fortunate events

It’s March. This morning I stopped at my parents’ house to break off some of their long naked stems of forsythia to force into bloom indoors. In just ten days I will be welcoming yellow to the dining room. It will be more than nice. I’ll like being home after a busy spell.

January brought a few of my patterns out into the open. I was fortunate to have a both a sock and mitt pattern as the January patterns for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club. Named “All of’er Buttons”, the socks employed a pyramid style heel gusset at the back of the foot that terminated in a point above the achilles.  From there, they are worked flat, then sewn shut with buttons. The mitts repeated the cable pattern from the sock, but enabled some play with the thumb gusset. Tina dyed an amazing color- Her Royal Highness Violetta. Really lush.

Interweave’s eMag Sockupied is out, and, surprise, I landed on the cover! Well, not me, but what my hands made. “Our Paths Cross” are socks that use the vertical stranding technique I have taught at both Sock Summits. Interweave embedded some video in the pattern to help you with the technique- video shot in my home studio. If you must know, my “studio” is really a corner of the boiler room next to the camping gear where, if I sequester the dogs, I can work in relative quiet.

If interested, the download can be found here. It’s a great value as there are six patterns from six different designers for $4.99.

In February I went to the Visionary Retreat a day early to play with Judy Becker. She and her trusty Prius always seem game for a road trip, so we did a little hop around Portland, visited Tina’s yarn barn, and knitted with her PDX knitting group. Then we started working hard. It may not look like it in the following photo, but this came on a break after days of the thinking and planning kind of work that makes your head tired. Cat Bordhi’s Visionary Retreat is a time that makes you feel fortunate for the company you are with, and also collectively responsible for putting quality work out for knitters. It’s invaluable because of the people there, all a great help. For me it was especially helpful to have the generous Lucy Neatby there. As I work on the DVD project, I hear many voices from these retreats, and now I can add Lucy’s.

Betty Salpekar and I had had our turn rowing and passed the oars to Cat and Lucy. During this time, Lucy was a competent rower, and Cat was a competent observer of crows flying overhead- ha!

After just a few days home it was off again, this time to California and Stitches West + ETC. I always love the time to visit with teachers I only get to see when we gather like this. I had an exceptional bunch of students, just over a hundred in all in five different classes. (too many numbers) I like teaching the longer classes as it allows more work to get done, yet at a nice pace. This time I got to spend twelve hours with my ETC students- a real luxury.

I now have to play catch up at home, continue work on the DVD, and prepare for the Plucky Weekend Retreat next month. It filled!

-Feeling very fortunate to do all these things I love with cool folks!

About these ads