Thanks to SP14, Twist Collective and Mississippi River Photos

Warning - this is going to be a very picture-intensive post!!

First off, I got a package from my SP14, who had previously sent me the Gorgeous Fabrics gift certificate, which I used to purchase this gorgeous chocolate brown paisley knit:

Now I got another package with lots of goodies inside:

First, a cat play cube, which Gildie immediately jumped into:

She was being a little camera shy, so I didn't get any good shots!

Some super cute stitch markers

Some hand dyed sock yarn by CraftsMeow in a pretty blue colorway

pretty reddish fingering weight yarn, also by CraftsMeow (I'm going to have to go check out this Etsy shop!)

Two skeins of Knit Picks Imagination in a purple/wine colorway

A book I hadn't seen before (amazing!) called Beautiful Knitting - there were some good cable stitch patterns in here:

and some cute stickers - there were ones for each holiday (I put Halloween themed ones on top, as those were especially cute) and cat-themed ones:

Thanks so much, SP!! What a great package!!

Next up, on Friday, I went to the Twist Collective trunk show - at this trunk show (unlike the Interweave one I'd been to before) you could not try on the garments. It made sense though - the Twist Collective representative explained that the garments go back to the designers after a certain amount of time, so they have to take care of them as they don't actually own them. I guess with the IK ones, the magazine owns them and then sells them "as is" after they are done promoting the issue.

So anyway, that being said, I did get some (not so great, with my small crappy camera) pictures and got to see some of the sweaters up close and personal. Sorry I couldn't include links to their site as it is temporarily down for maintenance.

Here's Peyton - really, really liked the Kollage Yarns Creamy (milk) yarn this was knit in - it was super smooth and silky:

Low Tide Ripples - I think this needs a less-stiff yarn, and some waist shaping:

Uhura, and what I think is Laredo:

another pic of Uhura

Primrose Path, which is more green than it looks in this picture - for some reason greens weren't showing up well - this confirmed that I can knit this in Cascade Pima Tencel or Classic Elite Premiere and get the same drape and feel as it was very similar to these.

Vivian, which is much more green than this - like an emerald shade - and I definitely want to knit it even more now - I really like the waist/hip shaping on this as it matches what I usually have to modify patterns to look like:

Bijou - which seemed a lot heavier/stiffer than I expected:

and Pas de Valse, which I really didn't pay much attention to online, but I would consider knitting (although quite a bit smaller than the sample)

I also really liked Kingscot, which I bought the pattern for when I got home, and Ardent. My pictures of these didn't turn out, unfortunately!

Yesterday, Jim and I went with five of our friends on a LONNNNGG motorcycle trip to the Mississippi River. We started out at 7 am and got home at about 4 pm - Jim says I get the "Iron Butt" award for being on the bike for a total of over six hours. It really wasn't bad - the new bike is very comfortable.

I had seen the Mississippi River before, but only further south - I was surprised at how narrow it was here (Savanna, Illinois, about 30 miles south of Galena.)

In this picture, you can see the bridge crossing the Mississippi into Iowa:

Here's Jim and I, all decked out in our gear:

Other than that, not much going on! Got about halfway done with the right front of Vine Yoke Cardigan though!

Comments

[villapeikko]

Just a little note, Low Tide Ripples has waist shaping :)

[Lara]

Nice SP package! That is so cool you go to go to the trunk show. I finished Vivian last winter and still haven't sewn the zipper on! It is a FUN knit though. I am sure you will like it. I also have an unfinished Bijou and what I don't like about it is how stiff the fabric is. I will most likely be frogging it. I guess I need to blog about all these things!

That is so neat that you guys take biking trips! What gorgeous pictures....the scenery must have been amazing to ride through.

[Jenny]

I love the cat theme of the package. It was nice to include a present for the kitties too! The twist collective trunk show looks like it was cool. I would add waist shaping to the purple one too. Welcome to the Iron Ass Club! LOL

[adrienne]

Great pics! I LOVE THE KITTY THEME!!! How awesome is that!!!! That fabric is gorgeous!

[marjorie]

How terrific it must have been to see the Twist sweaters up close and personal. I think your pics are great and they show the sweaters differently than the photos on the Twist site.

My poor cats only got to play with paper grocery bags. That is quite a cat toy. My kitties liked the corrugated cardboard scratching posts, which did keep them from the furniture (mostly).

And the bike trip looks wonderful.

[Debby]

What a great ride! It's nice you have a cushy, padded seat. You wouldn't want to have to ride trips like that on a bike saddle. :)

Thanks for reporting on the trunk show. It's neat to see those sweaters "in person." I still love Vivian and Primrose Path, though I didn't realize that Vivian had a zipper!

Glad Glenda and FatCat were treated by your SP, and you too!!

[Andrea]

That is a nice package from your SP. I didn't even know there was a trunk show for the Twist Collective. I think it's cool that you can see the actual sweaters in person. The bike ride looked like a lot of fun. I would love taking in all that scenery.

[Carol]

Oooh! Vivian and Pas de Valse both look good to me. I wonder if the site is back up again?

[Kat]

Robin, What a great package! And those bike trip pics are great. Really cute--"iron butt" ;) .

Those knitted garments are very impressive.