Off to Maryland!

First of all, I have to say THANK YOU for all the wonderful comments about my Vine Lace Cardi. I can't wait to wear it, but I think it will make its debut at Maryland on Saturday (it's supposed to be in the low 70's for a high).

Several of you asked about a possible pattern and I hate to tell you this, but no, I'm not writing it as a pattern. The main reason I'm not doing it as a pattern is because I knit it in my handspun. If you remember back when I started knitting it, I realized that I had 3 skeins of around 500 yards each that weighed 5 ounces. Well, the problem was, the diameters of the yarn in each skein were different, so I set aside the most obviously different skein, and worked from the two more similar skeins- 2 rows of one, 2 rows of the other. I was getting a stitch gauge of 5.2 spi and a row gauge of 5.8 rpi, and while I could have probably reproduced this in commercial yarn, the weight would have been a factor. Remember how freakishly light this sweater is? Using commercial yarn would have at least doubled the weight of the sweater, which would have changed the drape, the feel, and the fit of the sweater - essentially making it a completely different sweater altogether. I just feel that due to all of these issues, if I were to attempt to write a pattern for this, the finished sweaters by the pattern would fall short of what I got with my handspun because I worked with my handspun and didn't try to use it as a commercial yarn substitute. When I write patterns that I will sell, I feel very strongly about using yarn that's commercially available. I know many of us substitute yarn in patterns all the time, but I at least want to have the option available to anyone who wants to use the exact yarn I used. This is probably way more information than you wanted (most of you probably had your eyes glaze over half an hour ago and wandered off muttering about how a-simple-no-the-pattern-will-not-be-written would have been sufficient), but I wanted to explain my stance on this. Thanks again for all the complements!For those of you who are still here, this will be my last blog post for the week. As you know, I am taking the Comprehensive Spinning Class (WOoHooo!) which starts tomorrow so I won't be back to blog until next Monday. I have cleared out the memory stick on the camera and am charging the battery, now I just have to remember to take it, and even more importantly, use it. If you're going to MDS&W on Saturday, keep your eye out for me! I'll be the one with the long brunette ponytail carrying this bag. Depending on the weather, I might have on the Vine Lace Cardi and unless it's muddy (which it's not supposed to be) I'll be wearing my dandelion yellow Crocs.* Be sure to say hello even if you're a lurker! I love meeting people from the blog!

*I figure if I'm going to wear shoes that make my feet look like a duck's, then I'm going to wear shoes that make my feet look like a duck's. Also, since I don't wear yellow, it won't clash with anything in my closet.