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Exhausted!

I’ve been home for 4 days, but I’m still exhausted and all I want to do is sit on my couch and watch Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (anybody else totally in love with Odo?).

As expected, I came home with no dearth of ideas and creative stimulation from TNNA. The sheer knitting brilliance that collects there is astonishing! I got to spend some time talking to Cat Bordhi about a book idea I have, and got some great feedback from her. I got to see some old friends, meet other friends in person for the first time, and make great friends with people I had never met before. I could post links, but I know I’d miss someone and feel horrible. You all know who you are.

The really amazing thing about a trade show like this is that everyone really is better than you imagine they’ll be. They are kinder, more genuine and real, and just all around lovely people.

I’ve seen a lot of non-industry people upset that they can’t go to TNNA, but as much fun as we have, it’s really a business activity. It’s about networking (I really hate that word, but it’s the right term in this case), and bouncing ideas off other people who have a slightly different perspective of the fiber universe than you do. Yes, we get free yarn, but it’s with the understanding that we will work with it, and give something back to the yarn company by talking about their yarn.

I got to spend a bit of time with Laura and Ysolda too, which was great fun. They were kind enough to let me stay in their hotel when my first roommates left early. I took a bunch of Face Down Tuesday pictures with Ysolda on Tuesday before I headed home, which just crack me up.

Technically cameras are not allowed on the show floor (taking pictures in your own booth isn’t really enforced), but as a result I don’t have a LOT of pictures from the weekend. What I do have is here.

I also had my first Jeni’s Ice Cream, which is simply amazing stuff. I came home with a t-shirt and an overwhelming desire to pay the $35 in shipping to Utah just to have some more.

I’ve now got a lot of projects that I’ll be hammering out details for and knitting like a maniac to get them all done. I’ve got a sock pattern that will be going out as the September offering for the Knit-Purl Sock Subscription Club.

I’m working on something that I CAN post about right now though, so I’ll show you next week.

Posted 21 June 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (4) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Heading to Columbus…

… for TNNA. If you are going to be there, I’ll mostly be in the Stitch Cooperative Booth (#663), but I’ll have stuff on display in some other booths as well:

Habu Textiles will have the Transverse Scarf
Dream in Color will have the Seraphim Shawl
Lorna’s Laces will have the Juno Regina Stole & Wrap
ShiBui Knits will have the Evolution Mitts

If you want to follow along with the hijinks, or the special promotions Stitch Coop is running, we’ll be tweeting. All our twitter contact stuff is here if you would like to check in and see how it’s going 🙂

Posted 10 June 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (4) °

Winners have been chosen!

Winners have been chosen and assigned to prizes!

The winners are: Sue H, Shelle, Lisa E, Joyce, Ingrid, Anna, Trish B, Ann Rose, Rachel, Malin, Jenn and KSH. I’ve sent you all e-mails so if you didn’t get one, check your spam filter and junk e-mail box. The e-mail subject is “MimKnits Drawing Winners”.

The patterns are up as well:
Desdemona Shawl
Cleite Shawl
Juno Regina Stole & Wrap
Transverse Scarf

The patterns are now also up on Ravelry.
Hope you all have a great week!

Oh, and the eggs have hatched and there are twee little bugeyed baby birds in the nest!! What a great birthday present!

M

Posted 01 June 2009 † Mim § Contest § Designing ‡ Comments (17) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

How does your garden grow?

My garden is up, although somewhat behind OTHER people‘s. We didn’t get to officially plant until the 16th of May, so things that could have been germinating already didn’t even get PLANTED until then.

Next year I will get the same box, so I can start peas, spinach and lettuces under a cold frame and get things going a bit earlier.

I’ve got 7 varieties of tomato, 6 of which are heirlooms, and bell peppers, hot peppers, carrots, yellow squash, honeydew melon, green onions, basil, dill, cillantro, cucumbers, lettuce, swiss chard, garlic, and bush beans all in my 4’x16′ community garden box. I’ve been going out to water it twice a day since the 16th, and I really enjoy watching the wee changes from day to day. The carrots and green onions came up yesterday, and one bean plant too. The only things still not up are the cilantro and dill, but I expect those up any day now.

M

Posted 30 May 2009 † Mim § Gardening ‡ Comments (8) ° Tagged: ,

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the what you love about lace! If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to enter the drawing. I’ve got a bag from Hug Me, some sweet georgia CashSilk Lace, some Lorna’s Laces experimental colors of Shepherd Sock, some lace yarn, some sock yarn, some spinning fiber, and some gift certificates to my shop to give away. I’m really excited!

I’ve been rather busy getting ready for TNNA and getting patterns ready for the June 1st release shindig, and I’ve been working on a new piece that I cant unveil in full yet. I’m trying to get it done before the trip to Columbus so I can start something else. The yarn is sproingy and the pattern is turning out very well. I think it will be easy to work, but also very very lovely. A lot of bang for your buck, so to speak. Here’s a peak at one of the section changes, made black & white.

Mama bird is doing fine, and starting to get really protective of her nest. She puffed her feathers at a bird who had the audacity to land on a branch near her, and does the same to anybody walking by.

I’ve got to do a photoshoot this week for the wrap version of Juno that Emily was lovely enough to knit for me.

M

Posted 27 May 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , ,

A bird in hand is worth 4 in the tree?

A nest appeared in the tree just outside my apartment. The branch is at eye level, and 3 or 4 feet from the edge of the balcony. Not really the best place for a nest if you want it secluded from people, or roaming neighborhood cats…

I’ve been sneaking out to check on the nest a few times a day, and when Mama Bird was out for food or whatever, I took some pictures.

With a step stool, leaning over the balcony and blind shooting with my camera, I got this one. Looks like 4 eggs.

I’m watching them eagerly 🙂

M

Posted 20 May 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (10) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

WWKIP Announcement

Spreading the word the best way I know how. World Wide Knit In Public Day is going to span 2 weekends this year, June 13 & 14 as well as June 20 & 21. It has been the 2nd weekend in June for a while, but that always interferes with TNNA, so it’s being moved to the 3rd weekend in June. The move will be permanent after this year.

Speaking of TNNA, I’ll be there, in the stitch coop booth, I just still need to buy my plane ticket still.

M

Posted 18 May 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (3) °

Contests and Pattern Release Dates

So when Desdemona was sent out as a kit, the end of the exclusivity (which is the day I can publicly release it) ended up as June 1st. Well, June 1st is also my birthday, so it seemed a good time for a drawing and prizes. Then I realized that Cleite came back to me on May 1st (but I still need to reformat and do the layout). Plus I have the Transverse Scarf that is specifically designed to be easily compatible with handspun yarn, like Cleite. It just needs the pattern finished up and checked before being released. I plan to work out another design to use handspun yarn before then, and on June 1st, we’re gonna have a great big release party, OK?

Here’s the rundown:
1. Birthday
2. Prize Drawing (I’ve got some outside donations for prizes as well as stuff from my own stash, including some Mossy Grove Prototype Lorna’s Shepard Sock that is GORGEOUS!)
3. Desdemona Release
4. Cleite Re-Release
5. Juno Regina Re-Release with instructions for wider wrap
5. Transverse Scarf Release
6. Other unnamed handspun-able project (this might be the thing that goes away if I don’t have time) release.

So, what can you do to enter the drawing? I want to hear about your favorite lace piece and why you loved it. Did it challenge you? Was the yarn just perfect for it? Maybe you loved it because it had resting rows. I wanna hear what floats your boat when it comes to lace.

Alternatively, if you are new to lace and haven’t finished a piece yet (or if you just can’t PICK a favorite–they would all get jealous!!), you can tell me what you LOVE about lace in general.

I’ll take entries until 12:00 midnight MST on May 30, and will announce the drawing winners on June 1st.

Please leave entries in the comments of THIS POST ONLY. Comments in any other post will not be eligible.

And then come back on June 1st and share the birthday/prize love 🙂

M

Posted 15 May 2009 † Mim § Contest § Designing § Knitting § Spinning ‡ Comments (180) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Lace is Cheap

Clearly, I have a bias in favor of lace, but lace is economical, time-consuming, and has a wide range of difficulty to choose from. As we head into summer, with car trips, vacations, summer camps, and gardens, here’s a list of lace projects that can be done for less than $35. It is the rare sweater that costs that little, so here are 14 yarn/pattern combinations for your knitting pleasure. They are not, by any means, the limit of possibilities, just some suggestions to get your lace appetite whetted.

$15 or less:

$15 – $25:

$25 – $30:

YAY for lace!
M

Posted 14 May 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (13) ° Tagged: , , , , ,

Twitter Invasion

By the way, I’m now on Twitter, my username is mimknits. I tweet about what I’m working on, when a pattern is done, and what I’m inspired by, as well as random stuff like playing footsie with my cat. 🙂 My feeds are open, so feel free to follow if you’d like.

M

Posted 12 May 2009 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (1) °