We have a winner!

May I have a drum roll, please?

And the winner of this lovely Knit Picks Chroma Fingering in the colorway Pool Party is…

Oh, I just had to show you the pretty yellow spring green on the other side of the ball. Anyway, the winner is Leslie, of More with Les! Leslie said,

I wish I lived closer to you — I would TOTALLY take your Entrelac class. That, and steeks, are two of the advanced techniques I still need to master…

I wish you could have taken the class, too! We had a great time, and everyone walked away with the basic building blocks of entrelac evident on their needles. Base triangles, side triangles, left and right leaning rectangles. And most learned to purl back backwards; that was an AHA moment. I hope you get a good start on entrelac with this pattern and the Chroma. We’ll see about steeking later this year; I want to learn, too. Be fearless in your knitting!

I’m glad I knit all my class samples before the weekend. It was busy here! D came down from Seattle to celebrate her birthday, and she and V and I had a spa day at Edgefield. It was nearly perfect; the soaking pool was not as hot as it was supposed to be (technical issues), so we didn’t spend that long in it. But the spa services were great, as expected. We had an overnight at V’s with a couple more friends, and I gave these to D for her birthday.

I call them Relentlessly Cheery, and they really are. They’re knit with Malabrigo Worsted, so they’re extremely soft, and warm, too. I hardly ever block socks; I mainly use the blockers for display at trunk shows, but they really make the socks look great, don’t they?

V’s gift to Doreen? She’s knitting my Hugs and Kisses fingerless mitts, but only one is done, in deep purple. I had my Beaujolais pair there; S tried them on and I was afraid I wasn’t going to get them back!

My favorite moment of the weekend was after dinner, when all five of us pulled out our knitting as we sat around the fire. This isn’t a knitting group, but by coincidence we had all brought some with us. I know how to pick my friends!

Speaking of friends, have you signed up for Among Friends? It’s a yarn and pattern club offered by Knitted Wit and Sincere Sheep, and I’m the designer for April. I love my design and hope you will, too! I’m really pleased to be part of this group of friends, including Carrie Sullivan of IrishGirlieKnits and Michelle Miller of Fickleknitter. Michelle is the only friend in the group that I haven’t met in person, but we’ll remedy that later this year! It’s a privilege to work with this group of entrepreneurial women.

How was *your* weekend?