Category: Knittastic!

I don’t talk about knitting often enough over here. I also don’t knit often enough. I’m working on that. It is one of my time-management goals right now. Put down the laptop and KNIT SOMETHING. Like the sleeves on my February Lady Sweater.

While reading knitting blogs last week, I discovered that Kay & Ann of the infamous Mason Dixon Knitting blog and awesome book authors would be hosting a reading and book signing at the Joseph Beth bookstore in Lexington, Kentucky. For those of you not in the know, Mike’s parents live in Lexington, Kentucky. And they like going to Joseph Beth. I have wanted the Mason Dixon books for some time – I especially want to make the cool cardigan out of Cracksilk, er, Kidsilk Haze from their new book. You see where I’m going here, right?

So I told Mike that a fantastic Christmas gift would be a signed copy of their book. He admitted that he wouldn’t remember me telling him (it was an awfully busy week for him) and asked that I email him about it with all the details. So I did.

Dearest Michael,

I’ve discovered that the wonderful duo of Kay & Ann, also known as the Mason-Dixon Knitting team, will be at Joseph-Beth in Lexington, KY on October 10, this Friday.

http://www.masondixonknitting.com/archives/images/MDK2tour.htm

While knitting books make fabulous gifts, *SIGNED* knitting books are even better! I do not own their second book, “Outside the Lines”, and there are fabulous things I would love to make from it. Their first book is also wonderful and would be a great addition to my collection, but it is the second book I want the most.

Anyone sent to deal with the knitters at Joseph-Beth should probably be warned that HUNDREDS of knitters are likely to be there. Yes, hundreds. It will not be a normal book signing. They never are. Maybe J-B will take orders? Requests? I don’t know … but I would love a signed book. A signed book with a dedication is the best, but signed is good too. I’m easy to please.

This time, you might not want to wait to forward this email to anyone you might want to share it with. You should maybe do it today.

Love always,
Christine

(Uhm, about that last line? Yeah, I sent him some birthday present suggestions to pass on to my parents and his parents in early September, and he sort of forgot about them until Sept. 24 or so – just days before my birthday. Just in case you wondered.)

So Mike passed the email along, and my In-Laws, Gretchen & Charles went last Friday to see Kay & Ann. As you might notice from my note above, I was thinking that they don’t knit, and they probably wouldn’t want to sit through a reading by knitters. But the pull of awesomeness that all knitters seem to have is too strong to resist. They didn’t just phone it in, literally. Oh no, they went.

Gretchen put it best in her weekly email that she sent out. Wait — I know you might be thinking that I had suggested the books as a Christmas gift, but … well, you’ll see.

We received an “emergency” email from Michael. Two knitters (Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne) who are also authors of knitting books were coming to Joseph Beth Friday evening to give a presentation and inscribe/sign books. These two girls write the Mason Dixon Knitting books – and they are *golden* in the knitting world. He wanted us to get two of their books inscribed to Christine. So we went to JB Friday. Charles got us seats on the front row (one was being saved, but he asked about it and the girl saving it decided her friend wasn’t coming). So we listened to the presentation, which was delightful – these girls are entertaining in front of an audience as well as in writing. Then we got the books inscribed & signed. The girls were amused when we told them about the emergency phone call (we just said phone call because it was faster than explaining the email). We told them Christine lives in Houston and is our daughter-in-law and has a knitting blog (www.pointysticks.org). They said we are “awesome in-laws” and took our photo!!

Yes, yes — it is true. It seems that AWESOME In-Laws rank just below the hostess and cute babies. You can see a photo of mine over on this post. Heehee! So the secret was out as soon as I saw them on the blog — I knew they had gotten the books for me! But not only that — they sat on the front row! Sweet!

No knitting post would be complete without a photo, so I snagged this one from Ann & Kay. I hope they don’t mind. They took it, not me. Because, you know, I wasn’t there.

Thank you, thank you again to Gretchen & Charles for doing this – the books arrived today, and I already spent a little quality time swooning over them! Love!

The Knitting Olympics will be upon us soon, so I need to choose a project to knit! Something that will be a challenge to knit within 17 days, that will push me – but not something that will push me to the point of giving up. We don’t want that. Since I’ll be traveling during part of that time, something that is easy to follow is great. Since I’ll be traveling in the Pacific Northwest, something as heavy as a sweater is an option! (Yeah!)

So here are my four choices that I’m trying to choose between:

– The Eris Cardigan – I have had the yarn for this sweater for 2 years now. A lovely, rich shade of red Cascade 220. I’m worried that the raglan sleeves won’t be flattering.

– Cassidy – A brand new pattern from Bonne Marie, the set in sleeves would most likely be a more flattering fit. Should have enough of the Cascade 220 that I could make this sweater out of it. I *heart* cables on sweaters. It would be a solid 17 day challenge.

– Twist – Another sweater by Bonne Marie, I first favorited it when I saw the one that Caro made 6 months ago. Like that it has a collar option that isn’t a hood. I could also use the red yarn for this one, but I don’t think I want to make it in red. I see it in the brown/black yarn that Caro made it in, and I think it would go best with my wardrobe. Speaking about my wardrobe, I need new wardrobe doors.

– The February Lady Sweater – I guess I’ve been living in a knitting cave, because this sweater? It is the latest thing that all the cool kids on Ravelry are knitting. Blogless Katy is knitting one, and I saw it tonight. Love!

– Hanami – not a sweater. Obviously. I purchased yarn for this uhm, 6-8 months ago? (Wow, has it really been that long?) It is gorgeous, but would I really wear it? Probably not as much as one of the sweaters. But it really is so pretty!

You have until Saturday to tell me which project you think I should knit for the Knitting Olympics. Your feedback on why I should knit it is always appreciated!