Progress

I've been trying to work on personal and shop stuff resently.

Here you see the progress I've made on the March sweater.

Though as I was working on it I noticed something.

A, that I had a helper and really need to keep my papers up.

(the yellow arrow)

B, that the written pattern and the photo on the pattern don't match up. It seems that the auther changed the pattern a bit after the sample was made. 

(green arrow)

I get that some times you rethink things, but if you are selling a pattern, please make the photographs match the written pattern. People buy patterns because of the photograph. If you change a chunk of it, retake the damn photograph. 

(hopping off soap box)

I finally started spinning Hoppers fluff. 

It would seem that the "long draw" method is the best for his shorter cut 100% angora stuff. I think it will have a really nice halo when plied up.  

 Though i was thinking of plying it with some white Alpaca.

I've been continuing with the quilt block of the month too. 

These are hexagon blocks. I think they turned out quiet well.  

Also it would seem that blogger has fixed some of the things that annoy me about working with it. So i'll stick around for now. 

Though there wont be much time for blogging. Art-A-Whirl is coming up and I'm going to be in a booth at the 331 club here in Minneapolis for 3 days. I need to make a lot more ties, handspun yarn, batts and maybe some knit toys before I'm ready to just sell my stuff for 3 days. 

Wish me luck, or better yet, come and see me. 

shop-hop-day2- ColdWater

shop-hop-day2-8, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here is stop 13's kit. Love those buttons.

shop-hop- Charms

shop-hop-day2-9, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here are all the charms. It was a very fun shop hop. Thanks for participating all you great shops.

shop-hop-day2- Needle Works

shop-hop-day2-7, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here is stop 12's yarn that I got.

shop-hop-day1- Steven Be

shop-hop-day1-13, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here is stop 11's safari yarn and pattern.

shop-hop-day1- The Yarnery

shop-hop-day1-11, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Stop 10 and a book that I've been looking for.

shop-hop-day1-3 Kittens

shop-hop-day1-16, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Stop 8 and a nice blue yarn from the 3 Kittens.

shop-hop-day1- Darn-Knit-Anyway

shop-hop-day1-15, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Stop 7s London hat yarn. You can never go wrong with Lorna's Laces

shop-hop-day1- Double Ewe

shop-hop-day1-8, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

4th stops Apple Pie yarn.

shop-hop-day1- Shepherd Choice

shop-hop-day1-7, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

The 3rd stops orifice hook.

shop-hop-day1- Amazing Theards

shop-hop-day1-10, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

The yarn from stop too. Pink is not my color but this will be nice for a gift knit don't you think.

shop-hop-day1-Crafty Planet

shop-hop-day1-12, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here is the yarn and pattern from Crafty Planet.

shop-hop-day2- Skiens

shop-hop-day2-5, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Skiens was our last stop.
They had run out of the special yarn, but here it is worked up in the pattern. You can order it and they will mail it too you though when they get the next batch.

shop-hop-day2- ColdWater

shop-hop-day2-4, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

ColdWater had a great kit for making a Fibonacci pillow with Icelandic wool. I got one of the kits that has horn buttons.

shop-hop-day2- Needle Works

shop-hop-day2-3, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

Here is a close up of the little skeins.

shop-hop-day2-- Needle Works

shop-hop-day2-2, a photo by ikisti on Flickr.

This seems to be the only way to show the images, Here is Needle Works Yarn.

Yarn Shop Hop Day 1 part 3 (too many images for bloggers liking)

So blogger still doesn't want me to share many more than 4-5 images with you at a time. But hopefully you like some of the ones it will let me share.

On ward and up ward.

Stillwater is a town I like visiting. When it is nice out one can stroll around the town for hours. There are shops and houses too look at. And there is Darn.Knit.Anyway.

They have even provided seating for those who are drug along to yarn shops against their will. I always love visiting with Amy and Carly. And seeing all the sample knits every where in the shop.

They had the stamping/charm/donation/drawing area in the class room with the sale yarn. Sneaky.

They were doing an England and tea for their country. Oh yah, all the stores have countries they are representing here is a Rav thread with the list.

We stopped and had lunch at the Caribbean BBQ place next door. That was not my smartest move. It put me in a bit of a food coma and too a little to long. But it was really tasty.

Next up, 3 Kittens Needle Arts. Bunger thought that would be a good name for a tattoo shop. I can see it. I like the new (to me) location and the lay out. They were all super friendly and insisted that we had some Swedish fish before we left.

Yarn Garage, The Yarnery and Steven Be's were the last 3 we made it to.

I must admit that I was starting to lose my drive about this time. I don't know if it was the food coma, or just a day of driving and trying to fallow directions but I was getting done.

I didn't get anything at the Yarn Garage, though I did look at the specialty Zen that they got in. It was mostly a strong red with lots of sparks.

The Yarnery was pretty busy but they were able to help us out right quick. Though my budget was getting slim at this point and the yarn wasn't calling to me.

Weird I know.

Steven Be's was a bit like a party. Lots of people, friendly chatty worker, and Steven of course. I think he might have gotten the most excited about specialty yarns because he had 3 of them I think.

Sorry there aren't any pictures of this, my battery (on me not the camera) was really running low.

Here is where my card stands. Only 3 stores to hit tomorrow.

Then a post with all the spoils. If I can figure out how to get Blogger to let me post more than 4 images. :)

Yarn Shop Hop Day 1 part 2 (so many images)

Continued from part 1.

One of the nice things about the Shop Hop was the route I planed. We took a few hyws but mostly we went the more direct way which took us on some back roads.

There is a lot of cool stuff to look at on back roads, but we had plans so there was no stopping for shooting pictures.

There is always time for pictures at yarn stores though.

This was the Double Ewe, like a lady sheep. They had a really nice specialty yarn and pattern and it wasn't crazy $ so I go some. I'm starting to enjoy knitting with red earthy tones. I still don't really wear any though. Oh, they also had great yarn winding stations set up for winding up your bought yarn.

Then it was on to A Sheepy Yarn Shop* in White Bear Lake. They have rearranged the store since the last shop hop I did. It felt way more open and inviting. They had some Peruvian wool that was pretty but didn't have the feel that I enjoy knitting with.

Then we drove around White Bear Lake to get to Lila and Claudine's

Their knitted selves were out front to greet all the knitters on the hop.

The specialty yarn in their shop was very, very bright as you can see.

Again not quiet my thing, but Bunger found some yarn that he was looking for.

He's a scarf making fool.

3 more shops down. By now it was 1pm. Still making good time but getting hungry. If anyone is reading this and they are going to Lila and Claudine's when you buy something you get a 10% off coupon for the coffee shop next door. We really should have stopped in there.....

*there apears to be a problem with A Sheepy Yarn Shoppe's web page so that's a yelp link.

Yarn Shop Hop Day 1 part 1 (so many images)

So yesterday was the first day of the 6th annual Yarn Shop Hop of the Twin Cities and surrounding area. I say surrounding area because really, there was a lot of 'burbs in there.

So new knitter Bunger and I went out at 10am to the Coffee Shop NE and to the shops. I love the stopping into the coffee shop because everyone there is friendly and they always have tasty treats.

Across the street is Crafty Planet. They are my local shop that gets me in trouble all the time. Not only do they have tasty yarns, knit picks interchangeable needles, but tons of great fabrics.

They had a fun yarn and pattern. It is 2 skeins wrapped together and you can make matryoshka dolls or anything else like color block socks out of the skeins.

From there we headed to Amazing Threads in Maple Grove.

Now when I work out at the MG store I know how to get there to have a nice lunch break. Though you have to pass by a bunch of mounds of dirt to get there.

The next shop was Shepherd's Choice. They have tons of spinning stuff there. I was super happy to find that out because I just lost the orifice hook for my lady bug wheel. So I was able to get a replacement one.

Also, they had the some of the cutest knitted critters in their shop.

By now it was 11:30am, I think. But I figure 3 shops in 1 1/2 hours was making pretty good time. There were still 11 shops to go....