Knitter's Connection - Days 3 & 4

While I was ready to cast on my first sweater once Knitter's Connection was over, I chose instead to continue working on the projects already on my needles. The last two days of the convention were just jam-packed with knitting techniques.

On Friday, I learned to do some beautiful sweater necklines with Melissa Leapman. That was very exciting as I already own several of her books (both knitting and crochet). I even learned what I was doing wrong with picking up my gusset stitches on my socks – what a bonus! Then I took a beginning lace class with Suzanne Atkinson. The class project was a pair of lace wristers...I haven't worked on them since the class, but do plan on finishing. I think I could have gone with an intermediate lace class, but I had wanted this one to learn to knit from lace charts. I was still sceptical about the charts after the class though I did pick up some very important information on how to read them.

On Saturday, I had Suzanne Atkinson for cable knitting from charts. The class project was the Intertwined Cables seaman's scarf. The charts for this project were much easier for me to follow than for the lace class, so I'm actually knitting from the charts! I learned to cable without a cable needle, which is very cool and so much faster! Then I finished the convention with a shaping class with Amy Detjen. I learned a bunch of ways to do short rows and when to actually use them. I'd only done short row heels and toes for socks...and didn't pick up my wraps (easier not to and the designer said it was okay not to, so I wasn't being lazy). Now I know how to pick up my wraps, though I still find it a bit awkward.

It was a great convention and I learned a lot. I'm glad I didn't add the two additional classes that I had originally planned on...I was pretty much brain dead by the end of it. It was just so much to absorb in such a short time. I can't wait for next year though.

Since the convention, I've been knitting furiously on the cabled scarf from Suzanne's class and the felted purse that I had started before the convention. I should have the scarf finished by Wednesday and the purse sometime this weekend. That's pretty darn fast for me!

We celebrated Michael's birthday last Friday with a small dinner party. I was actually organized enough to bake the cake on Thursday night, put the veggie meatballs in the crockpot on Friday morning, so that I only had to ice the cake once I got home from work. I bought him two guitar effects pedal kits which he insisted on getting to open as soon as they arrived. So he managed to have both of them put together and working by Sunday (his actual birthday) and I got to do a lot of knitting, so we both enjoyed the weekend.