Finally finished!

I just slipped in under the wire ... I knew I had a class with Gwen on Thursday, June 12th, so what was I doing late Wednesday night? Sewing the final panel onto my SSK. I wore it to class on Thursday and everyone seemed to like it.

The huge bat-wing sleeves are a little overwhelming for my 5 foot stature and Gwen suggested removing one panel from each sleeve to make it a little less fabric. I'll probably do that and also take her suggestion that I crochet an edging around the neck and front to give it a little more structure.

I completed the jacket though, and Gwen liked it, and I'm happy. This picture is sort of crappy and doesn't show the fabulous texture of the thing. I may try to post another picture later.

Special Thanks

I wanted to take a moment and thank my husband Arlis for doing all the manual labor required to get the monthly installments out this month. I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in Kansas City. The printer is going back at my office and Arlis will be stapling, folding, putting in envelopes and getting them ready to go out after he gets home from work tonight. He really is the greatest!!!

By the way, we are only a couple of folks shy of 100 participants! It would be fun to reach 100 before we close the project for the year! And by the way, I will NOT be offering the project for at least 6 months, maybe longer once the last installment in December goes out. You will no longer be able to order it after that time. So if you have friends who want to participate, they need to join NOW!!

I'm just slogging along ...

Hi, guys! I just finished a strip and started a new one. The one I finished was "Little Leaf." It makes an interesting texture, but I'm too anal retentive to like the look. It looks a little messy. The one I started today is the Fisherman's Rib and I think I'll like it better because it's more symetric.

I'm getting a little worried about how all these pieces are going to fit together. I guess it'll all work out. Several of my strips turned out wider than they should have -- but I'm thinking bigger is better, especially with my figure! :) I bet I'm going to have to make my strip #12 longer than it is, though, to accomodate the extra circumference. Otherwise, it will draw in at the bottom. I guess we'll all cross that bridge when we come to it.

Happy knitting!

Penny

August Strips

How is everyone doing on their August strip? I'm WAY behind - just about halfway thru JULY! Intend to spend the next few days trying to catch up! Debby

More Faces to Names

So I have just returned from Stitches Midwest and was able to put a few more faces to names. Lois was in my last class of the weekend, Flat to Circular and Back Again. Her knitting buddy and fellow SSK participant Shirley was taking classes nearby and stopped in during break. It was great to get to meet them both in person.

In September I will be teaching at the Knit and Crochet Show in Oakland on Sept 27 & 28. If you will be attending, definitely come find me in class, stop in and say "hi". Then in October I will be traveling all over the Midwest and East Coast. More opportunities to find me and let me know how it is going.

Lois, of course, wanted to know what was coming up for next year. I have a plan and will be giving more information as the plan becomes a bit more fully formed! But keep watching for more details!

Faces to Names

The past 10 days I have been in Columbus, OH. First for the TNNA show and then I stayed on to teach at Knitter's Connection. Columbus is a very nice place to visit and I really enjoyed my time there, but what has been the most fun is putting a few more faces to the names participating in the SSK knit a long!!

At TNNA I met Chris Gahs, owner of Cloverhill Yarn Shop in MD. She is not exactly "participating" since people in the business rarely get to actually knit, but she says she loves getting the handouts each month!!

Then, during the Knitter's Connection, I met Roberta Astroff and then later Penny Landen (WoolyWorm), which was especially fun since she had her strips with her and I got to see them in person.

I travel around a lot, if I am going to be in your area, I sure hope that you take a minute to introduce yourself, because meeting other knitters is always such a joy, especially when we all have something in common!

mockbraid was mocking me

I had a hard time figuring the Mockbraid stitch out. I thought I was supposed to bind off the knit stitch and the slip stitched instead of passing the slip stitch over the knit stitch and yarn over!