Knit-Out 2008

I started out on Friday afternoon at Knitted Together in Des Moines, and found a few skeins. Then off to pick up Kristin and my sister Biddy a newer knitter and a great spender! We headed north on Saturday morning in great weather and got to the MALL at about 11:15. We got rock star parking and headed in. We ran into Jenifer and found Susan B. Anderson of Itty Bitty Hat fame all within about 2 minutes. We by-passed the huge lines of people waiting for free fun fur and other wonderful swag. I was more than impressed with how nice, not to mention humble, Susan B. Anderson was. She was just so darn cute. She signed my book, took a photo with me and allowed us to walk with her to another one of the Knit-Out venues. I felt like I was stalking her, I watched for her everywhere that day. She gets my, 'you made my day award'. (once again, a BAD photo of me - next time I'll dress as if I might get the chance to take my picture with Susan (?) SBA (?)) To my defence, I was sort of shaking on the inside, but I could have at least smiled.
Okay, now that I've come down from cloud nine, I'll give my humble review of the Knit-Out. Let's just say it doesn't get the 'you made my day award'. People stood in line for hours to get free, well, with no better word to describe it, CRAP. Save the authors and designers it was not a great gig. It was not what we were looking forward to, we were looking for the hand dyed, hand spun yarn. All we wanted was a chance to spend some money on yarn. We did eventually find that opportunity to spend at a few of the LYSs in MPLS. Our motto was leave your money in the Cities, and we did.
The weather took a turn for the worse and we had to make an over-night stop in Mason City due to the ice and blowing snow. It gave us time to knit and to have a few adult cocktails.
Here's what I purchased over the weekend and what was waiting for me when I got home.I got this sock started during the 25 mph drive home. I love the yarn and I love my new 11" Balene Needles even more. Socks will be for Kristin. A great travel pal - no complaining or foot tapping while we shopped endlessly for more yarn we didn't need.

I got this Pumpkin color for a sweater for Kristin - those who travel with the knitters will get something knitted for them.
These skeins are for the Inga Hat, a free pattern from eweniquefiber.com.

These skeins are for the White Witch Mitts, a free mitten pattern on Knittingdaily from Interweave Press.

I got these two skeins in Des Moines. Both are sort of Neopolitan - browns,pinks,tans. I can't wait to make some socks from these. They're Opal and Sockina Cotton.

This is what was waiting for me when I got home. Three skeins of LionBrand Cotton Ease in pineapple for more ISU sweaters. I bought it on Ravelry (my newest obsession).

This is the longest blog ever - so thanks for hanging in there. By the way, don't the photos look better? Amazing what a piece of white poster board will do for the photos.
One of the best things about the Knit-Out was the opportunity to meet people who just plain love to knit. We met Anna and Lou from California and they were great. I hope they read this blog and we become long-distance knitter-friends.

all my best
amy