Purple haze is now a set of Purple Socks

At last here is it months after Cat's workshop and my purple socks are DONE. I can't say how many times they were frogged, but alas they are complete and ready to wear. Amazingly I think I'll be starting another pair soon. The girl who hated socks has changed, life has changed, but my faith is stronger all around. God sure taught me patience through the making of a pair of socks. I never would of guessed it, but yes I learned much. I kept at it, even though I hated the yarn, needed to adjust the fit and even began to hate the color. They are complete, still a mistake or two in them, but these socks will be dearly cherished by me. I have made two other socks before this and neither of them has mates....................and guess what never will cause I don't even have a clue where the yarn or patterns are. They will be considered "works of art" A statement of singleness of sorts..................is there such a thing. Ahhhh yes.

Now on to more projects and a feeling of accomplishment. I am queen of the purple socks today.

Hi Everybody

It's been a while since anyone posted to this blog. Until we get a date for the cruise and a firm itinerary, I won't have much news for you. I expect that this information will be forthcoming in March.

In the meantime, perhaps we can discuss knitting for, or on, the cruise. Personally, I plan to knit something with some of the wonderful yarn I already have in my stash from Fleece Artist, or their companion business, Handmaiden. Since we plan to stop at the Fleece Artist dye studio, and I know that I will be very tempted to shop, I need to make room for more yarn. I'm thinking that perhaps I'd make a shawl using Handmaiden's Sea Silk. I have some in a lovely melon shade. I also have a scarf kit from Fleece Artist in blues.

Check out this gorgeous photo which I snagged from the Fleece Artist site. Clicking on it will take you there. Your Back button will return you here. I've already got my eye on a couple of skeins!


In the coming weeks, I'll talk more about my plans for classes, get input from all of you, details on ports of call, etc.

Don't forget...you can be an author and post to this blog. All you have to do is shoot me an email and I'll send you an invitation. Once you respond to it, you'll be good to go.

...............................~~ Joanne
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hello everyone,

This is an email that I sent out to everyone who expressed an interest in the Knit With Color cruise.

Hello everyone,

I hope that your new year is off to a wonderful start.

I wanted to send you an email to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you and to give you some updates.

As you read in my last email, the cruise has been postponed, but it is NOT cancelled. The cruise lines haven’t published their routes for 2011 yet, but as soon as they do (likely in March) I will let you know.

While the cruise was postponed for personal family reasons (and the fact that we might run into hurricanes in the fall), I’m sure that you’ll find that it’ll be worth the wait. We are working with a new company now, the professional firm of Craft Cruises run by Melissa Gower-Pence. We will have more class offerings for those who want to expand their knowledge as well as their friendships. You now have more time to save for those visits to yarn shops!

We will still call the cruise Knit With Color, no matter what time of year we travel. While the classes will be varied, the main focus will be working with color. For instance, have you always been afraid of intarsia? I’m going to teach a class that will help you to get over your intarsia-phobia! A full list of classes will be coming as soon as I have complete details.

This is OUR blog and if you’d like to write a post, send me an email and I’ll add you as an author. I can also create a link on the sidebar to your blog so that we can all get acquainted before we sail.

I also plan to start a Ravelry Group, probably this weekend, and I invite you to check it out and participate. As soon as I have more firm details on the cruise, I’ll have cards for anyone who would like them with the details printed on them. Just send me an email with your snail mail address, at any time, and let me know how many you’d like…whether it’s one for yourself, or more if you’d like to pass them around.

At the end of this email you’ll find some useful links.

As always, I will keep you up-to-date on all the exciting plans. Feel free to email me with questions or comments.

Happy knitting!

Joanne

Craft Cruises: http://www.craftcruises.com/
Cruise Blog: http://knitwithcolor.com/
Joanne: http://rhythmoftheneedles.blogspot.com/
Ana (instructor): http://www.bananaknits.blogspot.com/
Dennis (artist who created our logo): http://www.2000arts.com/
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Cruise Postponed

The Knit With Color cruise has been postponed until 2011.

That sounds like a long time off, but it's really not. Time flies, as they say!

Updated information will be posted soon and you'll be able to book, and start dreaming of a wonderful trip.

The cruise is still on....only the date has changed.

For any questions, you may contact me personally, or Melissa from Craft Cruises.

I hope you can join us.

Joanne

Happy & Healthy Holiday Wishes to All!

Some workshops in the works....

Introduction to the Magical World of Moebius knitting.
by Ana Petrova

Once you create one you will want to do it again and again. You’ll be able to step outside the box and let your imagination soar. In this class Ana teaches how to cast on a Moebius project without the tedious chores of knitting a gauge or counting stitches.

Ana will teach her simple but clever way to cast on and also take the mystery out of how big will my finished circle be? Yes NO GAUGE SWATCH or NO COUNTING stitches! What a relief to just be able to knit for the pleasure of knitting while creating something that is truly your own original design. “Stitch Bingo” is what Ana calls it. It It is a fun way to make up your own stitches and patterns. No more following instructions line by line. You will be able to let yourself enjoy the process and enter the magical knitting “zone”, a form of meditation.

Inspired by Cat Bordhi her books: "A Treasury of Magical Knitting" and "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting"

ps. Ana has a couple of books especially autographed by Cat as prizes for the cruise, and there are a lot more surprises to come.
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Logo Winner

Thanks to everyone who voted here and by email. I'm glad that you like the logos as much as I do. We had an overwhelming winner, which just happens to be the artist's favorite, too. Here it is:

Watch this blog in the coming days as Cindy and Ana will be talking about the classes and the direction that they are taking. They've been putting a lot of thought into them to make them special for you. I sure that you'll enjoy them.
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Logo - Cast Your Vote

The *VERY* talented Dennis Carmichael has done us a great favor by designing logos for the cruise. This is what will appear on printed material, the swag bags, and perhaps some other things. I love what he's come up with.

I'd like to hear which one you like best, and if you have any positive words/praise/kudos for Dennis, I'm sure that he'd like to hear them. I am truly blown away by his talents. Please take time to visit his website: http://www.2000arts.com/ and browse through his work. Feel free to drop him a note and thank him as he has not charged us for his work. He did this as a favor to Ana, one of our teachers. I'm very grateful.

Number 1:

Number 2:
Number 3:
Number 4:
You can leave a comment, or post a message. Let me know if you'd like me to send you an invitation so that you're able to post to this blog.

Thank you so very much, Dennis!!
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Traveling and Knitting are two of my favorite activities.

Ana Petrova here and so excited to join all of you on this knitting cruise I can hardly wait for next October to roll around. I have been working on the classes I will be teaching and will post the descriptions soon.

I am fairly new to cruising but I think I'm in LOVE. Why I never discovered this before I don't know but the "cat is out of the bag" or you can't "UN-ring the bell". Now that I know what a great experience to be cruising is I want more! To be able to knit and travel, have great food, visit yarn stores and seeing the sights with fellow knitters well it's as good as it gets for me.

Here is what I wrote on my knitting blog about Sea Socks cruising:

I had such a good time last year Sea Socks 07 that I just booked Sea Socks 08.

I've printed out a picture of the ship and when I get stressed out I just look at the ship and imagine the fun. Knitting socks on the high seas!

Pavlo the blond Ukranian head waiter serving me dinner in the formal dining room every night, room service bringing me coffee at 6 am. Life is good........

By the way we were knitting at the table and it was totally ok! Oh how I wish I was there right now! But it's Monday only 10 months and 4 weeks till the cruise and I have some work to do.

Happy Knitting,
ana

Hello

I thought I'd start this off with a big WELCOME to all of you who are going to join us on the Knit With Color cruise next year (or "Colour" for some of us). This blog is a discussion and information group.

If you've received your invitation to post to this blog (check the right hand sidebar for info) and you have any problems, email me.

It's my goal for all of us to have a good time: anticipating the cruise, enjoying the cruise, and I hope that you will look back fondly on the experience in years to come. I also hope that you'll make some new, good friends.
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