Who the hell needs Rhinebeck?

Yes!

Reesa! Look out below!






Out of five entries for the "small clothing" category, we nailed third place!

Keeping It Local

Many in our group are knitting for worthy causes. I mentioned another knitting donation opportunity last week and the director has kindly sent me information on the program. They have their coats all lined up, but need scarves, hats and mittens.

If you would like to donate knitting for the Coats for Kids, they have left a drop box at The Yarn Shoppe.

Here are the facts on the program:




*Started in 1999 to provide winter coats to needy students in the Davenport Community Schools, Diocese of Davenport Schools, and Pleasant Valley Community Schools. The program has grown to include kids in 22 school districts in six counties in Eastern Iowa. Coats have also been distributed to children in the Illinois Quad Cities and various daycare centers.

*Provided approximately over 1,600 coats during the 2005-06 winter season.

*Named after Dr. David E. Lane, an administrator in the Davenport Schools who was on the program’s organizing committee when he died in 1999.

*Located at the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency (AEA), Bettendorf, starting in 2001.

*Depends on the donations of gently used children’s coats by local residents and monetary donations from individuals, student organizations, local organizations, and corporate sponsors.

*Collects coat donations at Burke Cleaners in the Iowa Quad-Cities which cleans the coats for distribution.

*Solicits coat “order forms” from schools and organizations which then distributes cleaned coats to these schools and organizations so they may distribute the coats to the children in need of warm coats.

*Operates on volunteer power, including a steering committee of community and school representatives, school nurses, and many other helping people.

We've got the buttons!

Here they are, buttons for your blogs - please be sure to click on your right mouse button and save to your own PC. Thanks!

And special thanks to Mike, our QCSnB member in southeast Iowa, for creating them for us!







Karen also brought to my attention the Dulaan Project. Please be sure to check it out - there's a link in our list over to the side.

Knitting Outreach Programs

Many of us are involved in one outreach project or another with our knitting.

I'm fond of Afghans for Afghans, several persons knit for the premature babies at the local hospitals, etc. One of our knitters in the group brought up another outreach project, which many of you may already know about it- The Red Scarf Project. There will be more info at next Wednesday's gathering, but if you can't make it, here's a website with more information, The Red Scarf Project.

It's not mandatory to participate, but we'd like to encourage whoever would like to do so, to knit along with us. Laurel at The Yarn Shoppe and Jo at The Fiber Underground have loads of fibers and colors available, so be sure to check it all out.

I've also asked someone in our group to make up a "button" from our group so it can be posted on the RFP's blog pages.

Finally, if you have a favorite outreach program you participate in, and it's not listed on our blog page, please let me know - I'll post it for you!

Update from last week!

Linda sent me the photos we took with her camera.

Here she is in her newly completed Sizzle summer weight tank sweater.




And here's everyone saying hello from our gigantic group last week!




I think that photo is a great incentive for the Yarn Harlot to make a visit to the Quad Cities & hang out with us!

Hot weather and cool projects

Finally, the heat has broken and we're no longer suffering surface-of-the-sun temps!

The group has met twice now this week, but I have no photos as no one has completed any of their projects just yet. Hopefully I'll have something for you to look at after next week!

In the meantime, I've some information for those of you who spin yarn as well as weave and/or knit with it. The Bishop Hill Fiber Guild is hosting their Spin In this October. I just received a note from their coordinator, Char Rickey:


Hi Susan,

The Spin-In is Saturday, Oct 21st this year, held at Black Hawk College on Route 78 south of Kewanee, IL from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

I am in the process of finalizing the workshops and the agenda and will get information/registration forms in the mail within the next few weeks. I am happy to put you and anyone else on the mailing list to receive the registration form, if you would like. Just send the snail mail addresses of those who wish to be included.

For those interested, here's her email (substitute the words with the symbols and delete the spaces): SpinWool7 AT aol DOT com

S&B - June 21, 2006

It was a good-sized group last evening and we were all busy with our projects.

One of the projects was one that Karen's been working on lately. It's a lovely tank top, made up of stripes. The stripes, however, are not random. Karen's based the stripes on the Fibonnaci Sequence. I believe that Linda striped her Lucy Bags in this manner, too.




And while the vein in my head was throbbing due to the wild mathematics conversation last night, I thought why not investigate sites that combine the Fibonnaci Sequence and knitting?

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Fuzzy Galore

Knitting-and.com

Magknits

Making Light (it's a good article with excellent links)





Drop a line in the comments if you have other links or sources! Meanwhile, I need a bit of lie-down as I'm having algebra flashbacks.

KIP Day, Part II

My apologies for the lateness of this post! Busy at work and home, so I've not had a chance to post the additional photos of KIP Day at North Park Mall last week.

This was my swatch of the BWK wool yarn from Jo's shop, The Fiber Underground.




And here's the lovely Claire with her beautiful swatch and dye job on the organic mulberry silk noil.




Close-up of the swatch.




Brenda was working on facecloths after Darcy got us all hot and bothered with her beautiful knit work on dishcloths.




Karen's working on a shawl from her handspun alpaca blend wool.




Jeanne K. was working on a prayer shawl (I think, if someone knows for sure, leave a comment please!).




I believe this is Lynn's sweater she was working on...




And Barb's sock on two circs.




Jeanne continues to work on her lace scarf from the Tiki [bamboo yarn] (again, from Jo's shop).




And one of the ladies that joined us for the KIP Day, had one of these... I have no clue what they're called, but it looked wicked!




Again, it was a great time and now that I have more than enough warning about the next event, we'll try to make it a bigger gathering next year!

Finally, a huge thanks to Barb for the use of her camera and the photos she sent to me!

Blogging It - the June edition

Once again, if you've got a blog that needs to be added, zip that URL over to me!

Brenda: Welcome to Brendaland

Darcy: Presh-ious Knitting

Linda: Pick Up Sticks

Meghan: Calamknitty

Mike: Flautenpupie

Stacey: Moonlight Knitter

My blog: Nasty Knittin' Nymph


OTHERS - if you have suggestions, send them on over to me.

The Yarn Shoppe blog

Iowa Chicks Knitting

Street Legal Designs (Jo's - of The Fiber Underground - blog)

Knit and Tonic

The Yarn Shoppe is blogging it!

Yes, Laurel's getting all techno savvy. Check out The Yarn Shoppe blog!

Knittin' Booty!

I have a feeling we're going to have non-knitting visitors with a blog title like that one, however, it's all about knitting booty today.

First, one of our S&B gals, Meghan has begun her own little side business with stitchmarkers. Let me tell you, they're to die for beautiful markers, too! We're talking jewelry quality here. You can check out the stuff she has online at her Etsy store, however, she does have markers at The Yarn Shoppe for sale. (In fact, TYS is spotlighting products each month, one of them going up on the website will be Meghan's stitchmarkers.) I believe Meghan said she could do custom jobs for knitters, so drop her a line: calamknitty AT yahoo DOT com


Second, my friend Jo in Fairfield has opened up her Fiber Underground and the Fiber Underground Syndicate. Go here for more details and photos of her wares (click the appropriate names on the sidebar on her website). I'll be bringing some "try me" skeins to the Wednesday gathering for y'all to play with that evening. (Jo also designs knitwear, in case you're interested in finding new patterns to purchase.)


Third, each month at The Yarn Shoppe will be spotlighting new items, sale items and items of interest for knitters. Laurel will have some items up later next week on her website. For the month of May, as I mentioned above, one of the spotlights is Meghan's stitchmakers!


Fourth, June 10 is Knitting in Public Day (here's the website). We'll be planning on doing that with our members, so watch your emails for details! (Thanks to Claire for the heads up on this event!)


Finally, your continued thoughts and prayers for Liz are greatly appreciated. I'll be sending a note about her progress to your emails soon.

See y'all on Wednesday!

New Fiber Shop in Southeast Iowa

A friend of mine is carrying specialty yarns and fibers for knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers. You can check out the announcement and photos on my blog here and the rest of the photos are here, for the Fiber Underground Syndicate.

Most exciting is the soybean fiber and yarns she's carrying, 100% Iowa soybeans were used!

(She's not carrying anything you'll find at The Yarn Shoppe, so you can still stock up on your Manos, Stork, GGH, Cascade, etc. there!)

MONSTERSOCKEN

One of our S&B members turned me on to this site, Monstersocken which shows the latest craze in sock knitting.

From what I understand, you use all your odds and ends to knit up socks. The point is as varied and frenzied, and most important, as un-matching as possible for the pair of socks.

Here I thought I was being all wild and carefree by having mismatched toes on the socks.

Knitting Rap Song

It's a rap song about knitting - really! (It reminds me of Weird Al Yankovich.)

A friend's daughter found it online and passed it on to my friend. A hilarious MP3 that takes off on a rap song that was popular a few years back. Mike Bryant's Knitta Please - scroll down toward the bottom, look to your right, there are MP3 downloads (free). Click on "Knitta Please".

Sample of the lyrics:
My knitters in the back click-clack/we're gonna take the craft fair back... it's got me in stitches and purls/it's a knitter's world... hold your needles in the air/let me see your new mohair!

Wine & Knit VI - Hootenanny!

Ha! Fooled you, you thought we were at a hoe-down, didn't you? Far from it - we gathered at the Phoenician Cafe on West Locust (just past St. Ambrose) in Davenport. We were fortunate enough to sit under the tent:



The S&B chicks: Jeanne, myself, Claire, Linda, Ann, Seneca (my daughter), and Brenda (Karen was our photographer for the evening).




Linda showed us her most recent baby sweater for a friend:




Our hosts & chefs, Dani and Samar Halabi, couldn't have been more gracious and talented in the kitchen if they tried! I mean, look at what remained of our meal (served family style).






Our meal was an incredible mix of all things Lebanese. We had beef, lamb and chicken; cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini; falafel; pita with hummus and baba ghannouge. All fresh, hot and wonderfully seasoned and cooked! Some of us followed the meal with tea and Claire had the espresso type coffee. My daughter, Linda and I managed to taste the baklava (divine!).

Oh! But wait! It wasn't all about the knitting and eating at the Phoenician Cafe, oh no... There was dancing involved:











Yes, my daughter was swinging it whenever the opportunity arose to dance, and keeping Ann company the second time around.

Our lovely dancers and the bellydancer for the evening (who was so gracious, funny and encouraging).




And the group, after the event:





Many thanks to Linda (for making the reservations) and to Karen (for taking the photos) for your help during W&K VI!

Getting Felted

My new interest lies in felting and how I managed to ignore and dismiss such magical knitting projects is beyond my ken...

I finished one Lucy Bag (now fondly referred to as my LB Knitting Bag) and currently, I'm waiting to felt my second Lucy Bag (soon to be call my LB Book Bag).

I'm now on a search for felting projects and lucky you! You get the results of such a search:

Felted Cell Carrier

This has got to be the ugliest knitted/felted object I've seen outside of You Knit What??

* * *

Small Felted Purses by Cascade

Scroll down and look for the pattern in the second row. It's in PDF form. These are cute and look fairly easy to knit up. And it's in Cascade, my favorite yarn after Lamb's Pride.

Scroll down a bit further and look at the cool felted triangle bag.

(By the way, here's the page that shows the list of all the free patterns at Cascade.)

* * *

Mini Skull and Crossbones Tote

Fair Isle Skulls

Excellent for at least one of our group, yes?

* * *

Tiny Felted Tote/Gift Bag

And the little felted tote I wrote about back in December.

I Feel A Wee Bit Woozy.

Did y'all see the comment yet?

Do you *know* who Bonne Marie is? She's one of the first (and largest) knitting blogs out in the ether world & also a preeminent knitting designer.

And she left a comment on the blog about y'all knitting the headband.

This. Is. A. Big. Fat. Deal.

Linda? Barb? How does it feel to have the designer peeking at your work?

If you need more info on the lovely Bonne Marie Burns, here's a Knitty.com article that she authored.

Cables!

This is what 15 minutes free during lunch will get you. Trouble.

Cables, plaits and braids from Elizabeth Dimbleby. She has even more free stuff here.

And if you're wanting to combine sock knitting with Aran designs, John Anderson's Kilt Hose by Robert Jenkins.

A bit late to find it, here's a Christmas stocking with an Aran pattern. (Scroll down the page a bit to see it, when you go there.)

The almost end-all-be-all of Aran patterns is at Knitting Pattern Central. Type in "aran" (without the quotation marks) and it will pull up the patterns for you.

Finally, some history of the Aran sweater.