knit out

The Knit Out in Guthrie Ok. was an incredible trip and I am way way tardy in posting about it. 

 My Knit Out experience began with a trip to the OKC airport where I picked up Wendy.  How lucky can one woman be?  I have been very fortunate to be able to say that Wendy has become a dear friend and so getting to spend yet another weekend in her company was incredible.   We (my lil' sis, my dd, Wendy and myself) immediately heading downtown to the Bricktown area of OKC.  I tried to think of some place to eat that Wendy couldn't really get anywhere else, so to Toby Keiths I Love this Bar and Grill we went.  Not sure but I think a good time was had by all.  We also were joined by my buddy and dear friend Courtney. If you follow Wendy's blog you have heard of LB, well I have chosen Courtney as my LB, since Wendy won't share I figured I better find my own.  Seriously, Courtney is an amazing woman and I absolutley love being in her company, she is so much fun.

Our next stop was the OKC National Memorial. I really could go on and on about this but if I did I would just sit here and cry.  It is a heart wrenching site and there are not words to describe how this Memorial touched me.  I had not been to the bombing site since that day and it had a profound effect on me.

We then made our way up to Guthrie and SWAK, once there we met up with several wonderful knitters all getting ready for our big weekend of knitting fun.  People drove and flew in from all over the place from Canada to Texas. 

The weekend was filled with wonderful people and lots of great classes.  My first class was with Mags Kandis, I really got a lot of color inspiration from her.  Then on to a class with Joan Schroader, talk about a talented knitter.  I truely think she knows everything that there is to know about knitting. 

OK I say all that to lead up to this great little story.  I have a little sister that from here on out will be called theif...no she will be called BFF of Wendy.  My sister who lives in Guthrie invited Wendy over for the evening after all the knitting fun was over.  I think that Wendy is some sort of a witch because she has placed a spell on theif, OH I mean BFF of Wendy.  I have been trying for years to get my sister to knit with absolutely no success but one night with Wendy and she is addicted.

Now since Wendy got her started I think she has finished 2 projects.  Honestly I am so proud of my baby sis, she jumped right in and is trying to learn all she can.  Lucky for her she lives within miles of one of Oklahomas best yarn stores.   Before the weekend was over I had gotten to spend some time with family and friends and even get in some knitting what could be better then that.

Thought I would show you some of the AWESOME knitters I got to visit with at the Spring Fling.  Let me warn you now if you see the group of women here, you have officially met trouble.  I tell you these girls can knit anything and know how to have a great time doing it.  One of the women in the photo is a fellow dyer Sarah from Perfect Day yarns, go check her stuff out, very pretty.

This is Martha Kaye and Martha Angie. Kinda funny story.... we went to lunch Fri. and while there every time the guy would call a name to pick up their food he would say "Martha ___" in our case it was Martha Stacy, Martha Keri, Martha Kaye and Martha Angie.  Of course for the rest of the weekend we went around calling each other Martha.

Now doesn't this look super cozy!  Yes this is one of the knitting areas at The Loopy Ewe.  It was wonderful shopping there and it was more then twice the size it was last year. 

I have a lot of more pictures of my fling weekend  and I had an amazing time while in St. Louis.  I got to visit with a lot of very interesting people and really got my inspiration back.  I think I had begun to feel a little ... uninspired or maybe just tired.  While in St.Louis with all these amazing knitters I remembered why I love doing what I do.  I love to knit!!!  I love to spin, and I love to spend time with knitters who share my passion.

Now on to the Knit Out '09!!!!  Tomorrow I will be leaving for Guthrie OK the home of SWAK.  Lucky for me my Baby Sis lives in Guthrie and I will get to take Em with me and stay with her.  So although I will be super busy I will get to see my Sis and Niece at least a little.  I have a bunch of yarn in box ready for the store and since I am going to be at the Knit Out and Wendy will be there too, I really dyed all the yarn with Lacy stuff in mind.  Lots of Semi-solids in the Good Grrl base and Lacy Grrl.  I did throw in a little Glam but not a whole lot so if you are wanting Glam better get there early.   Speaking of Wendy I am going to get the honor of picking her up at the airport and unless I am mistaken it is her first trip to OK so I am going to take her to lunch and the OKC Memorial, should make it a memorable trip.

I will do my best to come home with some good pics and a lot more inspiration.  Hope I get to see some of you in Guthrie this weekend.

I have once again been very tardy in my blogging.  It has been a long time, and believe it or not I really have been crazy busy.  I thought about blogging, I even had blogs in my head but nothing actually materialized on the computer. You know, what I need is a computer to read my very chaotic thoughts, organize them and then put them where they belong.  That would really make my life easier.

See to your left, there is a beautiful new colorway, really I love it!  Deep dark blues and purples, it is so pretty. However I have no idea what to name it, so if you have a suggestion leave me a comment with a wonderful name and if I really like it you will win a skein.

Ok, now on to all the other wonderful things happening at Tempted.  There are lots of new fun colors and most of them will make thier debut at the SWAK Knit Out '09.  Hope I see you all there!!  Just 2 weeks!!!  Lots more to get dyed before then.

I want to let you know what a wonderful time I had at the Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling.  Kaye and I left first thing Thursday morning. I have to admit we waited until the last possible minute hoping that Del would get in.  We drove all the way up to St. James, MO., where we stopped and had an incredible lunch with Keri of 3AM Enchantments and Tammy of the Knit Together podcast.  There is a wonderful little winery with a fantastic little bistro, called Meramec winery where we had a wonderful lunch and then headed down the road to St. Louis and the Spring Fling.  When we arrived we were greeted by some incredible women, I gotta tell ya, there are a lot of amazing knitters in our little world. 

Check out this little beauty by Kate, isn't it wonderful.  

I believe it is made out of Poison #5 by Wollmeise but I may be wrong.  

It was so great to see all beautiful hand knits.  Seriously, I wish I had pics of all the beautiful knitting I got to see.  

There were socks and shawls all over the place and such beautiful work.  I had several flingers show me what they had knitted with Tempted and wow, they really make it look amazing.

It was truly a wonderful weekend and on top of everything, I learned  a little something about myself too, I love a cosmo.

Last year, my most favorite memory was sitting on the floor at The Loopy Ewe with Cookie and Claudia (Woolmeise) while picking thru a bunch of cashmere.  This year it was sitting at the Ice Kitchen with martini's again with Claudia, Allen of Numma Numma and several wonderful knitters.  It was really amazing sitting and comparing stories and we had an incredible time, of course.  I also got to spend a little bit of time with Wendy.  I am a very lucky knitter, huh?  I did get Wendy's newest knitting book in the mail a couple of weeks ago and, of course, I had to have Wendy sign it.  I love her new book. Tons a wonderful toe up socks.  I wish I had gotten a picture of Wendy and me but alas I have no pics with Wendy, YET, although I will get another opportunity in a couple of weeks.

I will attempt to post more about the Fling soon.

Don't forget to let me know your ideas for names for the nameless yarn above.

Oh my, can you believe it 3 in a row.  I must be on a roll, or I may be avoiding other business that needs to be taken care of.  Nah, surely not. LOL

I wanted to share the pics I took of the 2 socks that Wendy sent for me to show off at the Trunk Show. 

This is the Einkorn sock, in the Emergency colorway, which was one of the first colorways to sell out at the trunk show.  This is really a beautiful sock and I can't tell you what an honor it is to have such an accomplished designer use Tempted's Good Grrl.  

Surely you are aware that Wendy's second book "Socks from the Toe Up"  will be released next month.  She posted some pictures from the book today on her blog and WOW!  I can't wait to get mine, it is scheduled to be delivered on April 16, I will be stalking the UPS lady.

You may remember that my Gray Ladies and I took a trip to The Loopy Ewe's Spring fling last April.  It was fantastic getting to meet Wendy and even get to take her out for a drink.  Lucky for me I will get the blessing of getting to meet up with her two times this year, first at the Spring Fling '09 and then again at the SWAK Knit Out '09. 

This sock is the Sign of Spring.  Once again knit and designed by Wendy, in the Iris Good Grrl colorway.  This colorway sold out too.  I still can't believe how wonderful my knitting friends are.

Speaking of the Gray Ladies I am happy to report that Kaye is doing well after her recent knee replacement.  We have been meeting at Kaye's during her recuperation and I was able to get one picture of from left to right of Kaye, (Taylor the Doberman, Kaye's guardian)  Keri, and Del.   Aren't they all so pretty!  I love my buddies.  

Yes, Keri came for another visit and we almost have everything together for the Tempted @ 3AM yarn and bag club done.  If it hadn't been for a family emergency everything would have been mailed out this week.  Still I have no doubt that everyone will get their packages earlier then planned originally. 

Speaking of Keri coming to visit, she insisted that we have a spa day.  The sacrifices I make for my friends, seriously.  She got us scheduled for facials and massages at a wonderful Spa in Bartlesville called Fusion Massage and Spa Therapies.  We were scheduled close together but there was going to be a little down time in between so of course we took our knitting, like we wouldn't have anyway. LOL   We were greeted by Julie, a very warm and endearing woman.  She kinda looked at us funny for a minute, then quickly apologized for having to schedule us with some down time.  Keri quickly told her not to worry we would be fine, "we brought our knitting".  Julie then got a great big smile on her face and said "I knew I had seen you before"  looking straight at me.  She actually recognized me... Keri got a big laugh out of that.  Come to find out that several of the women that work there including the owner, Nancy, are knitters and have seen my yarn before.   Seriously how amazing is that??  After getting to talk about yarn, which I never get tired of, I had an incredible facial and a soothing massage, followed by a little more yarn chat.  I then I bought a massage for Bob and went back on Monday for his massage and got to sit in the waiting room and talk yarn a bit more with Julie and Nancy.  We also discussed aromatherapy, I have a lot learn about that.  We might even get a knitting group together, I love to meet other knitters, we are an amazing group of people.  Don't you think?