Ooo La La KidSilk Haze

I recently contacted a friend from High School that I haven't seen in over six years and that was just at my home town County Fair by accident. She lives in Ohio with her husband and 4 children. Yikes 4 children. So after a reconnection I feel that a knitted gift is in order and you know I'm always looking for more reasons to buy more yarn and knit more. So here's Kristie's Red Shrug in the making. Kristie is going through Chemo treatments so my first thought was to make her a chemo cap because it is so damn cold in Ohio, but then I saw this pattern and I thought "soft and beautiful." So I hope Kristie likes shrugs and the yarn is Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Oooo La La. No more to say there. So I bought the yarn on Saturday and immediately started knitting.
Here's my progress. I am always amazed at how fast a lace object knits up. I'm over 7 inches in and I feel like it was magic. I definitely need to do more lace knitting. I want to be able to get this to Kristie before the holidays start in force. Can I "knit it done" before the end of November? The race is on. :)

Knitting Things Done goes to Ravelry!

I know there are other AmeriCorps Knitters out there, so, off to Ravelry to connect with a larger community. Today I started a group on Ravelry. I want to know what future, current, and past AmeriCorps members are up to . Can we work together in some way to continue serving our communities. When I saw the Yarn Harlot in Los Angeles, she told a story about raising funds for a charity and how the community of knitters that read her blog were able to astonish others as to their willingness to contribute. There are millions of knitters/crafter out there and we recognize the impact that even small actions can have when repeated over and over again. Whether we a creating an amazingly detailed cable pattern or changing our communities. So I hope that we can see a Knitting Things Done community grow on Ravelry.

Fun at the LA County Fair

So believe it or not Los Angeles has a county fair and there are actually animals at the fair. Jeff says they are more like "display" animals rather than someones fair project, but they are REAL animals.

So we've lived in LA for 3 1/2 years and have chosen not to go to the fair for the past two years. Well this year is different! This year I found out that the fair has a Spinning Contest. Now wipe that clueless look off your face. It's not Bike Spinning or small children twirling, its yarn spinning. In the California Hertiage section of the fair grounds 9 risk-takers sat down with wheel or spindle and completed 3 different skeins while being timed and under the scrutiny of a small crowd. Skein 1) 2-ply worsted weight Skein 2) single ply novelty and Skein 3) lace weight. I was enthused. Anyhow, the spinning contest got us to the fair and after the craziness of finding parking, we had a really good time.

Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy, Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Cones, fluffy little Bunny Rabbits (no we didn't eat them), chickens, pigs, sheep (my favorite was the Shetland), Angora Goats, Border Collies, a Ferris Wheel, scary stomach jerking rides (that we decided we were too old for), and much much more. Remember the "Zipper?" It's still criss-crossing the country.

There were a few things we thought interesting but weren't adventurous enough to actually sample...for example Deep Fried Coca-Cola. Now what the heck is that? Yikes!

So here a little slideshow of our day/evening at the Fair. We hope you enjoy it.

Lo and Behold! A FO!

A finished object-- that's right. I know they have been few and far between here at the East Coast headquarters for Knitting Things Done, but I have been steadily knitting away and posting very little. We have-- gasp, argh, curse-- dial-up until our local phone company throws some switches or buries some wires or whatever they have to do to get our DSL back up & running. The thought of blogging makes my head hurt, but I'm going to do my best.

I cast-on for the Lacy Hug-Me-Tight from Knit 2 Together on September 6 and barely squeaked by on my deadline of September 29 (my friend's wedding.) I wasn't sure how this-- essentially a bunch of rectangles...

was going to turn into this....

but it did! Excuse this picture of me feeling very clever and obviously showing off my new sweater, pictured here with the bride and my dear friend who was home from Hawaii for the wedding.

September was a good month for knitting... When I visited my sister and her boyfriend in Philadelphia, I managed to shop in two of the famous-- well, famous to me... you know, known only from their ads in IK-- yarn stores: Rosie's Yarn Cellar and Loop. Both were walking distance from my sister's apartment. I will definitely visit PA again soon. I issued a great deal of restraint and only purchased my standard Souvenir Yarn... sock yarn, that is. I bought two skeins of Lorna's Laces Black Purl for socks for yours truly and I bought one skein of Lorna's Laces Purple Stripe to make two pairs of baby socks for an RN I work with who is expected twins (a boy and a girl) in mid-October.

I cast-on for the baby socks last night after working in the yard. We planted our fall garden yesterday in celebration of our third wedding anniversary. I'm sure I will post a pic when there is more to look at (baby sock and garden-wise)... but we planted all kinds of good eatin'... cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collards, brussel sprouts, romaine lettuce, and purple and red cabbage.

I also saw the Yarn Harlot in Atlanta. She was side-splittingly wonderful and dead-on with her observations about knitters (and those who don't.) It was standing room only by the time I got there, so it didn't matter that I brought knitting that was too complicated to work on during her talk. It was so nice to be in a room full of people who were completely engaged in what was going on around them but knitting at the same time. Most of my family members insist that I am being rude or disengaged if I knit while lunching or visiting. The Yarn Harlot even knitted during the Q & A at the end! I couldn't resist taking a photo with her during the book signing... most Canadians don't get down south very often. I wore my original Clapotis. Oh, and I love the book that you had her sign for me at the reading in L.A.! I didn't have a copy of the new one... it's perfect and thank you thank you thank you.

The newest addition to my layette is a pair of Saartje's booties in the mystery wool purchased at SAFF last year. I bought the buttons at Loop in Philly. Pretend like there are two booties here... I could only find one of them when I was taking this photo. Since then, I found the other bootie.(Whew! Who would have guessed it was safely backed away in the cedar chest with the rest of my layette?)

I've already picked out the leftover yarn and buttons I want to use for my next pair. It's the Jaeger Siena cotton from the Prairie Tunic and these cute red elephant buttons I found on a thrift-store button-down shirt.

October will also be a good month for knitting, I am sure. My plans include the Minimalist Cardigan from the most recent IK and the Forest River Gansey for the husband. I have SAFF to look forward to at the end of the month, as well.