Knit and Crochet Now: Season 7 taping

The first day I arrived in Detroit we immediately put out all the projects on trays. All the step outs, our notes, hooks and tools, etc. Sandi Rosner helps Candi Jensen and Lena Skvagerson get the lay of the land as far as what needs to be done.

We spend the day weaving in ends, rehearsing tricky maneuvers and saying 'hello' to the team who we haven't seen since last year. We are grateful to have most of the same production team from year to year since they are great to work with and know the ropes.

 Each project gets it's own tray. All our step-outs and notes stay with the tray until it is carried on set.

 Here Kristin Nicholas and Sandi Rosner rehearse Kristin's segments. They pull out important points from the pattern that Kristin will share with the viewers.

One more quick block for the Stitch of the week swatches!

CITW: Crochet in the Wild

I spotted this lovely lady in Florida. Everyone else was sweltering in t-shirts. We were waiting to watch the Blue Angels in Pensacola. HOT. Sweat dripping, sunglass wearing, sunscreen spraying, HOT. And she is wearing a lovely motif duster-length vest with fringe. I hope it wasn't wool!

Do you wear crochet in the summer? I admit when I wear crochet it feels more like a special occasion!

Beach knitting

We finally made it to the beach!  And I felt like knitting, for about ten minutes and then it was too hot.

Can you knit on the beach? Know any tricks?

CITW: Crochet in the Wild at the Grocery

Yes, right there in front of the plums.  (Plum season is my favorite part of summer). Adorable. Totally easy. It just looks like two T shaped pieces seamed together then edged. (With a little crew-neck).  It looked like crochet cotton, small but not thread.

Have you trained your family to spot Crochet in the Wild?

Knitted furniture?

Looks knit to me!  Looks like stockinette out of ... wicker? bamboo? I have no idea.  I think bamboo because it was really soft and smooth...

What do you think it's made of?

CITW: Crochet in the Wild...

Here's another sleeveless, fringed vest I found in the wild in Florida.  (These must be IN right now!) I chased this lady into the bathroom and asked if I could take her photo...

Yep, I've become that person.

Have you ever stopped someone wearing crochet and asked to take their photo?

First Frost Throw Revealed!

In the new, autumn issue of Crochet! magazine...

 

The First Frost Throw!  It's stitched in Universal Uptown Worsted yarn. These are join-as-you-go hexagons.

 

 

Do you like join as you go or prefer to join motifs another way? Or do you avoid motifs completely? 

Crochet! autumn REVEALED!

The autumn issue of Crochet! is out if you didn't know.  I have two designs in the issue. I only planned to have not more than one design of mine in the issue.  (Other than the Motifs in Minutes, I design 2 of those for every issue.) One of the designs though I had planned for an earlier issue but had to "bump" it when I ran out of room.

Lavish Layers scarf is a design I have been dreaming of for a very long time. It's two layers sandwiched together in Berroco Folio. (Yum, that stuff is great and comes in a good array of colors).

What two colors would you choose?

Come back tomorrow and I'll reveal the other design.

Car designing... not designing cars, but designing in the car.

Knit designing with my new little row counter gadget. In the car still...

Do you have any new favorite tools?

Who needs a swift?

Who needs a swift on a really long car ride when you can just wind the hank into a ball using your knees and a little care?

Can you guess this yarn? Here's a hint, it's been in Crochet! magazine within the last 3 issues.

Savage Race AKA Ellen's Midlife Crisis

My two step-sisters, Amber and Amy, love to do these run/obstacle races. They came into town with Amy's husband Kris to run the Savage race and convinced me to join them.

I'm glad I did it. It was tough, I'm proud of myself, but I'm not likely to do it ever again. It was 6.7 miles with 25 obstacles. The race was on a ski resort which meant we literally climbed up and down that hill once per mile.

I'm in the middle, holding my nose. Amber is holding my hand. We were about to slide into muddy water.

I'm on the far right about to jump. Amber is next to me in orange.

Again, holding my nose. Who wants dirty, muddy water up their nose? Not me! The water is about 15' deep.

The dreaded Sawtooth monkey bars.

 I gave it a shot and fell in within another rung or two.

We had to crawl under barriers (you can see the other lane on the right) that forced us to go down into the mud/water up to our necks.

This must be the beginning because I'm still clean!

Who thought carrying a beam up a ski slope was a good idea?

 



 Amber in Orange, Amy in the middle.

 

Here I am gloating because I got further (before falling) on the spinny monkey bars than Kris (Amy's husband). This was my only real victory of the day besides simply finishing intact. (You can already see the huge bruises forming on my lower arm).

 

Mud is good for the skin, right? 

A crocheter is born!

It's so exciting to watch a friend become a crocheter! Our neighbor, Stephanie, took my Annie's online class, Learn to Crochet, and now has made 6 projects including 3 afghans.

 

 I'm so proud. Here is the yarn she has chosen for her next project, a blanket for herself. Go Stephanie!

Random Cat Photo

Charlie, clean sheets, and a corner of an Erin Lane Bag.

Dog and Cat Sitting

 Pepper

 Oliver

and Sonny

Swatching

Random swatching

Working at the bar...

No, not that kind of bar.  (Although, truth be told, a great deal of business happens at the bar at TNNA...).

I'm wondering if I were to move the computer to our kitchen bar... if I would:

A. Use better posture
B. Stay on task
C. Be disgusted by the state of my kitchen and be more likely to clean it.
D. Be distracted by the fridge and eat more snacks.
E. Maybe I would drink more water because I would have less fear of Minnie drinking out of my cup.

Where is your best place to crochet productively?

Row Counter tool. You'll want this.

Look at this cool row counter that Susan Bates sent me.  You wear it on your finger (it's very comfortable) and you click the big button every time you complete a row. You push the small button to start over at zero.

I like it!  And it's under $5. Sometimes when I am running, I run laps around the park... and I get lost in thought and forget how many laps I have run.  I could wear this for running too!  I love it when my worlds collide.

How do you keep track of your rows when crocheting?

Random Chicken photo

This is Scuttle. She is adorable and little. She makes a funny little clucky synchronized with each step she waddles.

Chickens are getting more popular I think. Do you have chickens or know a neighbor who does?

Crochet in the Wild

I'm not sure how I feel about handmade crocheted items being sold at Target.  Chickee spotted these the other day. I like that there is a demand for crochet but I wonder who did the stitching and did they get adequate compensation. 

How do you feel about it?

Wild Strawberries

I'm not sure how these strawberries got to the middle of our yard, but there they are!

Are you into gardening? I'm not, but I have fond memories of having a raspberry bush in our back yard growing up. My dad and I tried to grow strawberries (on purpose) but the bunnies kept eating them.