The stuff is gone.

It took 10 people 3 days to pack the stuff and it took 12 people one day to load the stuff into crates on trucks to take it to a warehouse where it will be put in a container and sent somehow to me in Alaska.

With any luck it will get there right around the time we do. We never could have done it without my parents who came a week ago and stayed during the packing and the moving. They sorted and cleaned and minded the children and cooked and more. It was amazing. After the stuff was boxed we spent a lot of time eating standing up or sitting on the stairs. Making (and burning) toast in the broiler of my old oven, and generally camping. We bought five towels for $1.58 each at Target which were as thin as tissue paper and the size of large hand towels, but mom enjoyed the fact that we could wash them all in one load!

The movers finished in one day a job that they said would take two days, so on Thursday our friends Rick and Meg housed Jay, Selma and Me–they’re house was a wonderful refuge, and they are so warm, welcoming and friendly. My mom and dad stayed with our friends Ally and Jay who are like family–we’ll miss them so much. On Friday night we all stayed with Ally and Jay and got Indian take out, and had root beer floats and played Bananagrams after the kids were asleep. (Jay won all but one game, but they almost all came down to one tile–it’s a great word game, quicker and more portable than Scrabble).

James is in Cordova now. He arrived on Thursday and he’s getting his bearings. Today my parents left and we moved in across the street at our friends Anne Marie and Tom’s house. They are traveling and we’re house sitting. And we’ll get to sleep in the same place for a whole week. Then, we’re off on our trip across the country.

Oh, and here’s one more photo from the Stitch and Pitch courtesy of Jennifer. I got these needles in my goodie bag. We thought they went well with the DomiKNITrix t-shirt, don’t you?

What with the movers being here this week, I’ve fallen a bit behind, but I did want to mention that Selma and I had a great time at Stitch and Pitch on Friday night. We met Rebecca, Lisa, Heidi, Junko and her husband Will at the Takoma metro, and after scrounging for parking change we caught the train to the new National’s stadium. The new stadium is great–it’s much closer to the metro than the old one. Also it has green roofs with grass instead of non-permeable materials.

We were in the knitters section of the stadium. Everywhere we looked there were knitters.

and Will said at the end of the game, “That was the most civilized sporting event I’ve ever been to!” Maybe it was because were paying more attention to our knitting and each other than the game (I can tell you the nationals won.

Of course, there were crocheters too–Lisa (above in the green shirt) just learned to crochet and is currently enamored by granny squares. I’ve given her all my yarn odds and ends and she’s making a million of them.

Selma had a great time being the only kid. She loved getting so much attention for her knitting, and every time I turned my head someone was sharing their treats with her.

I got to see some folks I haven’t hung out with in a while:

Jody (JavaJem)

I got to see Karida and we reunited our new Lexie Barnes bags:

By the time we left we were all pretty sleepy, but we had had a great time!

I love the concept of this scarf that I found via Ravelry. The pattern is in Finnish, but we may be able to guess how it was done, or create our own version. The chains must give it great drape even though it’s worked in worsted weight yarn. Instead of changing colors every two rows, it might be fun to try using a yarn with long color repeats like K1C2 TyDy. It also might be fun to play with the lengths of the chains and the height of the stitches in the solid portions. Lots of great possibilities!

This beautiful version was stitched by Lilia (Ravelry).

Of a regular work schedule for me, then I’m in full moving mode. The packers come next Monday and my parents will be here this weekend helping me get ready. It’s time to live out of suitcases until August! So I’m furiously writing up patterns and tying up loose ends when I’d rather be doing more of this:

That’s the famed bfl I got from Rock Creek Yarn at Knit in Public day. It was the only colorway she had or I probably would have chosen something a little more subtle. On the niddy-noddy, there’s only about 45 yards of lace-weight singles. It will take me a long, long time to spin through all 4 ounces of this stuff, but that’s one of the cool things about spindle spinning–very efficient dollar-wise: you can get weeks of spinning in buying very little wool. Of course, you’re making very little yarn, too, but for me, that’s not the point.

This little collage was tucked away in a corner at A Tangled Skein. Each plant shown was used to dye a bit of the wool in the weaving in the center. There’s nothing to explain where it came from (I shall have to ask Cheryl, the owner of the shop), but there is what looks like transliterations into a Native American language under the English versions of the plant names. It’s fascinating to see that something green like lichen produces an orange colored dye. Someday, perhaps I’ll grow a dyers garden, but probably not in Alaska!

It was a nice day for mail. The new Interweave Crochet arrived. I love the Diamond Sage Wrap by Jill Wright and the La Mer scarf by Sheryl Means. La Mer is Tunisian crochet, and there’s a little tutorial to get you started if you’ve never tried the technique. The issue also has my first design contribution to the magazine (if you don’t count the Baby Doll dress excerpted from Crochet Me in the last issue):

The “Just Enough” blanket is a little carriage blanket that’s just the right size for car seat or stroller.

A small package also arrived from James’ Aunt Rose (addressed to me):

It included a lovely letter written in impeccable longhand. Aunt Rose explains that she heard I was a knitter and she had collected these vintage patterns from her own mother-in-law recently. She went on to recommend a bit of knitting might help to keep warm in Alaska (I’ve been getting that advice pretty frequently!) The booklets are classic accessories patterns from the 1930s-1950s. I was excited to see that they include a lot of hat patterns, and one book called “Woolies for Infants.”

Despite the heat, and the fact that most of us had been up ’til midnight at A Tangled Skein the night before, there was a nice, small crowd at the Knitting Fair in Takoma Park. I was spinning on my new Schacht drop spindle. With the help of Rock Creek Yarn, I have now discovered the wonder that is Bluefaced Leicester (BFL to those in the know). It’s like this stuff was made for the drop spindle and it makes me feel a bit less like I have 10 thumbs. Mary, the dyer/proprietor of Rock Creek has pretty yarns inspired by places she’s visited in her travels.

Friday the 13th knitting was the busiest its ever been. The store was so crowded there was nary a place to sit or walk, but folks were cheery and having a great time buying wool even though the temperatures were topping 90 degrees. Of course not everyone made it ’til midnight

This is Anna, who knew when to quit. She’s the 12-year-old daughter of one of the knitters and she intelligently chose to make her nest amid some cashmere and organic cotton.

Sometime during the evening Cici absconded with my camera, but before she did, I got a shot of her t-shirt

You can see the rest of the pictures that she and I took on flickr.

The Takoma Park Knitting Fair is scheduled for this Saturday, June 14th, 12-4 p.m. on “The Deck” on Laurel Avenue between Pizza Movers and the Post Office. I’ll be there with patterns, signing books and generally hanging out and crocheting. (Hopefully I won’t be too sleepy, as Friday is “Friday the Thrirteenth” knitting at A Tangled Skein.) At craftnite last night, Emily and I made t-shirts in honor of the upcoming event.

The shirt came out just fine, but as we were spraying fabric paint in the dark, there’s a little overspray now on the sidewalk I need to figure out how to remove.

This is going to take a little time:

Seriously… I was expecting to come home with less yarn than I brought to TNNA this year. The show was a different experience for me because instead of being there to take classes and network, I taught classes (which is why I brought a lot of yarn donated by my sponsors to give away), and I worked the Stitch Cooperative booth.

Since I was moving, I wasn’t planning on getting any samples. But two of the lovely companies I use in my designs foiled my plan. First, Pagewood Farm had some lovely new yarn and Robin, the owner was generously urged me to try it out. Then, I walked with Kristi Porter and Robyn Chachula over to the Blue Sky Alpacas booth to see if maybe they had a spare skein of the beautiful rust colored skinny cotton I had used to teach my hat class on Friday–I liked the way my sample hat was going, and thought I might finish it up. Linda, the head of the company said, “Do you have a bag? Like, a really big bag?” resistance was futile.

I have some lovely yarn form new companies and new yarn from established companies, that I’ll try and highlight with pictures as I put everything away. Keep an eye out for Yarn Daze–a new hand dye company with a new, fresh color sense.

It was wonderful to catch up with old friends. Having the booth meant there was a place to sit, drop our stuff, and have a central gathering point. The yarn stores seemed to really like the concept of the Stitch Cooperative, which we started to streamline pattern distribution for independent designers. One of the highlights of this years’ show was meeting new people. I was pleased to meet, in person, Kate Gilbert, who is lovely and has started a beautiful new fiber magazine Twist Collective. I also met Miriam Felton, a star of lace knitting and Cheryl Schaefer, owner of The Schaefer Yarn Company. Franklin Habit was as charming and fun in person as he is on his blog.

Crochet seemed to be one of the buzz-words of the show. The Denise Needle company is working on a set of crochet hook tips for their interchangeable needles, Namaste bags are designing a hip hook case with a retro clasp an lots of room for tools, and many, many more yarn companies are looking for crochet designs.

Here’s Jess practicing her crochet.

Then, there were the babies:

This is Calvin, Lexie Barnes’ newest addition to her family. There were lots of happy babies on the show floor this year–quite a departure from the first time I attended TNNA and found Lexie sitting outside the show, on the floor, nursing (her then infant) because they wouldn’t let her bring the baby in. Critical mass of baby-wearing TNNA members meant that that old rule was no longer reasonable and thankfully, the organization shifted without much drama.

Since I just had my camera phone I don’t have many pictures, but you can see the rest of what I do have on flickr.

Emily is wearing a new vest that is debuting this weekend at TNNA–it’s called Waltz (because the edging seemed to have a rhythm of one-two-three, one-two-three), it will be available for sale on my web site after the show. Emily was not only the model, she was my contract crocheter on this project, and she did a fabulous job! Waltz is worked in O-Wool’s new two-ply organic merino. For this sample, which is a women’s Medium, we used just under 4 skeins.

Actually, Jay was just drinking orange juice, but it sure looks like he needed a morning pick-me-up. My morning tea has become more of a necessity lately, and I’ve switched from herb, to green, to, gasp–black! Hopefully after TNNA and the Move, I won’t need to be as caffeine-driven.

I’m in the final stages of packing and getting ready for my trip to Columbus–and as I knock things off my list, it seems to grow longer… Each thing I do makes me remember three things I need to do. Tonight I’m putting the finishing touches on the Round Yoke sweater, and I’ll get it photographed tomorrow so I can bring it to the show. Nothing like a deadline to convince me to finish something!

If you’re going to be in Columbus for TNNA, you’ll most likely find me at the Stitch Cooperative booth: 1056. Hope to see you there!