Last week's Kelly Girls was great fun! Looking for a place to knit in Chicago? We welcome new members!

Krissy's SnB Skully sweater, in process

My current baby sweater project, a Debbie Bliss pattern with twists and cables

Elizabeth's Noro poncho makes another appearance

Julie finishes the edging on another beautiful baby blanket

Action shot!

Sushannah explained this technique twice at least, but I still can't remember what it is. But it's in gorgeous rich brown and gold, and creates a kind of stained glass effect. Yummy!

Rachel's knitting Skully, too!

Minh's stunning beaded lace wrap--wow

Yesterday my new blocking board arrived, in tip-top shape. Shipping took about two weeks, and the price was reasonable. This vendor is highly recommended! The only complaint I have is that I wasn't notified when it shipped, so I couldn't droolingly track its progress to my door. But I survived. See my adventures in blocking for some action shots of the amazing Sew EZ board.

Before heading to Kelly Girls yesterday, I stopped at Scrapbook Source where I finally scored the epoxy wedding stickers I've been hunting for, and also managed to find the elusive Making Memories Instant Setter! Much quieter than the metal hammer method. My throbbing skull couldn't take it anymore. They had sold their last MM Tag Maker, so I'm still longing to play with one, but I might allow that passion to remain unrequited. I did put my name on the list to be notified when they receive more stock, though.

I also popped into Blick Art and picked up a box to store all our wedding-related cards. The large Kolo Havana was just perfect, and in my favorite shade of red.

As promised, the finished green aran sweater:

The Kelly Girls have a lot of terrific projects on the needles ...

Rachel's scratchy but fetching first sweater

Elizabeth's still knitting on the Noro poncho

Mary Ann's sparkly & lacy poncho, meant for warmer climes

Jodi's efforts on the baby blanket continue

Jennifer makes more mary jane slippers

Rachel's tiny & sweet baby bootie

Laura works on some hand-embroidery

Roz's poncho is nearly complete

Julie completes another adorable baby hat

A lengthy article just appeared in The Oregonian on the Knitting Olympics!

Lately Kelly Girls have been asking a lot of questions about blocking techniques. My favorite is wet blocking. Essentially, once you've finished the pieces of whatever you're making, and woven in all your loose ends, you dampen it, then pin it to the desired shape and size. You can use this technique to flatten curling edges, increase measurements, and just generally even out your knitted item. Here's a play-by-play of blocking the green aran baby sweater I've been working on. Karin's blocking board is making a guest appearance in these photos.

Get yourself a high quality blocking board, preferably a big one. It can be difficult to block things that don't fit on your available surface. You can also block on anything that can be pinned into and is unlikely to buckle under the strain (carpet, some heavy rugs, coated cardboard, etc.).

Beg, borrow, or steal a good supply of t-pins. They come in packs of 20-40; I've got about 100 now, which was more than enough to block the baby sweater. It's nice, if your board is big enough, to block everything at once, since wet blocked items can take 18-24 hours to dry.

Get a clean pan of water in which you can immerse the knit items and place it near your blocking surface. You could choose to wet them in the sink instead, as long as it's nice and clean. I just prefer to have everything handy.

Lay out your knitting and make sure you've got enough space to block what you intend to get wet, and make sure you have your pattern nearby to help you figure out what measurements you're blocking to.

Wet one piece at a time. I try to get the piece wet through, then gently squeeze out the excess water till it's just damp.

Pin the knit piece to the desired size and shape. Your pins should be along the edges, and should try to achieve the edge look you want. For instance, this sweater has a rolled edge on every piece, so I pinned just inside that, so that the rows just before the rolled edge should lay flat. If you have scalloped edging, or some other fancy edge, you'll need to use more pins to make sure it looks, as it blocks, the way it should look when it's dry.

Block all the pieces you can fit! Blocking is a pain, and takes up all kinds of floor space, so why not get it all done in one night?

Leave knitted pieces blocked out with pins till they are completely dry, if you can. If you can't, such as when you need to return your blocking board to its owner in a hurry, gently unpin pieces and carefully transfer them, trying to maintain the correct size and shape, to a clean towel where they can finish drying. If you let the pieces dry, and they still don't look like you wanted them to, you can block them again!

Scenes from this week's Kelly Girls meeting ...

Jennifer of Piddleloop; note her fabulous zippy pouch!

MaryAnn's lavender scarf

Katie displays her puffy ball of yarn (this will eventually be a sweater; have faith)

Jodi's checkerboard baby blanket

Here's Rachel; not sure what she's knitting, but the yarn is adorable!

Susan's short rows Noro scarf

Minh's gorgeous (and challenging) lacy scarf; check out the beaded edging! I might have to make one of these ....

Another shot of my new favorite accessory that I don't yet own; also, Jennifer's sweet little mary jane slippers

Nelly displays a portion of Henna's sexy crocheted wrap, in sparkly black yarn

Knitters teach geeks to control tangly cords.

Jennifer of Piddleloop joined us for knitting last night, and since I happen to own some of her adorable Scrabble stitch markers, I thought I'd give her a shout-out here. She also had with her a project pouch that I am now in love with. It has all kinds of nifty features, including a yarn hole. Sounds obscene, but very useful. Check out the other images to see for yourself!

I'm sure by now every knitter on the web is aware of the Knitting Olympics. Over 2500 knitters have notified the Yarn Harlot that they intend to take part! They even have an official librarian now, which pleases me no end. If you're in the Windy City and intend to participate, there's a cute Team Chicago button.

As for me, I belive in Superbowl knitting, and expect to be chugging away between commercials. No, not during commercials, between. BTW, Google superbowl knitting, and you'll notice I'm not the only one (besides several Kelly Girls) who would rather knit than watch.

Chicago crafters, take note! I stumbled across Sister Arts Studio a few weeks ago while taking a shortcut on a long walk. A beautiful space, this studio "carries an abundant selection of high quality craft kits for all ages," plus they do classes and parties! Crafty parties! My favorite sort. I'm also pleased to see that their knitting classes that come with supplies furnish you with bamboo needles, not lame-o plastic ones. They have weaving classes, which are hard to find in the city, and if you throw a party there you can bring your own munchies and drinks! Here's a cool article about the studio.

Of late, questions have arisen about knitting charted patterns (like letters) into projects. This page that generates custom pdf graph paper is ideal for this sort of thing, and way cheaper than packs of not-quite-right grid paper from the office supply store (much as I adore shopping at the office supply store).

Ok, while I grant you this is the most beautiful, least cutesy baby book I've ever seen, is there really anyone out there who'll pay one hundred and ten dollars for a book in which to write down baby's first word? Seriously, one hundred and ten dollars? Even as a gift? It costs serious money to be a hip parent. [via design*sponge]

The Chicago Craft Mafia is having a special Valentine's Day Craftsacre with lots of fun crafty items to buy. 20% of the profits will go to 826Chicago, a writing and tutoring center. The sale will be this Friday, February 3, from 7:00-11:00 pm, at 1331 N. Milwaukee. [via Gapers Block]

Have you noticed those wacky "Enjoy Illinois" posters in the bus shelters? Well, now you can see all of them online, and even request a free one! [via Gapers Block]

From the KG field trip to the Book Cellar, in the welcoming environs of Lincoln Square. Thanks to those terrific folks for their hospitality! Great cupcakes and high quality European tea!

Elizabeth's Noro poncho

The front of the cabled baby sweater, in progress

Sushanah's camo legwarmers

Obligatory artsy photo

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe these are Minh's socks in progress on 2 circular needles

The red ribbon sweater, blocked on Karin's generously loaned blocking board and nearly ready to be seamed.

Elizabeth's lovely new niece, Mira, wearing the booties her aunt knit for her!