  While we were waiting for breakfast on Sunday she joined me at the communal table in the lobby that had become my home away from home during my stay.  I was a little hesitant to engage in conversation as I wasn't sure if she wanted to have some quiet knitting time and a break from interacting with students.  We did exchange pleasantries, and eventually got to talking about her family and travels.  She talked about how much she and her family [she has 2 boys] and enjoy the outdoors, and how fortunate she feels to be able to visit the US and explore freely.  She spoke of how kindly she is always treated, and what a beautiful country "we" have, and she hopes to see more of it.  Her face lights up when she talks about her family-you can just feel the love.  I told her if she ever wanted to visit the N Georgia mountains, she and her family had an open invitation!  I also found out that she will be taking a break from teaching [not from designing], so I feel very fortunate to have meet her when I did and to have taken one of her classes.  She wants to spend more time with her family and focus on designing.  She was a truly delightful person and instructor-here's a bit of trivia; her prior profession was that of a physician!  Initially I wasn't going to take her Boxy class cause I figured I wouldn't get much out of it, and that the Boxy was not something I would knit.  I was among those who didn't think the Boxy would "fit"me or my style.  Boy, did Joji prove us wrong!  She told us that the Boxy design received a great deal of criticism when it was first published, and sometimes it wasn't very constructive or nice!  She said that she has always struggled with covering up her "problem" spots and it took an employer's recommendation of the boxy style to convince her that silhouette suited her, and the rest is history.   The Boxy definitely adds style and sophistication to one's wardrobe.

 Joji brought several samples for us to try on and we were able to see the sweaters on different bodies.  With the exception of a few ladies that needed a sweater in their actual size [most of what she brought were mediums] it was indeed a flattering style.  She discussed at great length the importance of ease and the difference between knitted ease and ease in sewn clothing.  In terms of the boxy style the more ease the more drape and flow, and of course, you have to be mindful using a yarn that will give this type of fabric.  She gifted a pattern of our choice so that we could dip our toes into the the boxy pond.  I picked Puntilla which has 12-15" of ease and an adorable lace edge at the bottom and cuffs.  I was able to try this sweater on in my size so I know I'm going to like it.  I went to the Frayed Knot in Savannah and purchased the yarn [hope to swatch this week!]  I got a new to me yarn Isager Bomulin a 65/35 cotton/linen blend.  I can't wait to add this to my warm weather knitting [more about Meghan Fernandez's class in another post!].

We talked about the difference between drape and weight and the importance of getting the right gauge, and that committing to knitting a boxy means there will be ALOT of knitting-you have been warned!  She also explained the importance of the neckline and hemline to create a flattering silhouette.  A rounded [high in front/long in back] rather than a straight hemline is actually more flattering for those who might be a bit bigger at the hips!  Other hacks shared include side vents and even rounded hems in front and back.   She also provided a formula for figuring out where the sweater would fall on your body so that you can make proper adjustments, or pattern choice.  What I found really interesting about the design of the sweater was that if the sleeves fit properly then the body can be as wide as you want it and you'll end up with a variety of effects depending upon how much ease and yarn choice.  I learned a lot more, but don't think I should share ALL of Joji's secrets!  I also bought her [and got it signed] latest collaboration with Veera Valimaki- Reflections Vol 5-there's so much in here I want to knit starting with this glacier tunic and separate ways.  Depending on the swatch I may use my Rowan Fine Tweed that has been languishing; both of these call for fingering weight merino.  I have 2 colors so it'll take some playing around to see what works best.

 

 I visited another yarn shop just outside of Savannah, Unwind, on my way home and bought another new to me warm weather yarn  Queensland United a cotton/wool blend.  Maybe I'll get the newest Pom Pom magazine co-run by Meghan Fernandes for additional inspiration.  I also got beads for another Joli pattern, April Showers, a shawl that I cast on a couple weeks ago.

Believe it or not there are warm weather knits that do have sleeves and do not require an additional garment underneath!  More on the rest of the retreat to come. . .

Fridays are for FOs and Flowers

I got these lovely flowers from Steve today at work-here's us 27 years ago-boy do we look young!  I have a FO too that is drying.  My Sunshine Coast by Heidi Kirrmaier.  I slipped it on before I wet blocked it and I think it's going to be just fine.  I knit it out of Seta Tweed which is 75% silk and 25% cotton.  It was steeply discounted at Cast on Cottage and I bought it over a year ago, but it took forever to find the right pattern.  I hope to blog about my purchases from last weeks knitting retreat this weekend.  I'm really inspired by what I learned from Joji Locatelli, Sivia Harding and Meghan Fernandes.  Maybe even post a photo of this actually ON me.  Happy Friday y'all!