Posted by Stitchy McYarnpants On November - 2 - 2006   ShareThis

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In a last minute Hail Mary Pass, I will be signing books at Stitches East in Baltimore this weekend!! The fine folks at The Elegant Ewe are letting me sit in their booth in Friday, Saturday and Sunday! I am beyond delighted at their generosity. I did a signing at their store last Saturday and they have a gorgeous selection of yarn and original patterns. Definitely worth the trip. Moreso than Dunkin Donuts, even. Their booth appears to be back by the stage, it’s #1124. You can see a layout here.

Looks like we’re near the Knit Doctor. I think I may bring my sad little Branching Out scarf. It was going so well.

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And then I messed up the lace pattern and started in the middle of one repeat. Or something. I’m not really sure how to undo fuzzy mohair lace. I’m hoping the answer isn’t to restart the whole stinkin’ thing. It’s been in hiding for about a year and a half now, I think it’s time to address this situation.

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While at the Elegant Ewe signing, the MOKS was gifted with it’s most inspired piece yet. ErickaJo of Armed With Pointy Sticks presented it to me. She is a fellow lover of all things bad-in-a-good-way. I was‚ stunned that she was willing to part with it. It’s truly a thing to behold. I was rendered speechless, such was my horrified delight.

I give you the Teddy Bearstrocity, modeled by my loving mother, Stella.

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Here she is engulfed by a raging sea of tiny bears. You can see that there’s one inexplicably patriotic one on the left side.

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And here are the stealth butt bears. They kind of blend in, but if you keep staring at my mom’s backside, you’ll see two stragglers on the bottom right side of the sweater. It’s strange, almost like the front of the sweater was just a little too much for them, so they strolled around back. Maybe they snuck back there to smoke a cigarette, who knows. This thing is like a Faulkner novel in the making. There’s a lot of story among these little bears. Thanks, ErickaJo!

And lookie here! A finished object. Two, in fact, but it’s kind of hard to photograph both hands at once without a complicated system of levers and pulleys. Or a tripod. Anyhoo, each one only took a few hours, it was in incredibly satisfying project. Simple, but interesting, and hella fast! Plus? I love them! They were made to go along with the Irish Hiking scarf. I guess I should make one of those now. You can find the pattern for the wrist warmers here.

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I used the cormo I got from Fox Hill Farm at Rhinebeck. Soooo soft. I have Kellee‚ to thank for my new fave yarn. Such an enabler, and that’s why we lurve her.
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21 Responses

  1. Kathleen C. says:

    I thought at first that this was intarsia with an odd background… then I looked closer and saw gaps in the sleeves. Oh my! It’s a lace bear pattern!
    Your Mother must love you very much.

  2. Nishanna says:

    For goodness knows what reason, I can’t knit branching out. Seriously. I’m just going to chalk it up to a brain fart pattern and go on knitting other knods of lace.

    yours, however, is very beautiful

  3. June says:

    Your mom is such a good sport! Now she will be forever archived on the Internets wearing that top!

  4. Sara says:

    Dear God! Your poor mother looks like shes trying to claw her way out of that thing! Or sh’e possesed by the spirit of the but bears!

    Nice job on the gaunlets and good luck in Maryland!

  5. maryse says:

    yay mom stitchypants!

    the patriotic bear, he goes over your heart. duh.

    clearly you must be a liberal and hate the troops

  6. Anonymous says:

    My eyes! My eyes! Mad props to your moms for actually putting the bear sweater on. I’m amazing it didn’t immediately cleave to her body like some B-grade horror movie monster.

  7. Adrian says:

    I can’t even fathom the purpose of that sweater.

    That’s awesome about Stitches! Give Kaffe a pinch on the butt for me, if you see him.

  8. Daphne says:

    I like your wrist-warmers and WOW! That is a really, um, impressive sweater. Really ups the ante on future MOKS entries.

  9. Marnie says:

    I dripped a little boric acid in my eyes to releave the pain. Phew! That’s some teddy bear nightmare!

  10. Stephanie says:

    Your scarf looks nice! I’ve heard that mohair frogs easier if you put it in the freezer for a while first. I might have dreamed that or something though, but I can’t imagine it would hurt to try. You don’t have that far to frog.

  11. Lee Ann says:

    The AssBear is astonishing. Really. I thought the openwork in the back and little GoUSA dude on the front were bad, but the bear on the ass just…

    I can’t speak.

  12. Martha says:

    Good thing Maryse isn’t a heart surgeon, ’cause it looks like that patriotic bear is hovering over your mom’s RIGHT tata. But that sweater is so blindingly hideous, who can be sure? Oh, the humanity.

  13. Kim P says:

    That bear sweater is butt ugly. It looks like your dear Mom is in some sort of struggle with the bears.

  14. Kellee says:

    Oh yes, that’s a GREAT use for that yarn. Now you just need some more. :)

  15. Cheryl says:

    I can’t believe I didn’t get to the Elegant Ewe signing, that’s a pretty great store, huh?
    That bear sweater is a true treasure. Cherish it.

  16. minnie says:

    i hear freezing mohair makes it livable to frog. dunno, though, never frogged mohair before!

  17. KathyMarie says:

    Oh my. I didn’t realize the sweater was lace until I read Kathleen C’s comment. And then I had to go have a little lie-down.

  18. Amanda says:

    I saw you at Stitches. I didn’t speak because I felt too dorky, but it was a thrill to see you. This is the first knitting show I’ve been to (I’m more of a quilt show afficianado)and I thought it was great. I bought my first lace pattern and wool, and have started working on it.

  19. Lolly says:

    Nice to meet and chat with you at Stitches 😉

  20. Staci says:

    One would think, that somewhere in the midst of all that bear knitting, that a person would come to her senses and stop. What a good sport your mom is.

  21. Chris H says:

    How to frog (or tink) mohair? Very carefully! LOL I’ve been working on Branching Out while commuting on the Boston area. Seems that I can’t complete a commute without at least one mistake..I blame the bumps on the busses and the swaying on the commuter rail, because when I’m just sitting in the car waiting for the train I don’t seem to have any problems…hmmm…. Anyhoo, with some patience (and nerves of steel), mohair frogging *can* be done.

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