Friday 31 October 2008

Tricks and Treats

Most of these kids are related to me and were the high point of my evening!






Halloween this year was a little disappointing ... normally we get around 60 kids; this year - 22. I had good treats too - glow bracelets, cheesies, chocolate bars, Halloween pencils, Mr. Freezies, and gummy eyeballs, and every kid who said "Trick or Treat" got at least one of every type of treat. I figure they have to work for it - if they just come to the door, and stand there mute, even after some prompting of "What are you kids doing out tonight?" -- then a bag of cheesies and a glow bracelet is all they get! Even my mother, who usually gets nearly 100 kids had way less than usual - at last count, around 8:40 p.m., she had only had 54. Ahh well ... all the more cheesies and mini Aero bars for me!

Oh, yes, the Tricks and Treats referred to in the title of my post ... at the Lucy Neatby workshop today, Wow! what a lot of new knitting tricks I now have up my sleeve! We learned a new stretchy cast on (Channel Island Cast On), really nifty garter stitch short row heels, provisional crochet cast on, increasing stitches without making holes, grafting using a toe chimney and a few neat ways to cast off in an elastic way. It was really fun ... and I am so excited to know the Channel Island Cast On (it resembles slightly a picot cast edge, but is way less work! (** sorry, no links in tonights posting - tired! you will have to google them yourself - it is fun! LOL!)

Actually seeing Lucy in person and having her explain it was so much more helpful than reading about the techniques (which is usually how I learn new things -- it tends to take a lot of time!). It was pretty cool (I'd rave on more, but I am pretty tired from the big day I had!).

And the treats? What is Halloween without the treats?

I am a grown up now ... the candy alone is not enough of a Halloween Treat for me! I bought a skein of Cat's Pajama's (hand dyed for Lucy's company) - it is a lovely soft blend of merino, cashmere and nylon, which is destined to become one of her newest patterns - Almost Saintly Socks. I needed a memento of the day, and the yarn and sock pattern really drew me -- I want to start them right away! I also picked up a few things I needed - Eucalan and some Bryspun 4.5 mm shorty dpns.

And what would the day be without some action shots of the lady herself in action?


And a preview of some of the lace she has knit ... we'll be learning the techniques for several of these items in tomorrow's workshop.

1 comment:

lexa said...

Looks like it was fun!

T was supposed to keep track of how many kids we had, but he didn't. I figure around 40, which is pretty well what we usually get.