Step One: Make Sure The Neighbors Know You're Crazy

Today has been very productive. We had our monthly Knitting Guild Meeting, and I did some work on getting ready for the craft show. I took the foamcore board I had to make a sign for the craft show outside as a background to take the pictures below. As my apartment is on the parking lot side of the building, I'm sure I'm now known as "the crazy lady/girl". But that just means that I don't have to hide it anymore.

First, the meeting:
Gwen, Suzie, Teri and I met at Brio for lunch at noon. It was wonderful last month, so we thought we'd do it again. Yummy yummy. We then proceeded to the meeting, an hour early, but not the first ones to arrive. In the three hours I was there, I went through an entire ball of yarn; another ball is done on the Keyhole Sweater from Vogue:


And Donna, my biggest enabler, came back from Taos with this for me:
It's the roving I need to make thrummed mittens. I sent her off looking for "Merino Top" and the only merino she found was the package on the left, which is only carded. The package on the right is New Mexico Debouillet wool roving, which actually feels softer. Both of them are absolutely delicious, and while Donna told me to play with both of them to decide which one I want, I may just keep them both and make two pairs of mittens. Poor Nini (one of the guild members) saw that I had it and asked if I was a spinner. I said "No, I'm going to make thrummed mittens!" to which she replied "[blank stare]". I tried to explain, but I don't think she got it, and I just left it at "When I'm done, I'll bring them to Show and Share." and she nodded emphatically, yes, that would be wonderful.

The guild has boxes and boxes of yarn that has been donated and is available free to us for charity work. I've long thought that I should take some and make some afghans for Project Linus, one of my favorite charities. When I walked in I saw this on the back table:
It caught my eye, and said "I want to be a blanket!" I think it reminds me of the yarn my mother used; the only project I ever saw her work on was a white baby blanket in stockinette stitch. [Not too long ago, I found out from my mother that she was working on the center, and then my great-grandmother was going to finish it with a pretty border. Until she told me this, I had no idea that my great-grandmother knitted. I think I was the only great-grandchild she lived long enough to hold, and maybe she passed something on in those moments.] I also love the idea of making something from one ball of yarn; it's 8 oz. of sport weight, so I should be able to make a small baby blanket from it.

This is a close-up of the label: Ahh, "needle size 4 to 8". Yes, yes, that's exactly what I need to know. Very helpful. 8 1/2 oz. "Quick knit sport". Yeah. I bet.

I've made a lot of progress on the "accessories" for the craft show. Everything is finished:

The big sign is made of four pieces of cardstock, and you can see the edges, but I decided it wasn't worth the money to get Kinko's to print it as a poster. The two smaller signs are the price list and a table of birthstones. See how pretty and shiny the tablecloth is? I'd buy jewelry from me, wouldn't you? (I accept Paypal.)