The Knitting Experience Café

Dream in Color Smooshy arrived today!

I'm just gonna let this incredibly beautiful sock yarn speak for itself.

As if that wasn't enough, the new Classic Elite fall pattern book is here. 

A sampling of the patterns:

Knitters are seriously hardcore.  Very little can get between a knitter and his/her Knit at Night - not even a tornado watch.  I know, for those of you from the Midwest, a watch is nothing. But for those of us from New England, it is exciting and scary stuff. We're not used to it, and not entirely sure how to handle it. 

Clearly the solution must be to knit.  And we did.  Lots of us. 

Including Wendy, who has been visiting us this week from TN (yay Wendy!):

And my dear friend Sophie who came all the way from The Netherlands to join us for Knit at Night. (Ok, she is also in the States on vacation with her family, but KAN was an important stop.)

Sophie and I went to Dartmouth (college) with Lizzie (hi Lizzie!), and William and Mary (grad school) together, but it has been years since we've seen each other. 

Last night I got to meet the wonderful Bart and their lovely daughter Leila.

Notice Leila's sweater?? It's a Sprout!

They brought us some traditional Dutch treats that we enjoyed thoroughly.  Thank you!!

Of course there was much knitting around the room.  I didn't catch many project pics, but Cheryl snapped a shot of her boob. 

(Hee, hee - couldn't resist - thanks Cheryl!)

And I HAD to take a picture of Adrienne's Seascape Shawl.  She is using Spunky Eclectic Summer and it is incredible.

Next to it is a picture of the hoodie Becka was wearing last night. Seems that this pattern is everywhere! Jen saw it on her window shades.  Very cool. 

Oh, and I absolutely can't forget to show you Mindy's fabulous top.  Check out the ribbon she found for the finishing touch - perfect!

Check out the great new patterns that we just got in from Fiber Trends, Oat Couture, and Knitting Pure and Simple.

Bad blogger.  It has actually been an entire week since my last post!!!  Many apologies.  It is not for want of things to tell you about - much has been happening - just for want of indoor hours at the computer. 

What does a week bring?

Our first finished Seascape Shawl! Patti, despite starting her PhD career, managed to complete her shawl in record time. And it is beautiful!

Christy is doing her first ever lace and look how far she has gotten!  I am so proud of her!

The mystery knitter is still at work:

Check out the beaded detail on Scott's shawl: (The picture is kinda fuzzy, and he has made a lot more progress since it was taken.)

And more shawls were growing this week:

The TKE Christmas in July party took place at the fabulous Sandy's house.  

There was a yankee swap with lots of different gifts, but the absolutely best one was brought by the brilliant Sarah and snatched up by Sandy:

Marcia has been on a finishing spree: 2 lace scarves and 5 pairs of socks!

Knitted Knockers are appearing everywhere.  Diana made one in each size from A to DD.

Betsey and Pam kept me company yesterday and worked on more boobies.

Perhaps best of all, we have a new knitter. Welcome Erika!

I remembered to bring home the camera!! And I have bunches of pictures to share.

The first repeat on Chart B of my Seascape Stole is done! The heat was making me very restless this afternoon, and I didn't think I could knit, but the lace just entranced me and soon I forgot about the horrible air, and had this:

Here's where I was on Thursday:

While very beautiful and graceful looking, the knitting itself isn't terribly complicated. The long repeats make you want to keep knitting to see how they develop. 

Thursday's Knit at Night, and Saturday were filled with lace (and non-lace) knitters:

Peggy finished her Sprout. It is PERFECT! And looks wonderful on her. She humored my plea for a photo shoot.

Bridget and Mary Ellen had socks to show:

Bridget had also made this cool crochet sun hat.  (I REALLY need to get back to the crochet resolution!)

Amanda was working on her very first sock, and this beautiful scarf from Oceans.  She is using Spunky Eclectic Summer.

Anna stunned us all when she walked in wearing this:

Again, it is knit in Spunky Eclectic Summer and the pattern is from the Summer Interweave Knits.  Gorgeous.  Simply gorgeous. 

(And, yes, more Spunky Summer is coming! Amy is working on it now.)

Jennifer stopped in to drop off lots of knitted knockers (thank you!!!) and show this lovely lace scarf in Hempathy

.

The pattern is from knitty.com, but I forgot to ask how many balls of Hempathy she used or what needle, or any of that important stuff. She is joining us in the Seascape KAL, and is back on track with her Sprout.

A few other really cool projects came through the door.

A pinwheel jacket out of Cascade Superwash:

A eco-friendly bag, made entirely from recycled bags!! I kid you not.  The pictures don't do it justice. One of our younger knitters whipped this up and was sporting it over the weekend.  I practically grabbed it off her arm to get some pics. 

Diana brought me a special treat - 

This is the shawl that she made in honor of a friend's wedding. It is a surprise.  Lucky, lucky bride.

Since I had the camera, and it was unbearably hot in the house, I grabbed all my WIPS and took them outside for a project update. I figure it's been awhile since I've shown you all the active knits in my rotation.

You saw the Seascape. My love for it has in no way diminished my happiness when knitting the Phyllo Yoke. I'm almost at the lace portion of the body and will need to stop and make some arms before going further.

But check out this turned hem.  I am very proud.

Many have asked about the sweater I mentioned for my newest niece, Madelyn.  It's almost done! The body (knit in the round, from bottom-up) is complete, and the arms just need the cap shaping. Laziness has stopped progress since I need to do the math for the caps.

Sorry, no detailed pics until Madelyn gets it.  Not that I think she is reading the blog already, but you never know, she is a very advanced little girl.

Because it is just one of those things that I had to at least say I knit, I cast on for a pair of Monkey socks.

I must admit that I am really enjoying the pattern.  I could see myself knitting multiple pairs. 

For completely mindless knitting, I pick up Connor's Harry Potter scarf.

The boy must be properly outfitted when the next movie is released.

And I have been spinning!

I told you about Pretty in Pink (Suri Alpaca, Merino, and Bamboo). It is now approx. 500yds of fingering weight yarn.

Now on the wheel... sparkles!!

Guess that's enough pictures for now.  Tomorrow night is Amy's July design class, and I will be teaching someone to knit for the first time. I love that.  Helping a knitter emerge, where there wasn't one before.