Tres Chic Veronique

Wow, this summer is turning out to be epic! I've always cherished summertime, when you can *finally* stay outside and play all day long. Well, ok, maybe not all day long, as I do have a job...
So far, my weekends have been spent camping, gambling in Atlantic City, watching fireworks, sitting around bonfires chatting with friends until the wee hours of the night, and playing a cutthroat domino tournament every sunday at the Beer Garden. You can imagine how these activities have cut into my knitting time!
But fear not, I have still been crafting. And partying with crafters! (See how the partying gets in the way of crafting?). The Spiders inaugurated their first Annual BBQ Gala. Our rockin' hostess, Virginia, amazed us with her gigantic rooftop deck, bountiful food and provided us all with tiaras. See? (From left: Lisa, Marie, me and Katie).
The highlight of the evening was most definitely the game of Spiders Jeopardy that Virginia had prepared. Yes, you read that right: Spiders Jeopardy!! We created 2 teams: Team Awesome Kick Ass --seen below--

(from left: Abby's arm, Carrie, Sandra (who somehow managed to snag a sold out Ravelry tote), Jess K., Cathy and Steph)

and Team Tiara. Oops, no pic of Team Tiara.
The categories were: Yarnalicious, Super Star Spiders, Sweet Needles!, Know Your LYS, Rockin' Tha Skillz, and Bad Ass Bloggers.
Here are a few sample questions:

• How many yards separate the Point from Brooklyn General? (If one were walking over the Brooklyn Bridge).
• Name 3 materials that needles are made of.
  
• Name 3 of Marie's colorways.
• Name 3 employees at the Point.
• What is the zip code of the Point?
  
• What is the weirdest blog handle? (The judge, our newest member, Julia, agreed with Team Tiaras' answer: Craptina. Hee hee, we just had to poke fun at our hostess!).
• What is the difference between a k2tog and an ssk?
• What is the diameter of the world's largest hand-held knitting needles?
• How many Spiders are there? (25!)
  
• Where is the largest ball of yarn located?
  
• How many Spiders live outside of the 5 boroughs? (And no, Jersey does not count as one of the NYC boroughs).
• How do you pronounce this word: "meme"?
• Which Spider was a high school physics student of the year?
  
• Name the founding Spiders, in alphabetical order.
  
• In one minute, name as many Spiders blog handles as you can.
• Identify this fiber (it was a big blue ball of wool!).
• How many Jaywalkers has Sandra knitted? (Even she didn't know: 10).
• What size needles is Mr. Knit1 (pictured below) knitting with?
  

I picked Rockin' Tha Skillz for 400, and wouldn't you know, it was a lace question! It went something like this: "You cast on 15 st. On the next row, you slip 1, k3, yo, k2tog, k3, ssk, yo, k4. How many stitches remain on your needle?". I didn't even have to make Virginia repeat the question as I was keeping count, and yelled out "15!". Score 400 points for Team Awesome Kick Ass!
The final score was Team Awesome Kick Ass: 3,900 and Team Tiara: 3,300. Maybe next year, Tiaras...

Next up: Enough with the parties, show me some FOs! I've got Yarntini socks, another dress, a new pair of Yarntini socks in the works, a Mason Dixon washcloth hard at work moping a musician's brow at Arlene's Grocery and a super secret design for Yahaira.

Labels: Spiders

There's an article in today's New York Times about the resurgence of knitting and sewing your own stuff! Obviously, we've been doing this for a while, but it's nice to see it in print. Here's a link to the article (you must register, but it's free). Actually, if you don't want to register, here's my username and password: veronique9 and treschic. (Can you believe there were 8 other Veroniques before me?).

This article has lots of nice quotes!

Teva Durham is an unlikely idol, a soberly outfitted, plain-talking mother with a passion for quirky yarns. But to her fans, who snap up her how-to-knit books by the tens of thousands, Ms. Durham is the undisputed mistress of stitchery.

Formerly neglected domestic arts like knitting, quilting, sewing and embroidery are being eagerly embraced, especially by the young. Their passion kindled by the abundance of handcrafted looks on the runways, they are blowing the dust off these folksy skills and lending them the bright sheen of style.

“I do think the runways were inspired by people doing crafty things at home and by how inventive this generation is,” said Ruth Sullivan, an editor at Workman Publishing, which publishes large numbers of crafts books. She added that designers may also be looking at the Internet, where rafts of people are designing their own patterns and posting them on blogs.

The ardent pursuit of the needle arts has fueled a $1.07 billion industry, according to the National Needlework Association. That figure does not take into account mass merchants and chains. “This is no mom and pop retail phenomenon,” said Sherry Mulne, a marketing consultant for the association. “This is big business.”

Knitting note: Uh, yeah, I'm still in the process of taking pics of Agnes... And I finished the Yarntini socks in Pure Breeze from the first installment of the sock club! And I cast on with the second installment, Mint Mojito.

Labels: Agnes, Yarntini