Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: charity knitting, cuss for jesus, easter, easter egg hunt, go knit pouch, god bless german enginering, knit 1 help many, knitting, ouch, yarn
complete with graphs!
first off, i want to show off my family…don’t we look fun and sort of normal? keep that image in mind as you read the rest of this blog…also it should be noted that even though you can’t fully see it, i am wearing a dress in this photo.
easter is always a joyous occasion, normally filled with lots of bright colors and stupid amounts of candy. while my family had all of those things, we also stupidly stick to certain traditions. like the whole easter egg hunt thing. i don’t know if you remember, but that sunday was cold…and rainy. my parents undaunted and spurred on by my teenage brother, proceeded to hide eggs for bug and i to find. now..call me crazy, but if i had to hide eggs in the freezing rain and what i really wanted to be doing was watching the golf game on t.v., i would have done a pretty crappy job of hiding the eggs. i mean i would literally just lay an egg in the middle of the lawn like they do for preschoolers. not my father…
this is how i started the hunt process…stupidly assuming that i would be done in like 10 min. cut to 45 min later and i’ve screemed until my dad has come out onto the porch to give us “hints” as to where he put the things. keep in mind that this entire time my mom is running around without an umbrella, hands tucked into the sleeves of her fleece jacket, giggling and dancing about as she chants “you just walked by another one!” needless to say we only hunted for the eggs once.
on other news, we’ve got the official results for the “cuss 4 jesus” box. during lent it is store policy to charge people for every swear word they utter. it proves to be a costly endeavor for me, but yarn always matches the donation and all the money goes to a local charity.
click here to view the results.
and for those of you who are morbidly curious, i had a small incident on wednesday that included a certain lace stocking project and my thigh. we have discovered that when enough pressure is applied, say the amount of pressure that my weight plus the added weight of my briefcase and an armload of groceries could produce, that a #2 addi turbo will pierce through it’s knitting bag ( a go knit pouch, and you all know how fond i am of those), through my jeans, and straight into my freaking leg. it hurts, like a lot. several of the ladies are very concerned about the possibility of tetanus, but i’m fairly certain i should be fine. besides if i die from tetanus contracted from a knitting accident, it could make for a really really funny eulogy. here is another one of my famous warnings, if you are grossed out by bruises or injuries of any kind do not scroll down, but keep in mind i was asked to put this up.
addi turbos 1…my fleshy leg 0. cheers…shannon
Filed under: Uncategorized
Guest Blogger Andrea, here.
For those of you who’ve been following Shannon’s saga as a student in one of our April lace knitting classes, you’re well aware that there has been a fair amount of drama associated with the entire process. You’ve read about Shannon and Cindy’s contract with their Lace Knitting Instructor or LSI (me) and their high state of trepidation as they picked up their US 2 Addi Turbos, sock weight yarn and started in. Ah, but there’s so much more to tell you about this saga – - – get a drink and sit back.
First, when I volunteered to teach a lace class I had no clue that it would evolve into two separate projects with five students. When Shannon asked what the project would be, I brought in one of my favorite books, “Modern Victorian Lace” and pointed out a few scarf patterns I thought would be appropriate. That was the moment when it started to grow beyond my control. Cindy and Shannon decided what I’d chosen wasn’t appealing (they didn’t like “pointy things on the ends”), I said that as the teacher, it needed to be something managable for a first project. I chose a pattern that they thought was passable and started on the sample.
Then the mail came – and in it, the Spring 2009 Issue of Interweave Knits. Shannon and Cindy discovered “Bettie’s Lace Stockings.” They began clapping their hands and saying, “These! We want to make these! Teach us to make these!” Keep in mind, only Shannon had made socks before and neither had much lace knitting experience. However, if someone wants to jump off of a cliff and see if they can grow wings on the way down, who am I not to offer to serve as their spotter on the ground?
So we went ahead with both classes and I’m happy to report that everyone’s doing really well. Shannon is learning she’s got a great capacity for the structure of lace and is really understanding the architecture of a sock. Cindy’s got short rows (used in both the toe and heel) down and once we gave her stitch markers, she’s really smoked on the lace. Gail (who joined late in the game) has a great toe started. And the Proper Lace Class students – June and Janie – are doing great, too! Despite the frustration and the frogging (thank goodness for lifelines), everyone’s learning how to read their knitting in new ways. There has only been one needle impalement (accidental) and the drinking and cursing have been kept to a minimum. Overall, I think it’s been a rousing success so far.
I’m so proud of everyone.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bunny, child's blanket, crochet, knitting, yarn
witnessed by jody, typed by shannon
i met the most amazing crocheter the other day hear at yarn. she was shopping for yarn to start a new baby blanket project. this process led to a conversation about completed projects that usually have a “tale” (it’s a tail and a tale…get it?) attached, this one has both!
cindy givens the creator of this masterful bunny cuteness and creativity (i got to touch it and i’m a little jealous about that…i mean look at it…doesn’t look like the softest thing ever? ) crocheted it for a friend’s child. the friend grew up with her kids and recently lost a battle with cancer. so she made this blanket so this small person would have a soft bunny to take to bed at night. cindy you blanket made my day! i am so glad i can share a picture of it with everyone because my description would not do it justice. the truth as i see it-yarn people are the best people! —jody. amen! —shannon
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: feathered faggoting, knitting classes, lace
lace class has now met twice, and i’m going to be very honest….i think i’m running last in the race to see who can make the most sexual innuendos. that being said, if you are faint of heart, or if you want to remain blissfully ignorant to how some of our most prestigious knitters really think you might want to stop reading now. chlc i gave this warning for you.
first you must understand that per the agreements in the contract drew up by andrea and signed and notarized by cindy and i, drinking occurs the minute that the clock hits 6:30. alas, the largest offenders in the dirty joke category are completely sober so they can not claim alcohol as an excuse.
second, feathered faggoting is a legit lace term…no mater how it sounds, the term is totally innocent-its just really really funny. so much so, that on the first night andrea springer (the woman of all things level headed) couldn’t say it without giggling.
finally, before you read the following transcript, copied word for word in front of witnesses, you must understand that we have 3 lace stocking students, 2 lace scarf students (one of which is simultaneously teaching a 2 circular needle sock class too), 1 sock student (who took the class so he could one day achieve his goal of knitting kilt hose), 3 bystanders (1 of which payed her admission with a 6 pack of home brew), and poor somewhat defenseless andrea.
favorite quotes/conversations during lace class:
cindy: everything is fine until i get to row six and at row six the world starts spinning in an opposite direction and it goes hurdling in an unfortunate manner. (cindy has been fighting the lace…the was meltdown 24 or 25 since we began.)
janey: my husband is out of town, i’m glad i’m not feathered faggoting.
gail: that’s the best time to do it
janey: yeah, as long as you have fresh batteries.
janey: shannon, i’m proud of you, this is the longest i’ve ever seen you dedicated to a project.
shannon: its the second night.
janey: yeah i know, i’m very proud of you.
shannon: did you just say slut?
gail: no, slip.
shannon: oh–good thing.
janey: those are different shannon
shannon: i know! i know what both of those words mean.
michael: yeah, but can you use them in a sentence?
janey: both at the same time!
gail: i can!
shannon: so can i!
debbie: lets hear it.
gail: the slut took off her slip scantily
shannon: then she slipped because she was a bad slut.
janey: while she was feathering her faggot!
michael: i’m from san francisco and i can tell you that there aren’t that many feathered ones. and as one, i can say i never have. and as an american indian i can say i never have either.
janey: wow, you just raised our diversity level by like a thousand percent
michael: i promise to not knit a thong in front of you,
debbie: shannon you should show him yours!
shannon: i didn’t knit that, it was a gift…from you guys.
there you have it….fun fun times. along with the raunchy humor, many of us are progressing just fine with our projects. cindy, poor thing, has been getting her butt kicked by lace. she is doing much better, but be sure to offer her words of encouragement when you see her. there was some arguments about who was going to finish their stockings first, since i was considerably ahead of her in the pattern. then i reminded her about the calf debacle that i’m going to have to deal with very shortly. let me illustrate this for you, i have popeye calves…big freakish popeye calves.
cheers…shannon
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: baby hats, baby surprise jacket, drop spindle, laura mead, spining
some serious judging happened at yarn last saturday…very very serious judging. in case you missed the e-mail, we wrapped up the baby surprise jacket contest for the knit one help many group. in my astounding brilliant way of planning things i decided to hold the judging at 10am, which was exactly the same time that the sold out spinning class was scheduled to begin. we were packed to the gills with potential spinners, yarn employees, and somehow all of my family located in the immediate area. the judges were, john knipp, dan fast, and karen maness (who was our expert simply because she had a knit a scarf once). for those of you who don’t know john knipp is my dad…he’s the one on the left…the shear amusement of dad judging a knitted baby jacket contest prompted the appearance of my mother and youngest brother just to bear witness. the judges were given 5 minutes (a fact the i kept reminding them of at the top of my lungs every minute or so) to pick the best jacket, best hat, and then the best ensemble.
without further ado…the winners are!!!
best ensemble….carol p.
best jacket…deb w.
honorable mention…though i totally argued that it should have been disqualified because it wasn’t a surprise jacket….cindy t.o.a. was vindicated.
best hat….jean ramsey
all the entries will be donated to birthright, if you have anything that you would like to send, drop it by the store and janet will take everything in after easter.
and…after all that excitement laura mead lead an overwhelmingly sucessful spining class. check out all of yarn’s newest spinners…
it was an awesome and busy day. if you missed it, make sure you come next time i tell you something great is going to happen. i’m all knowledgeable about the good times. cheers….shannon
