Imperial Stock Ranch Desitination Event to Return

There are lots of knitting-related travel opportunities out there, but some of them stand out as dream events and destinations. That’s the way I felt when I heard about the Vogue Knitting Live destination event at Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon. The event was a weekend with Nicky Epstein and knitters from around the country flocked (ha, ha) there to experience the ranch, savor local food and music and learn Epstein’s block by block method of garment construction.

(She designed a piece, the Corona Circle Croplette, just for the event, and the pattern is available for $8 on Ravelry.)

I wasn’t there, sadly (I think it was the weekend of my 10th wedding anniversary!) but I might get the chance next year because Imperial Yarn announced that the event will be happening again next year. It’s slated for May 31 to June 2, 2013, and interested knitters can contact Doreen at Soho Publishing for more information or to reserve a spot.

Armchair travelers can check out this year’s event on Imperial Yarn’s Facebook page or read a great roundup of events with comments from some of the participants.

Have you ever gone on a destination knitting experience? Spill it!

[Photo: Nicky Epstein in her embellished cowboy hat, by Imperial Yarn.]

I don’t even know what to say about this amazing knitting pattern. The Bestiary Scarf from Monstra & Mirabilia is so full of details it’s a little intimidating to talk about.

It features, as the designer describes it, an “artistic encyclopaedia of Western mythical creatures.”

The pattern includes a dragon, harpy, Medusa, chimaera, centauress, phoneix, kraken, mermaid, sew serpent, cyclops, wyvern, Pegasus, amphiptere and amphibaena. (It’s a good thing there’s a photo of the proejct with everything labelled because I definitely didn’t know the names for everything.) It’s also designed like a landscape, with water and land creatures toward the bottom ends and sky creatures toward the top.

The dragon is at the center and is worked sideways so it will show as upright when you wear it.

The scarf is worked in double knitting, so the colorwork appears in the opposite colors on the other side.

It’s worked in light fingering weight yarn (on size 0 US or 2mm knitting needles) and the colorwork is shown in charts. The pattern also includes some video tutorials and written instructions to help you along. The designer says the pattern is for intermediate knitters, and “advanced beginners may succeed with patience and the help of the video tutorials.”

When I was an advanced beginner this kind of a pattern would have brought me to tears, but if you love a challenge, and a project that you’ll wear and get tons of astonished reactions every time, this is the project for you. And of course if you have a few double knitting projects under your belt and are comfortable reading charts, this project shouldn’t be hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s fast. But lots of great things take time, and that’s never stopped us before, right?

You can get a copy of this pattern from Monstra & Mirabilia on Ravelry.

[Photo: Monstra & Mirabilia ]

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