Knit-In Serendipity

I can't say why, but apparently Madison is a knitter's mecca. Last week prolific designer Melissa Leapman spoke at our Knitter's Guild monthly meeting, and she kept marveling at the crowd. "I've never spoken in front of so many people," she said. Keynote speakers Ann and Kay of Mason-Dixon Knitting referred to "the mighty knitters of Madison."

Maybe we have so many knitters because many Scandinavians settled here?

I don't know, but it is pretty wonderful to be able to bring some of knitting's best designers and writers to Madison.

My friend Marsha and I both signed up for a class on two-color knitting at this past weekend's Knit-In; she got in and I didn't. Instead I took a class on making stash-busting scarves from Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations, which turned out to be great. She taught us to knit reversible garter-stitch scarves with knit-in i-cord edging. It's very easy and the result is polished.

If you've ever heard of the Wonderful Wallaby, you know a little about Carol, its designer. Some of my classmates raved about her other patterns, including a doll named Sven.

For once, I didn't buy any new yarn for a project: This is all stash yarn:And here's a detail of the i-cord edging.Pretty nifty, huh?