Knitting Without Needles

Ok I know. I said that today I would introduce you to our two new family members.. But Brian is gone to a business conference a few hours drive away and he took the camera with him.. Suffice it to say we have two cute kittens.. Cali and Cleo. Pictures and story coming tommorrow for sure..

On Monday the whole family went biking. We all got new bike helmets so we had to try them out. There are alot of trails around here as the Erie canal went through this area. So we went to a little museum at one of the locks and then rode our bikes down the mule trail.. it was a nice ride that included going through one of the locks!

It was cool.. I actually had the opportunity to go through a lock in a boat in Holland. It was going from fresh water to salt water. Pretty neat! I can’t imagine going through 20 of them in 5 -19 miles! The locks on the canal are stacked up pretty close. Sometimes you just went from one lock straight into another! Pretty wild!

Tommorrow.. weekend part III!

As I mentioned before I took a class given by Annie Modesitt on Saturday. It was a blast.. now apparently some people find her awful, unprofessional and all those terrible things.. but I found her to be fun and knowledgable and having a great fun teaching technique!

We did knitting cables without a cable needle. It worked out very well. She has a great little story that goes along with the technique that sure helps you remember it!!

Here’e what I made:

Now I also did a little brown nosing..heheh it never hurts eh? I stopped off at Harry London’s and got her a little box of chocolates..Hey it worked out better than I thought! she gave me a copy of her knitted millenery book and a big ole hug..heheh.

Shucks..

Anyway..Like I said she’s fun and she’s cool!

Annie you blow me away!!

Ps. if you take one of her classes ask  her to tell you how she met her husband!! It’s a good story!

PSS. Next weekend episode… our new family members…

I decided to felt the crown of my hat by hand. So I got out my trusty felting tools..

My rubber gloves and my broiler pan..

It worked like a charm. But I sure was glad that I had decided to hand felt the top! I found that I had not secured the top stitches very well..

If this had happened in the washer this whole thing would have been a knitting Titanic..

 After a quick stitch up I finished hand felting the top. I threw her in the washer and she came out just fine and is happily drying, while Hattie stands guard. I used a yoga ball covered with a tea towel to shape the top, and then I cut a hole in that box so the ball would sit down in and I could dry the brim flat! So far.. so good!

The pattern, by the way, will be going up in the contest in Lynn Markman’s Yahoo group. I’ll give the other particulars sometime over the weekend with the reveal!