New Socks and New Friends

 I just finished a pair of socks for my DH.  His birthday is Friday and I plan to make them one of his birthday gifts.  He doesn't look at my blog very often, so I THINK it's safe to post a pic of them here.  The pattern is Mr Pitt's Socks by Kaitlyn Falk Wong.  The yarn is String Theory hand dyed Caper Sock- color Brina.  They're sooooooo soft!

Clockwise from lower left- Carol, Sue, Wendy, Conney Jo, and Cindy.

 I had a blast yesterday.  I took a break from working on the Double Wedding Ring quilt and spent some time visiting yarn shops with some friends of mine from Ravelry.  If you are a knitter (or if you like to crochet) and you don't know about Ravelry--- as soon as you finish reading this post, you HAVE to check out www.ravelry.com.  On Ravelry, you will find patterns, projects, and lots of chat groups with every interest imaginable... for knitters.  As most of my regular readers know, I'm a quilter- I own a quilt shop.  But I also love to knit.  I usually quilt when I can at home and during my work day, and I knit when I watch TV or when I'm a passenger in a car.  You can get a lot of knitting done that way!  Knitting is very portable and I often take it on vacation or any other time when I know I will have blocks of time like in doctors' waiting rooms, etc.

The above photo is a group of ladies who are on Ravelry- all from the Portland/ Vancouver general area.  We all  belong to a chat group on Ravelry of people who like patterns and yarn designed and dyed by Wendy Gaal, who is the owner of Knitters Brewing Company.  There are almost 1500 people in this particular chat group  As with most groups like this, there are probably 10% of the people (or less) who actively post.  Anyway- several of us feel like we know each other from chatting and posting on the KBC group.   Most of us have participated in "Knit Alongs" with other group members, too.  By the way- we were all wearing socks that we knitted using yarn and patterns from Knitters Brewing Company.

A few weeks ago, Wendy announced that she and her DH were coming to Portland for a vacation.  Well... the group was abuzz and several of us who live near Portland decided to get together and drag Wendy to a morning of yarn shopping.

HOW FUN it was to get to meet the people I have been chatting with for over a year online!  I knew I would like them all, and I wasn't disappointed.  I have new friends!  We plan to get together again to knit.

Wendy Gaal, owner (Brewmistress)  of Knitters Brewing Company.  KBC sells luxury sock yarn and creative original patterns using sock weight yarn. Check out her Knitters Brewing Company website.

This is just too good not to show you.  Conny Jo had recent surgery on her foot and this outing was the first big one for her since her surgery.  See that big foot propped up?  She knitted a cast cozy for her owie!  Look at the color-work on that baby!

What a wonderful day had!  (giggle)