It's all about the knitting

Yep... all about the knitting!

Yesterday I went into LA proper for knitting demonstrations and a sock class, hosted by the fine people at The Knitter's Studio.

First up was Share Ross, author of Punk Knits. Share showed examples of many items from her book and then did a mini workshop of several ways to put holes into garmets (drop stitch -- I have plenty of practice on this one!, button holes, and yarn overs). There was a group of lively learners and we all had much fun making mistakes and trying things out.

Next up was Joan McGowan-Michael, author of Knitting Lingerie Style. Joan too brought along sample items from her book and, my oh my, are they impressive in person.

Here she is showing us the cami and boy shorts set... very cute! The yarn called for in the pattern is yarn she dyes herself (you can see some on the table in the second group photo below in a redish colorway) and is it soft!



She also had lots of other items... one of which I didn't get a photo of, but wish I had -- the silk and pearls cami. Wow! It was amazing how heavy, soft, and beautiful this garmet was in person. Just a work of art.

I did have the good sense to get photos of the three garmets she had on dressforms.



Beautiful hmm? The materials of all three of these items were just fabulous... they had great drape and clearly would look beautiful on the body.



The Bed Jacket was just stunning. I have seen photos of another finished version over at Green Apples' blog, but seeing it in person is just great.



This fine little creature is definitely the next sweater item up on my list, the Shaped Lace Tee. From Joan's yahoo group I knew that a lot of people were knitting this and now I can definitely see why. Fantastic!



An then one more to add to my to do list, the Surplice Bodice Camisole. The drape, she is to die for. The bottom is definitely very lacey... probably a bit better for a night out that a day at the office, but just beautiful.

After much show and tell, we did begin the class proper and of course the book signings. The course was on how to do a toe-up sock... good to know given all the great stockings and socks in her book are toe-up (not to mention many other great designs out there).



Joan was extremely helpful in juggling all the requests to buy yarn, to sign books, and to help us fix all those little mistakes we kept putting into our socks.

I for one definitely did not have an error free sock! [laugh] While the concept of making a little pouch made perfect sense, I somehow did not get the concept that the pouch was created as we knit. Yep, I heard her say no seaming later, no grafting later, just knitting as we go. I'm still not sure how I thought my sock toe was going to pull together after I knit two separate triangles, but there you go.



As you can see above however, I am proud to report that the sock toe was successfully created and I now have my provision cast on freed up and stitches distributed across my 4 dpns. It won't be long now (until I hit the heel and slow down again... grin)!

All in all, a fabulous day. Great stuff to see, lots to learn, and great hosts! The people at Knitter's Studio were great (and as I've mentioned before I think it's a fab LYS). Now I just need to finish up my current project so I can join the Knitting Lingerie Style KAL and start a new project from the book.

And speaking of my current project, yahoo... progress is being made.



I've finished the top left and have only the top right to do on the front. The back should be smooth sailing now that I've gotten this far. I did go ahead and frog my giant "swatch" and feel ready to go on the back. I've really enjoyed this pattern and think this is going to come out a lovely top. Now if I could just find more time to knit....