Stitches Midwest and Knitting

I would love to be one of those bloggers who posts the day after something happens. "Yesterday I had lunch in Paris." Alas, I am not one of those.
A week and a half ago I was in Chicago for Stitches Midwest. I had lunch there, too. It was a great four days. My daughter and her family drove up from St. Louis. She and I shopped the Marketplace while my son-in-law and granddaughter went to Legoland.








We knitted in the lobby of the Schaumberg Renaissance Hotel.












We joined hundreds of other knitters dressed in pajamas for a party in the lobby Friday night. Franklin Habit looked great in his robe and night cap. There was food, prizes and knitting, of course.








Chicago is a great city. We walked to the end of the Navy Pier and then took my granddaughter to the Chicago Children's Museum.



We had a delicious dinner at the Chicago Diner.
Vegetarian food!




I bought too much yarn (if there is such a sin), had some great food, met lots of interesting people and spent time with family I don't get to see nearly enough. Loved every minute.

Back again

A friend of mine reminded me that I had not blogged in quite some time. It's going to take some time to catch up on everything so today I'll just post a little of the most recent stuff.
My grandson turned 2 years old last week. He enjoyed his cake.

I'm a teacher so I have my summers off, more or less. Every summer I set goals. This summer one of the big goals is to knit more. In April I went to St. Louis to attend the Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling, I bought a lot of yarn. In May my daughter and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival where I bought even more yarn Ever since, I've been on a self-imposed yarn diet, (until yesterday when I fell off the wagon and bought some very pretty Merino silk Malabrigo at The Yarn Lounge in Richmond, it was my birthday). I have been knitting furiously to use some of my stash before next month when I head to Chicago for Stitches Midwest where I will no doubt buy more yarn. Here is one of my current projects, the Shipwreck Shawl by Bethany Kok. I'm knitting it in Sweet Georgia sock yarn in the Coastal colorway. I love this shawl and I love this yarn. The shawl and I have had several frogging and tinking times but overall it's a fun knit and I love the way it's turning out. The wooden bowl is a bead spinner (stringer) to speed the process of stringing all the those gorgeous beads. The shawl pattern calls for 5000, yes 5000, beads and anything that can speed the string process is welcome. Besides, it's always fun to get and learn to use a new toy.