Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Whew for Wednesday!

We interrupt your WIP Wednesday posting!

Well, about a month ago, Aimee let me know she was teaching a double knitting class at Charlotte Yarn. I've been wanting to visit some of the Charlotte knitters that I met at SAFF and I wasn't on/call and heck yes, I wanted to learn a new technique in person and not on the internet. I was so there! Aimee was a very patient teacher..we all were kinda bad...but we learned a lot.

What you see is my poor excuse of a swatch! Cotton yarn, oh well.
Double knitting swatchDouble knitting swatch 2


Below is the start of a double sided washcloth, stay tuned for that!
Double knitting Double knitting
It was a great class and I had some fun class mates to name a few! Double knitting is interesting, but very slow. I can see some good reasons to use it like hats and scarves.

I was also so lucky to be able to join in on the Fair Isle fun taught by Jane Prater. You've seen her mentioned on Cristi's blog many times and is known as her Knitting Guru. Well let me tell you she is one amazing lady! So full of knowledge and a fun teacher. I learned a lot and hope to take another class from her again one day..

She taught us color theory and examples on how to use the colors to make certain images pop out. She is a challenging teacher, and made us think a lot.

I can haz fair isle! I can haz Fair Isle! I so can't believe it was kinda easy. Well, easier than I thought and this is only a swatch and not a sweater. It really helped to have Aimee's double knitting class first as I learned how to manipulate two yarns better.

The other side See, the obligatory guts of Fair Isle knitting.

Here is where I relearned to knit backwards. Oh I can see many uses for that!
backwards knittingand again, the other side!
The front and the back where we learned how to "trap" our long floats.

I can really see me knitting Fair Isle. I'll start with a hat first. Heck, don't be expecting sweaters/vests like Cristi's and Pam's anytime soon! I had a great time meeting everyone and hope to return...um..see way far below.

There is some kind of spell up there, you know when people that knit certain things that begin with an L and the LYS sells these things...there is some sort of entrancement, charm, or whatever....you end up buying lace yarns...and a pattern!
The Charlotte Haul Gah! Yikes!

Oh, and just when you thought I was done...well..I almost never left Charlotte. (some people said it was a plot to keep me there! Which I would love to live there or at least closer!)

After a great dinner with Aimee. My hybrid Escape wouldn't drive..it would start up, but then die...sigh..2 1/2 hrs from home! I called AAA and got a tow back home..um..I only had to pay for 36 of the 136 miles...then Aimee, my knightess in shining armor took me to the airport to rent a car, and if that wasn't enough, she kindly loaned me her GPS! MOOOO! (heh inside joke!)

So..home again and the dealer called with the problem. In a nutshell, something failed and my hybrid battery was drained of power....after finding a part in another state (don't get me started on why a dealership sells hybrids, but has no parts!). They gave me a rental for 2 days. Heh, I returned the Pathfinder as while driving home that damned thing flashed "service engine soon", I felt a bit like a jinx you know! Dropped it back, got another one, and today I got my baby back.
Um..er..won't be going out of town anytime soon..sigh..gotta get sewing to pay for this one!!

See why it's Whew for Wednesday!

12 comments:

Trillian42 said...

Yay! You can double knit AND Fair Isle!!! Woohoo! (And I'll bet that sweater isn't as far off as you think...)

And poo on car troubles. Right there with ya on that last week.

Sarah Jackson said...

look at all those new techniques! I'm so impressed.

Wishing you good car mojo.

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Whew is right! So glad that you got home safe!

Love all the new skills. The fair isle especially! Great job! Sounds like a fabulous weekend!!

Peri said...

Yay for new knitting skills - well done! I only like Fair Isle in the round - hate straight knitting it.

Hope your car woes are well and truly over now - it's a bummer when they go wrong.

Lauren said...

Your fair isle looks awesome! New techniques are always so fun.

Carol said...

New techniques are always interesting. i will pick projects just to learn a new technique. I am such a technique ho.

I hope the car stays healthy. I hate it whent he ride startsacting up.

weezalana said...

Double knitting, neat! And fair isle, too! You'll be onto those mad skillz in no time!

Jennifer said...

Yay for fab knitting classes!

Sorry about your car. Yeah, I don't know why the dealership wouldn't have hybrid parts.

Anonymous said...

Great new projects you've got going!

Karen said...

How exhausting. But look at those awesome knitting techniques you picked up. Very impressive!!

cpurl17 said...

Look at you with those new techniques--I wish my attempts at Fair Isle were as nice as yours!!

Hope the car is done acting up. I really do dislike spending good yarn money on car repairs.

thegabbyknitter said...

The classes sound like fun and your swatches look great. That sucks about your car but I'm glad everthing worked out and you got home ok.