Pete modeling Sophia’s hat. It doesn’t quite fit him right. Hopefully it fits her better

Description: Pumpkin Headgear for Sophia
Pattern: Pumpkin Hat by Susan Esser
Yarn used: .43 skeins of Bernat Softee Chunky Colorway Burnt Orange (100% acrylic ) 100g / 164 yds
Care Instructions: Machine washable
Needle Size: US 10 (6mm)
Modifications: I knit on a US 10 just because the fabric looked better than on a US 9
Finished Size: about 17″
Date Started: 9/30/2008
Date Completed: 10/1/2008
Notes: If I were to make it again I think I would plan out the leaf layout better from the beginning but I swear once she puts it on she’ll be too damned cute for it to matter.

Sophia’s Hat – leaf detail

Sophia’s Hat – side view

Cory’s been doing a lot of modeling lately. The scarf is a little big on him.

Description: Mama T’s Handspun Scarf
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn used: 194 yds (177m) of Coridale Sheep spun by Judy of Five Points Llamas
Care Instructions: Handwash
Needle Size: US 6 (4.0 mm)
Modifications: I modified this to be a scarf so it’s a lot smaller.
Finished Size: 5″ x 64″ (13 cm x 162 cm)
Date Started: 8/23/2008
Date Completed: 8/28/2008
Notes: This worked out pretty well. I could have probably done another repeat but I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn. I had also already ripped it back once to add in another repeat so I decided to just go with it this time.

Full length view (folded in half)

Detail view

Me! and the rest of the Clintonville Knit gang. I knew they were coming as of Wednesday and decided to keep it as a surprise for everyone else. (Well, I told one person so I could get assistance saving seats at the restaurant.) The funny thing is, even though no one *knew* all the regulars decided to show up so we had about 15 people in attendance! That’s a bit larger than our normal crowd but not too overwhelming. Mary-Heather, Jess and Casey arrived about 45 minutes into our knit night. There were some folks who were quite surprised! We had a grand time just sitting, knitting, drinking beer (well not me, I don’t do beer) and eating. They brought along some buttons and stickers that were passed around. I also got to see the new tri-fold handouts for advertising.

The boy rolled in after his happy hour was over to hang out for a little bit as well. He took pictures with other folks’ cameras because silly me remembered my camera but not my memory card. Alas, I do not have my own pictures. Perhaps once everyone returns home from their travels I will be able to swipe pictures from other people. For now you get text.

Oh and I started seaming my sweater. I must have it done before I go on vacation because it could be cold!

At the Raverly party Saturday night the boy won Shear Spirit. He was quite excited! I also spent a good chunk of time talking to Ron from Buffalo Gold. He and his wife are very nice and have a beautiful product. Someone at the party won 4 skeins! of buffalo gold which makes for a cool $400 grand prize. Some day, some day I will find some cash to buy a couple of skeins and make something pretty for myself or something soft for the the boy.

Sunday I started my shopping having been unimpressed by anything on Saturday. I think the real problem was that Saturday everything was way too crowded and busy for me to even see anything that I wanted. I bought some gorgeous orange lace weight from Clover Hill Yarn Shop specially dyed by Mama E. I also got 3 skeins of W4 Soft Touch W4 from Shelridge Farm. The boy lucked out too because we also found some yarn for his Berkshire Pullover – 6 skeins of Rowan Big Wool for $30 (it normally retails at $15/skein)! We still need to find one more skein in that colorway but really it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Other excitement from Sunday included getting Shear Spirit signed by the photographer. We also spent an hour hanging out and chatting with Gord Lendrum of Lendrum Spinning Wheels. He is a very sweet and low key man. My friend Aimee‘s wheel and broken on her way up to MD. She found out he was there and would fix her wheel so we brought it back on Sunday. He fixed it in under a minute and then sat around talking to us. He and the boy ended up getting into a discussion about CNC routers and PLCs (if that’s greek to you, don’t worry, you are not in the minority!) As we were walking away it was cute because the boy was still trying to come up with ideas to solve Gord’s issue.

There will be more pictures later, but I need to make some sort of light box because I haven’t found a good spot for taking photos in the new house. For now, enjoy the pictures from the festival.

The boy and I with the Raverly employees, Jess, Casey and MH!

Jess and Casey mingling, the boy mingling

At the festival we will of course look at the fiber goodness, pet animals and help out Jess and Casey with any tasks they need done. There is also a rumour that there will be a Ravelry party Saturday night and we will of course assist with that as well. It will be so great to finally meet folks in person as well as catch up with old long cherished friends. I am also hoping to pop into one of my favorite yarn shops from Baltimore and try out the ones I missed before I moved. I know Cloverhill will have a booth at the festival so I will go check them out there.

Now dear readers I need your assistance. I gave up yarn for Lent and have yet to buy any since Easter. I want to get something lovely as well as try something new. I also want to take advantage of the yarn accessibility at the festival but alas I do not know which yarns to pounce on. Can you recommend your favorite yarns or yarns that I really must try at least once in my life? I would be much obliged!

It was fun to watch the first surge arrive. Nationwide Arena has escalators to take folks to the 2nd level and we watched the knitters and crocheters as they rode the escalator with their bags that gave them away. (The boy says you can always tell a knitter/crocheter because they always have a couple of bags.) Everyone was pleased and had fun checking out their goodie bags. The goodie bags consisted of the following:

Each person received either an IK or IC magazine and at random. There were also 3 different patterns and folks received one of them at random. The colors of yarn also varied at random.

When we gave each person a goodie bag they also received a listing of which vendors had donated to the event and what they donated. (The fun part about that list was that at 2pm I realized that I had forgotten to include one business so I began to write that company in by hand on all 100 sheets that had been printed out. Thankfully, my mom stepped in and helped or I wouldn’t have finished!) Everyone also filled out a raffle slip that I had created specifically for this event. The raffle slips included their row and seat numbers so that we could deliver all the door prizes during the game. I got to meet several people that I have been communicating with online and through Ravelry. It was all very fun!

Once the first period started our Blue Jackets contact said that the usual guy who ran the Season Ticket Holders booth would be coming and could hand out our bags as well so that we could watch the game. Score! We cleaned up the area as we didn’t really have very many bags left at that point and instructed him on all the intricacies of passing out bags.

I came back down during the 1st intermission to check on the progress. I think one of my favorite interactions was a guy who came down, read our sign and then said “ahh so this is what all the stitching is about!” He informed me that he had a seat in the back row of our section and was surrounded by knitters. “There were all these people knitting and it just blew my mind!” I heart good sports. There were a few other folks who came over to read the signs and seemed interested in the idea.

During the 2nd intermission I separated out the raffle slips to start the drawings aided by my little brother and my boyfriend. We drew for the crochet prizes and then dumped the crocheters who didn’t win in with the knitters and undecideds for the general prizes. After all the prizes were assigned and the 3rd period began my poor 14 yo brother was sent by himself to deliver Raverly totes and tees to the winners. Let’s just say he was popular. One of the attendees TechnoCowboy looked at him while he was reviewing the winning slips and said call my name. My brother was like hmm are you ___? And he was! Too funny!

The winner of the $100 gift certificate to YarnMarket didn’t seem the least bit disappointed. Our family friends that came along to support my event walked away with two of the door prizes. One of them even won some of the gorgeous handspun donated by Five Llamas. We had 25 door prizes and about 100 attendees so 1 in every 4 people won a prize! Talk about your good odds. The final stats are:

• 113 tickets sold
• 92 goodie bags distributed
• 96 raffle slips submitted

We collected 100 blocks for Warm Up America. I will be contacting one of the local organizations Warm Up Worthington to donate the blocks to. Sadly, the Blue Jackets lost but the rest of the game was great and we should have another one next year!

Feel free to leave feedback from the event here or over on the Sticks N Stitches page. Also check out more pictures from the event: photos and door prizes.

• As of noon today there are only 18 tickets sold for the event.
• There will be a knitting raffle to win a Harmony Guide collection from Interweave Press of their Fall 2007 knitting guides.
• There will be a crocheting raffle to win a copy of Crochet Me by Kim Werker.
• Colorado Avs had their event this past Saturday. More details at Knitting Daily.
• I am going to visit the Columbus Yarn shops again this Saturday to try to make another push.
• Interweave is donating goody bags for each participant and will be mailing them to me after TNNA.

Please drop me a line here or on Ravelry if you have any questions or need ticket information. Also, if it is at possible, please do not wait until the last minute to buy your tickets. My biggest fear for this event is that a lot of people will buy their tickets Saturday night before the game and I won’t have enough goody bags for everyone.

Warm Up America! Foundation
2500 Lowell Rd.
Ranlo, NC 28054

PLEASE NOTE that Warm Up America! can only accept NEW afghans.

I plan to knit a rectangle for each person I am bring to Sticks N Stitches and my mother is crocheting a rectangle for each person she is bringing. I encourage anyone coming to please bring a rectangle for each person in your group, if possible. We can then stitch the blankets together at the game.

For patterns for the sections check out the Warm Up America website or look in the book Knitting for Peace.