Corn, Flowers, Love & Shelter

 

We experienced crazy-warm fall weather last weekend, so it was an easy group decision to head out to Eugster's Farm for pumpkins, kittens, goats, fresh caramel apples, the Haunted Silo and the corn maze.

In previous year's we've had cold and muddy Eugster's visits, to this was a welcome change. There was even a farmer handing out warm (free) cider doughnuts!

In knitting news, Hogwarts projects  proceed apace:

House hat for my young Gryffindor, with a badge from the party. We printed the graphic on cardstock, then cut out a matching cardboard backing, punched two holes in it and sandwiched the two together with a safety pin end sticking out each hole for fastening.

In Knitting Guild news, last night the place was packed for Jared Flood's talk. Creative Director Tracy, book reviewer Cindy and I carpooled because we knew it'd be wacky with knitters, and forty-five minutes before the talk, we still parked pretty far away. We had plenty of time to scope out the handknits while we waited and knit. My chosen Guild project was my orange One Scarf, and I knit away on my big needles while we laughed, met Webmaster Cindy and chickened out of having Jared sign our books.

Finally, the big moment arrived and Jared took the stage, after an impressive show-of-hands by Brooklyn Tweed blog readers. He appeared a bit shy in front of the 300+ crowd at first, so dove right into shoing us gorgeous slides of Washington State and NYC; he got more relaxed when talking about starting his blog and then downright confident telling us about his book and launching Shelter, his new yarn line.

He was everything you'd hope Jared Flood would be; intelligent, well-traveled, funny, a little shy, very knitting-knowledgeable and equipped with lush photos of buildings in Italy and many-hued wools.

Afterwards, Tracy and I plucked up our courage and got to have a couple of moments to speak with Jared. A little-known fact is that, when Knitcircus was tiny and still being printed out and handsewn, Jared graciously allowed us to reprint his famous Noro scarf tutorial, complete with original photos. I figured he was probably embarrased about that now, or had forgotten, but he said, "It was hand-bound with yarn! I still have it at home!"

He'd even seen Knitcircus online and congratulated us. Tim Gunn's got nothing on this guy for saying the right thing, I tell you.

Jared confessed that the response to his new yarn line was, "More….passionate than we expected," so I felt relieved and a little bit smug to have ordered mine earler in the week while supplies lasted. He didn't bring yarn with him, but did bring knitted samples. The mittens knitted at a denser gauge definitely had a bit of an old-fashioned wool texture to them, but the scarf felt softer, and the yarn has an airy, springy loft. Of course, the colors looked like they'd melt in your mouth.

This has never happened to me before, but I was just chugging along on my big needles, and while we still had a fair amount of Show and Tell left, my scarf was done! I couldn't believe it. I bound off the last row, and literally found myself in a Guild meeting with nothing to knit!

Let this be a lesson to you knitters out there–always bring two projects, even if your family laughs at you. I didn't know what to do with myself while they picked the door prizes, it was quite disorienting! The second lesson here is, if you want a quick gift knit, the One Scarf fits the bill perfectly.

 This One Scarf still needs One Long Fringe.

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