Fiberly Weekend in Chicago

It was all about "meeting" friends, fabric shopping and just hanging out. Patti Ferguson organized the weekend in Chicago where Mardel Fehrenbach, Barbara Bell, and Diane Egelston (DianeE on the Pattern Review and Stitcher's Guild sites) and I headed out, after four quick days at home, on April 25th. It was great to meet Mardel and Barbara for the first time, and see Diane and Patti again. We were missing Carolyn Norman and Marji Van Zile who at the last minute could not join us, but we were thinking of them all weekend.

Friday, we convened at Patti's house where she served up a delicious dinner of salads and home-baked bread. We had an informal show and tell, where I showed the only piece from my "planned" travel wardrobe I managed to complete. Butterick 4991; Silk Brocade purchased from Mrs Kimura's in Hawai'i


Saturday began at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, where we all came away with something. I was surprised to find a dog fabric in silk. And though there was a considerable selection fabrics to tempt, in the end I brought home only the silk dogs, a pretty blue rayon remnant and acetate slinky floral.
  

Cennetta Walker, is a local sewist/blogger that Patti invited to meet us at Vogue. We enjoyed a nice lunch learning more about each other before heading to Fishman's Fabrics. Their selection of colors in different fabrics was pretty amazing, but unlike Mardel, I had not come prepared with swatches and a plan, so was happy just to enjoy the experience. We said goodbye to Cennetta, but not before getting a quick group shot.

Cennetta, Diane, Barbara, Patti, and Mardel

Next to Hancock Fabrics where Vogue patterns were on sale. Right off the bat, I found the cotton patterns and three dog fabrics for Tom. Then I headed back to patterns, with no intention to buy or look, but because of my susceptibilty to the the power of suggestion (mostly from Diane), I picked out two Sandra Betzina patterns, Vogue 2980, because Diane was wearing it, and 1036, because she pulled it out and I liked it.
  

Dinner at Tapas Barcelona with three of Patti's friends, Shelia Crumine and Barbara DeCoster, both sewists, and Margie Rogasner (in her words "the outlyer") was great fun because of the company as well as the food. Post dinner we went back to Patti's house where three husbands, Norm, David and Bill, were waiting, had some lively discussions, dessert and again, I was the first to fold. Patti planned to stay at the hotel to have a grown up slumber party, which she, Mardel, Diane and Barbara did, as I fell into my bed.

Sunday morning, before we had to bid farewell to Diane and Mardel, we posed for one more Fiberly friends picture.


Afterwards, Barbara, Patti and I took in the Chicago Botanical Gardens, where the bulbs were in full bloom and beautiful.


Patti and I said goodbye to Barbara at the airport and headed to meet Pam Walters for dinner.


What a great weekend it was!

What's going on?

Three weeks ago we all decided that it would be a good idea for my mom to visit us so her realtors could really work on selling her house. The good news is that two offers came in; the bad news is they were really bad offers. So we wait. But having Mom and pooch around has thrown off my routine and I've had less time to spend at the computer. That means all the pictures I've taken are still in the camera and I haven't posted for a while. Sorry about that.

But I have been doing stuff and in the course of the next few weeks, hopefully, I'll get caught up.

Here's a synopsis:
  Dianne's birthday skirt and jacket (sewn)
  One shirt for Tom (now there's a surprise)
  Progress on the Japanese crochet shrug
  Elisa's Nest Tote
  FINISHED Alpine Lace Scarf (and my mom said it wasn't going to happen)

Next week, I'm off to Denver to attend the Mile High Lace Knitting Conference and (another big surprise) eat and drink with friends, including one Alpha Phi sorority sister (didn't know I was in a sorority in college did you?) and three high school friends, including my senior prom date, whom I've not seen since the 10 year reunion.

THEN, after spending some quality time with hubby and two silly dogs, it's off to Chicago for a weekend to meet some Fiberly Friends some of whom I've met, more I have not.

By the way, how did it get to be April already?

Puyallup

That's pronounced "pyoo-AL-up. I was immediately corrected by my Seattle friend, so I thought I'd save you the embarrassment.

Sewing Expo
Anyway, that's where I spent Thursday. This was my first time to the
Sewing & Stitchery Expo and it was quite an experience and I was late to game so didn't get to do/see everything I wanted, and that in itself makes it a learning experience.

For the uninitiated, the Expo, organized by Washington State University, consists of a very few in-depth workshops, a few more hands-on classes and lots of seminars. Plus there were free style shows and seminars, and over 200 vendors. And though I can find no reference for how long it's been going on, it clearly has been a long time. The crowd on Thursday by noon was significant. For the in-depth workshops and hands-on classes, the major sewing machine companies have set up rooms so schlepping a machine isn't necessary.

I ended up with three (instead of the planned five) seminars on Thursday around machine embroidery. I learned something from each, but didn't quite come away with the inspiration I'd hoped for.

Embroidery Basics was all about threads, needles, and stabilizers. The speaker was a Sulky national trainer, so the focus was on their products.

Embroidery From Perception to Reality was presented by the principal for an embroidery software company on how to use software (in general, her product in particular) to aid in design and implementation of the embroidery. If I ever invest in an embroidery application, I hope I remember her ideas.

Quick Gifts on the Embroidery Machine was entertaining, which was good since it was mid-afternoon - not my brightest time of the day. Bobbi Bullard showed some interesting projects that showcased her embroidery design sets, as well as some of her other products, including spray dyes and Swarovski crystals.

Showplex and Pavilion
There were two venues for shopping and with six hours of free time, I managed to cruise the aisles of both several times. Pretty much anything you could think of around sewing was there; and depending on the time of day, it was just a matter of actually getting to and into any given booth. There was lots of fabric and the independent pattern companies were well represented.

Practicing some restraint, I purchased only 3 yards of fabric, since I seem to have outgrown my substantial fabric/yarn closet and sewing room and I don't have the option of piling my fabric in the shower like Bobbi Bullard said she does. I found a pretty red linen rayon blend at Dana Marie (formerly Purrfection), but both scanning and photographing didn't get the color right. Seattle Fabrics had lots of tapestry, including a cute puppy print that I just couldn't resist.

What I really scored on were notions. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the store, but here's what I got there for $5 (a bagful of notions).


I found two gadgets at the smaller of the two Pine Needle Quilt Shop booths.
 

And there were a few yarn shops who showed up, knowing that it's not always about sewing. Because I need more yarn even less than fabric, I again practiced restraint, until I got to the Seattle Yarn, where there bags of discontinued yarn and shawl kits for $40, including the two bags of Noro I couldn't resist - Gisha and Silk Country.
 

I'm looking forward to next year, now that I know the ropes.

Side Trips
When possible I plan trips around meeting up with friends. And this trip was no different, though I have no pictures to show for it. Wednesday, I lunched with Dave Harms, a work friend, at a downtown Seattle Thai fast food place, and had dinner with Mark Shelton, (has it been 30 years!?) at Indochine in Tacoma. Thursday, it was all about meeting with fiberly friend Diane Egelston for the first time; we had pretty good teriyaki at Ichiban Teriyaki, very near the Red Lion Tacoma where I stayed. Finally, I had lunch with Adobe friends, Fred Hale, Marc Madenwald, and Jud Richards, in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, at the Red Door.

There was time to kill between checking out and meeting Fred, Marc, and Jud, so I stopped at Kinokuniya Bookstore. Parking karma was with me and I found a spot at the door that I didn't have to actually parallel park into (I'm a terrible backer-upper). It's hard to compare them to the Portland store because the layout is so different. However, I do think they had fewer books with knitting than Portland. I did find two crochet books, though.
Crochet Accessories (ISBN 9784277430807)

   

Let's Knit Series 15 (ISBN 9784529043496)

    

Tuesday talk

New shirts
Although I didn't gift Tom with the promise of at least one shirt a month for 2008, I've just continued the tradition. Considering I haven't stopped finding new dog fabrics, it only makes sense that I keep making shirts.
 

New Machine
Tom was the first to benefit from my new cover stitch machine, which made short work of finishing the sleeves and hems. I have mentioned that I am susceptible to suggestion and the Fiberly friends has been talking about cover stitch machines on and off for a few months. A couple of weeks ago, I succumbed to the power of suggestion and started researching machines. In the end, with feedback from my Fiberly friends, some local sewing guild members and reviewing Debbie's excellent Coverstitch FAQ, we headed to Montavilla Sewing Center, where I opted for the Baby Lock Cover Stitch, to sit along side my Baby Lock serger and sewing machine. I think I am set for machines for a good long while.

New Knitting
Although I haven't posted recently to Ravelry, I have been browsing and among my friends projects, I found the Elderflower skirt by Ruth Sørensen. It intrigued me because I love skirts and it's knit without a gauge swatch, so it was just a matter of picking out some yarn and knitting away. Here's my progress from last week. I'm now on the stockinette portion, and admit to being a bit bored, but it is a good take along project since stockinette doesn't require that I pay attention. The yarn is a sock yarn I picked up when I first started knitting for $1 a ball. Craftmart became Lee Ward's which became Michael's. The yarn has been aging in my stash a really long time.

Talented friends

In a fit of organization, I decided to clean out my e-mail InBox. Much of what I'd saved were emails with pictures. Some of the pictures have been posted to Fiberly Friends' blogs or photo sites, but others had not, so I thought I'd share some of the very lovely fiberly endeavors of some very talented women.

I've explained about the Fiberly Friends in a previous post, but they deserve another mention. You can read about Carolyn's and Barbara's sewing, and Liana's and Mardel's sewing and knitting on their blogs. You can see pictures of Kathryn's, Peggy's, Diane's and Pam's wonderful fiberly work on their photo sites. Though Patti doesn't take pictures, Joanna and Linda do. And we can't wait to see what newest Fiberlies Mary and Sheila have made.

      

There's more here.

LONG Layover

Greetings from Chicago O'Hare, where we have been for 11 hours and have 10 more to go.

Yesterday, just about the time we arrived at PDX, weather caused a ground stop at O'Hare—all flights in and out were stopped. We arrived O'Hare at 9:15pm (probably just minutes after our flight took off late...) and spent an hour and a half trying to sort out when we could get to the UK.

6pm Central Wednesday

If you see a news story about people on cots at O'Hare...that's us sleeping in the refrigerated section of the airport AKA the connector between HK and another concourse...it was too long a night to even care what it was. We shared the refrigerator with probably 300 other stranded souls.

As for knitting, at the last minute, I changed my mind about taking Sasha because it was too heavy in my non-wheely carry on. I found a print out I made of the Lace Cardigan from the Spring/Summer 07 VK, and decided that was what I needed to take. It's been a little slow going—not because it's hard—I'm just tired. But it's something else that will help keep me occupied for the next 10 hours.

The kindness of local Fiberly Friends will also help. Patti, Joanna, and Patti's husband, Norm are going to rescue us for lunch and a break. The Admiral's Club is nice, but 12 hours is probably too long to spend.

So begins our journey...

Projects

Not much to report really. I've made progress on the Traveling Shells vest and Dressing gown, but it's not really interesting enough to photograph. In the meantime, I've also started some other projects.

Since the dressing gown could miss the Mom's day shipping deadline, I have a back-up plan—Vogue 7883. I found some lime linen at Fashion Fabrics Club which I'll pair with a stash white cotton.

Inspired by Fiberly Friends who have started exercise programs and incented by a planned trip to Hawai'i, I'm on day four of a non-fiberly project—walking. There's no plan; I'm just wandering around the neighborhood listening to audiobooks on my trusty little iPod. It's been an uphill struggle, both literally (this is a very hilly neighborhood) and figuratively. Near freezing weather and the April fool's joke by a clock that sprung forward making sunrise look particularly dark made it real tempting to forego the walk yesterday. But I didn't. I was going to surprise Tom with the paper and coffee in bed, but I was surprised as I sat on the porch listening to the last of a chapter, and Mandy barked at me from the front door (I was sure I'd blocked the dogs upstairs.)

Tom had gotten up early and had cocoa and breakfast waiting for me!

March Birthdays

March is a big birthday month.

On March 4, I always remember my father, who passed away in 1995, just shy of his 65th birthday.

Tom's former business partner and his sister celebrate their birthdays this month. And it's the birthday month for one of the Fiberly Friends, Diane Egelston. All told there are ten people with birthdays this month in my calendar.

Dianne Rodway's birthday was earlier this month, but we waited to celebrate till Sunday, which happened to be Tom's birthday. We went bowling.

In almost 25 years of marriage, Tom and I have never gone bowling except for group parties. I'd forgotten he had a bowling ball (gloves and shoes) gathering dust all this time, but he pulled it out for the birthday outing, and we headed for Sunset Lanes in Beaverton (a non-smoking bowling center) with Dianne and John. Our bowling scores were less than stellar, though we each did have moments, and we had a great time. We followed bowling with dinner at Dessert Noir, where we enjoyed good food in rather generous portions.




Gifts
For Dianne, I made placemats and napkins out of dupionni silk and cotton, and made beaded napkin rings.

Tom was the recipient of four shirts (two made from fabric), 6 mugs, two books and certificate for another dinner out with Dianne and John.


I deviated from the dog theme and made a shirt from Three Stooges fabric, found at Over the Rainbow, but returned to the dogs, with the second shirt and mugs.











The non-fabric shirts were clever little plates that Dianne and John gifted Tom along with licorice allsorts candies, and the dinner certificate.


The mugs were ordered through Cafépress.com. There were a lot of really great images from different artists to choose from. Here's what Tom got. Click on the images to find even more.

Even more yarn

Shine Sport
My mom loves clothes and there was a day when I knew exactly what she'd like. In fact, at Christmas she reminded me that the houndstooth sweater she'd brought was something I'd given her when we lived in Denver. (It's been 30 years since I lived in Denver, so I obviously did well on that choice.) It was actually a surprise when she picked out the dressing gown in Romantic Style. I liked it, but wouldn't have expected her to pick it out. It took a while to find a yarn that would work without spending the bank, but that's half the fun. The yarn order arrived on Saturday, and I got started.

Alpaca Fino
When Joanna, one of the Fiberly Friends, asked me to see if I could repair a hole in a purchased lace sweater, I said, "Sure, send it on." The yarn was gossamer, very soft, and fortunately also mohair-like because there wasn't enough yarn attached to make the repair, so I'd need to incorporate another yarn. This must be why I keep a stash—so I would have a yarn that might work—and I did. It was a mohair blend that wasn't as fine as the sweater yarn, but the variegated nature of the yarn helped it to blend. I sorted out the pattern and after a few "go's" at it, finally closed the hole so that it's barely noticable. Yesterday, I received this lovely hank of lace alpaca/silk yarn from Joanna.


Peruvian Highland Wool
I don't have enough Tivoli Bainin Tweed to complete the multidirectional cable shrug and my calls for folks to check their stashes for this discontinued yarn have gone unanswered. But I must make the Norah Gaughan's multidirectional cable shrug. Knowing that the odds were low on finding that one person in the world with the extra yarn I needed, I went ahead and found another yarn, since my stash failed me on this endeavor. Elann.com's Peruvian Highland Wool fit the gauge and bill, and it arrived yesterday. I ended up ordering two more balls than my calculations said I needed so I could get the Helen Hamann Asymetrical Pullover pattern for "free."