Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Basket Jacket and Color Fun

I've been having fun the past few weeks experimenting with various dying techniques and colorways for the "Dame Etta Vett Designs" hand-dyed yarns line. Here's a few of what I came up with:

The "Stella Mae Sock Weight" (superwash) yarns are:


"Bermuda"



"Hobgoblin"



I love this colorway ( still unnamed) and am currently making a scarf from it.


"True Blood"


The "Lady Sue Lace Weight" (some 100% Superwash, some with 30% Silk) are:


"Nancy"



"Sister Mary Fig"


"Aruba"


"Prairie Flowers" (l) and "Prairie Meadow" (r)


The "Lord Sully Sport Weight" yarns are cotton/rayon blend and include:


"Granny Python"



"Raj"



"Hematite"



"Penelope"

Here's one of the "Winston Lou Worsted Weight" yarns. It's 100% cotton:

"Colonel Mustard"


Also, as an update to the project that I thought would never end, I finally finished the "Basket Jacket" I was making from sock yarn - although I worked the front button panels several times before I was happy with it. I'll post more (and better) pictures of it soon...

SDOSAS!
Jer

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Bienvenue!

Welcome to my new place in the blogosphere!


There's a lot to say about my new ventures into hand-dyed yarn and my efforts at professional crochet design. But, that will have to wait for subsequent postings. Having just attended the National CGOA Conference in Buffalo earlier this month, that seems like the best place to start in catching you up...


If you remember what happened at last year's conference, it should come as know surprise that Meg was up to her old tricks again this year. This time, though, she knew what to expect and it was all I could do to keep her in my carry-on bag during the flight. Once we were onboard the shuttle to the hotel, I thought it was safe to let her out, but...


She immediately began hopping from seat to seat, so excited to be, as she calls it, "where the string meets the hook!"


Her first victim, ...err... new friend was an airline pilot sharing the shuttle. He is from Texas, but he had no idea to what to make of a van full of yarn enthusiasts, let alone a brightly colored ball of hyperactivity packed into 18 inches.




After missing a few of her favorite designers last year, Meg was fully prepared to do whatever it took to ensure the same thing didn't happen again. I guess that's why she ran across the breakfast table to get to one of her favorite designers, Margaret Hubert.











She felt perfectly at ease resting in the lap of the one and only Pauline Turner.






Meg love's Crochet Today magazine so when she met the editor, she and Bret Bara shared a private joke at the Professional Development Day Luncheon.
















She caught up with Edie Eckman and




Karen Klemp, both of whom have taught in Dallas at the DFW FiberFest.

















Lily Chin taught her how to hold her own in the big city and she rode high on the shoulders of Amy Shelton, creator and owner of Crochetville.


She showed off her party dress to Cari Clement of Caron and the ladies from Lion Brand Yarn, Zontee and India.











Meg went with me and her Auntie Cher exploring the Farmer's Market that was a few blocks away. That's where she met a very special helper at one of the vendor's booths.













She had a great time meeting newer designers, such as Charles Voth and Sonja Hood, both from Toronto:




and enjoyed spending time with a few familiar friends from Texas: (top photo is Cathy, bottom photo, l-r is Molly, me, Bobbie, Sharon and Jan)





After endless pleading and countless bargains, I even let Meg attend the banquet and fashion show. I guess the exciting week had finally caught up with her, though. After dinner was over, she fell asleep briefly during the fashion show.






Finally, back at the hotel room Saturday night, I got her settled down enough to get some rest.

But even while dreaming, all she kept muttering about was next year's convention...

SDOSAS!

Jer