Knit Fit 2!

Thanks to those of you who commented on that last post and told us what you've been doing lately! Things have calmed down a bit now so I can get back to regular posting.

The first thing I must tell you about is the fun times I had this past Saturday at Knit Fit 2! This is the second year that I've had the honor of teaching at this wonderful event.

I just love it, because it's small and cozy and friendly. It happens in Ballard at the community center there and I hope it will never grow too big to stay put. Sasa Foster and Hannah Ingalls do a great job of making it look like they just casually put this thing together every year. I know that it secretly must be nerve-wracking at times. Thanks to both of them and everyone else who helped.

Knit Fit was great again this year!

Thank goodness I was able to visit the market before classes got started so that I could nab some lovelies.

I finally got some Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock after admiring Felicia Lo's work for years. Hers is the one on the left and the color is Willow, a subtle green and purple mix. The other two gorgeous hunks of wool are from Cathy of Intrepid Otter Yarns. To the far right is Baby! Superwash Merino DK in a color named for Darryl in Walking Dead. It's called "A boy and his bow." The yummy orange one in the middle is BFL! Superwash Sock in Inferno. The pictures do not do these yarns a bit of justice, you guys.

And this picture does not touch the cuteness that is Cathy. I just love this lady. I first met her a couple of years ago when she won one of my Junebug Days contests. We don't get to see each other ever, even though we kind of live in the same town. That's crazy.

She generously donated both those skeins above for yarn support for designs, so pretty soon I'll be showing you what becomes of that. I can't wait!

Speaking of very nice people, I was contacted last week by Mary Jane of Seattle who had a bunch of vintage patterns she inherited from her Scottish mother-in-law. She wanted to donate them to me because she saw that I was teaching a class on using vintage knitting patterns. I was floored!

And then I was beneath the floor when she showed up Saturday just before class to double my collection! Yes, the stack on the left is my existing collection and the stack on the right is what Mary Jane gave to me.

Let's spread it out and get a good look. Yesterday while I was recuperating (the classes wore me out, y'all!), I looked at them all more closely. They are fantastic! Not only are there plenty of awesome vintage patterns, but a couple of issues of Woman's Weekly from the 80's and one of New Zealand Woman and Stitch from 1970. Too cool. There are even some old sewing patterns that look like they are from the 40's. I'll be showing you some closeups of individual booklets later. Some are simply sublime and some are deliciously ridiculous (cue the 70's and 80's!)

The best thing of all was that Mary Jane drove all the way across town in some pretty nasty weather just to get these to me so that the class could enjoy them, too. And they did! We found so many inspiring patterns in this batch, and a couple of folks used one for their worksheet activity.

And while I'm bragging about really nice people, let me say how much I appreciated all the wonderful ladies who came to my classes.

Thanks to Lisa, Becky, Nancy Jo, Brooke, Julie, Fiona, and Danica for making the vintage class so enjoyable! Here is Brooke modeling one of the crochet shrugs I made from a vintage pattern for class project. Doesn't it look great on her? Spicy, in fact.

I wish I had pictures of the Finagle Your Cables class, but we had so much to cover that there was no time to even think about it. Thanks to Patti, Heidi, Marge, Margaret. Heather, Deanna, Nancy, Pat, a second Pat, Joanna, Lisa, and Sue for being such troopers and putting up with my going on and on about cable knitting. Fortunately, I could tell they all loved cables as much as I do. What a blast!

I hope I get to do Knit Fit again. It's just the best!

Thanks again to everyone who made it happen!