A busy Saturday…

Saturday my friend Patty and I drove to Kent (she drove I knitted) to attend Finishing 101 class.  I left my house a little after 7am and we got to Kent about 9:45am!  I am so glad we went.  Our homework was to knit 2 – 6×6 inch blocks & 2 – 8×8 inch blocks.  This is what we made with those 4 blocks.

First thing Liz our instructor had us do is block our squares and then we began weaving in our ends.  Let me stop here and say that Liz is a GREAT knitting instructor!!  And I love the cute little steamer they have at the shop.  OK, back to what we did… weaving in our ends.  Let me say right here that I hate weaving in my ends.  I think part of the problem is because I didn’t like the way it looked when I was done and I never knew if I was really done, and that it wouldn’t come out.  This was my first thing learned for the day!  Something so simple as weaving in the ends and I was thrilled with the way it looked.  I had NOT been doing mine this way.  She (Liz) taught us two ways… I had been doing a combination of the two – and not very well. 

Now my ends are woven in beautifully!  This is a picture of the inside side seam and the stitches you see going on a diagonal is where I wove in the end yarn.  (I still have 2 finishing ends to weave in.)

Next we learned how to seam our shoulders together (V’s to V’s).  This I had been doing OK, but now I feel confident to do shoulders much, much better.

Here is my shoulder seam on the inside…

Do you see the two diagonals where I wove in my ends?  I love weaving in ends!  OK, one more thing… very first thing Liz told us was that it was easier to be using a bent tip needle for finishing a sweater.  I think 1 out of 5 of us had a bent tip needle.  I always wondered about those silly looking needles but didn’t know why I would want one.  We rush over to the display to get one.  The kind we bought (Clover) came in a cute little tube, and in two sizes.  Patty bought the regular ones and I bought the sock ones… then we swapped one of each with each other to have both sizes!  (subliminal message: go buy this type of needle if you don’t own them already!)

OK, where was I?  Oh yes, I was going to tell you about adding the sleeves now.  I have always had a difficult time with adding sleeves or putting two pieces of knitting that are knit in different directions together.  I can now say that I can do this too! (V’s to bars)!

In the picture above you can see my beautiful sleeve sewn on and a beautiful view of my side seam (bars to bars) from the outside!  Do you think I am proud of this little project and all that I learned?  Yes Siree Bob!   I am P R O U D!

I think the biggest thing I walked away from this class with, was a sense of feeling like I can put a sweater together without fear now.  It may take some time, and she recommend we not rush it.  After all we spent all this time knitting the pieces.  Doesn’t the finishing deserve the time and effort to make it a project to be proud of?

OK, here is where we learned all this valuable information…

 

The 6 of us (Liz included) sat at a wonderful table in the back of the shop.  Bet you wish you were here! 🙂

Oh, I haven’t mentioned where we were… Renaissance Yarns in Kent, Washington. 

This is wonderful shop.  While we were there a group was up in the front of the shop too.  They looked like they were having a great time. 

 

Next weekend is Knit in Public and then we will be traveling back up to Kent for Finishing 102!  I have more homework to knit before class.  I can’t wait.  We will be making a little vest and learning more techniques!

As for the rest of yesterday… we drove up to Kirkland to try out a RAW RESTAURANT, it’s called dalene’s!  Patty eats raw, and has fixed numerous things and brought in samples to me at work.  This was an awesome treat.  I spent almost my whole weeks food budget, and brought home some very yummy goodies.  I had the “Best Ever Pizza” – hemp seed crust, macadamia nuts, celery, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, garlic, dates, tomatoes (vine ripe, sun dried), parsley, olive oil, cayenne, Celtic sea salt, bell peppers, onions, basil & Greek olives!  To go with this… Flourless chocolate cake! (Dates, walnuts, cacao powder, Celtic sea salt, spices & flavorings)  It was awesome, I split it with Patty and she split her Hemp-Protein bar with me. (sprouted buckwheat groats, hemp seeds, nut butters (cashew, almond), spies, Celtic sea salt. This was awesome too!  TO GO… I brought home Raw Auzzie Caramels (a blend of nuts and dates and then raw chocolate sauce drizzled on top!) Also, Raw Auzzie’s Garlic & Herb nutCheese (cashews, herbs and spices) to with this I picked up some ground flax seed crackers with Italian seasonings.  You can check out their website at www.dalenes.com

After leaving dalene’s in Kirkland we were full and happy and in need of a nap.  So we headed for home, well almost home.  We stopped off at Joann’s in Olympia.  And the best buy of the day…

$20 off the Rowenta compact steam iron!!  It was only $19.99!!  Hope it works well.

Last stop of the day was to pick up a coffee to get us home!  A great day was had by all.

This morning… temp 50 degrees, wind almost none, lake still as can be…

I’m hoping for a bit of sunshine today.  We have lots of weed eating and yard stuff to do.  Then it’s on to fun stuff… I’m putting together lots of fun things for next weekend… Knit in Public day at the Coffee Bean Cafe and Popcorn Factory in Aberdeen.  Oh, and I have homework to knit too!  I better get started, have a beautiful Sunday and I’ll be back later this week.