Extravayarnza

It's been darn cold here lately. Nothing like double digit below zero temps to drive you to curling up on the couch with your knitting (and iPod...). I spent the last few days doing pretty much that with the Mid Michigan Knitters Guild (minus the couch & iPod). We all headed off to the Kellogg Biological Station for our annual knitting retreat (wonderful location for a retreat, just be sure to get good directions...ie not Google maps). I was very honored this year by being asked to teach one of the classes.
The class the first afternoon was on Shadow Knitting. It's an interesting technique that by knitting with only 1 color per row & just using knits/purls you can create nifty hidden images. Looking straight on a piece it just looks like lots of stripes...

But when you look at an angle the hidden pattern is revealed!

You can find lots of free patterns for this type of knitting my searching Shadow or Illusion knitting. Plus Vivian Hoxbro wrote an excellent book on the subject.

Then the second morning I taught Mobius knitting. We all started a basic scarf. Someone shoot me next time I agree to teach 25 knitters a new cast-on (just kidding, I think it actually went well). Everyone was smiling by the end of the class, so I count it as successful. I know I love the yarn my mobius is being knit out of. It's Easy Soft from Gedifra (kid mohair & cashmere!)

I used the yarn doubled on size 9 needles. I literally used up every last inch of the white & beige and will come close to using up all the black by the time the attached i-cord is complete. (I'm doing a 3 stitch i-cord, which I figured would use 3 rounds worth of yarn. So, I stopped 4 rounds from what I was able to do with the first 2 balls.) I love this scarf. It reminds me of all the fugley things in my 80's knitting books. Specifically a purl ridge, bat wing (dolmen sleeve), mohair jacket in shades of blue, green, and purple (from the book Wild Knitting). I'm totally going to wear this all the time!

At the retreat I also finished my Rose wristwarmers~

& got most of my second knee high sock knit (STR Heavy weight in Mist).

I also got brave enough to weigh the first one to see if I left enough yarn for #2. The first sock weighed 3.5oz on the nose, luckily that exactly half a skein. *let out deep breath*
I also discovered a project that missed blogging. The first of my Friday Harbor Socks! I finished this at Knit Michigan last weekend. Unfortunately the big push for finishing came when I needed the needle to use for my class sample. So, since that sock is still on the needles I haven't started sock #2 for this pair yet...