The OldPueblo Knitting Guild Luncheon and more

 After months of planning down to the littlest possible detail, I can say that the Old Pueblo Knitting Guilds annual luncheon and fashion show went off without a hitch. We even exceeded last year’s luncheon of total people in attendance.  The last time that happened was the last fashion show that I planned over a decade ago.  I am extremely happy and tired.  I will ask that the basic plan for people be added to the guild’s documentation page so that the wheel does not have to be reinvented ever again.  I came home and took a nap. 

I my humble opinion, the trick to handling a successful event is to break the event down to the smallest possible detail. So most people will not have more than 30 minutes of work before they can go and join their friends.  Then when planning for the event figure out how many people you will need to cover all the jobs.  Put one person in charge of each task and add 10% or 1 extra person for each task, which ever is greater.  That way when people drop out for family or health reasons you will have most jobs covered and have to find fewer last minute replacements.  

Also today I had to actually pull yarn from my shelf to start a new scarf.  What that means is that I have finished a lot of projects.  Now all I have to do is keep knitting until it’s time for charity work drop off in November or December.  Unless the pile to go over to the clothing bank fills the allocated space.  Then it heads out of the door earlier.  I personally don’t think that I will get a 20 gallon bag filled that fast this year.  

The Forth Skein

 This afternoon I hit the magical 4th skein of yarn in the 4 color fade shawl.  I did not even notice when I went over the Russian join.  Which was very surprising to me.  We were returning from a day trip to Scottsdale. Of course John was driving, I would never knit while driving. It just feels so unsafe, like a very distracted driver. I was exhausted when it was time to add the join. I always add the Russian join a few yards before I need to.  I like the yarn to rest and settle into place. We were going down I-10 going the speed limit of 75 mph. We were on a straight stretch of freeway.  I got my tool kit out and managed to make a pretty decent join considering I was not at a table. This is definitely not a beginner move.  

Each row is now taking about 30 minutes to complete. The shawl bottom is in excess of 50 inches. The only question I have is will it be ready by Thursday for the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Fashion Show. Now I did tell my husband that I would model it even if it was not finished. Even if I had the yarn on my spinner yarn holder, minus the bottom of the butler part of course. If you want a yarn spinner like mine, Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson  carries them. I think I will have about 2 to 3 hours to knit tomorrow, which should be another 4 to 6 rows.  I am so bad at the math figuring out how far the yarn will actually go that I will be playing yarn chicken with this shawl.  

You will notice that I keep my Lantern Moon tightening tool and dropped stitch tool in the center of my yarn spinner. This is so that they are always ready when I need them. You can also see all the colors of the fade.