Showing posts with label MOK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MOK. Show all posts

Saturday, May 8

Spring Retreat



My oh My what a weekend!!


Perfect Weather


Perfect companionship


Perfect, delicious and abundant food



Perfect knitting and Crocheting (well there was some pulling out)



Perfect Conversations and Food



Perfect View from our Window



Perfect Relaxation


Perfect Concentration (this is actually a rare moment of concentration)


Perfect Walks


Yes it was the Perfect Weekend!!!


Click here to see all our pics

Wednesday, February 10

New Video

We are starting to add video to my website.
This is only possible because this is what Mr. Marvel does for a living. Not only is he talented but he is also very patient. I would not even think about doing videos without him doing all the shooting, asking the great questions and then creating editing magic.

Thankfully he is not only willing to do all the work, but is also able to get me past my inhibitions with cameras and insists that I really can to do this.




So thanks Marvelman, you get all of the credit.
I couldn't be teaching out of our home without your love and enthusiasm for what I am doing.

Saturday, January 23



The new classes have been up for a week now and the sign-ups have been going really well. Putting up the classes always increase the number of people checking out my site.

While looking at stats to see what was going on, I realized that I actually have people reading my blog.

Yup, not only are people coming during the week I have put up new classes, they come back on a regular basis.

Yup, there are people reading this blog. And the numbers are actually higher then the number of my friends and students.

I find this amazing. I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. I am so greatful that someone, or as it turns out several someones, are actually taking the time to read my pages and then come back and do it again.

Thank You Thank You Thank You.

On with the knitting!
Since putting classes up, I have been busy knitting the samples for the classes. I selected the classes a little differently this time around. Instead of thinking about what I thought you, the student, might want to knit I decided to pick things I really wanted to knit.

What a difference that made. I have found that because I am excited about what we are going to be knitting so are you. I am also having a blast knitting everything up.



First up is the Mosaic Stole. This is a slip stitch pattern and it has been really fun knit. I have had to do some color managment with the noro silk garden lite I am using. There are 4 shades that are in the same family (pinks and corals). I don't want them coming up at the same time because, well, that would be too much pink and coral going on.

Solution? I rewound the balls so I could see what was happening with the colors and then figured out where I should start the two strands so that, in theory, those color families will not show up at the same time. I have a feeling I will have some more management to do before I get to the end of this project.

In hindsight, (don't you just love hindsight? I only wish we could have it more often as foresight), I would use noro colors that had more, distinctly different colors in one skein. The whole project would probably flow better.


Next up is the Hemlock Ring Blanket. It is finally on my needles. I have wanted to knit this for a very long time. I have had the yarn in my stash for maybe a year now. Any time it came to the top of my list I would place it back down to the bottom in favor of projects that were more pressing at the time. Now it is on the "I need to knit list" and guess what??



I am loving this pattern. It took me a couple of times out of the gate to get it going but it is moving right along now.

I started with an alpaca yarn I bought for this project a long time ago. It was a light worsted weight yarn and this pattern really needs the heavy worsted. I could have gone down needle sizes and it would have worked just fine but I really wanted to use heavier yarn so it would be a thicker blanket and it would work up faster.

So into the stash I went and came up with 7 skeins of City Tweed from Knitpicks that I had originally bought for a cardigan. Now it will keep me warm as a blanket. I am about done with my 3rd skein as I write this and it really is coming out lovely.



Next on my needles will be the rainbow scarf (rav link) and the Nona's Garden Pillow. I know, it is a shawl, but I just have this feeling that I will end up with a pillow. Which suites me just fine.

Monday, January 11

Year of Color

I have been putting together the classes for the next few months. Almost everything I am drawn to right now has a lot of color in it. There are so many things to choose from it is hard not to just start one project after the other.

Luckily I have friends to help me make my choices. Because I teach knitting I am able to pick out some of my favorite things to knit and then see if there are others who want to learn to do the same thing.

I used to have to guess at this. But now there is a great online site, "survey monkey" that allows me to send my ideas out to my mailing list and see what everyone thinks about my choices before I schedule them. Of course I still knit things that are not on my class list. But I love that I can knit some wonderful things and share the joy with others.

Here are some of the projects I am really excited about.

Byzantine Scarf by Susan Pandorf
(thanks Debra for finding this one)

The magic of these beautiful colors are accomplished by using a technique known as Mosaic knitting. Only one color is used per row along with some slip stitches. Looks much more involved then it is. Love that!


Then there is this lovely Rainbow scarf. (rav. link)

Double knitting and one skein of yarn used from both ends is the magic behind this color wonder. Another very impressive scarf for such a simple technique.


The one project I am really going to sink my teeth into is the "Mona's Shawl".

This is going to be a KAL with some of us knitting the shawl and then several people have opted to knit the "East meets West" bag. Knitpicks


Both projects are what color knitting is all about.

This is the Year of Color for me. I want to really push myself and see where it leads me. Want to join me?


Harika Socks by Stephanie van der Linden
(thanks Lisa for pointing these out)


What are some of your goals for knitting this year?

Sunday, November 15

Knitting Retreat at Lake Arrowhead

Marvels of Knitting's First Knitting Retreat!
It was at Lake Arrowhead the first weekend of Nov. 2009

16 of us went and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect. The food amazing. The laughs and knitting plentiful. The friendships and time with each other dare I say "Priceless".

Our Home for the weekend right on the lake.



Settling in for the weekend.




Cindy's Socks are Done!



The view was wonderful from the deck.



It was cool but we had a lot of hand knits to keep us warm!



Judy knitting out on the deck.



Sylvia is wearing and knitting her scarf at the same time!



Debra on dinner duty.



Rebecca cooking dinner with style.



The Surprise project for the weekend. The gnomes quickly multiplied. pattern here



Here they are in their own habitat!



We were already talking about the next one as we cleaned up from the weekend. Spring time at the beach??
You can see all the pictures here