Knitters' Day Out 2008: A Reflection

First of all, let me get this out of the way:

The Clapotis. 50% of the people there had on one of these, which I presume that they made. Fine. It's a lovely pattern and I like the way it looks. ( I even bought some yarn to make one for myself at some point.)

But...I think if I ever hear ONE more person pronounce it as a Clah-poh-TEE, I think I will punch them. Look people, I realize that it was designed by a woman who (at the time she designed it) lived in France, but COME ON. I am not a anti-cultural slob, either. And I've taken advanced French language courses too. I KNOW it's supposed to be Clah-poh-TEE. But we don't all go around pronouncing hors d'oeuvres the way it's supposed to be pronounced, now do we? I suppose we could use the English translation and call it that. But "lapping water" just doesn't have the same appeal.

Clah-PAH-dis. Ok? Pretend it's Greek instead.

Moving on...

Aside from the Clapotis annoyance, Knitters' Day Out 2008 (KDO) was great. This was the first time I ever made it to KDO. Saturday was gorgeous weather. Sunny and cool.

My friend Marsha did all the driving, and it was four of us from our ad-hoc knitting group that attended (Marsha, Beth, Debbie, and me). Marsha and I took the same classes, which are done in 2 three-hour sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

For our morning class, Marsha and I had:
Custom Fit Raglan
Carla Sturgis
Intermediate
In this class you will learn to take measurements and fit them into an
equation to create the "custom fit raglan" sweater in the size you desire
knitted from the top down. Prerequisites: Measure accurately and read &
comprehend instructions; previous use of double pointed needles a plus.
Materials fee: $8.00 payable to instructor in class; includes yarn &
handouts. We learned to measure and knit a raglan sweater from the top-down.

And in the afternoon we had:
Advanced Finishing
Margaret Fisher
Advanced
This class is for those who wish to go beyond the basics. It covers a
variety of finishing topics: the tubular cast on and bind off, provisional
cast on, working short rows, grafting, and duplicate stitch. Learn and
practice a potpourri of useful techniques to advance your knitting and
finishing skills.

I enjoyed both classes, but I must admit that the afternoon class was really an intense learning experience. That tubular cast-on is like a dream come true. It's not easy, but the end result looks A-MAY-ZING. I think the next hat I cast on will use this method.

Then there was the shopping! In one of the larger conference hall areas, local yarn shops set up tables to sell their wares. I got some lovely yarn (pictures forthcoming) and I bought the "magic loop" booklet to learn how to knit socks on one long circular. I also bought some hand-turned wood needles in size 7. They are quite beautiful!