Sunday

Sunday I attended the Designer Scavenger Hunt at the O Street Mansion. We were divided into groups, and after testing out the delicious food, went on a bit of a wander to find the rooms the instructors were hiding in. (We may have gotten some assistance from a Mansion staffer. But really, we were encouraged to do so, so really, we were being resourceful.)
We got goody bags with yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton and a baby skein of Miss Babs Yummy Toes Sock) and knitting accoutrement.

(I might have done a little peeking and trading to get a different color of the Miss Babs yarn, not that I didn't also love my original color, but I really wanted to see what chocolate roses looks like knit up.What's that you say? Look on Raverly?)
Some people got Grafton circulars, but those people seemed less interested in trading or had tiny needles. (Again, the cable needles are beautiful, I just figured I might get more use out of circs.  Not that I don't already have many, many circs.)
I was in the Alpaca group and Wendy taught us Judy's Magic Cast on, which I believe lives up to it's name.

It is used for socks, although someone else pointed out it would work for top down mittens and it is also employed in this sweater pattern which I am going to someday finish re-knit. Wendy declared us all prodigies. (The instructions on the Knitty link are great, it just happens to be something that tends to make more sense when you can watch the motions rather than reading along as your brain says, "You want me to what?".
Next we went to Tanis who taught us knitting without a cable needle (and also gave us a pattern for a wicked cable I shall have to try out).

After that we went to visit Cate and Courtney who went over provisional cast on (giving us a start on the Springtime Bandit) - we also got mini balls of Terra to play with. 

Then we worked on a fair isle pattern and talked about holding two colors at once.

We also got a really neat hat pattern I will need to make.
Then last, but not least, Jared talked about tips and tricks for taking better pictures. And easy cheats for the amateur photographer to employ. So, if my pictures get much better, you'll know I listened.  It was a great way to spend a rainy day, in a mansion, with food, yarn and knitters.