Archive for the 'events' Category
Wahoo! I get to go to Banff!!
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
(Map courtesy www.banff.com)
Amy Swenson wrote a few days ago to invite me to teach at her shop(Make One Yarn Studio)’s Fall Fiber Arts Retreat. We had talked about it briefly a few weeks ago, but I didn’t want to say anything until it was for sure for sure.
I am so looking forward to it. Amy and I have been friends since the early days. (Amy’s been blogging as Indigirl since 1996 and I’ve had this blog since 1998.) We started out together, in a way, and it is so cool to be doing a workshop together. I have a really cute picture of me and Amy together at one of the TNNAs, but I can’t find it! If I do, I’ll post it.
Teaching at workshops is my new favorite thing. I love meeting people, especially other knitters. And…I get to talk about knitting and yarn for the whole weekend!
I’ll be teaching:
Anatomy of a Top-Down Sweater
Fitting Your Knits
Converting Flat Patterns to Circular
I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place for a knitting retreat!!
It’ll be so wintry and cozy there!! ACK.
(Mildly hyperventilating.)
Posted in Trips, events | 6 Comments »
Knitting in the Heartland…the short version
Monday, April 7th, 2008
I’m back home, feeling totally inspired and maybe even a little bit gung ho, and knitting SOCKS! We JUST stepped through the door and I had to sit down and write about my weekend before I sit down to knit and review Glam Knits.
FIRST…let me tell you that the Sunflower Knitters Guild can organize a
convention! Everything was so wonderfully put together. Events ran on schedule, people and things were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there…and if not…someone made sure that that changed QUICKLY. And the vendor market was EXCELLENT. I went over budget by a healthy 50%. So much variety and lots of things that I’d heard of but hadn’t seen in person before.
Oh! And I started knitting a pair of SOCKS (in happy-feet!) How long since I’ve knit socks? The last pair I finished was probably 2003. Seriously. I’m knitting them toe up with a short-row heel. And so far, I’m not using any instructions, just trying to knit from memory…we’ll see how that goes when I get to the heel!
I’m SO glad that I was invited to go!!
(This is Jo. We’ve known each other online for a LONG time and FINALLY got to meet this weekend. Well, this is Jo after several very hectic days and a few nights of no sleep!)
On Friday, Jo and Teri met Me, Mom and Mazie at the airport. They were nice enough to take us all the way to the hotel to hand Mazie off to her eagerly awaiting Japel grandparents (who had decided that we were just too close to them in Sioux City not to drive down and visit us) before taking us to the cutest and best-stocked yarn shop I’ve seen in a WHILE. Amber has done a really great thing in opening Miskints! I picked up a couple hanks of Happy Feet ( colorway 8 ) and a T-shirt (that I’m wearing right now!)
We went to dinner with most of the organizing committee (Me, Mom, Jo, Teri, Jo, Sandra) at Blue Koi. I got the shrimp with Chinese Curry…YUM. After that, it was back to the hotel to hang out with M&M (Marv and Mary) a while, knit, and get ready for Saturday.
I taught “Fitted Knits Techniques” first and “Airy Wrap” second. We figured out how to custom size the airy wrap for these who are in-between sizes. It was such a genuine pleasure to teach these knitters! I’m STILL in awe as to how knowledgeable they are and REALLY in awe as to how gung ho they are! They were such a treat!
Saturday night, we went to dinner with 20 KC area knitters! How cool is THAT!? There were bacon jokes, tales of *another* (more famous) teen-author-Stefanie, and some truly crazy camping stories. Did you know that you can send all the ticks to the other end of the campground by letting off a bug bomb outside? Did you know that the older girl scouts know how to catch rabbits and prepare them to eat?? Or that major purchases by husbands justify the purchase of MORE YARN? I don’t hang out with enough knitters.
On Sunday, “Drop Stitch Tank” class went really well. The last time I taught that, we spent like an hour and a half getting our swatches under control…but these ladies just came in with their perfect swatches and went to town. We custom-fit everyone’s DSTs! The second class “Converting Flat Patterns to Circular” didn’t start out as smoothly as I would have liked. Advice: don’t put your most math-intensive class LAST on a big weekend! The Sunflowers were so awesome, though, that it ended up warm and fuzzy.
After class, the girls (Jo, Gwen, Carmen, Teri, Christine, Jo) invited me out to dinner to recap the weekend and give ourselves small backpats and hugs and a little bit of mutual admiration over a job well done.
(Photo courtesy of me…stealing it from Gwen!…Jo and Jo are missing…Teri, Carmen, me, and Gwen are all there.)
If you’re in the area next time…or if they ask you to teach, GO!
(I’ll get pics of my haul tomorrow in the daylight!)
Posted in Trips, events, press | 5 Comments »
Goin to Kansas City…Kansas City Here We Come
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
Yes, goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an’ a I wanna get me some
I was standing on the corner, of 12th Street and Vine
Yeah, standing on the corner, of 12th Street and Vine
With my Kansas City woman in a sweater knit so fine
Well I might take a plane, I might take a train
If I have to walk, I’m going there just the same
I’m going to, Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
Oh yeah
If you woulda bought the pattern, could belong to you
If you come to Knitting in the Heartland, could belong to you
It’s mine all mine, no matter what I do
Well I might take a plane, I might take a train
If I have to walk, I’m goin’ there just the same
I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some
They got a crazy way a-knittin’ an I wanna get me some!
Yeah!
Actual, non-butchered lyrics here. Sorry, Al.
Yep. We’re packed! We’re ready to go! We leave the house at 8 tomorrow am and get in at around 4 K.C. time. The gracious Jo and Teri are picking us up from the airport and wisking us off to meet up with the rest of the committee at misknits, and then we’re all going to dinner. (I’m already planning my dinner order!) 
This is going to be SO much fun! I haven’t had a total immersion knitting weekend in a WHILE.
I’ve been really working hard this week to prepare…and today I also judged a sort of science fair for grad students. I had to be there at 10. I had planned to get up with Nate when he left this morning, but I had loaned my alarm clock to our houseguests. Fortunately, Mom came over to watch Maize at 9:30, so I was at least able to jump up, comb my hair, and get there in time.
She had to wake me up when she got here! I woke up from the deepest sleep seeing my mother standing over me…saying, “Stef, it’s time to get up.” It was so surreal. I thought I was back in junior high! I had no idea what was going on at ALL. Very Weird way to start the day.
After the science fair, they picked me up and we went to lunch and then we had to go to the store to buy diapers. I’m not sure how to manage 4 days’ worth of dirty cloth diapers on the road. No washer / dryer…I don’t even have enough diapers to GO 4 days. It took me a long time to pick out a package. Of course I forgot to go to the health food store and get the 7th Generation ones, so I had to get Huggies. It so long to decide because I’m not even sure how many we’ll need. Also…some say “Jumbo” on the pack, and I wasn’t sure if that meant like Jumbo PACK, or Jumbo THICK…like maxi pads vs mini pads? I ended up with something Jumbo for Sensitive Skin. We’ll see.
Another dumb thing is that my publisher is providing 50 copies of Fitted Knits for me to give away at the convention, and I had them sent HERE. SO. I’m trying to fit 75 pounds of books in my luggage. I had every one of our suitcases open at one point, trying to decide what combination of pounds of books in which of the suitcases made the most sense. I still don’t know if I’m making optimal use of luggage space per pound of book.
Posted in events | 1 Comment »
Sunflower Knitting Guild: Knitting in the Heartland
Friday, February 15th, 2008
I’ve been invited to be the Featured Artist and Instructor at Knitting in the Heartland this year!! (Past featured artists include Nicky Epstein and Lucy Neatby!) It is an AMAZING honor to be invited to do this!
I’ll be teaching four classes:
1. Knitting flat patterns in the round
2. Ribbed lace tank from “Fitted Knits”
3. Airy Wrap from “Fitted Knits”
4. Techniques from “Fitted Knits”
The convention is being held Saturday, April 5 & Sunday, April 6, 2008 at the Radisson Hotel in Lexena, KS (a suburb of Kansas City.)
Registration is currently open, here is a link to the registration form and brochure. (pdf)
Posted in Trips, events, press | 1 Comment »
Is it fall where you live?
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
Here in Southern NM, it’s starting to cool down. I think it was about 68 last night, but it was still in the high 80s all day.
I’m ready for it to be fall. Every year when school starts, it feels like it should be sweater weather already. Growing up in Iowa, we’d have to wait a few weeks for REAL fall weather, but by the time mid-September rolled around, it was usually sweater-weather in the evenings. And then living in the Northeast NY, MD, same thing, except fall lasted a LOT longer and the winters were milder.
Here in the waaaaaaay Southwest, though…we have LooooooooOOOooOooong summers. I LOVE the sunshine, and I really do even enjoy the heat. For about 3-4 months…and now I’m ready for it to cool the f*** down already! I’m getting BIG, I’m walking funny (the waddle) and I’m TOO HOT.
In preparation for cooler weather, I started working on this shrug-sweater-thing out of some gorgeous Neighborhood Fiber Co. Merino. It’s gonna have long sleeves, super-extendo-ribbing, and actually close in the front. This is what I work on at SnB on Wednesdays, so I get a few inches done every week. My rate of project-completion has gone waaaaaaay down since this pregnancy has set in. I’m so tired. In a good way, but tired.
The ultrasound yesterday was really neat.
This clinic we went to has a much more high-tech machine than they do at our reglar clinic. (This was a level-2 ultrasound that they do on high-risk people.) We saw her little arms and legs, hands and feet, head, heart, stomach, kidneys, brain, ribs, spine…everything.
She was wiggling around and moving her legs and arms a LOT. When we first saw her, she was lying with her arms in the same position that I was lying in on the table!
Both the technician and the attending physician remarked on how much she was moving and called her a “wiggle worm.” (And said again that all that movement is great to see and is a great sign.)
She just woke up and I can feel her moving around now, too. She’s not doing the big Karate (or Kar-a-tay) kicks yet, but I can feel her moving and dancing around. So, we got some of the ultrasound photos, and I put them in her scrapbook…but except for the first one, they’re kind of a mystery. The one that says “face” is the one that I’m particularly ignoring.
It’s really cute to compare the first batch where she was like a gummi bear with a tail to the second batch where we can see her long legs and even a foot! She’s sure growing and I’m so relieved to have gotten to see her and know that she’s doing well.
We go back in 4 weeks for another of these, because her position in my belly was such that they weren’t able to see the outflow “tubes,” for lack of better word, from her heart well enough. Her back was facing forward, head down. So we’ll see her again soon!
(I’ll add pics today, but wanted to post the update to the quickie from yesterday!)
Posted in just chit chat, Patterns, events, baby | 13 Comments »
Good Baby News!
Friday, August 24th, 2007
You know how I took that Maternal Serum Screening test (Otherwise known as the TripleScreen) 3 weeks ago? It checks the baby’s hormone levels in my blood for signs of Down Syndrome and neural tube defects. I got a call yesterday and it came back NORMAL.
So that’s great.
Yesterday we also met with Nate’s HR person about transferring health insurance, so that’s DONE. We’re now officially ALL SET at least as far as the financial stuff goes.
I went to Unravel yesterday to talk about the fall class schedule, and I’ll be teaching beginning knitting and a lace scarf class.
Beginning Knitting:
October 20, Nov 3, Nov 17. This class is taught as a series, and you have to sign up for all three.
(10 am - 12 noon.)
Lace Scarf:
October 27 (1 pm - 4 pm.)
For the Lace Scarf class, I’m going to design the pattern myself, so everyone who signs up will get a copy of the pattern, too.
I guess that’s all the big news…class is going great (I’m teaching a college class this semester.)
Posted in events, baby | 4 Comments »
TNNA=Tired!!
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Today was the first whole day of the show. I saw lots of friends, lots of great knitting gear, went to a really nice party….and am now in bed under the covers at 9pm!
Last night, my mind was doing one of those marathon anxiety sessions where I try to get the whole rest of my life planned out in one intense session. It never works, of course, but sometimes I just can’t shut down. Even lying there exhausted. There are SO many things to plan.
So it felt like an early morning today, even though I’m usually up and out the door before I even woke up.
I have a 9:30 meeting tomorrow morning that could mean a very cool new project. Cross your fingers!!
Posted in just chit chat, events | 3 Comments »
TNNA Book Signings
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
In case you’re at TNNA (or coming tomorrow) here are the times I’ll be signing (free) books:
Saturday:
When…/…Where
10:30……North Light Books
1:00……..R&M (distributor)
Sunday:
10:30……North Light Books
1:00……..Checker (distributor)
Posted in Book Talk, events | No Comments »
Hi from TNNA!
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Mom and I are in Columbus!!
Last night I taught my class, and there was a *great* group of students. We chatted the whole time, it was so fun!
Today, we got up at the crack of 11 when Yahaira called us to tell us that her room wasn’t ready yet! So she came up and we all sat around chatting about books and publishers until we decided to go over and set up the booth. After lots of climbing on tables and safteypinning of tulle…we finished the booth and went to lunch. At lunch I met Leah, who always makes my patterns look so amazing.
After lunch, we decided to take it easy and rest up until the fashion show. I had one garment from the book in the show…it’s always fun to see my sweaters on PEOPLE, instead of the mannequin.
For supper, we (me, Mom, Cathi, Lauren, Yahaira, and Leah went to Zen. Yum! Tempura rice bowl. Fried tofu! Green tea!
OK, tomorrow I start taking photos.
Posted in Trips, events | 1 Comment »
Hey Girl, Party!
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
There was a guy in my freshman dorm who whenever he saw me (or any girl) would shout out, “Hey Girl! Party!” in a really strong southern accent.
It’s hard to imagine TODAY, but apparently ‘partying’ IS on the horizon.
It’s been feeling like a long-long-long time away, BUT:
On Saturday, I’ll be in Albuquerque for a book signing at Village Wools from 12-3.
Cinco de Mayo! Woo! (Psst:It’s NOT Mexican Independence Day.)