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Stitches West 2013

March 8, 2013 in Events, Workshops | No comments

By the time February rolls around, most New Englanders are willing to do anything to get out of Dodge, so to speak for awhile.  The snow and the cold and the grey skies get to some people.  I don't mind the winter all that much, but I must admit I do look forward to going to California (blue skies, warmer weather, NO SNOW) to take  part in Stitches West.  Even if the weather were horrible in Santa Clara, I'd still come--it is so much fun!  The market was huge this year.  I signed books at the Yarn Barn booth.  It was really crowded!

Signing books in the Yarn Barn booth

Here is my first class.  I am not too fond of the "Horsehoe" set-up, but it does give me a lot of extra exercise during class.  it's a LLOONNGG way down there!
 LAt class

 My students in the Latvian Fingerless Mitt class were just wonderful--so enthusiastic and motivated!  They worked very hard that day and they were very proud--as they should be!  Look at all their lovely mitts!

My class- Latvian Fing Mitts

 And here's a close-up of their work.  Every mitt was beautiful!

The Latvian Fingerless Mitts

My second class was two days long: The Danish Skrå-trøje.  It was just a wonderful class, small and intimate, and we had the absolute best times!  I wish every class I taught could have this combo of students.  What a pleasure!  It was a lot of knitting, but they all got pretty far with their little sweaters.  I made them knit in two colors on the right side, purl in two colors on the wrong side, work in the round and flat, and make twined-knitted cuffs.  I put them all through their paces and they were so successful!  YAY!

My Skra class

 

The student banquet was fun too, but as I had a cold the entire time I was in California, I went to bed if I wasn't teaching or eating. If any of you students got my cold, I am so sorry!

The student banquet

 

I am already looking forward to Stitches West 2014!

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The Dallas Handknitters Guild

March 8, 2013 in Events, People, Workshops | 1 comment

Now here's a guild I have a history with!  I started teaching for the Dallas guild back in 1993 I think, before my book came out. And I taught at least one, if not two, workshops for the guild for the next ten years, give or take.  It is such a wonderful feeling to know so many members over a long period of time.  And every time I go back it's like coming home in a way.  They know I love Mexican food and feed it to me as often as possible while I am there.  They voraciously and loyally bought my yarns and kits and books and patterns when I had my internet store, and some years those purchases were responsible for keeping me afloat (as in food in the frig).  So it is little wonder that I feel a kinship to them all.  Big-hearted women. Last year, after many years' hiatus (because I had taught ALL my workshops to them), they asked me back!  The membership has somewhat shifted.  There are new faces–knitters who haven't had my classes.  So I taught my gansey class, with my DVD.  It was a huge class as usual (the Dallas guild always has a good turn-out), and the technology helped me get around to everyone.  Later on I got this photo in my email box... Twelve little ganseys on display at the Dallas Quilt Show!

All the little Ganseys hung in a row...at the 2012 Dallas quilt show

What is so phenomenal is that twelve of the knitters in my class (that's 50%) FINISHED their ganseys.  I was so impressed. I am more than ever looking forward to being in Dallas again at the beginning of May 2013 to teach Latvian Fingerless Mitts and the Norwegian Fana Cardigan!  Can't wait!  If you would like to join in the fun, you can contact the program chair here.  Tex-Mex anyone?

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The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow- the Workshop

December 9, 2012 in A new experience!, Events, Workshops | 2 comments

Having been granted a fellowship to be here, it is expected for me to give back to the community in some way.  The best I know how to do is to offer a workshop, so this past Tuesday, I got ready to teach a short two-hour class on the basics of Swedish Twined Knitting. I thought MAYBE I would get as many as 6 people.  But was I surprised!  TWENTY knitters showed up with dishes for a pot-luck lunch afterwards!  We had a grand time!

What a nice big room to hold a workshop in!

Demonstrating Twined Knitting

Hard at work!

My patterns laid out on the piano

Notice all the potluck dishes on the counter in the background waiting for lunchtime. These knitters are great cooks!

It was a lovely day.  I was so pleased so many came to learn this esoteric technique from Sweden!

Iceland Here I Come!

December 7, 2012 in A new experience!, Events, Knitting techniques | 2 comments

From July 28 to August 4, I will be in Iceland, knitting, teaching knitting, being a tourist, and having fun!. The information on my Tour of Iceland has gone live!  YAY!  Here is the link.  The early bird pricing (10% off) ends December 22nd so act fast!

Ragga-our guide!

I will be teaching the Swedish North Halland Pullover over 12 hours while we enjoy Reykjavik and the wonders of Iceland with Ragga Eiríksdóttir.  Ragga is such a fun person and of course is from Iceland.  So she knows all the best places to go.  So much is included in the tour–even yarn!

The Swedish North Halland Pullover

We will learn all kinds of techniques the Swedish knitters used to make these beautiful sweaters.  Here's the class description: The lovely red and black Swedish sweater from the Halland region can be dated back to the late 1800s.  In this class, a small sweater will be knitted circularly compiling a variety of Swedish construction techniques:  three different cast-ons, a choice of patterned or corrugated ribbing, 2 color geometric pattern knitting, "seam" stitches, the traditional  neck construction and front slit, Knitting on the right side and purling on the wrong side with 2 colors (in three styles: two yarns in the right hand, one yarn in each hand, or two yarns in the left hand), the Norwegian purl, 2 shoulder joins, 2 types of sleeve construction, plus a discussion on designing. Length: 12 hours (2 days)  Level:  Intermediate- must be experienced using double pointed needles, Magic Loop, or two circulars. Supply List: •    3 oz. each worsted weight yarn (preferably wool) in red and black •    One set 7-8" (20 cm)long (or shorter) dp needles each, US sizes 5 and 7 (3.75 mm and 4.5 mm) •    One 16" (40 cm) circular needle US size 7 (4.5 mm) •    St markers, st holders, scissors, sticky notes or magnetic board to keep your place on the chart, tapestry needle •    Crochet hook, size D Homework:  None.

Our class project

I have been to Iceland once before and I didn't want to leave, even in the winter!  I cant wait to enjoy it in the summertime.  I hope you'll come along.  It's going to be a blast!  

The 2013 Book Give-away for The 20th Anniversary of Knitting Ganseys

December 6, 2012 in Books, Events, New designs/ classes | 19 comments

2013 will mark the 20th anniversary of Knitting Ganseys being in print.  I am so proud that it is still a viable, meaningful book, and am amazed that 20 years have flown by.  When did THAT happen?

I was thinking about how wonderful books are and how they have affected my life. (I have 8 bookcases and counting... in my little apartment.)  I decided I would celebrate this anniversary by giving away a book a month in 2013 to my eNewsletter readers.  So this is how it will work:  Sign up here to receive my monthly eNewsletter (Beth's Knitting Traditions Newsletter).  There will be a special link each month in the newsletter for you to send an email to me that enters you in the drawing.  I will blindly choose one person each month at the end of that month and announce it in the next month's newsletter.  

Although you can enter the drawing every month, please only sign up for the drawing once per month.  In November I gave away Cap Sease's new book Cast-On, Bind-Off: 211 ways to Begin and End Your Knitting.

 

And this month (December) I will give away...

Knitting Sweaters From Around the World, edited by Kari Cornell for Voyageur Press.  I have two designs in the book–the Swedish Ullared and a Gansey–but there are lots of gorgeous designs in it!

I have plenty more books to give out.  Good luck!

 

Vesterheim, part 2

November 13, 2012 in Events, Museums, People, Workshops | No comments

On Sunday, the Knit-In continued.  Katie Carpenter had created a pillow project based on one of Ann Swanson's charts she had devised several years before.  I happily knitted away on that as did many others.  In the afternoon, Janine Kosel and Sue Flanders, authors of Norwegian Handknits:Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum, gave a talk about their latest book Swedish Handknits: A Collection of Heirloom Designs.  They talked about the process of researching, designing, writing, and being published, and showed the many lovely projects from the book.  We all enjoyed that!

Sue Flanders, and Janine and Rosemary Kosel

I spent some time in the storage area charting out some socks (Sjønaleistar) that are all white and only come above the ankle.  The top part of these socks is twined knitted in MANY colors and I have seen them in museums in Sweden and Finland.  They are near the top of the list for me to knit!  This particular sock is not from Vesterheim, but from a Swedish museum.

Around 3pm everyday, the box wine came out in honor of Ann Swanson, who preferred only white box wine.  We all toasted to her memory and shared past anecdotes about her.  The Stash Sale was a big hit: many of Ann's leftover yarns, tools, and pattern books were up for grabs with the proceeds going to benefit Vesterheim Museum.   Here are Ruth Sybers, Sally Wall, and Katie Carpenter, all good friends of Ann. I feel lucky to count them as mine as well!

Katie Carpenter, Ruth Sybers, and Sally Wall (in her beautiful Estonian sweater!)

Carol Anderson told this "Sven" joke that Ann had shared with her... The audio is quiet, so you may have to turn it up.  Be aware the joke is a bit "off-color". Carol's Sven Joke On Monday and Tuesday, I taught the Swedish North Halland sweater.  Christine Biedermann finished hers!   Only too soon it was time to go home.  But I was ready, as I had not been in Vermont for 2 weeks by this time.

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Vesterheim: The Norwegian-American Museum, Part One

November 12, 2012 in Events, Knitting techniques, People, Workshops | No comments

I have not been to Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa since 1997, when I first visited to "practice" researching before my first big trip to Scandinavia.  So it was very thrilling and quite an honor to be asked to teach two classes there at the end of October and beginning of December.   A fund had been set up at the museum in memory of Ann Swanson, one half of the design team of Two Old Bags. (Katie Carpenter is the other half and graciously picked me up and drove me to the museum.)  This fund provided the activities for the long weekend, and generated enough capital to continue the tradition for another time! I first taught the Danish Nattrøjer class on Thursday and Friday.  On Saturday, a Knit-In was held and many familiar faces showed up! Carol Anderson is on the left and Katie Carpenter, who was Ann Swanson's partner, is in the back. Carol kept us in stitches with her wonderful renditions of Lena and Ole jokes (a Minnesota specialty). Sally Wall and Kate Martinson (professor at local Luther College) are enjoying one of them here...   Karen Weiburg, former owner of Three Kittens Yarn Shoppe in Minneapolis is pictured above.  The young woman on the right, eventually pulled out her current project: 14 pairs of socks (yes, that's 28 socks total) being knitted simultaneously.

Janet Thorson, epic sock knitter!

We were all so impressed at her industriousness.  She is using three 60" circular needles to hold all the socks and it takes her about one-half hour to knit the entire round!  She had decided she could not buy any more yarn until she used up what she had so this motivated her to get it all done at once!  She organized each pair with its own ball in plastic bags and clothes pins.  Just awesome! Another knitter, Beverly Bakkum, came to the Knit-In wearing my design Celtic Dreams.  I love the color she chose to knit it in and she did a beautiful job!
Beverly in her Celtic Dreams
I gave a slide presentation on Scandinavian Knitting Traditions and had a wonderful day!  And it wasn't over yet!  See part 2!  

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Vogue Knitting LIVE!

November 12, 2012 in Events, Workshops | No comments

Vogue Knitting Live was a lot of fun.  I flew into Chicago and stayed at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel where it was held.  This is a lovely hotel and I enjoyed every minute!

The Lobby

      My students were enthusiastic and hard-working!  Here is some of their work from the Latvian Fingerless Mitts class-great colors!!! We had a fun day! My Norwegian Mitten class and gansey class were also very rewarding for me and, hopefully, the students! Throughout the weekend though many of us were growing more uneasy as we kept hearing about Hurricane Sandy.  A lot of the teachers' flights were cancelled and could not get flights out until the following Thursday.  Although I had other plans to visit a friend for a few days, I still worried about my family on the East coast.  We were very lucky in that no one suffered much worse than power outages.    My heart goes out to those who sustained terrible losses, or even minor ones. Vogue Knitting Live will be continued in New York City this coming January.              

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Denali National Park in Alaska

September 16, 2012 in A new experience!, Events | No comments

After spending a wonderful time at the Musk Ox farm in Palmer, Alaska, we boarded our bus for a yarn shop, A Touch of Alaska.

Our comfortable bus

 

A Touch of Alaska

We were warmly greeted and and had a lovely salmon dinner and this amazing cake that looked like a basket of yarn!  At each place at the tables, there was a small skein of handspun qiviut for us to take home.  They were very generous to us!

Four kinds of salmon for lunch!

What a cake!

After a lovely day, we went back to our hotel and slept well.  The next day, we boarded the train for a sight-seeing trip up to Denali National Park, which is as large as New Hampshire!

The Domed Train

Inside the dome train

  This is the way to travel!  We had a lovely lunch in the dining area below the observation level, while we looked out the window at the beautiful scenery!

Lunch on the train

Wetlands below snow-capped mountains

Looking down from a bridge over a deep cravass

The Train Rounding the Curve

  After a fabulous day of incredible scenery, we arrived at the lodge at Denali.

The Train Depot

The lodge

After another good night's sleep, we got on a bus to tour Denali.  It was outfitted with a video camera so the driver could get good close-ups of any animal life so we could see it on monitors in the bus.  At this time I can't seem to get the videos to work, so check back later for some cool short flicks. We had box lunches on the bus.  This is the top of the box, showing our route in the park. Although we went pretty far in to the Park, we did not see the actual Denali mountain because of the overcast skies.  Still we saw some really awesome sights!

Incredible views

 

Denali beauty

What a worthwhile trip that was to see such a beautiful part of the world!  I kept telling myself that the next day when we had a NINE hour ride in a bus from Denali to Seward where we connected with the ship to begin the cruise.  

At The Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, with TKGA

May 10, 2012 in A new experience!, Events, Uncategorized | 4 comments

Oh my, my! I am transported back in time, just as Christopher Reeves was in that movie Somewhere In Time, which was filmed here on Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel.  How elegant and lovely it is.  I feel like any moment The Cool Police (related to the Knitting Police)  will find out I am not posh enough to be here and make me leave.   It is too wonderful! Yesterday was long.  I got up at 6am (having gotten home from Texas at 7pm the night before) and went back to the airport.  After flying to Detroit, I flew on to Pellston, MI–the cutest little airport I ever saw!  It has one baggage claim, complete with (sadly) stuffed dead animals-a mountain lion and three bear cubs.

Baggage Claim, Pellston, Michigan

I boarded a shuttle that drove me to the dock of the ferry that would take me to the island. Then I took the ferry ride across...

One of the Shepler ferries used to transport to the island

We passed the Mackinaw Bridge... Approaching Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel in the distance.

The Grand Hotel

Once on land again, I was taken to the Hotel by horse drawn taxi.  The town itself is darling with over 10 fudge shops on the island.  Here's my taxi...(no cars are allowed on the island) and a closeup of the Hotel... Here's my room–frou-frou but darling! We had high tea and champagne first thing, and dinner soon thereafter... Everywhere I look there are wonderful antiques and unique furnishings, such as this settee: Note the geranium carpeting.  Geraniums are everywhere as well as on the stationary, the scent of the soaps, stenciled on furniture.
A children's set of antique chairs...

One of the many Parlours

The famous Wrap Around Porch, supposedly one of the largest in the world... My class was such fun.  We were a small intimate group and the students worked so hard!               Here are their wonderful Fair Isle Cardigans: Now the workshop is over and I am leaving the island tomorrow.  What a wonderful experience this has been!  I hope TKGA plans another retreat here someday.  Don't miss it!    
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