I’m going to a knitting convention!  I keep calling it a convention.  I’m not sure if that’s the real word for it.  “Stitches East” is a whole lot of knitters and crocheters at the Hartford Convention Center taking all kinds of classes and shopping in the yarn market.  That’s like a convention, right? ( There is a Stitches South and a Stitches West, too.)  I’m so terribly excited.  I’d be even more excited if two of my four classes hadn’t been cancelled due to the teacher’s illness.   They were the two classes I was looking forward to most:  one about spinning and one about steeking.  But the others will still be fun:  buttonholes and knitting backwards.  More on all that after I get back.  Paul is so sad he cannot attend with me. (Ha!)

In the meantime, I know it’s just killing you.  The suspense of wanting to know whether or not I decided to rip out my ripple blanket and use a smaller crochet hook that is…

If you recall, I was using a size H hook and thought it looked too loosely crocheted:

But I was really dreading starting over since that first row is tough.  Maybe it would be ok.  Maybe I should just keep going….

Nope!  I know — Surprising right?!?  Given my problem with impatience.  I just kept thinking that if I didn’t like it now, I wouldn’t like it later.  So, out it came.  BUT, I kept the chain I made with the larger hook so the chains would be easy to work into with the smaller hook.  Now that’s thinking.  I’m such a smarty pants sometimes.  And it was much easier.  Now I’m on my third color:

That dark color is purple.  More colors are coming in the mail soon.  It’s going to be all the colors.  Pretty much.

Then there was the Pinwheel Sweater that was too hard to show you on the needles. I finally got started on the edging yesterday morning:

I thought it would take me forever since you have to knit a 6 row, 3 stitch i-cord first, then attach that to 3 stitches of the 248 on the needle then 6 more rows of i-cord and attach to 3 stitches on the needle…. and so on.  But it surprised me how quickly it progressed and I finished it during knit night at The Spinning Room last night, then got most of one sleeve done today:

That pink line on the right side of the center is temporary yarn holding my spot for the other sleeve.  It is turning out really cute.  Can’t wait to show you the finished sweater.  Ten years from now when I’m done weaving in all the ends. [This is a perfect spot to give a big shout out to my friend Joan who offered to – and did – weave in all the ends on my Treads tipless mitt and my Ecuador sweater, as well as sew the buttons on my Bloody Mary cardigan!  THANK YOU!!!]

Wish me lots of fun at Stitches!