2016 Yarn Along the Rockies yarn crawl, Part I of III

I had told myself I wasn't going to do the yarn crawl this year (I have way too much yarn already) but I was sucked in again because I really feel like it's important to support our local shops (and it's just too darn fun to pass up).

So on Sunday, August 21 (day 2 of the crawl) I printed out a list of the Denver shops (9 of them), found a willing partner in crime and hit the road.

First up was Colorful Yarns (their Facebook site is more up to date than their blog). They just finished remodeling earlier this year and the new shop looks great! Lots of room and lots of yarn! I ended up with two balls of DMC's Top This! in the snowflake and owl.

I also got a "Sweet Little Nothing" shawl kit (yarn + beads + pattern)

And they were having a trunk show of Three Irish Girls yarn so some of that might have fallen into my bag.
(CW: Springvale DK, 270 yards)

And, of course, I picked up the yarn crawl bag. It was a much sturdier bag this year.

Next up, Blazing Star Ranch. This is one of those places I probably would never have gone if it weren't for the yarn crawl. It's tucked away inside a vacuum shop but don't let that fool you. She has lots of lovely handspun yarns, fiber, and spinning wheels as well as commercial yarns. I grabbed a blue and purple skein of the Abracadabra color changing yarn by HiKoo by Skacel. I had picked up the pink version at last year's yarn crawl and love the effect so I wanted to get the other two colors before this was all gone (you never know when they might discontinue it!). I think I will make the Trick or Treat Shawl out of it.

Back into the car to head to Wooden Spools. They had a really cute Colorado pillow kit which I decided would make a great Xmas gift so into the bag it went.

I also picked up a couple balls of Sunshine Coast By Queensland collection (CW flagstaff) for a baby surprise jacket (I can't believe I haven't knit one of those up yet).

Then I came across this super cool Single disk cat print by Schoppel-Wolle! Of course they had a sample sock knit up and it was too cool to pass up so that fell into the bag as well.

On to our next stop, Fancy Tiger Crafts. I picked up a couple of Geilsk Tweeds (in moss and copper) that were on clearance (can't pass up on 30% off)!

After all this yarn crawling we decided we needed some refreshment so we popped across the street to Sweet Action Ice Cream and had a scoop of Artisanal ice cream (along with some annoying hipster conversation - e.g., "I haven't been a vegan since I was, like, seven").

Next it was on to I Love Knitting. Their pattern was for a lovely cross stitch cowl knit up with one skein of Rasta by Malabrigo.

After that we went to Lambshoppe which was crazy busy so we just were in, got our stamp, and then off to Fabric Bliss where I found a lovely little "limited edition" colorway from the Lemonade Shop

They had a cute little shawl knit up but I forgot to ask what the pattern was so I'm not sure what I will end up making with it.

After 7 shops we were exhausted! And it was getting late so we decided 7 out of 9 was good and called it a day. I may do more crawling next weekend - I get a little obsessive about getting all the stamps! (and that's why I don't play Pokemon go).

Guess I better get knitting!

Mini Retreat in Ft. Collins

On Saturday, August 6th, I hopped in my car and drove north to Ft. Collins for a day of knitting and fiber goodness at the We Knit Colorado retreat! I wasn't quite sure what to expect since this was their first event and I didn't know the organizer. The venue was Club Tico, a very nice community center building and perfect space for the retreat. The vendors had their lovely fiber and accessories  set up in one area of the large, open room and tables were set up in a circle for the participants. 

Here's a picture of all the fun stuff that was in our goodie bag!

 I knit up the cup cozy really quickly with the fun mini-skein and there was a pattern for the blue yarn

There were prize drawings during the day and at the end I won a lovely Alpaca headband from Pax Knits: 

I took the Houndstooth Double Knit Cowl with Melanie (Knit Stitch Yarn). There were a lot of stitches to  cast on so that took up the majority of the class time. I'm still pretty slow at it but I think it will be great when I'm done. This pattern will be another great Christmas gift knit to add to my repertoire.

Lunch was included - a tasty sandwich box lunch from Spoons!

Of course I did a little shopping and found these self striping yarns to take home from Colorful Eclectic:

The retreat was from 9-4 so after it was over I had to stop by The Loopy Ewe to pick up their monthly exclusive colorway, Summer Afternoon Escape and their 10 year anniversary kit with the super cool "Knitting is my superpower" drawstring bag! 

It was a lovely Saturday! I'm looking forward to more We Knit Colorado retreats!

Denver Comic Con 2015

Year number four of the Denver Comic Con continued their tradition of being bigger and better than the year before. While we didn't attend the first year we have been there every year since and this year things were certainly bigger! The exhibit hall was expanded with more vendors and more food (although convention center food always leaves something to be desired) and more room for attendees to walk around in the autograph area.

Even though there was a good deal of waiting around I didn't get as much knitting done as I would like. I had just started That Nice Stitch cowl with some lovely Purple Velvet Wollmeise Blend so I brought that along. Although it's not a complicated pattern there is a little keeping track of which row so I wasn't able to plow along as quickly as I had hoped.

At least there was time for this:

Some day I will come up with a good Comic Con cosplay but for now I'm happy to just sit on the throne with my knitting.

I'm a winner!

Hurray! In my 3rd year of participating in the annual Yarn Along the Rockies yarn crawl I won one of the shop prize baskets from A Knitted Peace!

Picking up my prize basket from the Yarn Along the Rockies yarn crawl! Woo hoo! https://t.co/Lt7WWTYJ4H pic.twitter.com/JR91H9D1ih
— Mya Martin-Glenn (@MyaLMG) September 27, 2014

Lots of awesome goodies in here! I thought I'd list them all out:

1. 22 skeins of Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Sport and the pattern for Azure Woods Cardigan. I'm not sure if I'll ever make this (although it would be good to learn steeking) but I'm sure I can find a way to use this yarn.

2. Two skeins of Cascade Yarns Casablanca along with the pattern for the Barred Scallop Cowl. 

 3. Next up are 2 skeins of Regia Random stripe yarn. Awesome for some mindless knitting projects I'll need this fall while watching my various shows.

 4.One skein of Cascade Yarns Forest Hills in Viridan Green with the pattern Dayflower Wrap

 5. Three balls of Rowan Summerspun. hummmm, what to make?

 6. One skein of Juniper Moon Farm Herriot (100% baby alpaca, yum!). Maybe a hat?

7. One skein of Abuelita Yarns Worsted. And another hat?

 8. One skein of Noro Janome

9. One ball of Louisa harding's Akiko

 10. One ball of Frog tree's Meriboo with the pattern Meriboo cabled cowl

 11. One ball of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino

 12. One skein of Perfection by Kramer Yarns with the pattern snow flurry cowl

13. Some magazines

 14. and a couple of books!

 15. and finally, a Lantern moon bag, some Knitters Pride stitch markers and a ZeCca ID tag.

Overall a pretty impressive haul, wouldn't you agree?

Now if I can just find the time to work on these new projects.

Christmas wish list

I have so much Christmas knitting to get done and not nearly enough time to do it. How did Christmas get here so fast?

I've got a back done on this little sweater and I've started a quick pair of kids socks.

If anyone is looking for gift ideas for me I did update my Knit Picks wish list.

Now I Must.Knit.Faster.

Bunny time

For some reason I thought it would be funny to make my younger nieces and nephew a bunny for Christmas. And the my sisters saw them and wanted one. And then friends saw them and wanted one. I sure hope these knitted bunnies multiply like the live ones.

I know the cats like it but...

My current WIP is a Christmas tree skirt that has lots of cables and, while quite lovely, is taking a ton of time to knit up. The cats both love it as you can see.

But the real question is who shall be the ultimate recipient of the tree skirt? My first thought was I would give it to a friend of mine as a wedding gift (he was married in September). I thought it would be nice for their first Christmas together. But then I started thinking, what if they don't like it? And then I give it to them and they act all polite and nice and then shove it in a box somewhere. Or worse, they throw it out or donate it. The yarn for this bad boy was not inexpensive and the amount of time I'm spending on it is not inconsequential. I thought about asking them if they liked it but then would they say yes just to be nice? Should I try to find someone who already likes it (I have a couple of people who have appropriately fawned over it and expressed interest in owning it). Or should I just keep it for myself or, rather, my cats, who seem to have claimed it already.

How's your Christmas knitting going?