ZAPPCON Crochet School

The Fresno Convention Center opened its doors for the first annual ZAPPCON on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014  -- a comic book, game, toy, and movie fan convention, featuring artists, experts, famous personalities, cosplay contests, discussion panels and pop culture workshops.

One of those workshops -- Crochet School. 

ZAPPCON crochet instructor, Megan Barrow, taught two free workshops over the weekend -- Harry Potter Scarves 101 - Beginning Crochet and Mario Mushrooms 201 - Intermediate Crochet.

Under Megan Barrow's zombie guidance, students in the Harry Potter Scarves 101 crochet workshop learn how to wind a ball of yarn by hand.

Workshops were capped at 20 students, and those fortunate enough to snag a seat were gifted a crochet hook, a pattern, and one skein of Anzula Oasis. 

Happy crocheting y'all.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Labels

17 Days In

The great thing about being on the road, and having a co-pilot that loves to drive, is that I have been getting lots of knit time in. The rough side is, a lot of the driving is after dark. The other night we were driving into Southern Pines, NC, and we were about an hour and a half away when my yarn came out in one of those infamous knots from the center of the ball.

I worked away on it for a bit, following all my rules about dealing with knots. When I got to what I thought was just one loop slipped through another and I would be free to knit again, I broke my rule of never pulling, because I was certain that was the solution. And boy, was I wrong. I turned what should have been an easy fix into a problem that would require a lot more light than what I could glean from the passing street lamps, and most likely some pins. Unless I wanted to break my yarn, which I really didn't, I would not be able to knit for the remainder of the drive. Believe me, I seriously thought about breaking my yarn.

The next morning, after we set up for the trunk show at Bella Filati and the first wave of knitters came through, I asked Holly if she had any pins or needles I could borrow for my knot. 

I believe I held my breath the whole time. 

Since then, we have had a lot more time on the road, and the body of my sweater is trekking along. I was starting to get excited that I might just finish this one time, especially with the long flight we have today. But then I remembered two sleeves are basically the same amount of knitting as the body, and when I finish the body I won't actually be done with it, since the collar is a large portion of the actual sweater. Fingers crossed, I learn how to bend the space time continuum...

Week Two: Jasper Diamond Hoodie

Like the sleeves of the Jasper Diamond Hoodie, the hood is worked flat. Kristen Rengren, the designer, recommends moving up a needle size to knit the hood. However, I am a very tight knitter and prefer my projects to look as though they were knit by a machine rather than a human being. Therefore, I stuck with the pair of U.S. Size 4 needles, and combined a third strand of yarn -- Anzula Breeze -- to ensure the hood would be the correct size and shape.

One skein of Breeze in the colorway Hyacinth wound into one center-pull ball. 

I am really pleased with the texture and subtle color changes of Breeze and Haiku knit together. 

Breeze is a blend of 65 percent silk and 35 percent linen, it will, more often than not, appear more muted in color after being dyed. Whereas, Haiku -- 70 percent Superwash Merino, 20 percent Bamboo, 10 percent Nylon -- will appear much more vivid in color.

Progress: Hood knit and grafted. 

The hood is shaped using short rows and grafted together using the Kitchener Stitch. If you are new to the Kitchener Stitch, as I was, you may want to check out the WEBS YouTube video tutorial 'How to Kitchener Stitch.'

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Labels