For today, I’m skipping ahead to the “Mindful Queue-building” portion of my plan to tell you about what I’ve got in the works for Camp Loopy 2012. This multi-stage summer knit-along is sponsored by The Loopy Ewe yarn store. Participating knitters make three projects, one each month, in June, July, and August. Each month’s project is based on a theme. Discounts on yarn and prizes are available throughout Camp, and each person to complete all three projects on time according to the rules gets a special gift at the end.

I had a great time participating last summer and scored a free skein of Wollmeise at the end. This year, I thought I probably would not be able to participate again since I am going to be traveling on a “work” trip in Asia for all of June and most of July.  I was delighted to find that the dates of Camp this year just barely work out for me, as long as I plan to knit something REALLY FAST when I get home in July.

The first challenge is to knit something of at least 400 yards between May 27 and June 27 from a pattern designer who is from another country. After much deliberation, I’ll be joining hundreds of other knitters who have been seduced by Veera Valimaki’s Color Affection shawl.

I chose these three colors for my shawl. Don’t they sort of remind you of an ice cream sundae? From top to bottom, they are: Cascade Heritage in “Butter”, Malabrigo Sock in “Boticelli Red”, and Malabrigo Sock in “Cordovan”.

I’ll be casting on for this shawl on May 27 during my long flight to Singapore. Here’s to hoping that it makes all those in flight hours pass quickly.

Are any of you joining the Camp Loopy fun this year? I’d love to hear about what you’re making.

Carolina Fiberfest (May 18-20, 2012)

This is one event I look forward to all year. It is held at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh as part of the annual Got To Be NC Ag Fest. This year’s Fiberfest will include over 70 vendors, plus demos and other fiber-related events. For full information on Carolina Fiberfest events and a map of vendor locations, see the official website.

My husband and I have enjoyed walking around the Ag Fest every time we’ve gone (this year will be our third time). He especially enjoys the charity Pig Jig—an all-you-can-eat Carolina BBQ contest—held on lunchtime on Saturday. The festival also has carnival rides, tractor shows, local food and wine exhibits and more.

Admission and parking to Fiberfest and the larger Ag Fest are free and open to the public.

Durham Bulls Mascot: Wool E. Bull

Durham Bulls Stitch N’ Pitch (May 19, 2012)

Yarn + knitters + Durham Bulls Baseball = a great summer evening!  This Saturday night, May 19, area knitters and crocheters will take over Bull Stadium (or at least a section of it) and watch the Bulls take on Charlotte at the annual Stitch and Pitch.

In years past, each knitter has received a swag bag full of goodies at the door. There may also be door prizes.

Tickets to this event are $9 and must be reserved in advance through your local yarn store. Some of the stores are taking orders over the phone via credit card. Full details can be found on the Durham Stitch and Pitch website.

Other Stitch and Pitch events are taking place around the country, so if you aren’t in NC or you are traveling around the United States this summer, you may want to check the national Stitch N’ Pitch website.

NC Maker Faire (June 16, 2012)

The North Carolina Maker Faire is happening next month at the NC State Fairgrounds Kerr Building in Raleigh.

This event includes fiber artists, but it is also open to all kinds of other craft and hobby groups. Favorite highlights for us a last year’s event included a great exhibit by Spoonflower, a locally-based company that offers printed fabric that you can design yourself, local craft and yarn vendors, and even a greyhound rescue association. I also enjoyed getting to see one stall that featured a memorable antique machine for spinning rope and twine.

Adult tickets for the event are $10, kids prices are less. For full details, see the Maker Faire website.

So there you have it: three fun local fiber events. If you happen to see me at any of them and recognize me from my occasional FO photos, please come introduce yourself—don’t be shy! I’d love to meet you guys and see what you are knitting.

Anyone know of other events coming up that I’ve missed? Feel free to post them in the comments.

Finish-or-Frog May is still chugging along here at Casa Wool Durham. With 4 of my 10 unfinished knits off the needles, I’m ready to attack the 6 remaining WIPs with gusto. Today I’ll talk about the next stage in my 5-step plan of attack:

Some of you may be wondering what I mean by the snowball effect. Here’s the idea: I will arrange my projects in order from least amount of work left to most amount of work left. Like a snowball rolling down a hill and getting bigger and bigger as it picks up speed, the momentum of finishing some of my long-languishing sweaters will make my pile of finished knits grow.

Here’s how my list will break down:

1. White Pine – Slightly more work left than Tilted Duster, but I have momentum already because this has been my main project for a week or two, so this one is first.
2. Tilted Duster – Neckband and seaming will be quick.
3. Emma Shrug – Less than 1/3 of this left to knit.
4. Laar Cardigan – Two stockinette sleeves and finishing in lace weight could take a bit of time.
5. Herbivore – 2/3 of knitting left.
6. Redwork Cowl and Mitts – just getting started.

For this plan to work, I’m going to try something I don’t usually do and stick to one project at a time. I figure it will be a good experiment.

It feels great to have a plan!

Today I’m continuing to the next stage in my “Finish or Frog May” series and identifying which of my many ongoing knitting projects I no longer want to keep going.

If you are following along, here is where I am at in the process:

I thought this would be the most difficult step of getting my UFOs under control, but it is not turning out to be as difficult as I anticipated. My lack of emotional attachment to some of these projects has me convinced that unraveling them is the right thing to do.

Here are the four projects out of my list of ten (gulp!) that have been targeted for termination:

Left to right, they are: Green Salida socks, TTL Mystery Socks in Quince Tern, Camilla Mitts, and the gray Age of Brass and Steam scarf.

Of these, two were the most difficult to start ripping.

These green socks were one. I love this yarn and I love this pattern, but together they just aren’t working out. The pattern is a lot of work, and the yarn is too fuzzy and dark to show it off except in extreme closeup and/or photographic lighting. Since other humans rarely look at my socks under these conditions, I’ve decided these Salida socks are just not meant to be.

These Camilla mitts didn’t quite make the cut either. The shape of this mitt pattern just isn’t working out for me. The hand part is way too wide, the cuff way too short. I like the colorwork part, but if I’m going to do all that chart following, I kind of want the chart to be more interesting. So these are getting the axe and I’ll use the pretty blue and white yarn for some other mittens later.

The Quince socks and the Age of Brass and Steam scarf were easy to eliminate. The sock was part of a Mystery KAL that took place in January. The Mystery has long been revealed and seeing the pattern made up on Ravelry, I no longer think that it is a great match for this yarn. I had just barely started on these anyway.

As for the scarf, I started it as practice for my fledgling continental knitting skills. It served its purpose well, but is a not a good-looking piece of work. Every stitch is a different size (not surprising since I was practicing my tension). It’s not hard to say goodbye to this one.

So, there you have it. My WIP list just went from ten items to six items, and some of the six are very close to finished. I’ll discuss how I’m going to organized the finishing process next time.

Efforts to locate, evaluate, and move on from all my long-suffering unfinished knits are fully underway.

You’ll recall from my last post that I have identified a five-step process to a clean knitting slate.

Today I’m taking the first step, and it is kind of a humbling one.

I found 10 (ten!!) unfinished projects [cringes]. This is more than any one knitter needs.

For now I’m just listing these and attempting to reserve judgment on them. Here’s the list, in no particular order:

1. Tilted Duster Sweater - Olive green Berroco Peruvia yarn. Started well over a year ago. Just needs seaming and neckband.
2. White Pine Sweater - Patons Classic Wool in Paprika (red orange). Needs 3/4 of a sleeve and finishing.
3. Herbivore Shawl - Pagewood Farm Yukon yarn in Prism (mostly purple). About 1/4 complete.
4. Emma Shrug - Quince Sparrow (100% linen). 2/3 complete.
5. Laar Cardigan - Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace in Sealing Wax (red orange). Needs sleeves and finishing.
6. Redwork Cowl and Mitts - Classic Elite Fresco in Hopi Blue and Rum Raisin. First 3″ of one mitt finished.
7. Salida socks - Arcuania Itata Solid, handdyed green. Nearly at heel of first sock.
8. Through the Loops Mystery Sock – from a January KAL. Quince & Co. Tern in Back Bay. 2″ into first sock.
9. Age of Brass and Steam shawlette – Classic Elite Mistral in Gray. 1/2 complete.
10. Camilla mitts – Knit Picks Palette in ecru and blue. Up to top of first mitt.

Whew! That’s a lot of knits! Pulling them all out and facing up to them was not easy, but now I’m prepared to take the next step toward a fresh start. I’ll talk about what is getting unraveled in my next post.

In the last busy year, I’ve started and never completed an overwhelming number of projects. It is time for some spring cleaning, friends. That is why I am declaring this month…wait for it…

Here are the steps I plan to take in this month-long slogathon:

1. Take inventory – pulling out all the WIPs and assessing what work is left on them

2. Sending rejects to the frog pond – targeting the projects that I haven’t finished because I just don’t like them

3. Harnessing the Snowball Effect – listing the remaining projects in order from least to most work left

4. Getting Busy – All the knitting

5. Mindful queue building – So I avoid this mess in the future

I’ll be blogging each aspect, mostly to hold myself accountable, but also in case you are interested or need inspiration for your own Finish or Frog May.

Let the Great WIP Inventory commence!

This week I’m joining bloggers from around the world to participate in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Want to join in the fun? To read other posts on the theme, search the web for the tag “3KCBWDAY5″. If you have your own blog (or want to start one this week), click the cute banner for more information on how to participate. (Today’s theme is: Something A Bit Different)

This week I’m joining bloggers from around the world to participate in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Want to join in the fun? To read other posts on the theme, search the web for the tag “3KCBWDAY4″. If you have your own blog (or want to start one this week), click the cute banner for more information on how to participate. 

Today’s topic is about our knitting habits throughout the year:

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

Now that I am on an academic calendar, I have found that my knitting does take on a seasonal pattern, but one with total disregard for the weather. I knit all through the year, but I do not stick to warm weather knits for summer and cozy knits for winter. Instead I have two types of seasons: more busy (October – April) and less busy (May – September).

The summertime for me is my chance to take on more complicated projects or those that require more dedication. For example:

Both of these projects were started and finished during my summer, less-busy season.

The winter, on the other hand, becomes a time in which I’m lucky to complete any projects. I find myself drawn to mindless knitting in simple stitch patterns that I can pick up and set down constantly or work on in front of the TV. I also use this time to make small accessories. See:

Now that I’m reaching a point in my studies while I’ll be on campus less and managing my own time more, I’m hoping to strike a better balance.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll even knit a comfy seasonally-appropriate cotton sweater this summer. . .

This week I’m joining bloggers from around the world to participate in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Want to join in the fun? To read other posts on the theme, search the web for the tag “3KCBWDAY3″. If you have your own blog (or want to start one this week), click the cute banner for more information on how to participate. 

Today’s prompt asks us to identify our yarnie heroes:

“Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it’s really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger.”

I’ve been thinking about this one for the past few days, trying to pick just one person to feature. I find inspiration in the work of so many designers, other knitters, and artists. Not only that, but I think identifying one hero for me would be a little misleading. I’m more of an inspiration magpie—I grab little bits of ideas from here and there to make my own.

So I’m taking this post in a bit of a different direction and telling you about some websites that inspire my design for this blog and for my knitwear photography. I have three favorites:

1. Pugly Pixel

This website is the online home of Katrina, whose aesthetic is both soothingly minimalist and amusingly whimsical. Best of all, Katrina is on a mission to help the rest of us beautify our online homes. She offers fabulous free clip art, software tutorials, and templates. There are also extended versions of these goodies available for a small fee. This site is not about yarn, but I think you will still love it.

If you aren’t familiar with this resource and you have a blog, you should stop what you are doing immediately and go check out Pugly Pixel.

2. Quince & Co.

This all-American company is literally a knitter’s dream come true. Really—two of the founders are knitters and long time yarn/knitting industry insiders who set up Quince to provide what the yarn they wanted for their craft. Sure Quince provides high-quality, excellent value Made in the USA yarns as well as gorgeous patterns, but I also find myself drawn to their website for its pleasant design, beautiful knitwear photography, and amazing use of color.

I’ve used several different Quince yarns and they’ve all been wonderful. So if browsing turns to buying there, you won’t regret it.

3. Purl Soho

This link leads to the web presence of a well-known yarn shop in downtown New York City. If you like yarn, fiber, or fabric at all, visiting the Purl store in person can be overwhelming for the senses (and the wallet). The website offers much of the same appeal. I like to go there to look for blog design ideas and check out the creative ways they photograph their projects.

One of the best things about Purl Soho is their wonderful craft blog, The Purl Bee, where the staff write up patterns and tutorials for all kinds of crafts. Their descriptions of the projects and photographs are so appealing that I find myself wanting to make things for which I have no use in colors I don’t even usually like. It is one very persuasive site, people!

So, these recommendations are not quite the same as “heroes,” but I stand by them and I hope that you enjoy checking them out as much as I do.

This week I’m joining bloggers from around the world to participate in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Want to join in the fun? To read other posts on the theme, search the web for the tag “3KCBWDAY2″. If you have your own blog (or want to start one this week), click the cute banner for more information on how to participate. 

Today’s theme has challenged us to do something imaginative with photography. I used the theme to inspire a post about some new luxury yarn I recently received in a grab bag of mystery yarns (and at a fairly deep discount, I’ll smugly add).

A friend of mine is here today to help me introduce this special new yarn (Hint: he’s the yak on the right).

I spend a large portion of my non-knitting life studying Asia. In this line of work, I have had the good fortune to travel widely. Of all the places I have visited, Tibet has a special spot in my memory.

You cannot travel far in Tibet without encountering yaks. If you don’t meet them going about their lives grazing on the stubbly plants that grow at the high elevations of the Tibetan Plateau, then you soon run into yak products, which are a major staple of Tibetan cuisine and livelihood. Yak meat, yak dairy, and, most importantly for our purposes, yak fibers are ubiquitous. Outside the remote portions of Asia, however, yaks are hard to come by. Thus you may be unaware of the appeal of yaks for fiber fiends like us.

The yak’s downy undercoat is extremely soft and extremely warm, similar to cashmere. This is why I was so delighted to receive a precious skein of Lhasa Wilderness yarn by Bijou Spun.

My yarn, modeled above with my tiny “pet” yak (and Mt. Qomolonga/Everest in the “distance”), is 75% yak down and 25% bamboo, the latter of which should help make it more durable. There are 180 yards in my skein. It’s sport weight (6sts to the inch) and a warm natural brown tweed color. Think this could be some luxurious mittens?

Despite having encountered many yaks over the years, this is actually the first yak yarn I’ve owned. I cannot wait to knit it up and report back on the experience. Based on how it feels in the skein alone, I feel confident in recommending that you each go get a skein of your own.