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Everyone says you have to go to Plucky's Shindig with a firm shopping list.  You need to know what patterns you're buying for and have some ideas of the colors you want.  So I did just that.  I spent days working my list so I had just the right mix of sweaters and accessories to get me through the next six months of knitting.  I was committed.

Then I saw the Shindig Marketplace in person.  And all of my plans flew completely out of my mind.

I thought I would share a couple of my favorite purchases with you.  I'm too embarrassed to confess to all of it.  Definitely overshopped, and really happy with every last skein that came home with me!

Truth or Dare on Primo Aran was the first yarn that caught my eye when I wandered into the Marketplace and I was unable to leave without it.  The Olivia Shawl was my gateway drug for knitting with Plucky, and I'm contemplating another in this extraordinary colorway, but keeping my eyes open for other possibilities.

This color is called Bedrock and I have no idea where it has been all my life.  It's a dusky shapeshifter with grays and greens and browns and it's perfect.  At the end of the day it reads as a gray.  Why yes, that's Cashmere Aran.  I didn't see Bedrock on any other base and I was unable to resist.  A hat?  Stripes in a sweater or shawl?  No clue.  I'll be happy to keep this one out and pet it several times a day for the next few weeks.

The Village on cashmere sport was another colorway so irresistible I couldn't put it down once I saw it. Again, I have no plans.  But I consider myself lucky because this was a singleton skein.  I'm afraid that if there had been more, I would have shamelessly bought them all.  Maybe some fingerless mitts for me.  This color is one I'm going to want to keep close.

Last but not least, this charming skein of Bellini on Traveler Sport.  This may become the accent color in my Hexed shawl.  But it would also be great for the Norie hat that has been on my queue for a long time.  It's such a sweet color and it begged to come live with me.  I was unable to tell it no.

Shopping at Shindig was a lot of fun.  I think I'm done for a while, but half the fun of the whole gig was seeing what people picked out and finding out how they planned to use it.  I'm hoping a lot of other people will share their new stash ups — if they do, I'll share some links  at the bottom of this post (or feel free to add your own links in the comments below). 

 

 

 

 

 

Plucky Shindig, in Grand Rapids, Michigan was a very fun time. Knitting classes with Amy Herzog and Lorilee’s Beltman were light year advancements in my knitting knowledge and sitting in the hotel lobby, knitting with new friends until late into the night was fabulous. Kudos to the drunk 20-something in the mini skirt who wandered up to us one night and tried to convince us she “used to knit” even though she could barely stay on her very high heels. It was all good. The world would be a better place if everyone was as friendly, open, and accepting as knitters!

Although I brought along (and managed to get a bit of work done on) my Glacier sweater, Drachenfels and Summer Moon, I cast on the new Heritage Hat pattern from the new Plucky Fall Back Collection and have enjoyed watching its cables grow in an Aran weight cashmere. Although the pattern assumes some knowledge that might make it difficult for a newish knitter, it’s lovely, and I’ve tried to include some comments in my pattern notes to make it a little easier.

With apologies for the bad, hastily snapped photos, I'm going to offer up a case study in why knitters should force themselves to block their swatches.  Remember yesterday's debacle with the Moto Vest?  It knits up quickly in a bulky yarn, and I approached it with the attitude that the first few inches of the scarf portion were the swatch, since the pattern is more recipe than sized directions.  My initial take was that the sizing was off significantly, and I wasn't wrong.  But it changed radically with blocking.

[I have to note that the photos do horrible injustice to this yarn, which is a rich deep blue.  I promise to get a good glamour shot of it as soon as possible.]

The rib opens up significantly with blocking, and I should point out that this wasn't aggressive, pin it to the limits blocking, this was a gentle hand wash followed by a soft "do your own thing" kind of block. The back piece is almost double in width.  I want it to be a bit wider, but will probably add one rib on either side, not the 10 stitches per side I was contemplating.  And, the length of the scarf has opened up as well, giving me the correct measurement there.

To recap, had I used the unblocked piece as my swatch, I would have added several inches to the scarf collar and knit a much bigger back, ending up with a piece fit only for Godzilla.  As it is, the verdict is still out on my Moto vest.  I've picked up more of this yarn off of Plucky destash so I can reknit the back wider, a couple of inches shorter, and perhaps with a bit of cable decoration.  And I think it will work.

Thanks to the Americans and Madame Secretary (my grown up kids have introduced me to the concept of binge watching), I've made progress on Glacier and am within a couple of inches of doing shaping for the sleeves on the back piece.

Dingus was a bit surprised to be caught "napping" a/k/a chewing my tape measure in half on it, but he recovered gracefully and spent some time pretending he was helping me.

I got a  beautiful box full of yarn from The Plucky Knitter a few days ago and am in the process of debating its future.

This is mostly Bello Worsted, Plucky's 55% Merino/45% Cashmere blend.  It's very soft and pretty and I've developed quite the fondness for it.  I liked these colors together, and played around with a collage of them, which convinced me I needed a long stripey scarf, sort of a riff on Dr. Who, to put them all together.

I'm going to devote some time to looking at patterns, but have also given some though to coming up with something very simple on my own.  I'm not sure if that's happening, but I'm really looking forward to knitting with this yarn! 

 

 

© Rowan Yarns, 2015

Glacier, one of the new patterns in Rowan 58, was exactly what I had been dreaming of, and from the moment I saw it, I knew I had to knit it.  Even though it's clearly a bit beyond my skill set.  Even though I was going to have to do all of that seaming up at the end.  Even though I fought to get gauge.

I've cast on the back and am working on the ribbing, a pretty standard K3P2.  The instructions suggest you go down two needles sizes for the ribbing, and that is typically really good advice if you don't want ribbing to look like loose strands of noodles (this would be the voice of experience speaking).  But, since I am already knitting a bulky yarn on size 7 needles to get gauge, and since I really like the fabric at this gauge, I decided I would use the same size needles for my ribbing.

MISTAKE! Note to self: I am a really loose knitter.  I shouldn't freak out about the fact that I knit on much smaller needles that virtually anyone else in the online knitting universe.  It's what I need to do to get gauge.  Perhaps I am just a very R-E-L-A-X-E-D person and it comes through in my knitting?  But, whatever the reason, my ribbing on size 7 needles is just plain sloppy. 

After ripping out all of the ribbing and starting over on Size 5 needles, here it is. (That's the cover of Rowan 58 beneath it).  Much better.  Not sloppy.  Glad to have made that change, because as it knits up further, I'm finding that it's big.  Hoping there isn't too much positive ease in the size small for me.

In other knitting news this week, it appears that I'm on track to finish the last square in the infamous, in progress just about forever, Barn Raising quilt.  I am happy and sad.  I think this may be my favorite square of all time, the Koigu yarn is crazy color perfection!

 

Knitting in color is amazing – much easier than I thought it would be. And it’s addictive, it’s very hard to put down. It’s infinitely interesting to knit row after row and watch the pattern emerge.

I’m already planning additional fair isle projects, another hat and a sweater. It’s a wonderful surprise to try something you thought might be too difficult and to make a success of it!

I'm shamelessly ignoring Vodka Lemonade, she of the miles of stockinette (and I haven't even reached the sleeves) to get started on Aster and knit up the Zissou hat.

Zissou is fast!  Just a couple more inches and I'll be ready to decrease.  Although it wasn't the perfect cast on for this odd 3 knits and 2 purls rib, I got a reasonably good result out of a modified alternating cable cast on, and it's a lot of fun to do.  Good directions for alternating rib here and for modifying it for ribs other than 1×1 here.

Aster was a problem for me to swatch.  I've gone down several needles size and will have to switch sizes for garter and stockinette to get the fabric I like.  Here's to hoping my math-fu is faithful enough to account for my wonky gauge.  The intended recipient certainly seems happy with it!

I'm excited about these two new projects.