Friday morning at the Dallas-Fort Worth Fiber Festival, I was to take Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Knitting for Speed and Efficiency class for the second time. I want to handknit socks for so many people that I really want to master Lever Knitting to increase my speed. (I pronounce it leaver because that’s how she says it). I gave it a shot a couple of years ago and couldn’t seem to figure out how to purl for the life of me! I was SO EXCITED to get into her class again. and a little nervous. I want to be clear that the reason I needed to take it a second time had nothing to do with her class and everything to do with me having a hard time wrapping my mind around a new thing. Turns out I’m human and we’re not great at change.
Class started at 9:30am.

The Fiber Fest market opened at 9am and the only thing I needed was Must Stash Yarn – Rainbow Yo-Yo. one for me and one for a friend.

So, I purchased those and then said to my partner in crime, Deborah, “I think I might be done. I’m not sure I’m going to get anything else.” She looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind and kindly didn’t comment. We made a plan to reconnect later and I left her in the Must Stash booth.

After class and some gracious troubleshooting from Stephanie, I finally understood how to purl! I need to practice of course, but I could finally see how it’s possible!

I met up with Deborah and agreed that she and the delightful third member of our group would wait in the Knitting Lounge while I finished my shopping. I went back to the Must Stash booth for a while and then as I walked back by them, I smilingly tossed a bag containing 4 hanks of Must Stash to Deborah and continued towards White Birch Fiber Arts. She grinned and said, “That’s more like it.”

I laughed in response and headed off to buy Christmas yarn. It’s quite a luxury to have friends that get me. I guess I just didn’t have the headspace to buy yarn until I had the Lever Knitting thing sorted. The universe is back in balance and I’m ready for another year of sock knitting. or a few months anyway….depending on my speed. ;)


The Details:
Top pic is Rainbow Yo-Yo from Must Stash
Second pic (from left) is Must Stash – Polka Dot Afro Circus, Martian Rainbow, Night @ the Roxbury, and The Shire (Simply Speckled)
Last pic is White Birch Fiber Arts – Little Green Men and Santa Baby
Full Disclosure:
I also bought project bags from Lone Star Arts and Diana Couture.

Friday night, I was happily knitting on my Curl when the movie ended and I hopped up to put my knitting away instead of moving normally like most adults. My favorite wooden cable needle left its perch behind my ear, went flying and i heard it hit the tile floor. We had company over, so the four of us scoured the room and it was nowhere to be found. Our friends departed and I spent the next 45 minutes turning the area upside down. Maybe I’d misplaced it sooner than I thought so I looked back at the knitting. No such luck as I had used the needle 10 seconds prior to it going rogue. Now, I have other cable needles, but having one vanish into thin air was making me more than a little crazy. In the end, I gave up and went to bed.

Saturday morning, before I rolled out of bed, I prayed to find my cable needle before I went completely mad. I’m not an every Sunday churchgoer (I normally attend around election time), but I absolutely believe in God and the power of prayer.

While you are obviously welcome to believe as you wish, what follows are facts. A few minutes later, i went in the other room and thought, I should look at this from another angle. So, I moved the couch (and vacuumed because let’s be honest, it needed it. If nothing else, at least my house would be cleaner after this ordeal), then reclined on the floor and looked up with a flashlight under the chair I’d been sitting in. There, in an almost hidden dark cavity within the chair peaked out the tiniest end of my cable needle! I got some tweezers and tried to get it out Operation style. Almost! Nope, i dropped it even further into the cavity and it was no longer visible. Oh well. At least I know where it is and a two year old Cheeto is now in the trash.

Enter The Husband. I opened with, “Guess what? I found my needle!!! but it’s in the chair and it seems like it would be a big pain to take it apart and get it out. (i’m eyeing the bolts of the chair.) It’s only a $4 needle.” Now, there are many things to love about The Husband; my favorite is that when I say that something is impossible or difficult, he cracks a small smile and like Disney magic, it’s done. I was hoping against hope that he was going to deliver once again and hand me back my tiny wooden needle, but it really did seem like 8 bolts, grease and running the risk of breaking the chair, so I was nearing the end of my hopeline when he responded, “I put the chair together. I’m pretty sure I can get that out. It’s just two screws.” As he dropped the needle in my hand 10 minutes later, he said, “I just can’t believe you saw it in there.” Yes, that was the hard part.

Now that my cable needle is safely back in its project bag pocket, let’s admire the socks I recently finished!

Pattern: Ensnared by Hunter Hammersen
Yarn: Meadowcroft Dyeworks Rockshelter Sock
Colorway: Guatemalanness
Needles: 2.25mm DPN’s
Purchased from Quixotic Fibers at DFW Fiber Fest


And speaking of The Husband’s handiwork, he created a subscription option if you’re interested!

Summary: It was glorious!

The Rest of the Story:
Thursday evening, Lisa drove us to Dallas while I knit on my sweater sleeve.
We pulled up to the Irving Convention Center at 8:09pm as I said, “I’m going to try the door.” Thankfully, it was unlocked and I was able to register and pick up our lovely bags so we could avoid the Friday morning line. We checked into the hotel, started knitting our homework and strategized for the Fiber Fest Market.

Friday –
Lisa and I ate a healthy breakfast and hit the market (I’m pointing out the healthy breakfast because I didn’t make a ton of healthy choices over the weekend.). The Must Stash booth was first on our list and we scored some lovely yarn. While in line, we each fell in love with a project bag. I’m usually not big on pink, but the coffees and donuts stole my heart.

We continued through the market until Lisa was distracted by Harry Potter socks in the Brazen Stitchery booth. Some baby blue and gray self striping yarn caught my eye while she was paying. We resisted further temptation until we reached White Birch Fiber Arts. Her self striping yarns displayed on clear jars caught our attention and we each left with Tanya’s Rainbow, among other things. A mug that states, “Winter is Coming, Knit Faster” found its way into my bag and then a hank of dark speckles on jewel tones called my name in the Quixotic Fibers booth. It was variegated and they didn’t have a sample at that time, so I promised to try back later. I’m a little OCD about yarn pooling, and have to give myself at least a chance at sanity.

Lisa and I hopped in the car and headed for Sulphur Springs. After a hot mess on I-30 where we ended up having to pull a u-turn in the middle of the main lanes (directed by police), we were on our way again. We swung into Fuzzy’s Tacos for lunch (YUM!) and then Collins Street Bakery (who KNEW fruit cake could be so good?!?). The down side (if it can be called that) is that eating a sample felt like I was mainlining sugar. I bought a couple of brownies and several cookies including the cherry ones (far far better than expected). We continued onto Sulphur Springs where we used the facilities in the square behind one way glass. If you’ve never tried this, I recommend it. Quite the novel experience. We moved on to admire the courthouse and snap a few (hundred) pictures. We encountered a man exiting the courthouse. He indicated that he used to work there and asked if we were from around there. We said no and Lisa volunteered the name of the East Texas town where she grew up. He crossed himself and offered to pray for her. We laughed and he continued on his way.

There are some cute shops in the area that we’d have enjoyed exploring if we’d had the time. Perhaps we’ll be back. We detoured to The Original Fried Pie shop to purchase several for tasting. I found myself slightly disappointed as I grew up eating Hutch’s fried pies. Research has since indicated that the people at Hutch’s know their business and we added a trip to Hutch’s to our bucket list.

We joined some knitting friends for dinner at Underground Indian Cuisine. I will sum up that experience by saying you do not need to add this establishment to your to-eat list.

Clara Park’s talk was informative. If by informative, you understand me to mean I may be trying The Brown Sheep Company yarn for my next sweater. She’s inspiring as always.

Saturday –
I swung by Quixotic and they said the sample was still out of pocket and I committed to swing back by.


As Lisa and I found our Two-faced Knitting Class, a ravelry friend and I happened upon each other and she generously gifted me some of her gorgeous celtic knot stitch markers. Thank you, Sarah!

After settling into our spots, Lisa and I began 3 hours of concentrated learning with Melissa Leapman. We’ve taken classes from her before, but years have passed and we forgot how she likes to stay on track and push her students. I am a fairly experienced knitter. It’s been a long time since my hands have sweated because I’m doing something uncomfortable. During that portion of the class, Melissa said, “This is not easy knitting.” and I wrote that down. Because I expect as I’m knitting a reversible scarf in the future, I’ll need reminding that someone as talented and skilled as Melissa is willing to admit that this is not easy. In addition to being a skilled knitting instructor, Melissa is really nice and was game for a sock in progress photo. I look forward to my next class with her.

Saturday afternoon, I did some shopping consulting with Tasha while knitting on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sock (walking and knitting turned out not to be my smartest move, but I have no regrets). I also helped Jeanette find cashmere for her tulip shawl. (I’m calling it her tulip shawl because it’s pink, cream and green.) It’s going to be lovely. I tried out the 2.00mm Signature Needle Arts DPN’s. I liked them. They’re smooth but a little too pricey for me as I usually knit socks on 2.25mm DPN’s ($75 for 4 – this is a limited run, so if you want a set, now is the time).

I glanced into the Quixotic booth and they appeared to be sold out of the siren song yarn so I made peace with the fact that it wasn’t meant to be.

Lisa finished her class and we headed back to the hotel to charge our phones, knit on our pretty green/rainbow socks and relax a little bit before dinner. We met a group of vastly entertaining knitters at The Ranch in Las Calinas and proceeded to eat more than was sane. It was a spectacular evening.

Back at the hotel, while chatting and knitting, I was thrilled to be chilly so I could show off my (unblocked) sweater. We stayed up far too late considering my age (somewhere between 1 and 2am).

Sunday –
After a healthy breakfast, Lisa and I were departing for home. I glanced longingly towards Quixotic one last time and spied the bright speckled yarn!…and they had a sock knit up in similar yarn! The pooling was only bad around the heel, so I pulled out my piggy bank and a hammer to take their last hank home with me. As I chatted with the shopkeepers, it turns out they’d just put the last hank out after saving it for me because I’d visited it so many times. This was terribly sweet of them and I appreciate it GREATLY! So, if you’re near Whitesboro, swing into Quixotic, say hi, and please tell them the crazy girl that visited the Guatemalan yarn 5 times before buying it sent you.

My favorite things:
Must Stash Yarn – Perfect Sock – Eeyore’s Rainbow colorway (the hard part is going to be selecting a contrast heel/toe color! Suggestions welcome.)
Brazen Stitchery – Paparazzi Sock – Cyber Baby colorway
Pawley Studios – Gray “Winter is Coming, knit faster” mug
Diana Couture – Tardis Stitch Hoodie
Suburban Stitcher – coffee and donuts bag
White Birch Fiber Arts – Tanya’s Rainbow colorway
Quixotic Fibers – Yarn Rehab – Rockshelter Sock – Guatemalan colorway

On the way home, we stopped in West to get kolaches for lunch and then Lisa knit on her rainbow sock as I drove us through the wildflowers back to Austin.

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who made DFW Fiber Fest possible! and Thanks my partner in crime, Lisa, for joining me!