Tag Archives: rcyc2016

RCYC 2016 Day 4

Posted on March 7, 2016 | 3 comments

I spent the last day of the yarn crawl at my home haunt, Twisted. I teach many classes here. My trunk show here was just plain fun.

Terri showed me her finished RCYC MKAL for this year. Her friend M was visiting from Canada. M said that she has knit Summertime Blues, but hasn’t blocked it yet, so I let her model mine. Me? I’m wearing my new Beanstalk Poncho. So new, it hasn’t been published yet. It should be out in the next few days; I just need to edit the photo shoot pix we did last Wednesday. The yarn is a gradient set (x2) from Three Fates Yarn in Salem; they have it at Twisted.

Camille also finished her MKAL. Looks great!

Judy took my Athena Entrelac class at OFFF last September. She brought her unfinished project, and decided to knit it with a cashmere blend instead. It will be soft and lovely!

I didn’t catch this knitter’s name, but she was visiting with two adorable littles, and this fox that she knit. Cute!

More Summertime Blues! It’s so helpful for people to be able to see my knits in person and try them on.

Ex-Twistedista Adam came by with Digby. So cute!

And that’s a wrap! It was a very fun, very yarny weekend. Thanks so much to For Yarn’s Sake, Lantern Moon, and Twisted for having me!

Next on the agenda: Getting Beanstalk Poncho ready to publish, and making a video tutorial for another pattern that’s in the works. Blocking my just finished Twin Leaf Crescent for the Black Trillium KAL. Blocking my Stopover sleeves about an inch longer (I’m only going to wet the sleeves. Think it will work? We shall see.) And two design projects that are only in my head so far.

This is part of the yarn for one of the design projects. Two ply fingering weight spindle-spun alpaca from Peru. The hank was bigger than my swift, and I tried to hand-wind it by hanging it on a doorknob. Messy, and totally my fault for being impatient. The other hank? I’m going to call a friend!

What’s on your knitting agenda this week? Clickety-click!

3 Comments

Posted in events, Knit, pattern design, Portland area fun

Tagged alpaca, rcyc2016

RCYC 2016 Day 3

Posted on March 6, 2016 | 3 comments

Only two shops for me today, but they were great!

First stop, Wool ‘n’ Wares to see the Rainbow moose. (Rainbow Connection scarf pattern by Shannon Squire.) So much rainbow in one shop! And trunk shows. Four simultaneous trunk shows, plus lambs outside.

Mama Ruby from was visiting with her girls Calico Kate and Bonny Lass. They’re from The Spinning Ewe Farm; Jan McMahon raises a variety of crossbred sheep with the handspinner in mind.

These lambs were born in December. They don’t really look like babies any more!

Carl Herndon (C H Woodcraft) makes beautiful things from wood. He had spindles, swifts, niddy-noddies, and more including these very elegant seam rippers. I don’t sew much any more, but I had to have one to replace the nasty plastic thing in my sewing box. I bought the last two; one will be a gift. Carl doesn’t have a web site yet, but he’s at the Oregon City Farmer’s Market, and you can reach him at herndoncarl (at) gmail.com. Choose your own wood, people!

Debbi Stone had a trunk show here today. I promise I’m not stalking her, either.

And JJ Foster with her Buttonhole! Buttons. Vintage and modern buttons for your knits.

On to For Yarn’s Sake. Yes, I was there with a trunk show on Thursday, but I really wanted to see Kate and Rachel, the Spincycle Yarns ladies, to choose a color to go with the yarn I bought last year.

Success! After considering a pale seaglass aqua and a vivid orange, I settled on this pink and gray named Heart Sigh. A good combo with last year’s Nostalgia. I’m kind of a color chicken at heart, and this pairing of pinks fits well with my tendency towards tonal monochrome. Perfect.

My last stop was late in the day, to set up Sunday’s trunk show at Twisted. I ran into JJ here. Maybe she’s stalking me? Nah, she was there first.

If you’re out and about on the crawl on Sunday, come say howdy!

3 Comments

Posted in events, Portland area fun

Tagged rcyc2016, trunk show

RCYC 2016 Day 2

Posted on March 5, 2016 | 7 comments

I won’t even pretend that I’ll be able to go to all 14 shops on the Rose City Yarn Crawl. I salute those who have already turned in their completed passports! I started my day with a trunk show, but not on the crawl.

Lantern Moon’s fabulous retreat began with a luncheon at McMenamin’s Kennedy School. I had a little trunk show for this room full of happy knitters before they headed off for Skamania Lodge. Also in this show were Brooke Sinnes (Sincere Sheep, you can see her at For Yarn’s Sake on Sunday) and Deb Accuardi (Chicken Coop Botanicals).

Summertime Blues is making the rounds! So fun for people to try things on.

The Lantern Moon crew was headed for a tour of Pendleton Woolen Mills in Washougal, WA. Two of the retreat attendees are wool-allergic, so they planned to hit a few stores on the Crawl and meet up with the group at Skamania. They had already been to Close Knit, so I recommended Twisted and Yarnia. Yarnia, so uniquely Portland, where they could choose their fibers and have them made into their own one-of-a-kind yarn. I ended up there later, and heard that they had made it in and made their yarns!

Yarnia’s offerings are sorted by fiber content. You choose your plies, and they are wound off together for you.

Yarnia also has pre-wound yarn, for those of us who can’t decide. (I’ve been one of those before.) I love how they display little swatches on the cones, and label the wool-free ones. I hadn’t been to Yarnia’s new location, so I really wanted to see it, and am glad I had a chance to visit. Their new space is lovely.

Yarntastic is another new-to-me shop. It’s over in the Sellwood neighborhood, which is the far end of Portland from me. I was charmed by their yarn tree, seen here over Stacey Kok’s (Thoroughly Thwacked) trunk show display. What a lovely riot of color.

This little sparkly blue gradient set was calling my name, loudly. I’m still thinking about it. Hmmmm.

I also stopped at Northwest Wools, which was mobbed by crawlers. I’m not really stalking Shannon and Lorajean, but wherever you go, there they are! Plus, I was picking up Girl Scout cookies from Shannon. If you need cookies, she’s your source. Nom.

Today I’m planning to go to Wool ‘n’ Wares to see rainbows and maybe sheep, and back to For Yarn’s Sake to see the Spincycle gals.

I bought this beautiful yarn from them last year, and realized later that it really needs a coordinating/contrasting color to make it sing. So I’ll bring my pretty pink/purples and audition the other colors with them. (Does this remind you of my color pop auditions for BangOutASweater? Seeing is believing!)

Where are you on the crawl today? Leave a comment. There may be a reward!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged lantern moon, rcyc2016

RCYC 2016 Day 1

Posted on March 4, 2016 | 2 comments

The Rose City Yarn Crawl started off with a bang. Or more accurately, a POP! I spent the day at For Yarn’s Sake having a multi-trunk show with dyer Lorajean Kelley of Knitted Wit, and fellow designers Shannon Squire and Debbi Stone. Owner Ann started our morning with a bubbly toast. Let the crawl begin!

It was fun chatting with knitters about designs, and steering them towards (more) yarn. Trunk shows are a great way to see knits up close and personal, and even try them on.

Mo is planning to knit her very own Summertime Blues. She’s not the only one. Seeing the drape and swing of this poncho in person is a game changer!

Melinda brought her cashmere-infused Rosaria (2014’s mystery knit) to show me. I love her colors.

Sunday once again dyed her hair to match her completed mystery KAL. Awesome!

Henry knits color work scarves, flat, with recycled yarn.

Debbi and I love our dumpling bags by Binkwaffle. They’re reversible, and just the right size for a single skein project. The bonus is that it comfortably sits on your wrist, which is helpful if you don’t have pockets to stash your yarn. Ann has these bags in the shop, but ours are from last summer’s TNNA show.

I love Shannon’s sock wheel. Her dad made it for her. I’m impressed! I have some of his sock blockers, but the sock wheel is so far beyond that.

What’s next? Friday I’m doing a trunk show for Lantern Moon’s retreat, and then I’ll hit a few shops for the crawl. Saturday is free for crawling and on Sunday I’ll be at Twisted from 1 to 4 p.m. If you see me this weekend, say hi!

Throwback to 2014’s crawl.

I know Rachel is missing the crawl; on Wednesday she posted on my FB that she wished she could be here. She moved to Florida last year (sunny and warm!); it’s a little out of range, though. We miss her, too. She’s one of the Turkish Delight OFFF spinners!

2014 RCYC rest stop with Rachel