Yesterday was a great day.  Finally, getting to Kean's and Twisted Fiber Arts, spending the day with Linda AND helping celebrate small business day.  I got a boat load of  stocking stuffers which were all unique and fun just like I thought I would.  I also bought some beautiful Twisted Fiber Arts yarn to make the stocking cap I talked about last week.  I got the pattern from adorable Hazel's grandmother and bought the yarn from Hazel's Mom.  Is that a family affair or what?!?!?  Hazel's Mom is the dyer for the exquisite Twisted Fiber Arts yarn.

I love this stuff!  Imagine a stocking cap going past the shoulders, gradually changing colors with gorgeous yarn.  The yarn design is Evolution and the color of the two on the left is Roy G. Biv.  The upper right is Carousel with bottom right being Roy G. Biv in Muse which is 50% silk and 50% merino.  I think I will use upper left.  What do you think?

This is Hazel's Mom and Linda.  See that basket with the bow?  Because it was Small Business day, Twisted Fiber Arts had a drawing.  I want it.  I have three chances.  I was tempted to buy more yarn just to have more chances.  

Look at the colorways hanging on the back wall.  This just a tip of the iceberg of the available beauty which quite frankly can't be adequately captured in a photograph.   

Let me just breathe in the yumminess and beauty.  AHHHHHHHH!

Linda and I had a fun lunch, I got to see her son Rob and meet his girlfriend Stephanie and we were on our way home.  What a fun day. When I got home, I went to the Stash Studio (I still am wrestling with if that sounds more like yarn or drugs, help me with this) to sort through the great stocking stuffers.  While there my Knit, Swirl yelled, "You realize I am Linda's don't you!?!?!"  I thought this was mine, but it has Linda written all over it.  I have yarn to make a second Knit, Swirl so I will still have one.  I can see Linda wearing this.  I am so excited.  I had something totally different in mind for Linda.  So three treasures have found new homes for Christmas.  I have three or four more to go.

My Mom really can't read "Knitting: A Love Story" on the computer, so I am having a book printed for her.  This is the final post before the printer starts her magic.  December 1 begin a new year for "Knitting: A Love Story."  I can't wait for her to read it.  She was so thrilled with the Jocelynn Brown Free Press article.  I know she will absolutely love this.

Thanksgiving was great.  Food, family and football (Of course, lots of knitting but that messed up the alliteration.)  I spent some time in the Stash Studio (does that sound more like a place of yarn or drugs?  I hadn't noticed that issue before!) waiting for my little treasures to tell me where they wanted to go.    

The first time I talked about this beautiful triangle scarf was in my June 17 post.  I think I called it "My New Favorite Yarn Company."  It is Samen by Steven West knit from Malabrigo's Lace Baby Merino described as "spun from the finest merino wool this yarn comes from sheep bred for generations ."  As soon as I touched this yarn, I was a goner.  There was no way I wasn't going to knit with scrumptious, gorgeous yarn.  I described it as like touching the softest kitten or another analogy  might be . . .

It's as soft as this bunny but comes in much brighter colors.  I loved knitting this.  It had color, beautiful yarn, a challenging pattern.  It had it all.  

Yesterday, I took a cup of tea up, sat down and ran my fingers over this soft treasure.  All of a sudden it said, "I want to go to Erin."  Of course, why didn't I think of that.  I can see this draped dramatically over Erin's shoulders.  It is absolutely right.  

Both this and the blue/green scarf I'm giving Andi are triangle shaped but there is a huge difference that I never noticed but will carefully consider in patterns in the future.

The green/blue starts on the long side casting on 150 or so stitches.  The Steve West starts at the point with 4 or so stitches.  Can you see where I'm going with this?  When you are excited and geeked about the project, you are doing long rows, but it doesn't matter because you are so into this new project that things fly.  As you get a little tired and ready to move on, the rows go faster and faster.  With the Steven West, those last rows were impossibly long and, shall I say it, tedious.  I will notice in the future where a triangle scarf starts at the point or long side.  If I have fallen in love with the pattern and the yarn, it may not deter me, but it will give me something to consider.  

Isn't it beautiful?!?!?!  I do love it and will also love the look on Erin's face when she opens it.  

I have a couple things on the steaming board just waiting to decide who they want to go to.  I hope your Thanksgiving was great and you have much to be thankful for.  Tomorrow Linda and I will be going to Mason to Keen's and Twisted Fiber Arts AND a day with Linda!  HURRAY! 

I love Thanksgiving, probably even more than Christmas.  It has always felt like the beginning of a wonderfully, beautiful season.  It is more about reflecting on what makes your life special and joyous.  As in every year, I have much to be thankful for this year.

Today I climbed my stairway to heaven to find out who exactly those incredibly beautiful things I have been knitting this year wanted to go to for Christmas.  (Oh, my gosh! Did that sound incredibly arrogant, or what?!?!?!  But I do think they are beautiful.)  I posted all of those pictures of my fabulous Stash Studio (thank you Jan Roys for nudging me toward that whimsical name) earlier.  That isn't exactly what it looks like during the Christmas season.  In addition to being a place to peacefully create, it is also a great place to hide your Christmas mess.

This is what it looked like November 1. . . 

This is what it looks like today.  I love it!  I can keep everything out so I know exactly what I have for people including stocking stuffers.  I love stocking stuffers.  By the way, Linda and I will be going to Mason Saturday to Keen's to do the stocking stuffer thing.  No freezing rain in the forecast yet.  

Well, I went up to see if any of my little beauties spoke to me, and one did!  One definitely  told me where they wanted to go.  But first let me show you how I steam my knits.

I have a commercial steamer bought from a dry cleaning catalog.  I love it.  I learned this technique from Jan at Crafty Lady probably 20 years ago.  I used to use a steam iron with the item to be steamed covered in a damp cloth and pinned on a blocking cloth on the floor.  It was horribly uncomfortable and awkward.  Holding the steam iron carefully above the item so the hot metal didn't touch was tedious.  This method is fabulous.  Only the steam is hot coming out, not the face of the contraption.  My back doesn't kill me from bending over the item pinned to the floor.  I don't hate steaming any more!  This was really a life changing event.  (I might have gone a little over board with that statement but I really do like it.)  

This beautiful scarf jumped up and said, "Me! Me! Choose me! I want to go to Andi."  I bought the pattern and yarn from those wonderful women at Knit-Purl in Portland, Oregon.  The yarn is Shibui Cima.  Every time I get an email from a Knit-Purl there is something fabulous that I want to make.  I have another scarf just waiting to decide who it wants to go to for Christmas that is spectacular from those amazing women.  This scarf is so Andi.  The colors are her, the elegant simplicity is her. 

Isn't it beautiful?!?! Cima is superbaby alpaca and merino so the drape is beautiful.  There are so many ways you can wear this.

I can see this draped over a winter coat to add a touch of pizzazz to a drearily  winter day.  I am sure Andi will find the perfect thing to wear it with making it her own.

I have the turkey thawing in the refrigerator, have experimented with cranberries and come up with a great recipe and have all of the veggies chopped for various dishes tomorrow.  Thanksgiving is always Dick, Jan, Lucy (my Mom), Murphy and a 20 pound turkey.  Please don't asked why three people need a 20 pound turkey.  It is all about the stuffing.  I am so thankful for my fabulous husband, my family and friends, my health and of course knitting.  I have so enjoyed sharing my love of knitting on Knitting: A Love Story.  

My best wishes to you and your's for a joyous Thanksgiving.

I am so excited!  Tomorrow Linda and I are heading on a Road Trip.  We are going to Mason, Michigan to that wonderland of everything interesting, that cabinet of curiosities, Keen's.  It is a General Store, a Five and Dime, in other words it has everything.  I discovered Keen's when Linda and I went to the Yarn Tasting at Twisted Fiber Arts.  Walking into Keen's you feel like a kid in a candy store.  Well, you are as it has an old fashioned candy area with all of those fabulous candies from our childhoods.  I am doing stocking stuffer shopping, spending the day with one of the most fun people I know AND just maybe stopping by Twisted Fiber Arts.

When Linda and I went to the Fall Fiber Expo, Twisted Fiber Arts was there selling their beautiful yarn.  If you don't know Twisted Fiber Arts you really need to check them out either online or preferably in person.  There is nothing like being totally overwhelmed by the unique, scrumptious colors of Twisted Fiber Arts.  While in the TFA booth, I noticed the most beautiful, whimsical stocking hat on a young girl.  I found out the girl was Hazel and the stocking hat had been designed by her grandmother, but there was really no pattern.  It had been made up.  A colorful, one of a kind, interesting, whimsical pattern; that pretty much sounds like something I need.  After we left the Expo, I became obsessed with the hat until I couldn't stand it any longer.  I emailed TFA begging for the pattern.  This week Anne (the designer) sent me the pattern.  Hurray!!!  So, I will be looking for the perfect yarn to made the perfect stocking hat.

I have shared so many adventures with Linda that our relationship could be a blog of its own!  Here goes an other Linda story. 

This is the Yokohama Jacket first published in Cast On in 2003 and designed by Barbara Veneshnick.  Linda and I saw it and fell in love with the interesting pattern.  It was designed to be knit in Kureyon by Noro, my favorite yarn.  Back then I was newly in love with the wonderful yarn.  We decided to have one of our famous Knit Alongs (KAL).  Linda and I used to get together once a week to knit.  Some times it was individual, some times it was a Knit Along.  As an aside, Linda and two other friends got together for years doing what they called "Stitch and Bitch."  Then one day a book was published by the same name.  But I know Linda thought of it first.

There is a story about this beautiful yarn.  It is Noro Kureyon #70 my favorite Kureyon which also happens to be discontinued.  The first time I saw #70 it was made into a felted Christmas stocking and I was smitten.  I began my quest to purchase this absolutely, positively most beautiful yarn I ever laid eyes on.  I went to all the usual places, called my favorite LYS, went online to my favorite cyber stores and found NOTHING!  I learned it was a discontinued color!  Why? Why? Why? When it is so beautiful?  I did not give up. I loved #70.  I craved #70.  I would have #70.  Finally I went to Ebay.  The only #70 was in kits with 2 balls.  I began buying kits.  After a while the seller asked me what I was doing.  I explained my obsession and my quest and the seller took pity on me.  Now I have 44 balls which lets me relax a little.  I had more before the Yokohama Jacket but I just couldn't see it in any other yarn.   

Isn't it beautiful!  I just love it.  I'm not sure I love the Yokohama Jacket or if I just love that beautiful, beautiful yarn.  I will asked Linda to take a picture of her Yokohama Jacket to put in the next blog.  

We started our KAL and had a ball.  We knit, drank coffee, knit, ate cookies, knit, told stories, knit and laughed a lot.  Everything was fun except those little points at the bottom of the sleeves and front opening.  Those were just tedious.  

Something I love to do (and am pretty good at) is find the perfect button/button combination for every sweater.  I think fabulous buttons can send a sweater from nice to spectacular.  Here I have four different colors of two sizes of the same button which I stack and tie with ribbon yarn.  At one time I thought I'd start a business where I would finish sweaters, i.e., steam, sew pieces together, pick out the perfect buttons and other finishing touches.  I was excited until Linda reminded me that I hated to do the finishing and had many things just waiting to be finished. She was right.  I don't like it, but I am great at it.  

I am toying with the idea of unraveling my Yokohama Jacket because I just realized I ONLY HAVE 44 BALLS LEFT!  YIKES!  I could knit something else beautiful without being afraid about running out of this discontinued yarn.  Oh,my!  I am obsessed and it isn't very attractive.

OMG!!!!  I just looked at The Weather Channel and freezing rain is predicted for tonight!  NO stocking stuffers, NO yarn for my stocking hat, NO fabulous day with Linda.  What a bummer.  Maybe they will be wrong.

Knitting opportunities and stories have been very abundant for the past few weeks.  In my desire to keep things current and fresh in my world of knitting, I have neglected the "50 Things Knitters Didn't Have 50 Years Ago" series.  If I am going to relieve the mystery and building tension, I'd better get on with this most exciting series. Just to review what we have already covered: 

  1)  THE SWIFTER AND THE YARN WINDER
  2)  INTERCHANGEABLE KNITTING NEEDLES
  3)  EXOTIC YARN
  4)  FELTING
  5)  LAURA BRYANT AND PRISM YARN
  6)  RAVELRY
  7) TILLI THOMAS YARN (SPARKLEY)
  8)  INTRELAC
  9) VALENTINA DEVINE
10)  HAND DYED YARN THAT STACKS AND SWIRLS
11)  LIGHTED KNITTING NEEDLES
12)  THE STANDARD YARN WEIGHT SYSTEM
13)  COLORS! COLORS! COLORS!
14)  PATTERNFISH

Here we go!  

Before I got the SWIFTER AND YARN WINDER, my balls of yarn were round and pulled from the outside.  You know what that means!  I spent most of my knitting time chasing balls of yarn all over as they rolled off the couch, across the floor often chased by the dog.  Today we have these BEAUTIFUL BOWLS AND OTHER HOLDERS to keep our yarn under control.  I would get so frustrated I would put my round ball of yarn in a box to keep it corralled.  But that didn't always work so well because the yarn would snag on the box and then I would swear.  It just wasn't a pretty site.  I remember when I saw my first bowl.  I immediately thought, "Why didn't I think of that?!?!?!"

The YARN BOWLS come in unlimited colors and designs.  I think this speaks to the yoga of knitting.  At least it speaks to me.  I know knitting calms me down and makes me a nicer person.  

I got this beautiful, wooden YARN HOLDER in the fabulous Silver Threads and Golden Needles in Franklin, North Carolina.  Some times when I am overwhelmed by my yarn stash, I buy other things when I visit my favorite LYS.  Remember, I believe it is my duty to single handedly keep every LYS solvent.  

There are even YARN HOLDER to take on trips.  I either always have this lovely tool or just a regular ziplock baggy to keep my yarn in when I travel.. I have had to chase a ball of yarn down the isle of a tour bus.  It is not a pretty site.  Standing on your head, trying to reach between some stranger's legs to retrieve a derelict  ball of yarn.

I love these things!  They are indispensable when sewing knitted parts together.  How many times have I been sewing the back to the front or closing under the arms only to discover I have three inches on one side and five on the other.  Take it out and start over.  I never like to use pins to hold pieces together because they weaken delicate yarn.  I think I will call these cute little pink things YARN PINS because I called the bowls YARN HOLDERS.  You need to have these little beauties in your tool kit.

Something knitters didn't have 50 years ago is definitely a TALLY COUNTER.  I still use paper and pencil just like in the olden days.  I make a line of numbers for rows and when I finish the row I check off the number.  It is just as easy as this little gizmo.  I make a note about the row like RS or WS, or special things that need to happen in the row.  Quite frankly, I can never remember if I've clicked the little button.  

My first question is "When did my hands become my mother's hands!?!?" This little thing fits over your finger.  It is right there where you need it, but it kinds of gets in my way.  I guess not all technology is needed or is an advancement.  Sometimes simpler is better.  

I really can't wait to show you the Christmas gifts.  I have some beauties this year.  I have more gifts than I have people to give to.  See you in a few days.

It is that time of year when knitters all over the world make their list.  Not a list of what they want for Christmas, a list of what they are going to knit for family and friends.  I used to be one of those people who would warm up the knitting needles, pick out projects too big, too complex and too many about this time of the year.  Remember when you didn't start thinking about Christmas  until the day after Thanksgiving? November and December would become eight weeks of total stress and distress.  I would burn the midnight oil nightly, go into work exhausted and start all over the next day.  I have even been known to pull an all-nighter on Christmas Eve finishing that last hand-knit Christmas gift.  There was no joy in Christmas knitting.  It was all about the product and not the fabulous process.

Then there was the year I knit the ugly vest for my boyfriend.  I didn't think it was ugly at the time, but as I look back on it, it was UGLY!  At the time I just had all of these warm, oogy feelings about him wearing something I made and thinking about me when he wore it.  He was a big guy, so I made a big vest--big enough for the Jolly Green Giant.  This is the vest that proved the prophecy.  You know the one that says if you knit something for your boyfriend, the relationship is doomed.  Some where into the next year The Boyfriend Sweater Prophecy came true for me.

I remember the year I made this for my Mom.  It was a huge undertaking and I didn't even know it.  I just knew that I loved the mohair and I loved the pattern so it was going to be beautiful.  I remember how my stomach would fill with butterflies every time I would work on it.  I was so excited.  It never occurred to me that it would have the comfort of prickery chainmaille and not be particularly flattering.  I just thought it was beautiful.  Without even knowing it, I had entered the world of Intarsia.  Going through my Mom's things as we were packing the house, I found this. Only the love of a mother would keep this for 40 years.

My approach to Christmas knitting is very different now.  I knit patterns I love with yarn that makes me sigh.  Somewhere as I knit the project a little voice says, "This is Barb's."  "This has Linda written all over it."  "Are you kidding?!?!? This can only be Erin's!"  This solves all of the problems of Christmas knitting.  I am always knitting things I love.  I am always knitting with yarn I love.  There is no midnight oil or all-nighters.  There is no stress and it is always about the process.  There is only the wonderful yoga of knitting for those I love. I have this wonderful pile of beautiful things I have been knitting this year.  Tomorrow I will climb my stairway to heaven, put on Christmas music and let the yarn speak to me.  Rather than me deciding who gets what, the yarns tells me where they want to go and it is always right.  

My best friend from college, Evie, and her husband just left after a fantastic weekend.  Evie is part of my "Friends" series about my friends and things I've made for them.  We have been friends for 44 years and it just gets better.

Now it's time to introduce you to another of my best friends, my sister Kathy.  Kathy and her husband Ken came last  weekend.  (You are going to think we run a Bed and Breakfast!)  The night before they left Atlanta, I called and said, "Don't forget to bring the stuff I've knit for you so I can take pictures."  She brought lots of stuff, but not everything.  So here we go.

The day Linda and I discovered Crafty Lady in Macomb, Michigan, I also discovered the Puzzle Jacket.  There was a sample knit up AND it was kitted, two of my favorite things.  I think I bought three sweater kits that day.  This was one.  I think I have made four beautiful sweaters all very different from this great pattern.  The very first one went to my sister.  Once again, this is one of those patterns that you're never really sure how it is going to fit until you are done.  That is so much more exciting and suspenseful than just knitting back and forth and being able to check measurements as you go.  

And from the back.  This is such a fun pattern.  It is very old.  If you can find a copy, live a little and make one.  You'll have a ball.

Probably twelve years ago, my Mom was having knee replacement surgery and Kathy came home for a visit.  (You know I completely loose track of time, so it could be even longer.)  Mom was in the hospital in Jackson, Michigan and I decided to check out a new yarn shop.  While there, Kathy saw this wrap and loved it.  She also saw this Noro Kureyon and loved it.  I just happened to have a tub of this yarn (Don't ask!  Remember my fear of finding the perfect pattern AFTER I have used the perfect yarn up.  When I love a yarn, I usually  stock up.)  You really can't tell but I also found the perfect pin.

Remember the infamous, scary, creepy snake scarf?  At the time I commented that I didn't have to buy any yarn because I have a tubful of green and brown yarn from a past project.  This is the project

In 2009, I decided that I was going to make The Great American Afghan for Kathy.  I started by buying one of the little books.  When I looked through it, there were some squares that were just too twinkie to include.  So I bought the other two little books.  Kathy and her husband have a lovely log home (not a log cabin, a log home) so I decided to make it in shades of browns and greens with most of the squares being something to do with nature.  Thus started my search for every shade of green, brown and beige in Cascade 220.  I must say this is much more beautiful in person than in this picture.  (Maybe some day I will get the lighting thing right.)  I must admit that I did go a little over board on buying green and brown yarn.  (It might not be the only time I've done something like that, for example 10 tubs of pink yarn from Survivor Shawls.)  I took the  very best patterns out of each book trying to keep to a nature theme. I worked so hard on this and was shocked when it was totally done before Thanksgiving.  I have been known to need to pull an all-nighter on Christmas Eve to get Christmas gifts finished.  I had this great idea that I was going to make it very elegant by lining it will velvet.  Doesn't that sound beautiful?!?!?  When it was finished, it weighed a ton so no velvet lining.  Kathy would never be able to get out from under it with a velvet lining.  To this day she would be trapped under her beautiful afghan unable to get up from her couch.  This beautiful afghan led to my 2010 Year of Selfish Knitting which led to my commitment to Survivor Shawls.  Isn't it great how things are tied together!  I do love this afghan.  

Remember my master piece Kauni double knitted scarf?  This was also a gift for Kathy.  I will never make another!  One of a kind! At least I know someone has it who loves it and appreciates it.

It is so great to have people in your life to love and appreciate fiber art.  (That is what I considered my knitting.  One day I called myself a "Fiber Artist" and thought "WOW! That's me")

There is one more fantastic gift which Kathy couldn't find before they came.  It is one of my favorite things I have ever knit.  Actually, I have many favorite things.  Some day Kathy will find it and send me a picture.  Then I can tell another story.  I do love to tell stories.