I Just can't get enough pictures of Yarn Quest in KALS (oh, by the way that's Knitting: A Love Story not Knit Alongs) so I thought I'd start this with a great picture (well, really not so great picture) of a sweater being hung.  Those ladies are always working!  One of my goals in Traverse City was to knit in public as much as possible.  When I started to write about it, it became "Here's a picture of my knitting at Centre Ice," "Here's a picture of me knitting at Brilliant Books," "Here's a picture of me knitting at Dillinger's."  BORING!!!!  So I decided to write a poem.  The first way may be boring, but this may be horrible.  Who knows?  Here goes. [see I'm warming up to rhyming.]

While in Traverse City, did you really think
I'd be spending all of my time, at the skating rink?
Or did you know me and consider, 
That I might become a public knitter?
I always have something in my purse
Just in case my brain would burst,
From watching multi hours of hockey,
Without the benefit of saki.

So here would be my first knit and eat.
Pulled pork at Ham Bonz is always a treat.
Have you ever paid attention to
How everybody stares at you
As if you were the strangest thing
Because you have two sticks and string.

The next day on to Centre Ice.
Knitting in cool temps always feels nice.
Pull out yarn of any fiber
​It's twice as nice as gagets cyber.

Then on to Brilliant Books a favorite place.
Park bench knitting puts a smile on my face.
A few doors down is What To Wear
A place that gives Dick quite a scare.
It is my favorite boutique shop
For women's clothes, it's hard to stop.

Then off we go to visit the best
The fabulous Mary and favorite Yarn Quest.
I would love to knit as long as I'm able
At the welcoming, friendly Yarn Quest round table.
Unfortunate for me that Dick's in the car
So I guess I will wait to knit in the bar.

On Saturday we always hit Bay View Inn,
To eat a little, knit a little and watch the Spartans win.
I think I'll stop right here before
You decide you can't taken any more.

Well, sorry folks!  I thought I would jazz things up as I told you about my Traverse City knitting in public experience.  I only got through day three and I was ready to say, "Shoot me!"  I also can't stop rhyming in my head!  Maybe that's why there is poetry that doesn't rhyme.  It doesn't drive you crazy.   

One look is worth a 1,000 words.  This is a perfect critique of my rhyming skills.  Sorry.

​I think I will knit for a while to see if I can't make my brain to stop rhyming.  LaLaLaLa!

I am home!  That is kind of a BOO/YEA.  Boo, because I had to leave the wonderful Traverse City in September and Yea because I can finally share my knitting adventures.  My MacBook can finally hook up to the internet, I really don't have a clue what was happening.  I just know I could either use a device where my pictures reside (my iPhone) or a device where I could comfortably post (my iPad).  It was very awkward, frustrating and aggravating.  I just wish I was more of a tech person.

It was so great to visit one of my very favorite LYS, Yarn Quest and Mary Hoffman, the kind, generous owner.  I walked in and Mary immediately recognized me.  (I guess I've bought a little yarn there.)  She even remembered what I purchased the last time I was there, that I make Survivor Shawls and Knitting: A Love Story.  She relayed a story from years ago.  I came into Yarn Quest to buy yarn for my beloved Survival Shawls.  It was very obvious that I was into something as I bought one skein of many pink yarns.  She said she was impressed that I bought only the best and most beautiful for my Survival Shawls when some people don't want to spend much when they make prayer shawls.  I was impressed she remembered.

I was on a mission when I entered Yarn Quest, and Yarn Quest came through. 

I was so enchanted with Knitting the Sky that I had my mind made up I was going to Knit the Sky.  To do it I need 9ish different colored yarns in blue, gray and cream.  I decided buying yarn for Knit the Shy would be my treat when we went to Traverse City.  I couldn't think of any place I would rather choose my yarn than Yarn Quest.  Yarn Quest did not disappoint.  I found just what I wanted even though I really didn't know what I wanted.  Wait until you see. . . 

Here it is!  A selection of different fibers, weights and colors that will make up my sky.  I must say in real life there is much more blue and less gray than this picture shows.  I have five different Interlacements and 6 Colinton goat mohair.  Put this with the Madelinetosh I already have and some yarn stash left overs, and I think I have a perfect sky.  I am going to kit these and give them as Christmas gifts.  

I also bought this Colinton young goat mohair to be part of my Knitter's Life List project of knitting with exotic yarns.  It is so soft and the color so beautiful.  

I also bought this Interlacement called Renaissance for some unknown project in the future.  I don't know what I'll use it for but some day I will see a pattern that this will be perfect for.  (Once again, I have purchased an UDY-Undesinated Yarn when I said I was going to back off that for a while.)  Funniest thing, I forgot all about that commitment until we got back to the hotel.  Oh, well, maybe when I really get into organizing the Stash Studio I will scare myself with my UDY's and recommit.  Until then I will enjoy.

Now I must do a rant.  I really have two rants boiling inside me but I will deal with one at a time.  One of the things I committed to with Knitting: A Love Story is to only be positive.  If I go into a LYS and have a bad experience, I just don't write about it.  If I go into a LYS and have a positive experience, I sing their praises.  I am so tired of the negativity of people on Yelp and other internet sites.  I was heart sick when I read some very negative ratings about Yarn Quest.  I have never received any thing but great customer service and kindness when I have been visiting.  They help me find exactly what I want or they just let me roam whatever I want.  I am very tired of people thinking they have a right to hurt a business because they are disgruntled.  I always read between the lines and can usually see the truth.  I LOVE Yarn Quest.  Please don't trust as accurate things you read on the internet. (Unless of course, I said it!)

I just got a call from Yarn Quest.  Last weekend was the Traverse Area Yarn Shop Hop.  I was the winner of Yarn Quest's big prize!  That is four times I have won yarn crawl prizes, twice in North Carolina and twice in Michigan.  I can't wait to get it!  If I go to enough yarn crawls, maybe it will fill my unquenched desire for UDY!

Here we are in Traverse City for Red Wings Training Camp and things have been little hectic. First of all I can't get my MacBook to hook up to the hotel Internet so I am using my iPhone to make this post. AWKWARD!!!! My thumbs are all thumbs. If there are typos (more than usual) please understand why. 


Now, I am posting from my iPad but I don't have access to any of the pictures I want to use which are on my iPhone. BUMMER!  (I'd forgotten all about that  '80's word but I heard it used today and it just seemed perfect here.)


One of my goals for this trip (doesn't everybody have goals for trips?) is to knit in public all over Traverse City which I am doing. I just think I will have to wait until I get home to finish this. I have so much to tell. My travel knitting. My visit to Yarn Quest. Some times technology is not my friend and this is one of those times. It is taking all of my willpower not to burst into finger-swearing (that's typing out swear words. If you don't actually say it out loud, is it really swearing?)  I feel my willpower waning so I guess I better sign off until I get home or my tech issues are solved. 

September, October, November, December.  The four months that knitters call "Production Time."  The rest of the year knitting is nice and leisurely.  You know, the yoga of knitting.  Each stitch is savored, enjoyed.  "But there are only four months until Christmas and I need to get busy."  

That is exactly how I used to live my knitting life, scurrying around to finish something for Mom, something for Kathy, something for Andi, you get the picture.  A few years ago my whole philosophy on knitting for people for Christmas changed.  I still give people knitted treasures for Christmas, I just approach it in a different way.  I knit things I love all year, then in December I carefully look at each one and know who they are for. Like this little beauty. . . 

When we were in Sunset Beach last January, I saw this in Knit 'n Purl in Myrtle Beach and fell in love with it.  Now it is just waiting to be someone's Christmas gift.  

This was so much fun to make.  I'm sure someone on my list will pop up and be the perfect recipient.  

Now this is a sad story.  I loved making this beautiful shawl.  I even had it in my mind it would be for my Mom's birthday in December.  The yarn is fabulous, there just wasn't enough.  I ran out before I even got to the beautiful edge.  What I thought was lots in the tub, turned out to be two slightly different colors.  See what happens when you are specifically knitting something for someone, it just doesn't work.  Sometimes when you're done, it's not the right size for the person you thought it was for.  Sometimes you look at it and think, "What was I thinking!  This just isn't Barb (or Kathy or Andi or Erin or Carmen, etc.)"  All of those issues are solved when you just knit things you love and when they are finished decide who they are for.  

I would definitely give myself the "Good Work" for this revolutionary new approach to Christmas (and gift in general) knitting.  I no longer feel "All Tangled Up" when I think about Christmas coming.  Now if you are an adrenalin junkie (and I used to be one) this probably won't work for you.  I used to love the stress and the rush of making deadlines and almost missing deadlines and knitting all night to finish that gift which you need tomorrow for the Christmas party.  It was like discovering diet pills in college to pull an all nighter for a test.  I LOVED THAT!  I used to live life at that speed, but that's not my speed any more.  I think it is when I became a process person rather than a product person.  For me the joy is in each stitch not just the product.  It about watching a treasure unfold and enjoying every inch of the journey rather hurrying to be finished so you can move on to something else.  

My treasures have been growing over the past year.  I've found many beautiful things I love and have been knitting away.  In December, I will unveil which treasure will be going home with what friend.  I will even have more treasures into the mix by then.  It is probably too late to develop this knitting philosophy for this year, but think about it for next year.  It may work for you!

Do you remember the post about the shawl I knit while my Mom was recovering from a stroke?  The week she was able to move back home, I finished the shawl.  The shawl was beautiful, she was better and I had a reminder of that very special time my Mom and I spent together.  This week I am experiencing another example of when life is measured by what we knit.  Wednesday, it will be three weeks since my surgery.  I have my final doctor's appointment Thursday and today I finished my surgery knitting.  

Here it is.  My Sasha Wrap made from Rowan Thick 'n Thin is done.  It has been steamed, the ends have been hidden and I found the perfect button.  

Really, I found the perfect two buttons that when stacked make the perfect button.  I knew if I looked though my button collection, I would find something.  When you stack these two buttons together, they become this. . . 

Perfect!  I learned the button stacking technique from the Marvelous Martina from Crafty Lady Trio in Macomb.  Sometimes, it just makes a garment and this is one of those times.  

Besides finishing the wrap, I can get out of a chair without help.  I can sleep in my bed instead of a Lazy-Boy.  I am a side sleeper, and gravity made side sleeping painful until this past weekend.  I am no longer taking painkillers so no more K.U.I. (knitting under the influence.)  

This is soft and cuddly and will be toasty warn during Michigan's cold winter months.  I am sure this will become part of my "Knitting for Friends for Christmas" project.  

I am so excited that I can go back to something a little more challenging.  Something that has fine yarn, uses small needles and has intricate patterns.  I love to knit hard things.  I feel so accomplished when I am finished.   

I was so out of touch concerning this hernia surgery.  I really thought I would spend my recuperation time in the Stash Studio reorganizing.  I thought I would be able to crawl around on the floor, bend over, lift.  Boy, was I wrong!  So now I can start organizing.  My sister Kathy is coming here for Christmas and I want the Stash Studio to be perfect so we can spend time up there knitting or admiring yarn or visualizing what we want to do next.  

I feel like a chapter in my life has closed this week with a knitted project that defines it.  How many of you define times in your life by what you knit?