A Very Big Day

Thank you all for the wonderful response to Mielie!  I've received so many sweet messages about that vest, and I really can't wait to start seeing projects pop up on Ravelry.  If you'd like to knitalong with others making Mielie or would like to show off any progress or FO photos, I've just started a little KAL thread over in The Yarniad's Symposium Ravelry group.  If you're so inclined, please share -- I'd love to hear from anyone making the vest!

Anyway, I'm here today to talk about last Saturday. Last Saturday was a Very Big Day.  I was up at the crack of dawn....no, let me start again.  I was up WELL before the crack of dawn, watched the sun as it rose over Los Banos, and made my way to Aptos, CA, where a group of knitters was waiting to be introduced to the joys of Double Knitting.

 Just look at that rapt attention. Best students ever.

The owner of Yarns by the Sea had seen my Double Knit Three and contacted me over the summer, wondering if I was available to teach classes.  And, indeed I was.  (And still am!)

"A pair of stitches, one in each color, one knit, the second purled."

So, for the whole morning, 15 amazing students and I made our way through a little dot swatch and I tried to impart all the double knitting wisdom I could and work through what was later termed the "wretched row" (as, indeed, the cast on for the DK3 is a little fiddly), and I had so much fun that I just couldn't leave the shop after the class was over.

I am apparently super-gesticulatory.

Yarns by the Sea is one of the warmest, most inviting shops I've ever been to, and I feel like I made a new set of friends.  I hope to be back soon, and I hope to be teaching again soon as well.  Our new life in Turlock (sans day job for me) makes things like this much more possible, and I absolutely love the person to person interaction teaching provides.  Answering pattern questions via Ravelry messages just isn't the same. :)

So that was awesome.  But the day wasn't nearly over yet!  After the Double Knit Three class, I drove up to San Mateo for the third annual Local Designers Night at Nine Rubies.  Somehow, I only came away with one photo...

But I've also stolen (with permission!) this photo montage from Melissa, of the Nine Rubies staff.

My designer buddy and June TNNA booth mate Carrie (aka Irish Girlie Knits) was there and it was wonderful to see her again, as well as Andrea of AG Mode (in my one photo above), Tunisian crochet goddess, who also participated last year.  And it was great meeting Lorna of Knits For Life (her designs are so clever and she's done some spectacular yarn bombings -- please go check them out!).  I unfortunately didn't get to officially meet Kira K because the night got so busy, but we did smile and wave from across the room.  This event is always so much fun, and I'm so thrilled the wonderful ladies of Nine Rubies asked me to come back, even though I'm not technically local any more.

So there you have it. Best day ever. This weekend will be so dull in comparison...