Stitches East - Day 2 - 11/09/2013

The mother, daughter adventure continues with another day of learning, shopping and fun fun fun.

 

You might have noticed something interesting about Mom and I look closely and see if you can find it.

How about now, check this one out.

There you go, yes Mom and I were representing Flowertown Knitting Guild at Stitches. We wore our guild shirts both days thanks to Mom's handy dandy washer and dryer.

Our only class on Saturday was Blocking with Patty Lyons, she is super awesome. After Patty's blocking class we went to hear Rick Mondragon (editor of Knitter's magazine) talk about the magazine. Check out the scarf it is an original pattern of mine and I got quite a lot of comments on is, so much that I am going to write up the pattern and send it to two of my NEW test knitters. YEAH!!!

Rick is on the left and Benjamin Levisay, the CEO of XRX, Inc. is on the right. I know people :)

 

Check out this panoramic that my Mom took of the Market.

I know it is small, so here are some other singles of the market.

 

 

Huge huh!!!!!

 

 

Well, to keep you wanting more I will hold off on posting about the items that I won, got for free or bought  at the expo, later in the week.

 

 

Knitting back home in SC,

Victoria

Stitches East - Day 1 - 11/08/2013

Stitches East

Mother and daughter take on the world of Knitting Conferences!!!

 First up was Basic Bead Knitting with Deanna Van Assche. We made a fabulously easy knitted/beaded bracelet. It was one of those projects where you are told specifically NOT to over think it, just go with the flow (photos of the finished project to come). My favorite Deanna quote was, "You can be perfect later, get the skill first."

Second on the list was our Magic Reversible Cable class with Cindy Craig. We made a 6 in. bookmark (photos of the finished project to come). 

Third on the list was How to Pick your Fiber with Stacey Trock. She had a fiber petting zoo, ooooohhhhhh-aaaaaaahhhhhhh. Stacey is a wealth of information and like a pixie jacked up on coffee, so cute. 

I love Melissa Leapman, she is an extremely talented knitting designer. 

So as if the Stitches conference was not enough there was a party/open house at my Mom's local yarn shop, Creative Fibers in Windsor, Ct.

We went, we ate, we knit, we met new friends, I shopped and little ole' me won the very first door prize and sweet shawl knitting kit (photos of my loot to come).

So it is late and Mom and I have another day of classes and meeting people tomorrow. I will let you know how day two goes.

Happy with Knitting Fever,

Victoria

Praying to the porcelain gods at my first knitting show!

Catchy title huh, but it is not what you think...

So yesterday I went to the 2013 Fall Knit and Crochet Show in Concord, NC which was put on by TKGA and CGOA. It was a lovely day with friends even if I  had to drive 3 hours each way and prayed to the porcelain gods, but I will get to that later.

I had several goals during this show.

     1. Check out the booth's:
     2. Get myself out there as a knitting blogger and designer: 
     My main 2 goals at the show were to check out the shows market place (booth's) and to get myself out there as a knitting blogger and designer. Well the blogger thing happened a little, I chatted up a few people. My favorite was talking with Julie Farmer, that is Julie on the right and she designed that oh so cute bumble bee outfit on the bottom part of the banner.

Checking out the market place was like having eye candy all around.

     3. Gather information for Flowertown Knitting Guild (I am presenting the October program on TKGA):

     I got some wonderful information for my guild and can't wait to be able to share what I learned with them in just a few weeks.

     4. Check out the process of talking with publishers:

     Now, I know that my KBS (Knitting Big Sister, Tamara Goff) had been in the land of design and conquer for the past several months in preparation for this event. She was planning on showing her brilliant designer self to the publishers at the show. In turn I knew that I was not ready for that, so I just wanted to find out the process and be uber prepared for the next show. Well it didn't quite go that way because my instigator friends Angela and Tamara convinced me to talk with publishers right then and there without any samples or designs and I of course hopped right in line. I spoke with 2 different women, both quite knowledgeable and encouraging. One of them bought 2 patterns from my KBS, Tamara, on the spot. Yeah you! Also, the same woman was interested in a few patterns that I described so...Yeah me!

     5. Hang out with my knitting gal pals:
     After the hoopla of the publishers, my friends and I had lunch.

From left to right we have Jessica, Tamara, Angela and me.

     6. Find nice yarn:
     This was not a problem. Let me tell...no, let me show you!

OH-la-la, so luscious! If I get 10 comments requesting the info on this yarn I will give you the specifics. I know I am evil.

Now to the part I know that you all want to hear about the porcelain gods. OK, it goes like this, settle in for a story.

A small town girl gets up early in the morning and drives 3 hours just to see her first Knitting Show. She is uneasy and nervous...

Well, I have written a lot already, so briefly here's what happened. I got a migraine just before lunch and decided I needed to lay down in my friends room. Just a few short moments later I gave my lunch back to the hotel by praying to the porcelain gods. Nothing exciting, actually kind of gross I know, but it is the truth.

There is so much more, but I am plain tuckered out so you will just have to check back with me later.

Knitting sans migraine,

Victoria

 



Do NOT leave your 15 month old in the other room with your knitting.

What damage can a 15 month old do in 20 minutes?

ALOT!!!!!

So I was feeling a little drained and decided to call my mother and catch up. I went into my den so that I could have a conversation in semi-quite territory (there is not much of that at my house with 2 kids ages 3 and under). Twenty minutes, thirty tops is all that I was on the phone for and this is what I found when I got back into my living room.

A BIG tangled mess of yarn from multiple skeins. I was amazed at the chaos what she, the 15 month-old, had created. This is how I left my knitting when I went to call my mother.

Oh the joys, it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to untangle the 11 skeins of yarn. I am so glad that there were several season premieres on TV last night. But on the bright side today I added the final 2 skeins for the blanket that I amd doing for the fair.

Yes, you counted correctly there are 13 skeins of yarn for the blanket. I am hoping to be half way done by Monday so that I can start decreasing and getting some of those skeins out of the reach of my beautiful 15 month old.

Talk to you later and happy knitting,

Victoria



The sane mind of a Knitter...really?

The inner workings of a knitters mind is very complex and interesting. Here is an example for you:
 
A knitter (not me of course ;) has a deadline for completing a project and knows that s/he will not be able to get it done. 
 

• A non-knitter would buckle down and commit to getting as much done as possible.
• The interesting part is what happens in a knitters mind. In acknowledgement of the missed deadline the knitter decides to spend valuable time going thru knitting books and patterns to find the perfect easy and QUICK project so that there is a new project completely different from the original to have by the deadline. Then spends an afternoon working feverishly to finish the QUICK project. Now the complex part of the knitters mind is that the knitter still has every intention of finishing the original project (now the second project) and giving it as planned when it is done.

So this example leads us to many questions, such as:

• Why start a second project?
• Why not give the original project to someone else?
• Why didn't the knitter commit to the quick easy project in the first place?
• Why the difference between a knitter and non-knitter?
• Why didn't the knitter plan the right amount of time for the project?
• Why not just forget the project and act like it never existed?

I do have to say that the baby hat came out great,

 

After all morning searching for the perfect easy and QUICK project, Preemie Beanie (page 13) in the wonderful knitting book easy as 1-2-3 skeins was it.

 

 

Now just a reminder that this is a completely normal thing for a knitter... so I fit in and am perfectly sane for making a last minute quick baby hat for my expectant friend and will ship here the baby blanket that I did not get done as soon as possible.

YEAH FOR SANITY.   HEHEHE!

Night and talk to you next time.

Happily and sanely knitting,

Victoria

Let there be TWO...Twice!

Once 
I finished sock TWO, I am proud to say that I no longer suffer from single sock syndrome. YEAH!!!

As my mother-in-law says they are fraternal twins. I have enough yarn left over to do 2 more socks that will match each of these. So I will be able to wear either fraternal or identical twins socks. Hehehe!!
 
Twice
Tonight I hosted a Charity Knit Night Potluck and there were TWO of us. Miss Cathy was nice enough to take time out of her evening to come and knit with me for charity. The charity projects are knitted by the members of The Flowertown Knitting Guild and our current projects are child size hats for Flowertown Elementary School and child and adult sizes for Tri-County Family Ministries.

So cute and so pretty.

 
 

What to do?

What do you do when your knitting friend/mentor admits that she thinks YOU are "occasionally intimidating because of your immense pools of inner mojo"? Her words not mine check out her latest blog. Well of course you send the happy mojo right back at her and let her know that you are just as intimidated by her vast journey doing this lovely thing that we call knitting.

So, Tamara Goff, I think that you are an inspiration to knitters everywhere, I have long told my mother, Carol, that when I grow up as a knitter I want to be like you. Then I realized that I need to be my own knitting person and decided to start this blog. Because face it I do not think the world could handle Tamara and Tamara clone (me) :).

There are quite a few folks that I have met over the years that inspire me and help pile on those "immense pools of inner mojo" that I apparently have.

Tamara, I mentioned above and yes I have a knitting crush on her.

Susan Stark, singer and songwriter, is a wonderfully talented spiritual singer. I have known Susan for over 20 years and even shared a room with her while she was recording her album Phoenix Sings at Sundown. She is a shining example of following your heart where ever it may lead.

Emily, owner of The Village Knittery, has what I would consider my dream job (minus everything but the mass amount of yarn). She owns the local yarns shop and at this moment is getting ready to move to a larger store. She also has a knack for knowing exactly what you need thanks to her extensive knitting knowledge and she designs her own patterns too. WOW!

Beverley, founder of Just Be Center in Connecticut, is a instinctually intuitive person who provides personalized heart-centered consulting services and body-centered health promoting therapies from a natural, holistic approach. Let me tell you she is a miracle worker.

Ashley, who has a podcast A Spinner's Whirled, is a pusher (I mean that in a great way) she kept pushing me to write the pattern for Helen's Blanket that I will be publishing next month in October.

These 5 women inspire me and are also listed in a column to the right --->   titled Cool Folks I Know. I will be adding more in the future but for now this is a gracious plenty.

Talk to you next time happily knitting,

Victoria

Why wait?

Hello and welcome to Savery Knitting where motherhood, knitting and a career happily collide!

I have been contemplating starting a blog in between raising a 1 year old, a 3 year old, occasionally a 13 year old, taking care of a 2 year old during the work week, the house, knitting and being a wife. Sure I have tons of time to spare, LOL. I kept setting deadlines for starting and keeping up with a blog but something always got in the way.

To find out a little bit more about me please go to the About Me page.

So here I am no excuses and no more delays, plus it is FRIDAY the 13th (my lucky number/day).

WELCOME TO SAVERY KNITTING!!!!!