World Wide Knit In Public Day 2009!

Did you do it this year?? :o)

We did it at Books-A-Million and had LOTS of fun with free snacks, every 1/2 hour door prizes and A/C Haha (it was a blazin' 92 degrees here! Whew!)!!!

Hope you had just as much fun as I did!!!

Yesterday morning I was able to take a sock class in person with WendyKnits herself! And got the chance to fondle all of her socks that are featured in her book too!Then I happened to look up from my needles and seated right across from me was a blogger pal that I had yet to meet IRL!
Zonda!! :o) We drop each other little blog comment presents from time to time (giggle), but I never really expected to meet her in the flesh Haha!

So I had to get the proper blog photo for the occasion! :o)Told you this has been a great year of no travel and still getting to meet soooo many people!

And not to mention seeing some of my Purl friends again that I had not seen in such a long time!!

Of course with Wendy J. too!! :oD

The sock class was just the push I needed to get back started again in cranking up those teeny tiny needles.

I joined the Ravelry Socks from the Toe Up KAL where each month the group will knit a pattern out of the book! This month is Lacey Rib and it is going very well!! I am excited about it b/c I am loving the colors of this yarn and the easy pattern, not to mention this will be my first "long" pair of socks (I always get antsy and stop at anklets or quarter length socks).

I would recommend this book as there are explicit directions on how to do various toe-up COs with easy to understand directions. I've always been that gurl who loves doing 2AAT toe-up socks as I don't like the mystery not knowing if this sock is going to fit me. More patterns are now considering toe-up in their directions but most are in the traditional top-down approach. So the book is great in providing lots of easy to do options for toe-up patterns along with different heel options too!

The only thing I would say is because it is so cookie cut it doesn't break down how you could adjust the patterns specific to your unique size (i.e. skinny ankles/narrow feet, etc.) and expects you to intuitively understand how socks are designed so the training wheels of the step by step instructions are necessary. Which is exactly what I need right now until I get more comfortable in my sock making skin ;o)

Here is to a great Sunday Sock knitting for me!!

And in the words of WendyKnits SOCK ON!!

Is exactly how I felt on last Saturday!!

My awesome knit/crochet group, Charlotte Purls, surprised me during our annual holiday luncheon!!

With a fabulous basket to show their appreciation of being the "organizer" of the group

It was so unexpected and felt SO good! :o)

They really floored me with their very very very generous giftA gift certificate to a local spa here (much needed paraffin pedicure here I come!!!) AND a v.isa gift card (already started getting some goodies) too!

The card read, "To Stacey - Thank you for all you do! With much love, from your Purls"

Along with some of my favorite treats of gum and a bag of chocolate caramels (which is all gone!!)

And one of the Purls, Heather, gave me some BEAUTIFUL handmade stitchmarkers out of genuine Swarovski crystals!!! *gasp*

I already have a new project on the needles with my fab new knit jewelry!! (WIP/FO pic to come soon...)

I really was overwhelmed with their thoughtfulness and being so kind during these crazy times!!

THANK YOU Purls for being the best knitting group ever!!! :o)

This past weekend was jammed pack!! I had my 2 "bestest" blog buddies actually come visit me!! Ms. Adrienne & Patrice!! :o)

On top of that we had our NCEE (N.C. Ebony Elite) Yarnsploration too!
(Here is when we had visit #1, visit #2, and visit #3)

So it was a major weekend! And SO much fun!! But I am still tired so you all will have to view what a great time I had on my slide show :o)



However, my gurls Adrienne & Patrice came thru with wonderful details of their trip here! So go check them out to really get a good feel for the weekend (yeah I am still tired - they didn't let me sleep y'all haha- and lazy..besides I already live here! LOL)

Thanks to all the Ebony Purls that made there way to the Queen City!!

Toni
Niki
Renee
Jenifer
Wendy
Tanesha
Michelle
Azure
Yamani

But most importantly to Adrienne and Patrice for making the very special trip they made just to see me!! :o) It was great!!!

to the ball game! :o)Now y'all know I am not into sports (at.all)! Haha! But you know the only reason I went out to a baseball game is because it had something to do with......KNITTING!! ;o)

The Charlotte Knitting Guild hosted their first 'unofficial' Stitch 'N' Pitch!And a ton of knitters and crocheters came out from a little bit of everywhere in NC/SC! There were over 60 family and friends there! And 17 of them were the Charlotte Purls (even more pics over there)! Whoa!

Take a looky at some of the great folks that were there ;o)

The Guild had fabulous raffle prizes there!

Just to give you an idea of the fantabulous prizes, there was:
Berroco (donated sweater kit for raffle) Blue Sky Alpaca (donated sundress kit for raffle) Buffalo Gold (donated cat toy for raffle) Charlotte Yarn (donated 3 FiberFan packs for raffle) Cottage Yarn (donated gift certificate for raffle) Creatively Dyed (donated a yarn gift basket for raffle)LaLa Knit’s (donated sock yarn for raffle) Lantern Moon (donated yarn basket for raffle)Namaste (donated handbags and accessory bags for our raffle) Needlecraft Center (donated goody bag and coupon for goody bag...expires 6/28) Universal Yarns (donated lots of yarn for our goodie bags) and Fairieknits (donated additional yarns for goodie bags).

Let me tell you folks were losing their minds over the Namaste and Lantern Moon bags. I know because I was elated for them! LOL

I won one of the Charlotte Yarn packs and we all received goodie bags too! They were filled with coupons, sample yarn, and a Namaste canvas tote and pen.

However, we were there to knit afterall! :o)

Some of us worked on charity projects while there. I started on a washcloth for the Charlotte Purls Charity KAL for local domestic violence victims.

I guess you could say I got some knitting done.....tee heeAll four rows! Haha! You know I was just running my mouth having a good time! ;oD But I will be cranking out some washcloths soon.

Had a great time at SnP, it was great meeting new bloggers and seeing ole knitting pals! I definitely look forward to the event next year!

How was your weekend? I had a great one! *Warning: picture heavy*

Ended up in Greensboro to have some surprise "baby fun" lunch with a few of the N.C. Ebony Elite women! We meet up back in October and had such a fab time that we wanted to do it again, especially when we discovered that Debora was expecting a baby (thought it was me huh? Haha)!

Toni came up with the great idea that we could all knit up squares for her and make a baby blanket!

So we came together again under the 'guise' of having a "get together" lunch :o)

And you know we went right back to the fabulous Ganache restaurant!! That meant we ate GAWD again!

I had the shrimp & grits sans the pork (the menu was awesome with vegi lasagna, crawfish & shrimp gumbo, chicken tempura salad etc.)and dessert was a white chocolate raspberry cake (decided to be a tad different) that I had to take 'to go' b/c I was F-U-L-L

with the wonderful toppings. This reminded me of the Danish layered cakes from back home in WI. On the way out I could not resist getting their Coconut Macaroon bagged up!

This cookie was DIVINE!!!! I actually liked it better than the cake! ;op

After we ate ourselves almost into a coma! LOL We presented Debora with the blanket

and she was pleasantly surprised

it was neat seeing all of our squares come together to make a nice warm blanket for her baby boy who will be here very soon.

So after our 'Baby Fun' you know we had to have some Yarn Fun! :oD

We went back to Yarns, Etc. which is right down the street from Ganache! This is also where Spinners Ridge is located just right in the back of the store. They have all kinds of roving, wheels, and looms there, look!

I was all set to get some Manos del Uruguay that I had eyed last time I was there, but they didn't have any in the shop....darn!

Here are the ladies in front of Yarns, Etc.

And the shop's display was all decorated for Valentine's coming up!

Next stop was to This and That which from my understanding the majority of the crafters in the area call their fav LYS.

This shop carries a variety of yarns, but also other items such as purses, jewelry, and candles (hence why they are called 'This and That ;op).Look Nik! Your hat! (and I liked that wrap - of course they didn't have anymore of that Twinkle yarn in that bright red! Ugh!)

But my mind was still set on getting my red Manos yarn! Which they didn't have there either :0( Well at least they carried it and had lots of various Malabrigo! Which made me happy but weren't in the colors I wanted!

They had this interesting Cherry Tree Hill 'Loopy Mohair'

I so don't like mohair! Haha! But that intrigued me ;op

While the other ladies did a lot of shopping

I finally found "something" to buy, since my money was burning a hole in my pocket! Haha! (I actually ended up spending more money in H.obby L.obby that night when I got home! Go figure!)

The Diva candle! :oD How fitting! And it smells really good! It has a rich aroma of chocolate and amber, which ended up being a good match for me since I love ambers and sandlewoods, not to mention chocolate scents!

BUT it reminded me why I do not like to burn candles....sigh all the freakin' smoke/fumes from the wick while burning and blowing it out...you see that black bulb on the end there? Ugh!

The irony is that when I first visited this LYS back in October it turned me off with all of those various knick knacks. I just wanted to get yarn without all the extras! Now look what I ended up walking out with....a knick knack! ;op Haha!

I really had a great time with all of you wonderful ladies!

(Debora: mother-to-be! Toni w/ her daughter Lela, Me, Wendy, and Renee)

Can't wait for us to do it again!!

Oh! And on the way back to the Queen City I discovered that knitting really is my Zen :o)

"Someone" got us lost (don't ask - I know it is a straight shot from Gboro to CLT!) which turned us around about 30 minutes or so. But I swear if it wasn't for this

I would have been so irritated! Haha! But wasn't phased at all! Gotta love some knitting to keep you focused!

Is exactly what I have when I go to my bi-monthly Charlotte Purls knit group meetings!

As Turtlegirl so eloquently (okay not that good Haha!) said in her recent post "it is like getting together with family" *dabs eyes* :o)

So much so that after meeting another fellow Ebony Elite on Ravelry, she came all the way up from Greer, SC to join us!! And fit right in like fam!

Meet my new friend Dianne! She was full of energy and laughter! She even came bearing gifts even though she came to see us!! Wow!

Well I just started on this yesterday......again

Yep, it is the "do-over" of Ms. Marigold! :op

I am loving this yarn

It is the Silky Tweed and my first time using it.

And it is knitting up on this project really nice.

I likey! I believe this will be a much better experience this time around on her. ;o)

And I also gotta show y'all what we do over at our Charlotte Purls meetings!

Have a wonderful week!

My captions were too long for a slide show ;oD

I had such a great time with 5 beautiful Ebony Elite women on this past Saturday!

Michelle, Debora, Desiree, Nik, and Toni (not in this pic, but our hostess who set up our day!), and all met up in Greensboro to do some "yarnsploring" (I had to bite that word from Babbling Brook after reading her blog).

Our first stop was at Yarn, Etc. in downtown Greensboro (ironically this is the sister shop to the one I visited in Raleigh).

This is what the inside looked likeTowards the front of the store was all of the yarn, and they had one of the yarns I covet Manos del Uruguay in my fav colors! What can I make out of this y'all???

I did buy some goodies but it wasn't the Manos yarn.

In the back was the spinning area with lots of wheelsAnd where they also had lots of roving in bins and basketsSo we got a quick crash course of spinning! :o) (I am not remotely interested in doing this, but we all were eager to see it in action!)

Tina showed us how she fuses the wool fibers together

So of course a meet-up is not a meet-up unless there is good food!Ganache is a GREAT restaurant and bakery in Greensboro.

As soon as we walked in we saw this

Are you kidding me!?! We knew immediately that dessert was in our future! LOL We were salivating over it!

Michelle even had to get her quick work out in advance with the increasing anticipation of lunch! :oD She is so crazy! Haha!

Lunch was really good! I got my half sandwich and she crab soup (which we were turned on to trying it with a shot of sherry! It was the bomb!!). The soup was truly divine with fresh crab meat bits too.And Nik had some slammin' shrimp and grits!! I am so getting that the next time I am there.

Y'all know we had dessert! Ridiculous!!!

My Bailey's Caramel Crunch cake was delish!! Of course it was covered in ganache!! :o)We really really really enjoyed our lunch!! Haha! This is the only shot I have with all us in one pic. Even Toni's cute little daughter Lela was there!

We even liked the money tree that was up as art work near our table, and the art piece below reminded me of women "lunching", which was exactly what we were doing!

Great atmosphere and great food! It was GGgggreeeaaaatttttt!! :o)

We had to keep moving and "rolled" ourselves to the next yarn shop LOL!

This shop seemed to cater to stitching.

What is up with selling strands of yarn?? And there was actual yarn in the back.

They did have an entire wall dedicated to Noro so you know I was very pleased to see that! Haha!

But this visit was short and sweet as nothing really jumped out at us. I did see this sock yarn.

Have y'all heard of this before? It reminds me of the other yarn I covet the lovely Malabrigo.

Last stop was the This and That shop, and below is the entrance into the shop where most of the local knitters love to go for their yarn.and as soon as we walked in I discovered why it is called "This and That". They sell candles, jewelry, bags, and other items in the shop other than yarn.

I did grab a couple of balls of yarn to do another quick and easy project! ;o) But stumbled across this yarn

Have you all seen or used this yarn before? I love the mustard color but it is kinda of scratchy.

We really had a wonderful day "yarnsploring" and we can't wait to do it again soon! I am so glad I got to meet you ladies!!