I received a package from my SP11 Pal yesterday. She really has me dialed in, she sent totally cute stuff. I am especially fond of the sock blocker key chain. The personalized stitch markers are such a clever idea. I am really enjoying this swap, it is a blast to get to know a person from the broader knitting community, I am very eager to learn who my pal is. 
Archive for October, 2007
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Published by October 13th, 2007 in Baseball, Review, Miscellaneous and Knitting. 0 CommentsAs I have stated before, I am not a baseball fan. I am however a fan of STR sock yarn.
At Stitch n Pitch in Seattle back in July I ordered some STR yarn dyed for the event in Seattle Mariners colors from Tricoter. I was told they would be shipped to me in about a week or so. Well I got them last week, 10 weeks after date of purchase. I don’t know why it took so long to get the yarn, I would have felt better if Tricoter had contacted me and let me know the time line was shifting. I am glad the yarn has arrived, I am eager to cast it on the colors are dead on. 
I don’t know that there is any lesson here, maybe ‘Patience is a Virtue’, ‘Good Things Come to Those who Wait’? Or maybe the truth, I am impatient, something I freely admit about myself, maybe I will try and work on that. Or not now that I have my yarn.
I’ve been knitting for a few years, but I finally took my first class. Annie Modesitt came to my LYS, Nine Rubies and taught two classes. I took her class on lace. In the past I have steered clear of classes, because I’m a book learner. I can read a book and figure out just about anything. Of course what you miss in most books is all those little tips and tricks that people have learned over the years. I saw Annie on Knitty Gritty last spring and really felt that her approach to knitting was very similar to mine. Though she is a far better and more experienced knitter than me. So I was really excited to hear that she was coming to teach at Nine Rubies.
How was the class? In a word, awesome. She is an incredibly dynamic presenter and really keeps the class engaged. She was very patient with people when they had trouble and talked to the whole class when she was helping them. That way we could all could benefit from what she was saying.
She really emphasized reading your knitting and memorizing your lace pattern. I can memorize a lace pattern after a few repeats, but I know many people can’t. I think she does a great job of showing you how to deconstruct the lace and find the pattern repeat and anchor point. She covered some more advanced knitting techniques including chart reading, alternate cast-ons, bind-offs, and edgings.
I think her class is about how to become a better lace knitter, not how to knit lace. A subtle but important difference. I would highly recommend knitting at least one lace swatch before you come to the class. Be familiar with k2tog, ssk, slipping stitches, and yo. IMHO when you take a class from a master knitter, the goal is not to learn the basics of the technique from them. The goal is to build your confidence and understanding of that technique, to move beyond the basics. I can look up a stitch on the wiki or in a book. What I may not learn is all of things that don’t get written down. How to approach knitting lace, how to move beyond the pattern and understand what makes great lace.
