the Akamai Knitter

On Sunday the Honolulu Academy of Arts had a family event and they invited us Aloha Knitters to demonstrate and display our wares.  I took along a few of my shawls and my spinning wheel made its first public appearance with me.

Dorothy and Veronica also brought along their wheels and we became a sort of row of spinning wheel soldiers. (I’m supposed to be in the middle.)

spinning!

May brought along her fabulous mutant bunny.

Mutant Bunny!

Teri brought her lovely afghan squares.

teri's afghan squares

Patrice brought her gorgeous freeform crocheted pieces.

freeform crocheted afghan

freeform crocheted purses

You can tell by the happy faces the demo was a success.

Kai and May

Despite grabby hands and parents that insisted we were spinning cotton, I had a really good time. I hope the Aloha Knitters get a chance to do more of these types of events. If you’d like to read more about it, the lovely Acornbud took some pictures of her own. I might even be in one of them.

I have a lot more catching up to do, but I think I’ll save that up for another day. I gotta ration out the blog fodder. ;-)

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Thanks for reading!

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It was another outrageous night at Aloha Knitters. I had told blogless Michelle that I was cheering for the Green Bay Packers all the way once the Dallas Cowboys got eliminated from the playoffs. To test the waters of my allegiance she asked me if I’d be willing to wear the cheesehead hat. I told her not only would I wear it, I’d be willing to document it.

True to her word, she brought the cheesehead hat to the next meeting which was last night. True to my word, I wore it and had it documented.

I decided if i was going to wear a ridiculous hat and have it paraded on the Internet then I was going to do it in style. So I give you “Opal in the Cheesehead Hat“.

Michelle also donned the Cheesehead Hat to show her fightin’ Pack spirit!

Those weren’t the only antics of the night. Michelle has been working on a scarf hoodie in some gorgeous colors. She graciously modeled it for us. :)

Just imagine how that scarf will warm you up in the frigid north!
Veronica and blogfree Ariana were comparing sock heels. I’m not so sure that there was much technical discussion involved as there were giggles.

Good times. Good times.

Here’s wishing you good times this weekend! I promise to come back with some actual knitting content soon. :-)

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It was another wild and crazy night at Aloha Knitters with another unbelievable turnout of knitters and crocheters. Would you look and see how many of us there are? in Hawaii? (And these are just the ones that bother to show up at meetings. Just think of all the others lurking in their homes, too busy to come.)

Among the throng was a new addition. Introducing Shannon! This gorgeous boy is only 3 months old. I find it singularly amazing to be able to say that I knew him when he was still in his Momma’s belly. And he is so well behaved! I haven’t heard him cry yet, though this is his second meeting. His momma (Chris K.) must be so proud!

Also at the meeting was Kris of Bockstar Knits and wouldn’t you know she was destashing. As much as I tried to resist, I couldn’t pass up a skein of Wollmeise in the Spice Market colorway. Such rich, saturated colors! Besides, what are the chances of me seeing this rare yarn again? So I really couldn’t pass this up.

I’m not sure what pattern will eventually be used with this yarn, but I’m thinking something textured like Nutkin, though I just realized the model was made with this exact yarn. How boring of me to make an exact copy. Vinland might also work too. This might even be the yarn for the Marina Piccolo, which I’ve been dying to make. The ideas are percolating. Opinions welcome.

So, we had knitters. We had crocheters. We had babies. Okay, it was one baby, but what a baby! And we had yarn. There was also some apple pie. Mmm. All in all, another great night with my knit buds.

As for the weekend? I plan on hitting the bead store for some wire. If you see more earrings in the future, you’d be right. With the NFL Playoffs this weekend, there’ll be plenty of time for beading and knitting.

In the meantime, happy Friday! Keep safe and knit happy!

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As 2007 ends, I can’t help but be thankful for the wonderful ladies in my local knitting group, the Aloha Knitters. It all started on Meetup with 3 women and a monthly meeting. (I think this was back in 2003, but I could be mistaken. My memory is quite shoddy.) Sometimes only one person would show up and that one knitter would spend a lone night knitting on their own. From there the meetings were increased to every other week with a small gathering of 2 or 3 people.

(Kbrow and Blogless Michelle)

Now we meet every week and you’re guaranteed a group of 5 or more knitters. There’s even been a few nights where our group have taken over half the cafe with around 12 knitters!

Having a dozen knitters show up in Hawaii has been unbelievably validating for me. Over the years, I’ve been mocked for my passion for knitting. I mean really, who knits in Hawaii? And who knits with wool in Hawaii? The support and enthusiasm, the aloha, that’s been shared within the group is amazing.

Let’s not forget the laughter either. Here’s Michelle showing absolute outrage at how little yarn Acornbud has left. Acornbud seems to be rather stoic about it. After all, she is an extremely experienced knitter, so she knows these things will happen.

And here’s Vron insisting to Anna that her fun fur scarf really is the height of fashion and cuddly as well!

So thank you my sisters of knitting, my sisters in yarn, for making every Thursday such a special day! :)

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My mind is a jumble of thoughts as I didn’t go to bed until 5am thanks to the chai I had last night. Thank goodness for Random Friday.

1. Thank you for the big welcome you gave to my new kitty and for all the great suggestions for a name. I think we’ve settled on a name, but I’m not sure if it will stick. If it stands the test of time (that is if it sticks for more then a day or two), then I’ll be sure to share it with everyone.
   The new addition is slowly settling in and there have been several sightings. In fact, while watching a sad basketball game (I just can’t win this week when it comes to sports), he decided to investigate the living room last night.
2. I finished a glove. Finally. It felt like this glove just did not want to get done. Now I just need one more to have the pair finished.
   
3. I took the glove with me to that last night’s Aloha Knitters meeting. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy my knit group. They’re a great bunch of ladies and I don’t know what I’d do without them. Who else would understand my obsession with Fair Isle gloves in Hawaii?
   Here’s Veronica hammin’ it up with the glove.
4. Thanks to the insomnia, I finished a sock (Ravelry link). This sock seems to have been on my needles forever. Mostly because I’ve only worked on it in the odd moments I’ve had when I’ve been out of the house and when taking the sweater became too bulky to take with me.
   
5. Finally, I leave you with a video I found on my friend Becky’s page. I apologize if you’ve already seen it, but I love it so much I thought I’d share it here too. ETA: You’ll have to click here to see it since I can’t seem to embed the damn thing. (Anyone have tips on how to do this with Word Press? I put the html in the html editor!)

That’s it for me for now! I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend. Please drive safely. :)

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